My husband did the 2’6″ Medal class as a warm up. It’s pretty cool that Eugene has gotten to the point where 2’6″ is a warm up. That doesn’t mean he’s mastered the art of jumping though. The first jump went well and then on the second jump he forgot how jumping worked and tried to trot pole it.
Six months ago, Eugene was struggling to get over jumps even when he had the right striding. Now he’s gotten to the point where he can make a weird decision like this and still clear the jump.
Awkward… but clear
But it wasn’t all awkward. He’s really starting to pick up his knees and look like a proper jumper.
They ended up getting 5th out of 7 for that class. Because, you know, they’re not hunters. But whatever. They were clear and that’s the important part for us.
After the medal class they had a bit of down time while the .7s and .8s ran. My husband wanted to do a few jumps in the warm up arena to avoid the problem he’s had several times before where Eugene goes from one height to another and clobbers the first jump. But he was all about the bigger jumps.
Their first jumper round was .9 optimum time class. Since they are always well under time I warned him to go slower than usual to try to be near optimum of 54. So of course they went in and crushed the course making it in 47.something seconds.
just flying over jumps
They were clear, but several second off the optimum and got 4th out of 4 for that round.
The next round was the speed class. I could see that Eugene was tired. He might be a lot better at jumping now, but he’s still developing those muscles and back to back .9s is a bit tough for him.
He was a little more casual about the jumps and not accelerating down the lines like he did the previous time. But they were still clear. Their time ended up being the optimum of 54. It was a bit slow for the speed round and they ended up 3rd out of 4.
I told him they should have reversed their times and they would have gotten 1st and 1st. My husband wanted to do the bareback class last. He rides Eugene bareback pretty regularly. Although he was complaining that he’s used to riding with a bareback pad that gives him a bit more grip. I was too busy trying to stay on Levi to see how their ride went, but it was good enough for a 2nd place out of 7!
The boys are really improving and looking good. Eugene is starting to understand how his legs work. That trot pole jump pic is hilariously awkward
One day you need to do a throwback post for Eugene. The difference between his old form over fences and how he jumps now is incredible.
He’s looking better and better all the time. His knees are so cute. I love the suite of ribbon colors he collected against his dark coat.
Gah, that Eugene! He’s really turning into a solid citizen. They both look great!
great job!! Eugene is just really coming along! When is your next event?? (Ie. cross country)!?
Look how far he’s come!
Man, hubby and Eugene are really putting it together and having some great rides!