After two days of a lot of work on rider balance and position on the flat and over jumps in an arena, it was time for Sonja Johnson’s pupils to head out on to the cross country area at the Yarra Glen and Lilydale Hunt Club.
The main focus for this cross country session was jumping up and down banks, one of the five types of cross country fences that riders need to be confident about jumping as Sonja explains
The riders started the exercise by simply walking through in 2-point seat, then trotting and cantering
While two of the horses find it easy, Molly’s horse Dux (below), an 11 year old off the track thoroughbred, wanted to rush through the bank rather than walking. Sonja had this combination walk lots of circles in 2-point seat away from the other horses to help Dux accept that the rider’s 2-point does not necessarily mean ‘go’
From here the riders progressed to jumping the bank complex from various angles before heading out to each jump a small course of their own choosing which we’ll cover in our next article
