Charlotte,
Apology accepted, no offense taken. Larry and Cal are both the cream of the crop when it comes to jumping. You got it exactly right on what it takes to be a great mini jumper. There are minis who just love to jump. Cal's sire, Iona Early Riser, was like that, but he was so excited doing it, he was hard to control and keep up with. He would have been the best if they offered "Liberty Jumping", as he would go over jumps on his own, with no handler, if allowed out in a paddock with jumps. Unfortunately, back in the mid '90's when we were jumping Riser, Ashley wasn't yet a teenager and physically was not up to handling such an ethusiastic horse in the show ring.
Ashley has worked with many other horses and can tell the ones that either will love jumping or hate it in short order. There are some that will become good jumpers, but not until they have learned to trust the trainer/handler. It is important for the trainer/handler to stay in tune with the horse. The horse must know that the handler won't interfere with his natural jumping style and posture. There are times where someone has come to Ashley to "fix" their jumper and she winds up working mostly with the handler. The horse must trust the handler, but the handler must also trust the horse. Its interesting to carefully watch the videos of jumping classes and pick up the subtle cues that the handler can give that may send the horse an unintended message or a seemingly small action which interferes with the horses natural jumping posture or style. In all of our jumping photos taken at shows, not only is Cal's positioning as he goes over the jump identical from event to event, but so is Ashley's. If Ashley wasn't wearing different clothing, you would think they are all the same photo.
Another interesting note is that Cal loves applause from the crowd. Whether at a show or a demonstration, if he gets applause from the crowd, he becomes even more enthusiastic. I'm not sure if other Jumpers get motivation from that, but Cal sure does.
