Scary flower boxes are... not so scary.

Beauty and I jumped our first little vertical today! Really, it was a baby vertical, BUT there were flower boxes under it. I figured that would be a challenge and a good learning experience. I've seen many a horse lose their marbles about flowers/filler under a jump, especially the first time.

Little baby vertical

Well, Beauty didn't care. At all. She just popped right over, no hesitation, no peeking. Trotted and cantered to it. Alrighty, then.

Tuckered herself right out!

We also practiced stringing two jumps together - a little X and our baby vertical. It wasn't like a line or really anything close, they were on opposite sides of the ring, but it was the first time we had to land and think about setting up right away, instead of circling or stopping. She thought about wiggling out at the vertical (second jump - I think she just wasn't expecting it, plus it was going to the left, her bad direction) but she went over with a tiny correction. It was more a "Oh, a jump, should I jump, I don't know, oh you want me to, okay" thing, rather than naughtiness.

Love my little horse!

Also love these gorgeous fall days down in Maryland! New England is gorgeous, but cold, so it is nice to be able to enjoy fall while still having 70 degree weather.