Thursday 15 December 2011

Jessica Phoenix Clinic

This past Sunday Felix and I went to the Jessica Phoenix clinic that was hosted by a local farm. Huge thank you to Jester's Court for hosting, I think a great time was had by all!

Felix was very good.  Trailered like a star as usual, and was super for his first ever time on crossties.



We got in a good 10 minute walking warm up, which helped him out a lot - the new arena was a little interesting, but he relaxed out of it quite quickly.

Jessica had a set of 3 poles on a circle set up for us, we warmed up other these in walk and trot in both directions.














After this, we moved on to cantering through the excersise both ways, and my photographer moved on to video.


The next step was a pole and an X down the long side of the arena.

  

 



After this the outside line was made into an X and a vertical.



 

And then finally, moved up to a full course.


The biggest jump on the course was just shy of 2'6", and is possibly the biggest thing Felix has jumped yet.

What I took home from this is Felix is honest, canter jumping is easier then trot jumping, and I really have nothing to be afraid of.  honestly, I feel like we could go hop around an Entry or Pre-Entry course right now without a problem.

Was this clinic much more expencive then my regular lessons?  Definitely. But it was a day out, and a kick in the pants that was much needed.  I have a tendency to not push myself and him, which sorely needs to be done.

All in all, Jessica is a super positive, nice, and effective coach - I'd ride with her again for sure.


We also got a chance to see Jessica's Pan Am Medals, which was very cool - got a great picture of Sarah with Jessica and the medals.


And of course, me and the little superstar himself!

1 comment:

  1. Aww, he looks adorable. He's coming along quite well, eh?

    ReplyDelete