I have to write and say how much I love this horse and these pictures.  A Rock goes above and beyond in showing what a Haflinger is capable of doing, and giving to his owner.  A Rock was the 2007 Reserve National Champion Western Pleasure horse.  He is a fabulous Western Pleasure horse has he has proved this on numerous occasions. I enjoy doing almost any equine discipline, however I have always had a hard time with jumping, and honestly, had a fear I couldn't shake.  In May of 2008 I finally contacted fellow Haflinger trainer Lisa Schott of TLC Stables in Mt. Vernon, Ohio and told her that I wanted to try jumping again to see if this was something I wanted to continue to pursue.  Lisa readily agreed to see me and then I dropped the bomb that the horse I felt safest with was indeed my western pleasure horse, A Rock.  Lisa never missed a beat and agreed for us to come and be evaluated.      

The first day I was nervous!  It is one thing to try to conquer a fear, it is another thing to do it as a professional trainer, with another professional, along with a champion western pleasure stallion, who is gold rated so everyone expects perfection in everything, eleven years old and now all of a sudden, we are going to start jumping!  Lisa took everything in stride, and we worked on exercises to get A Rock to lengthen his stride, and work on rein contact, instead of a western pleasure no rein.  Also, he was use to no leg contact unless he was suppose to be doing something, so for me to have constant leg pressure on him was something he and I both needed to get use to!  Lisa gave us homework to start on the flat and working over poles on the ground.  Next we went to cross poles.  Eyes up, look ahead, don't look at the horse, don't look down, or you will end up there, heels down, don't raise up on your toes, don't slump your shoulders, close your hip angle, release with your reins, find your line, find your  takeoff spot, aaaahhhhh!!!!!  To much to much!  Anyway, we worked very hard, Lisa was beyond supportive, never rushed me, but pushed me when I needed it, gave me homework to do, and was there for every email and phone call, (sometimes in the ring when I was practicing!) and we went from poles on the ground, to cross rails, to a cross rail course, to bounces, verticals, oxers, in and outs, and more courses.  We made it practicing up to three foot, which was amazing and surprisingly fun!  Eventually we got to the point we were ready for our first all breed show.  We did the grasshopper course, and we made it through the course, and I didn't fall off, and found a bunch of things I needed to work on!  We continued all summer, with the end goal being Nationals in September.  We decided to head to our first hunter/jumper show in Delaware, Ohio, a couple weeks before Nationals.  I have to say that not to often do I get intimidated showing anymore, but when we pulled in and saw the four rings showing at one time, I was glad Lisa was there to take care of us!  We did the future hunter division, 18 inches, and we did very respectable, earning a couple 4ths, and a 5th place finish.  And then, we heard, we had WON one of our classes!  Yippiee!!  Talk about surprised and shocked!  I was so proud of us!  We had no intentions of even getting in the ribbons, let alone a first place out of 10+ entries!  Mike and I headed to Nationals with 9 Haflingers to show.  A Rock and I competed in a single 18 inch class for our 'warm up' class and then participated in the 2'3 division and knock down and out starting at 2'.  We navigated the course pretty well, the jitters got the best of me a couple of times, but Rock took every jump like he had been doing it all his life.  He made his lead changes, we got our lines, and most of our take off spots!  Our best finish was a second place!  That second place ribbon honestly means more to me than most of my National Championship!  We worked so hard, in a short amount of time, had a great instructor, and I personally conquered a fear on my favorite horse in the entire world who proved that he truly can do it all and do it well!  The first place team was our friend Rachel Cooper and the fabulous mare Like a Charm KCH, who have been competing together for many years, and they were on their 'A' game at Nationals, and looked fabulous.  They also ended up being the Division Champions!  Anyway, this is long, but just goes to show the special bond A Rock and I have, and the true athleticism, heart, and temperament he has to do whatever I ask of him.

  As you can tell by the pictures, we enjoy this very much and will continue to work on jumping for 2009.  The pictures all have things that show issues that I need to improve on as a rider, but  we have come so far, and so I wanted to share that we did it!