OK, so I am all excited because my ditch and bank neighbor was here
today and we were plotting.
It looks like my bank is going to work out as a 3'3" face, a 2'11" face,
a 2'7" face, and then a wee little 2' face. Since it is off the side of
the riding ring it was interesting working out how to make the tracks,
but I found a good line to the Training and Novice faces coming around
the fence line and making a turn for the bank, plenty of room, and for
the baby step we will trot the opposite direction and step up. To get to
the BN bank we will have to cut across the arena, but since my ring
fence is a tem****ary one this is no big deal. If I can ever afford
everything in my life, I'll fence it with a set of double gates to open
up so cutting across will still be no big deal. If you think of the bank
as the letter P, the three bigger banks will be part of the loop and the
baby bank is coming up the stem across and then trotting down the sloped
hill that is not banked up at the very top of the P. The arena is along
the stem of the P. The reason I am putting it there is that the leveling
of the arena made a little embankment there and it won't be horrid to
make it into a good embankment and add some fill and turn it into a good
bank. It's half way there already!
So the ditches are planned two sets, one by the far end of the ring
where it has a nice flat approach and get away and one down in my
crease with a slope down to and a slope up away (sizes will be 2 1/2
feet, one side revetted, then a 3 foot and 4 foot fully revetted). In
the slope area I have three bush/trees that would make nice natural
uprights for a jump. I am planning on putting a low hanging log with a
natural ditch scooped out underneath, very small, and then a small fully
revetted trakenher. Something very inviting and training oriented, not a
competition sort of trakenher. Moonlight was pretty much a peach about
them, Belles wants to look at them. I am not putting anything too big on
my property because I want jumps I can school alone safely, but I'd love
to have something to help Belles 'get' it with trakehners.
Anyone have suggestions on width of ditch and height of log for my faux
and small trakehner?
It looks like I am likely to get my hands on about 10-12 fourteen foot
logs for my XC jumps, many nice fat straight ones. I am planning to do
some rocks under some, mulch under some, some plain, and of course some
the mini-trakenhers. I figure I will set some BN and N variations, get
some where I can do a bending line over two for a N combination, or just
do one of the two for BN.
My ditch and bank guy said he has a line on a really nice huge fat lay
on the ground and jump over it sort of log he is trying to get for me,
too!
Thanks for any suggestions on my trakenher plans . . .
Eileen Morgan
The Mare's Nest
http://www.themaresnest.com
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