On top form today!

I took Jazz out for a little hack even though the weather was cold and a bit damp. It took, oooooooooooooooh, thirty ......................... seconds for him to leave the yard. He just stopped and waited until I flicked him with the whip and then he went. We went up the hill, the direction he hasn't yet been, and got to see a couple of real heavy lorries pass by on the main road. He is completely unconcerned. He spooked a bit at a sign which was waving around madly in the wind - but I can't blame him for that, it was flourescent green and about 2 ft square and he had to pass within eight feet of it. Better than that, when I took him into the field, he had to pass right by it to get in at the gate.

He was absolutely fine on the open fields, apart from the sheep. They are a big flock, maybe 80, pedigree sheep. They have white noses, black faces and legs, white bodies, curly horns and amber eyes. Cute as buttons :-) And they LOVED Jazz. They were following him like they were rats and he was the Pied Piper of Hamlin :-) He could have gone mad at that, but all he did was jog a bit and look behind him, and who can blame him! I've never been completely mobbed by a herd of pretty sheep before :-)

We had a canter. He set off very powerful and felt magnificent. For about eight strides! Then he slowed, and by the time we had done 100 yards, he was puffed. OK, it was slightly uphill and on energy-sapping wet ground, but he certainly hasn't done anything like it before. Now that I can hack out, we can start getting him much more fit. It's going to take a while :-)

His feet are too flat to do too much road work without boots yet. But there is a markedly different shape foot coming in at the coronet. Just goes to show, doesn't it, that it's not just the shoes that cause changes, it's the trim? He's only had shoes on for less than four weeks in his life, so this change is due to my trimming. It's a much more upright foot, and I expect the concavity to increase as it grows down. Meanwhile I may need boots at least some of the time.

Best of all today was coming back down to home. As what I thought would be a HUGE challenge, I asked him to go straight past the gateway to the yard. And he did. No arguing, hardly even a hint of "but home's that way..". And what's more, when I asked him to stop so we could turn and go home, it took three attempts to persuade him not to carry on! What a turnaround that is, eh????

Tia was an absolute sweetie today and we had a lovely hack. She is finally able to keep her shoulders up for a whole ride, and her walk when she does that is a lovely swinging pace. I think she has gone up a whole notch in physical ability lately and I'm really pleased with her.

I'm off to the footie now to reward Sh for his amazing work on the lorry. Tomorrow we're going to test Jazz with a journey somewhere. I'm not sure where yet.

C