United States Eventing Association

Boomer Blossoms: Two Years and Counting

May 29^th, 2008. Exactly two years since the day we brought Boomer home. And what better way to spend the day than out cruising around a cross country course? That’s right, Boomer was out on cross country! We’ve been having jumping lessons with Jon Holling, and last Thursday was our first time to actually school cross country. After warming up, Jon had us start off at a small log. It was in the shadows, it was pretty airy, and the groundline was non-existent. I had some trouble getting Boomer to realize it wasn’t one of those “Horse Eating Logs,” so Jon grabbed his hat and climbed on.

After Jon schooled Boomer for a bit, he started jumping around really well. Jon took him over the Horse Eating Log until it was no longer Horse Eating, as well as a few bigger logs, the half coffin, and a big ol’ oxer. I was so proud of Boomer; I’ve worked so hard to get him ready for this, and seeing him jump around made me beam. Of course, watching him jump around with a four-star rider on board made it that much cooler. And if I wasn’t sure before, watching him confirmed my suspicions: Boomer jumps BIG!

Jon brought Boomer back when they were done, and said it was my turn. I got back on, and adjusted my stirrups while Jon told me exactly how to ride to each fence, and what to do if Boomer tried to back out. Of course the batteries in the camera died right after I got back on, but next time there will definitely be pictures of me on Boomer!

I started out jumping a few times over the first log that had given us so many problems, and when we got that down, Jon gave us a whole course to ride. It consisted of The Log, another log, a skinny log next to a tree, the ditch and oxer, and the bigger oxer. Let me tell you, after two long years of working towards that, it was one of the most thrilling feelings I’ve ever had to ride Boomer around that course. I think I was grinning more than Boomer was!

When we were all done, Jon took us over to the water complex and had me get Boomer’s feet wet. With a little encouraging leg, Boomer walked right in. He explored all the different banks and logs to get out of the water. Next, we trotted in, did a circle, and trotted out. Finally, Jon said to canter Boomer in, across, and out over the flowery log. Honestly, all I could think was, great, I had an entire cross country lesson that went wonderfully, I stuck like white on rice, and now Boomer’s gonna dump me at the flowers and get me soaking wet. But off we went at the canter, and all I let myself think was up and over. Canter in the water, slow down, sit up, look up, leg leg leg, and over we were! I have never felt more like a true eventer than I did then, splashing through the water and over that log. It was amazing. We’ve got some work to do before we’re ready to go to an event, but we’re well on our way!