Cinder Progress Report: First Jumps!

Friday I went up to watch Trainer A ride Cinder again. It was jump day for A's students/horses in training, but the plan with Cinder was to work on steering around the fences, and maybe do some poles. A tacked up in her dressage saddle, not at all planning on jumping. But we all know how well plans and ponies go together. 

#noscopenohope

Pretty much as soon as she saw the jumps, Cinder was jazzed. She was locking onto them as A was trotting around, and was much more willing to go forward. A calls her a gumby horse as she's very bendy, and she contorted herself trying to go to the fences when A circled her around them. So A finally said why not, and pointed her at one of the cross rails. And of course Cinder trotted up to it, then promptly stopped. 

Obviously she figured it out

 

A quietly encouraged her to keep going forward and she jumped it from a standstill. Second time she walked over it, and the third time you could see the light bulb go off and she figured out how to jump it from a trot with a human on her back. And there was no going back after that. She was having a blast and A cantered her over a few more fences. A said she really wasn't doing much up there, just steering and supporting but Cinder was already staring to balance herself and figure out her own distances. Cinder also showed off a couple nice flying changes, then started landing on the correct lead. They only did a handful of jumps, but A said Cinder was already more balanced and sure of herself than the 4yr old OTTB she has in training that's been jumping for a month.