Have I got it this time???????
Mole score is currently 11 nil to the mole. But yesterday I double spiked the hill with TWO balls and we'll see if that cracks it. No hill today, but that's been the pattern lately, every two days.
I had four fences out in the arena today and Tia was completely bamboozled by being asked to do more than one fence, and by not knowing which one she was going to be asked to do until we turned for it. She started to panic and throw herself at them, or just hit them. We finished up OK but it wasn't a happy session. She is a horse who gets a model in her head, and if you change the model she needs time to adjust to the new one. She is certainly a mismatch with my personality, she needs someone less demanding than me, I just upset her by not giving her enough time to adjust and end up cross with myself.
Tetley was lovely. He did some really nice trot, carrying me and really using his back. That was only after a few minutes warm-up too. And he made a creditable stab at lengthened strides. Then he did some truly superb canter, so round and bouncy while also being so easy to sit to. And capped that off with some laudable efforts at flying change. So I stopped after only 20 minutes or so because he had tried hard enough.
I may be imagining it, but I think he is changing shape. He has had a lopsided bottom since he had a sacroiliac problem at 5 years old. The right hand side bum muscle is bigger than the left. Well..... I'm pretty sure that he is evening up. So maybe the spavin was also partly responsible for the uneven muscles? He certainly used to rest one of his back legs and never ever the other, and since he has been shoeless he will rest either one.
Caddy was a sweetie pie too. He is still clueless, but not as clueless as he was! And he seems to have Tetley's temperament - "I haven't a clue what you want but I'll offer you something and see if that'll do". He already has some gentle shoulder in. I asked for shoulder fore (just an inside neck bend really) and his shoulders moved and he engaged his back (I could feel it go "clunk" :-) and did 3 strides of shoulder in which I praised madly. He also does leg yield, which I have only tried once before but he's got it already. His trot transition is calm but the trot itelf is DIRE!! Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. I'm sure we can improve that at bit :-) He's so calm that he is a joy to teach, quite a contrast to Tia.
I'm trying to decide now whether to pop a small fence or two on Tia tomorrow to get her totally confident, or let her have a rest day. I'll sleep on that I think.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 5:40 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Tia just needs experience. A course is a heck of a lot different than one or two fences. You might set up a little course with very low jumps, even crossrails. Then, just take varied approaches and combinations. She needs to understand she can jump from wherever you put her and gain confidence in both your decisions and her ability.
It doesn't help that you have a little hang up about stadium/show jumping yourself. You can help her a bit by focusing clearly on the fence you want to jump and concentrate for her. Establishing a partnership for confident jumping can take a long time with a green horse that's a little uncertain. If you aren't absolutely confident yourself, it's a bit of a challenge. That's why the little fences and lots of repetition are so very important.
Caddy sounds like a real character. I like his laid back attitude. It sounds as if he has some confidence in himself. That's a big plus.
I would agree with Jean, that Tia just needs to get used to jumping a small course and that it becomes an ordinary thing to do. It is a bit of a pain to have to keep building a course and putting up and taking down fences, especially if you want to use the arena for flatwork as well.
Is your event going ahead? You must have had more rain than here in the Midlands. We haven't seen more than a drop for weeks, and with the high temperatures the ground is so cracked on the stubble fields it is impossible to do more than a walk as the cracks are so large a hoof might go down! The ground is also like concrete. Gatcombe had had more rain and there was quite a good covering of grass.
Judith
Jean my fears don't start until well over 3 feet these days. These problems are, as Judith says, pure inexperience on Tia's part. She is very concerned about he lack of space, which thankfully will be no problem tomorrow as the rings are always on the large side.
It's on Judith and it will probably be like concrete even if they have spiked the course.
C
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