Adult Ride

I had the BEST lesson at adult ride last night!!!! Tracey Page was our instructor, she is one of the country's top Show Hunter riders and she is a fab instructor. Spyke did manage to make a wee point early in the lesson by stopping at the second jump of the night; a teeny, tiny, less than a foot high, crosspole. Grrrr. Note to self: must not assume that he will jump. Must ALWAYS ride him forward!!!!

After out initial emabarrassment Spyke was awesome!! We worked on our rhythm, my position and riding corners. The jumps gradually (actually there wasn't much that was gradual about it) got bigger until we were jumping just over 85cm, which sounds teeny but looked HUGE!!!! On our last 'run' I managed to get the approach wrong to the first of the five stride double (an oxer) and Spyke had to put in a HUGE leap to get over it. That jump put our striding out for the second part of the double too (an upright) and he had to put in another HUGE leap. He is so good though as he doesn't unseat me at all.

I am having such a lot of fun with Spyke, he is sooooo the best horse for me.

Tomorrow I am off to Taranaki for the Bernese Mountain Dog Garden Party and tomorrow we are also going to be hit by the dregs of Tropical Cyclone Innis. Nice. Here is what it will supposedly look like tomorrow as I am driving down.