Gotcha!

This morning I rode Jazz in the new bit that I have bought him. It’s very thin, so he really feels it if he tries to run away with me. It works a treat, just gives me that little bit more control that I need. He is much more respectful of it than the French link. Of course I don’t have to "use" it most of the time, and I like my horses not to lean into the bit, so it is a perfect solution as far as I can tell at the moment. I’m hoping not to be in the indoor arena on Sunday, otherwise we won’t get a true test.

Jazz didn’t want to work today and was most obstructive to the left in walk. In fact, he wouldn’t give me anything but a lumpy pace with no real bend. I finally got him by insisting on him staying straight through the shoulders, and ignoring whether that meant we were parallel with the wall or not. He finally did two ENORMOUS gulps, and gave me some lovely work.

Zippy next. I tried leaning over his back (no saddle) in the barn but he just kept walking away. He wasn’t upset or frightened, he just moved gently away and let me slide off. So I decided to take him into his stable and try there. Huh! He had learnt nothing from two days ago and gave me exactly the same problem picking out his feet. I left him in there twice, once to clean Tia off and the second time to tack her up. Finally I caught him (he’d be running away from me!) and did the feet with no trouble. Tia also went through a phase of running away from me in the barn when she first had to respond to proper discipline. Now, I can’t get her to leave my side:- ), so I know Zip won’t always think I’m a monster.

In the stable, I leaned over Zip’s back from both sides as he stood with his head over his door and he was completely unconcerned. He is nothing at all like Smartie, a fact of which I am immensely grateful!! I have never backed a horse inside a stable before, but I know that plenty of people do. Usually, I would prefer the space in the barn to be able to get away in case anything happens(but I would be terrified of doing it without walls!) In Zip’s case, I think it will be much easier if we can restrict his space and stop him walking away without having to hang on to the reins. I wouldn’t contemplate it if I though he was going to explode, but he’s giving no sign of that at all. I think he will stay much calmer about the whole thing if he understands that we aren’t going anywhere.

Tia was a good girl today too, so everyone is in my good books. She got unhapy about canter left, so I halted her and let here stand quietly and work out what was going wrong. She really felt like she was confused which leg to go off on. After a quiet pat, we started again and this time I felt her really think about it before quietly popping into left canter. Good girl!

The louse powder has worked a treat too, and a whole load of scurf fell out of Zippy’s mane this morning – actually tiny little louse eggs. Not as unpleasant as it sounds, just like pale yellow dust, that’s all. And they all smell so gorgeous – menthol horses!!

Jazz is perfectly sound. It must just have been a tiny bit of thrush in that frog. I have to confess that out of sheer laziness and a desire not to have a fistful of wet mud every night, I gave up picking out their feet when they came in at night. Clearly that was a wrong move and I have now started again. I’ll take a slap on the wrist for that one!

C