Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhh!!!!

Lets cut straight to the chase. She was eliminated for three refusals at fence 3 of the showjumping. There were no excuses. The first was a dirty stop when she was spot on, and two and three she would not even approach it to jump it. It was away from the collecting ring, but for heaven's sake she had been jumping much bigger fences with great style and enthusiasm in the collecting ring. She was totally on her toes from the moment she went over to the sj area and heard the xc PA system, jogging and very excited. I just don't think her mind was on the job. And having decided "no" she wasn't going to be bullied into going over it under any circumstances. I brought her out and spent 15 minutes with the warm-up fences making her approach quietly, jump quietly, land and move off quietly and then stop straight. It took a long time to get her to listen, but I think it was well worth it. Thankfully there weren't many waiting to jump, so I was able to do it. Another day I would have had to leave and take her home without being able to correct her.

Now I have almost no hope of getting to jump a pre-novice course this season. She has missed another xc run at Intro and she needs the experience. And a horse which quits at the last moment is a total mismatch with my own showjumping confidence problems. And one that you can't push around, like most mares, just finishes things off nicely! She is obviously going to take some time to learn that jumping at speed is fun, but jumping in an arena takes more discipline. What a turn-up for the books this is, eh, considering how she started? no one would guess that 8 week ago I was writing that she was a natural showjumper and hated cross country. She was so up for that xc today!

I'm so grateful for the arena (did I tell you I'd made one???? :-) If I didn't have it I'd now have to spend a couple of hundred pounds getting to and hiring a training course before her next event. Instead, she's going to be out there every other day jumping fences until 95 cm (3ft 1 inch) looks absolutely tiny to her. I have 3 weeks til Malpas and we'll see what we can do. Are you all along for the ride?????

C

Foot fetish postscript.

Caddy's feet, unrestrained by shoes, have taken on what is currently their "natural" shape. And he has a lamellar wedge on the toe of all four feet. No wonder he was sore when the shoes came off even though his feet were hard and deeply concave - they are not properly attached to his bones at the front two inches. I believe this shows that he had an intolerance of the hugely calorific cereal diet that they will have had him on for racing. High carbohydrate, low fibre, probably 6 kilos a day or more. I think he will do a lot better on my high fibre diet here with ad lib haylage and a few ordinary cubes. And how surprising is it that he didn't live up to his race breeding if his feet hurt all the time?