Cross Country Clinic with Jean Moyer

I took Warren to a cross country clinic out in Hood River, Oregon. That is out east a spell, towards the Cascade Mountains in a beautiful place called the Gorge. It is scenic area where the Columbia River charged through the cascades carving out the gorge in it's path.
The clinic was hosted by a generous North West Horse Trials Association member who opened her beautiful farm to us members in this amazing area. The clinic was arranged for the folks of the NWHTA and was a series of dressage and jumping sessions. Since my dressage was going so well, I opted for a session in jumping with Jean Moyer. Warren and I were put in an interesting group of "BN riders" We started the basics of the session with going over the important elements of cross country emphasis on balance and rhythm. Then we spent a big chunk of time schooling the water complex. After a brief encouragement, Warren went right in, leading the other two in the group, the Perch mare was not real excited about getting her feet wet so we spent a lot of time convincing her the water was okay (Warren stood in the water and stared at her, splashed, and stood on the opposite bank trying to convince her it was okay. Inch by inch, she finally made her way in) By that point, Warren was a water pro, he could trot and canter through with no problems. So we did some more course work, riding tall to the base of fences (I tend to want to want to jump for Warren) and learning to keep my leg on! Over all it was a great outing and a beautiful fun place to ride. At one point when I was riding the course, I had to take Warren away from the group, around the outside of the pond, between the barn and pond and windmill and then through the water. Warren was not super thrilled with the windmill, it was a little mesmerizing, but he coped and carried on with a big forward trot. He seemed quite proud of himself to be charging through the water too! After we did a mini course we also schooled the bank both up and down. The jumping down is pretty scary, it feels like you are reaching the edge of the world but Warren took it all in stride.
The clinic was a fun way to meet some more NWHTA folks and get the event season kicked off. It was a great refresher course and really helped us get focused for the year.