I’ve been talking about wanting to event for, literally, years. I’m of student of natural horsemanship, and for the last couple years I’ve been working on building a solid foundation with my horse, Bolero. We’re currently playing in Level 4 of the Parelli levels program, and so this was the first season where I felt like he was really ready to start specializing in something!

I right about jumped up and down when I heard Tik Maynard was coming to a farm down the street for an eventing clinic. Regardless of the label, there was just a certain amount of comfort knowing that he shares a similar philosophy about horsemanship, especially since I knew I would be a little nervous coming into the weekend. I hoped that he would be perfect for helping to bridge the gap between natural horsemanship and eventing, and I wasn’t disappointed. My barn mates and I got to learn from him over 2 days focusing on stadium jumping and then cross country:

Stadium Jumping
All winter Bolero and I worked on poles, poles, poles, but honestly not a ton of actual jumping. I was nervous. I really had no idea what to expect. Do I even know how to jump? I know what good jumping looks like from watching good riders, but do I look anything like that? Am I totally and completely just in my horse’s way all the time? Am I going to make an idiot of myself? None of these thoughts are helpful, of course, but luckily we started with something simple and so important – getting a balanced and adjustable canter. Tik placed 2 poles 60 feet apart and had us work on fitting in 5 strides, then 6 strides, then 5, then 6. Let me just add in here that my horse is enormous. He’s a 17hh Oldenburg/Belgian cross and probably around 1800lbs. Having not been started until he was ~6 meant that helping him achieve a balanced canter at all was about 2 years in my making (credit almost entirely to trainer). We did the 5 no problem, missed the 6 the first time, easy 5 again, and then approached the second time for the 6. B basically jumped the pole and ate up precious feet on that landing, it took 2 strides to get him back in balance, and then bringing all of my core strength and intention to bear we (miraculously??) squeezed in 4 more. It felt like the last stride was practically a canter in place, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t beaming as I heard Tik and my trainer let out a whoop! It felt good. The rest of the lesson focused on that same principle – change the balance. He talked a lot about getting the right balance in the turns of your course. You’d like to see the horse focused in on the ride as they establish the canter they need, and then a few strides out is when you want the horse locking in on the jump. We ended with a couple small courses, which was a great exercise for setting up cross country the following day.

Cross Country
I was nervous again, but not as much as day 1. B and I felt like we were in harmony during our warm up. He was relaxed but responsive, we cantered around on the buckle, and he just felt game. Probably the biggest worry I had in the back of my mind is getting run off with. B had a little bit of that baggage when I got him, and he’s so big and powerful, so for the last couple years I’ve tentatively toed the line of asking for power and speed. I would feel myself do that thing horses hate, “Ok GO… eek but just a little bit!”. We’ve only schooled cross country twice, so we also just didn’t have much experience.

Once again, we started simple with trotting a small log and then cantering off up a hill. That sounds like nothing, but asking for a sustained canter off a jump in a big open field…part of me was saying a little prayer to whoever would listen. But here’s the thing, Bolero was perfect. I felt a strong, but balanced and still adjustable canter for probably 20 strides. I think it hit me at this point – the years of building Bolero’s foundation, building a relationship with him where he’s actively seeking to be in harmony with me – it was paying off.

We ended up cantering courses of 5-6 jumps, and the whole time it felt like he was with me. I fully giggled for part of it, and some of my barn mates there to audit told me I was grinning from ear to ear. We were both having so much fun, and honestly, I was proud of us both! We were doing it! The whole lesson wasn’t perfect, there were a few bobbles when he jumped bigger than what I’m used to and I got really off-balance, but I learned from those moments.

I wrapped up the lesson with our first ever gallop, and I felt like both Bolero and I were more confident at the end, which is exactly what I hoped for.

It was fabulous weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from Tik. We’re already trying to figure out when he’ll be back in our area. In the meantime, I’m setting my sights on our first ever schooling horse trials. Yeehaw!