And again :-)
Jonathan turned up, tacked up, got on, trotted round the outside of the barn, took him in the school, did walk, trot and canter and then said "your turn now". He insisted that I got on him in the concrete aisle of the barn, so I put on my body protector for courage and up I got. He stood rock still for me to mount from the floor using the stirrup. I walked off down the barn and out into the arena. We walked and halted and then I tried to trot.
Jonathan has been riding him with an incredibly strong leg into a very supportive hand. I don't have hands to match, and in my effort to get Zip to trot I ended up kicking him, dropping the contact and leaving him totally confused about what he was supposed to do. It was a golden opportunity to cop a wobbler, but he didn't, he just stopped as I took up the rein.
I did manage to do some trot, but nothing like Jonathan had been getting him to do because I simply couldn't get him to go forward into the amount of contact that Jonathan was insisting I take up. But he behaved really well, and his first instinct seems to be to stop, not to run away. That is great, I can work with that at home in the safety of the barn until I feel secure enough to ask him to go forward, and he has learnt how to carry himself without so much supporting hand.
There is no reason not to bring him home, and we will fetch him tomorrow morning, which will give me time to ride him as soon as we have him home. I think it will be psychologically important for me to do that.
For the same reason that we are not fetching Zip today, Bungo has the day off. It's a crucial match this afternoon - Macc will stay in the football league or be demoted depending on the result of this one match :-0000 It'll be more nerve-wracking than riding Zip!
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 12:20 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Bungo? Where did that one come from?
Much rather have one that wants to stop instead of run off. Zip is going to be a star, I can feel it.
I know a lot of the big trainers seem to start horses off on contact and just keep them there from day one, working in a more upper level frame, etc. from the start.
I just don't do it that way, but it certainly does seem to work. I always thought a youngster should learn to stretch and lift his back muscles in a longer frame, and develop the strength to carry himself. But, as many horses as there are in the world, there are nearly as many techniques.
You are one lucky lady to have been able to find two such nice horses in a short span of time. I think Smartie was actually your guardian angel.
Zippy and Bungo - they are from Rainbow, the UK version of Sesame Street. Maybe you don't watch children's programmes :-)))?
Bungo is a bear who is not very bright. Actually I've just discovered in researching this for you that his name was Bungle! But Bungo really suits Jazz and at the moment it's taken over as his name!
Jean I'm with you on the contact. I have no intention of keeping him on that contact as Jonathan has told me to do. It's far too short for a three year old. Although he's producing a fabulous length of stride and "sit" from it you can see what an enormous strain he is putting on his back legs when he is too weak to take it. The challenge is to work out how to let him "off the hook" a little without scaring either myself or him.
C
Yea, Macc! That must have been one neverwracking game. 1-1 in the last minutes. Way to go!!
I'm not quite sure what the total significance of staying in the league means, but I guess it has to do with both whom you play and the overall status of the games?
Anyhow, I sure hope you have some fingernails and nerves left after sitting through that one. Congrats to your team!
I like the Bungo nickname. It's always funny how we come up with these endearing pet names for our animals. It's a wonder they answer to us at all. *G*
I guess it would be the difference between you watching national baseball or football team and watching one that only just manages to compete in the local league. There's an AWFUL lot of money at stake for the club so once you are out of the league it is difficult to get enough money to buy the players to get back into it. It's a huge deal to a club. But Jean, you are AMAZING. You not only found the result, but you were interested enough in what it was to go and find it!!!!
Our draw was not good enough to keep us up, the result depended also on Wrexham winning against Boston. All three clubs fighting relegation except the one we played, Nottingham County. Thankfully, Wrexham came up trumps.
C
oops, must go and look all that up caroline.... my local team got promoted of course, under keano and quinnie.... not that i'm a supporter, but i think they've all done really well! (jean, that's sunderland....)
and back to the topic, well done on the zip front, as you say, get on him when you get him back .... way to go!
I did Claire, I did it!
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