Jump Club

Emma took Paeon to Jamie Inglis' place in the Yarramalong Valley on the NSW Central Club for a Jump Club training day today. She was later than she'd intended to be as Heath needed her to help serve 4 mares before her planned 8am start (!!!) so when she arrived with a truckload of 8 horses (4 of her rides) and 3 other riders, the jumps had already gone up past her planned starting height.

Paeon came off the truck looking very fit and excited; "ready to rumble". He shows he knows he has a job to do, but as soon as Emma is ready to mount him he switches into 'business mode'. Very focussed, listening, and 'ready for anything.'
Paeon was the most straightforward of her rides so she popped over 4 practice jumps and headed in to do a round at about Intro level, which he'll be starting for the first time at Scone next weekend.

He just rolled into canter and cantered around the course of 13 jumps without missing a beat. Another horse did his round and then Emma took him round again. He was absolutely businees like, happy and forward, just really enjoying the outing. It caught the eye of the onlookers,including reknowned Australian trainer (s-j and dressage) Rod Brown, seen in the foreground of the above photo.

So he'd had the experience mapped out for him and that was it! Switched off into chillout mode, really nice to be around, chat to, hose down, smooch with.
Emma says he is just a fun horse to ride. He understands the job he has to do, sets his own pace, has a great eye for a stride and height and all she has to do is pilot him. He switches on to any adjustments she needs, instinctively. She says he's quite different from all of her other horses. Trying to explain the difference, she says the bigger warmbloods are not so adjustable, not so quick-thinking at getting themselves out of trouble, and have to be schooled a lot more to gain the experience needed to gain confidence. She has to work hard to set their pace and increase the jump heights slowly.
Paeon is definitely looking a 'brave' type these days!! So off to Scone next weekend, the first weekend of my school holidays!