- It had been a two weeks since Delilah and Velia's first ride, and things were going well. The pair had been working hard all those two weeks. Now, they could comfortable walk, trot, and canter together. Delilah's next decided obstacle was jumps. Long ago Del had decided Velia would be a jumper. She had seen small traits in the mare that would fit nicely with the discipline.
The arena was filled with jumps, most small to medium. Delilah was mounted on her mare, and walked in slow, long circles around the jumps. Velia sniffed at them and was watchful, seemingly interested. After a proper warm-up including walking, trotting, and cantering, Del started with the easiest thing possible - ground poles.
These were not much of an obstacle for the mare. She seemed to understand the idea, and after a couple rounds with hitting the poles, she was soon at ease with the ground poles. Velia would, for the most part, step evenly over top each one. Delilah, pleased, gave the mare a breather and then moved onto the smallest of jumps.
She allowed Velia to inspect the jump first. Delilah directed her to walk closely around in, and then stop in line with the middle of the jump. When the mare appeared to be comfortable around the objected, they took a wide turn and lined up with the jump an adequate distance away. Then, she pushed Velia into a soft trot towards the jump. At the first and second attempts, the mare considered the jump but would stop abruptly before it. That was alright - Del would be fine even if they didn't take one of the jumps today. They had a start.
But the third time, Velia surprised Delilah in an excellent way. She jumped. It was a bit sloppy, and she did clip on of the parts of the jump, but Velia jumped. Del commended her excitedly, and then continued to another small jump. Velia jumped a bit easier then, but still knocked a piece down. Delilah still gave her praise. On the third small jump, Velia was still a bit awkward, but did not touch any part of the jump. Delilah gave her plenty of love at this point.
Delilah decided against the slightly larger jumps for today, as Velia had already done very well and she wished to take it slow. But Del truly believed that in a couple weeks they could enter in a beginner level competition. It was plausible, as long as they worked hard as they had been doing. Delilah rinsed Velia off after removing the saddle and blankets to cool her off, as they day had been slightly hotter than expected, but still not bad. Velia enjoyed her rinses and baths, and it kept her coat looking beautiful.
With the sun shining that day and Velia holding her head up high, everything seemed perfect. Delilah and Velia was unstoppable. They would take on the world, even if they lost. They would continue to improve and do whatever it took. They would compete and try their hardest. Delilah & Velia - has a nice ring, doesn't it?
