Boinnnnggggg!

Spring has sprung in a big way today. It's glorious out there! I have Tetley out without a rug on, and for the first time since he came home I'm not ashamed for him to be seen naked in public :-)
Zip is also rugless but I'm afraid that I couldn't face all three of them coming in covered with mud, so Jazz has a brand spanking new lightweight on. I would have put a lightweight on Tetley too, but they are in the lorry waiting to go to Mary Lou, and the lorry is in the garage for MOT work.

I rode Tetley on the outdoor, another first for this year. You may remember that it's a grit surface and quite hard work for them. He clearly found it was taking some energy, so we stayed in walk (except when he cantered to avoid walking properly :-) and he did some really classy lateral work in the bigger space.

I took Jazz out. Not only that, but for the first time we went up onto my neighbours fields for a whizz. We had to open and shut a number of gates, and to my surprise he did them all, even a phenomenally difficult one with a chain weighted down with seven padlocks. I really didn't expect that! The only one we didn't do is broken and not really possible to do from horseback. He wasn't an angel, several of them took many tries and once or twice he got quite cross. But he did them all and he got the idea better with each one.

To get up to the galloping fields, he had to go up a very stony track, and he is as sound as a bell on it. His feet are great. At the top there is a flat bit with a few poles lying around and two tyre fences. I walked him over all the poles, then I took him to look at a tyre fence - and he popped over it! You could have knocked me down with a feather. I took him to look at the other one, downhill slightly, and he almost did that too, and then did it very sweetly after having a look. He seemed to really WANT to jump, which is very very very very very good news!

We had to go through a stream, which he was sticky about . Then two horses that were grazingin the field came and "helped". They certainly gave him a lead through the mud and rocks, but there was no space on the far side for all three horses, and one was threatening to kick. It was a hairy moment, but I got off and opened the rickety old gate and we were all fine. Jazz really behaved very well for a baby in that situation.

We had a whizz of about 1/4 mile, slightly uphill. He was breathing badly and hanging badly to the left. I circled to "set him up" and the second half was better balanced but just as noisy. Slow too. Tetley is always very noisy in his wind the first few bits of fast work he does, so I tried not to worry too much. I was a bit more worried about the lack of oomph. I walked him back down, popped a fallen log on the way (first time of asking too) and then did another half length whizz. This time, his pace was much better, much faster, much more balanced. I hope that a bit more fitness will give him enough breath to manage with, and that the initial lack of a gallop was only that he has never been asked to do it before. Fingers crossed.

On the way back we did the tyres again and then headed for home. What a good day.

C

ps Zip is fine too!