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66 SIDELINES MAY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Juniorside
The Tale of Two Jacksons
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By Lauren Corey
After a few months with a minimal amount of riding, I am
fnally back into the full swing of riding at my show barn
in addition to the Interscholastic Equestrian Association
(IEA). With all of my college applications out the door, I
can focus on what I enjoy most: riding. Although I no longer
have my own horse, I am enjoying a variety of horses and
fguring out how to handle them. The two I have ridden
the most are both bay geldings named Jackson, but the
similarities end there.
Jackson Number One
I have primarily been riding a small Arab/Warmblood
cross named Jackson in my IEA lessons. When I walked
into the barn and saw Jackson posted next to my name,
my frst thought was “oh, great… I hope we don’t jump too
high.” I had little faith in the horse since I knew nothing
about him besides the fact that he could not be cross-tied.
However, I enjoyed taking Jackson along with me to the
tack room and tacking him up in the middle of the aisle.
When I mounted, I couldn’t help but notice how close to
the ground I felt. Jackson is about 15.2h but he is round
enough that my leg fts comfortably around him. As we
were fatting, I was able to get Jackson in a frame and he
was quite fun; but his trot was so bouncy that I struggled
to stay in the saddle during sitting trot. Finally, our trainer,
Colin Daly, told us to canter. I was a little worried that
Jackson would also have an awful canter; but I fell in love
with him as soon as we were cantering around. He had one
of the most comfortable canters I had ever experienced.
Despite my earlier worries, I could not wait to start
jumping him. Jackson certainly lived up to my expectations.
We were cantering down a supposed six-stride line, but
the joke at the Red Barn is that these horses have ten-foot
strides. My plan was to jump in and wait. I fully expected
to get seven strides since Jackson is small. However, we
made it down the line in a relaxed six. Jackson was a
superstar with fnding all of my distances for me, we only
got two awkward distances in the lesson, but Jackson
covered it amazingly by leaving a little long. He is one of
my new favorite horses at the Red Barn and I am ecstatic
any time I see his name next to mine.
Lauren and McIntosh Jackson listening to Colin McIntosh
describe the next exercise
Photo by Linda Kierans Corey
Am I Seeing Double?
Ironically, I have also been riding another bay gelding
named Jackson at my show barn, McIntosh Stables. This
Jackson is big, so I instantly fell in love with him. I had ridden
him before and had a blast. Jackson is different from the
horses I am used to because he is not trained to do flying lead
changes. This is especially challenging because he feels a
bit like a freight train when I am on him. I struggled to bring
him back to the trot after the fences that I could not get him
to change over. My biggest problem is that I add too much
leg when I try to get the horse to come back to me. In last
week’s lesson, my trainer, Colin McIntosh, set up this exercise
where we cantered in over a cross-rail and had three canter
strides to come back to the trot for the trot poles. This forced
me to take my leg off or else we would be cantering through
the trot poles. While this exercise was simple for some of the
other people in my lesson, I found it exceptionally difficult. I
was so pleased when I finally succeeded in getting Jackson to
trot before the poles; needless to say we had several failures
before that success! Jackson is a challenging ride for me; but
I always learn so much from his different quirks.
Although I miss Petey and think about him every day, I am
enjoying riding all of these different horses. The two Jacksons
are entertaining and I hope I continue to have the opportunity
to learn with them. I qualified for zones with my IEA riding so
I will be competing for a spot to ride at Nationals. I just have
to keep my fingers crossed that I draw a horse similar to either
of my Jacksons.
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