A lovely hack!
I've had a super 45 minutes hack on Jazz this morning. His napping is now half a second instead of half an hour, which I'm sure you will agree is a slight improvement :-) He seemed to really enjoy himself. He even agreed to walk through some puddles, which is great for an eventer - we need him to like water! I had no trouble with him at all, in fact he was quite happy to carry on when I decided to turn for home.
Tia did what she always does after not being ridden for 3 days. She was stiff and totally reluctant to get her shoulders up and work. She resented being told to move forwards more, and ran forwards. She resented being stopped from running forwards. She twisted, turned, shrank and did everything she could to evade doing a decent walk. In the end I gave up and tried for a jog instead, which I could keep supple and rounded quite easily. Then eventually of course she worked out that walk would be easier than the jog. To my huge surprise, when we tried some canter transitions, they were probably as good as she can do.
When I turned her out, I began to wonder about the high protein food that I have her on - she went crazy in that mad March hare way that they do. Bucking, kicking, jumping, rearing. It's lovely to watch but I have never seen her do anything remotely like it before. I will be using the coarse mix more slowly I think!
It's a glorious day here now, with no wind and a crystal clear blue sky. There is a buzzard hunting just outside my window, and when I rode this morning the hillside was perfectly reflected in the reservoir as if it was a mirror. I think I should go for a walk before the sun sets on the shortest day of the year. From now on, there's more daylight every day, now isn't that a nice thought for all of us living in the northern hemisphere :-)
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 1:37 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Beautiful description of the hills and lake. Even better that Jazz seemed to be enjoying the view too. What a good youngster to go out so bravely after so many false starts.
It's an interesting combination of confidence on both your parts and this time, I think your determination made up for his lack of confidence. I has to be hard for a youngster to go out into the big wide world after being broken and trained in a fenced in school. I know Tucker worries everytime we step beyond the gate--although he's getting better.
Jazz's rapid change of heart bodes well for his future as an eventer. The best teams need a confident horse who has confidence in his rider--so neither one is afraid to share the decisions on course. Jazz is learning you are a strong and capable partner who is going to tell him what to do should he falter.
Good for Tia too. If the canter departs were good after those days off, you may well have finally broken through.
weren't you freezing?
tell jazz to send molly instructions on how to do that on her own please...
Certainly been a cold one but nice and bright.
Its great he's happier hacking out now.Alot of people would be hacking with another horse to help build confidence but he's getting that from you which has to be a good thing for your future relationship.
Polo can be spooky out on his own,usually for the first 10mins or so .This really gets me riled cos he didnt used to be like that until a past yard owners son spent his spare time terrorising him in the field,unbeknown to me!:(
The weird thing is stick him in the trailer and take him somewhere new and he's fine!?!
Claire gets some Mountain horse thermal chaps...they are amazingly warm to ride in,mine are on for most of the winter;)
I'm used to the cold Claire, I don't feel it any more. I used to dress up in double gloves, double hats, scarves, ski trousers and now I don't use any of it! The more you do in the cold, the less you feel it, and living in a place like this it's not an option :-)))
I asked three friends to come and ride Tia out with me and Jazz and none of them managed it. So in the end I had no option. But I am, as you suggest Jean, mentally a very strong rider and I convince them that they are safe by the strength of my own convictions. Jazz's problem was almost entirely not wanting to be on his own and almost nothing to do with being scared of where he was going, so in the end it was easy because he is so darned curious about everywhere and everything :-)
Nicola I have reckoned for a long time that it is change that they are programmed to spot. In a new place there can be no change, so they are all right. Take them somewhere they already know and they spot every leaf that's in a different place than last time :-)!
C
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