Area VI Adult Eventing Camp – Levi Stadium

Although he wasn’t 100%, my husband was feeling a lot better on Sunday for his stadium lesson. He’d even managed to keep down some saltines for dinner the night before and oatmeal for breakfast. My lesson ended and we swapped my tack on to Levi and then headed over.

The theme of this lesson for Levi – and really the story of his life – is “I don’t know where my feet are in relationship to the world.” I have never owned such a clumsy horse. I’m sure that spending the first 6 years of his life in a feed lot did him nothing good. The Mustangs born in captivity tend to get more nutrition and grow up bigger – as Levi did – but the trade off is they don’t learn how to use their bodies. Eugene is solid even over completely crazy footing – like granite stairs in Yosemite – but Levi trips in the arena. And he really struggles to figure out how to negotiate obstacles. Even simple poles.

You can really see what I mean about the disconnect between his body and the world. He’s pretty convinced that pole is like 2′ tall.  His confusions extends to crossrails:

And angling over a cavalletti was just inconceivable.

But bless his heart, he makes up for what he lacks in brains and natural ability with being a good boy. He might not get it, but he wants to be good. They did eventually manage to string the pole to crossrail to cavalleti slice all together.

They did the same pole to crossrail to cavelletti exercise in the other direction and he even managed to look like he understood the concept.

And I’d even say he looks like he’s enjoying it too. Of course, just like in my lesson, Alexis kept changing up the course. The next jump he had them do was the bounce. And poor Levi got to the first jump, realized there was a second jump and could not process that. He tried to stop to look at it, didn’t quite have enough time to stop and just clobbered it.

He did eventually figure out how to do it.

Levi continued having a hard time processing the poles though. And his method of processing is that he wants to slow down and stare at it. In the case of a canter pole, though, that’s only making his life more difficult, but it’s not like you can explain these things to him.

I love this picture. He’s just so funny. I think my husband did an excellent job staying back and letting him figure it out. I have a tendency to try to jump the jump for the horse so I’m sure I’d be up his neck right there. And really, at this stage, Levi just needs to figure it out for himself. The best we can do is sit back, leg on, and ride it out.

They did a lot of the same exercises that I had done like the bounce to a hard 90° turn to the Eeyore jump (in their case, the jump was just a vertical). Turning was hard and he knocked the rail the first time through, but didn’t actually stop at the new jump the first time. Came back around and cleared it nicely the next time.

At this point Levi was pretty exhausted. He’s lazy to begin with. He’s doesn’t have much stamina on a normal day and he had done XC for the first time the day before. He was lagging a bit. So when Alexis had them do a line of 2 new jumps and one of them had a train cutout beneath it, he hit the brakes.

They came back around, he tried to stop again and Alexis was like, he’s just making more work for himself. So around again and this time the nailed it.

And with that, Levi was finally allowed to be done. He definitely deserved the break. Although I know it wasn’t as much fun as having Eugene would have been, my husband did have a good time with Levi. He far and away exceeded both of our expectations for what weekend. I would never have though he’d do as much jumping as he did and especially not at the heights he did on XC. While he still needs time and practice learning how to use his feet, I’m looking forward to the future with him.

18 thoughts on “Area VI Adult Eventing Camp – Levi Stadium

  1. Megan

    honestly a little bit of retardedness when introducing poles and bounces is totally normal. that’s the point – he’s gotta work out wtf to do with all his limbs. your husband did a really good job just sitting back, pressing forward and staying out of his way. a lot of times with the green horses that’s all you can do!

    1. Olivia Post author

      I dunno; I think some horses have natural talent.. Nilla had never jumped before I bought her and she just knew how to do it. If you look at L’s Dante, he’s got lovely form in the chute. Levi lacks that, but that’s okay. We didn’t buy him for jumping talent, we bought him for brains.

  2. emma

    aww what a good pony! reminds me so much of charlie learning to jump too – those feet, man. sometimes they just don’t feel connected to reality!

  3. Stacie Seidman

    Aww baby brain! It seems like even when he’s confused he doesn’t get too rattled. That’s a great trait. Probably a lot of that is due to your hubby being so patient and sitting chilly up there! I’d be up the neck with you probably!
    He sure did have some nice jumps though! That horse is going to be very special.

  4. Alanna McPartlin

    I love Levi! It looks like he’s starting to figure it out and will only get better. What an awesome find he was.

  5. KateRose

    Looks like he’s figuring it out! It is hard to arrange such a large body in the world (I’m 6 feet tall… I get it haha)

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