Ruminations

I have been musing about Tia for a day now and come to some conclusions. Bear with me, for those of you who do not know me well some of my conclusions may seem a bit precipitate, but trust me, they aren't. I know my own faults, and the principle one for eventing is that I cannot cope with showjumping a horse who I feel might stop. It just blows my confidence. I can cope with any amount of wild jumping, but not refusals. I once had a mare with a very similar attitude to Tia. If she felt your lack of confidence for the minutest instant she would stop. I only just sold her before I ruined her totally and I vowed never to do the same again to another horse.

I know that I can get Tia to do Intro perfectly well, and that she is capable of much, much more. But I am NOT capable of getting her there. Her foibles perfectly match my own. Together we will be a disaster every time the showjumps go up in height. I'll hestitate, she'll stop and around we'll go again. So what I plan to do is to get her going really well at Intro, and then I will sell her. I probably won't ever buy another mare, I think it is time to admit that I simply don't have the sensitivity, or skill, or character, or something to get the best out of them. I'm better with boys.

Today I jumped her at home. I started with a tiny cross pole and she refused it. That was great, because if they don't give you the same problems at home, you can't work on them. When she did jump it, she was wildly over-jumping and shooting off on landing. I got her to do it nicely and then put a back bar on it at 80cm (2ft 7). She utterly refused to have anything to do with it. I called Allan into the arena and she jumped it straight away - what was THAT about? Anyway, I carried on jumping it until she was doing it confidently and calmly and stopped. Later in the week we'll do it again and the height can go up. I plan to have her jumping 3ft 6 before Malpas in 3 weeks, so that 2ft 11 will look absolutely tiny to both of us.

The arena surface was superb to jump on. I never expected to be able to jump on it at all, but the landing was fanstastic. Tetley schooled brilliantly on it too and loves it. He almost has flying change now. I had to get it by taking counter canter down the long side and changing on the corner. If I cantered a bend first, he just lost his balance. And of course he felt totally sound and looks totally sound in the field too. In fact, the heat has increased in his "good" hock and is now either more than or the same as the "bad" one. Things are evening up and working through I think. I may take him to the farm ride soon, he'd just love it.

Caddy is definitely growing. And definitely developing a personality and it's a little cheeky and a little obstinate (but not much!) He still does a circle as several straight lines joined up. I have also been forced to strap his mouth shut, his yawing at the bit is completely excessive. He is desperately green, poking his nose whenever he can and he is going to take a bit of time to come right. So I have decided to school him for a few minutes most days, otherwise when I want him to jump in October indoors, he won't have the basic groundwork to be able to do it!

Let me know what you think about Tia.

C.