I very much hesitate to put this in writing lest I jinx myself, but Ace has officially been sound for the longest stretch of our relationship. After the abscess of last December, the injury of April, and the infection of June, July, and August, Ace has been sound since the beginning of September! That’s four whole months in which we’ve been able to train without interruption!

Between that and access to a larger arena in which to work, we’re progressing amazingly.

A year ago, I was lucky if Ace went forward when I squeezed my legs. Now, the slightest closing gets a trot and a little outside heel gets the canter – with the correct lead most of the time! We have straightness. Ace bends well (with a little help). He can do the slightest bit of leg yield. He’s starting to get rounder in his carriage and accept contact. He never hits a ground pole when we trot through. He understands my leg aids and needs very little rein for support.

With all of these developments, I’m finally getting to teach him what I’ve wanted to do from Day One: Jumping!

Ace’s learning personality makes it necessary for me to be very careful and recognize his limits. He’s generally a very willing horse, but tends to get grumpy when I teach him something new. Even as he starts to understand what I’m asking for the first time, he makes faces at me, swishes his tail, and gets balky. And if he trips over a pole, he gets mad and stops. At least he used to. I haven’t seen that attitude in months – but I’m also being careful to avoid it!

In an effort to avoid any incidents in which Ace bungles a jump, and then refuses to go again, I’m going super slow. The last thing I want is a horse who has a tendency to run-out or refuse. So we’ve spent months going over ground and elevated trot poles. These days, Ace loves them. He goes at them with ears up and neck stretched and a great lift in his step.

Then we started trotting over tiny crossrails, and then slightly bigger crossrails. Recently, we’ve been trotting over these:

The first few times he’d actually jump, then he started taking a big trot step. Once he got really comfortable, I started asking him to land cantering. Trotting in and cantering out ensures that he actually jumps. And – he evens picks up the correct lead on the landing!

Last night we moved on to our next stage: cantering a ground pole. And Ace went right over like he’d been doing it his whole life. I’ll probably go ahead and raise it very soon … and we’ll officially be cantering over jumps! Then I can start adding height … and then multiple obstacles … and lines … and gymnastics …

I’m working hard to stay out of his way so that he can figure it out without my interference. I want him to be able to think and adjust himself rather than waiting on me to adjust him. It’s super hard to do; I’ve been jumping for 15 years and it’s second nature to adjust his stride and get involved.

Right now the only thing I’m really asking is that he goes over – and he does! We haven’t had a single run-out or refusal. Ace goes right over without hesitating every time. And he is staying nice and straight on approach.

From what I can feel from his back, Ace uses himself nicely and jumps well. He stretches down his head and neck for balance, picks up his knees, doesn’t twist, and has an overall nice jump. And most importantly – he’s enjoying it too!