We had our first hack!

I decided that I was working Zip indoors just waiting for him to do something stupid. And that we might be better off if I actually rode him outside, where at least he would have something to look at instead of wondering why I was getting uptight. So I led him down the hill a hundred yards or so to a track, undid the lock on the gate and went in leaving the gate open, just in case. I used a nearby drystone wall as a mounting block, got on, and rode him down the track and back up again, about 5 minutes in total. He looked at a squirrel and a pheasant but he felt very relaxed in his back. I feel as if I would get plenty of warning if he tensed up, it would be such an obvious change under my seat.

Having work to do seems to be changing Zippy's character. He seems to be getting quieter and more contented, and is a lot more touchy-feely than he used to be, coming to me for a sniff and a stroke. It is almost as if he didn't understand his place in life and now he realises that he has a job to do, just like Jazz, and that there is a role for him. Strange, but that's how it feels.

When we got back from the farm ride, I saw him from a short distance away standing in the yard and he did look very run-up and very young. I shall do no more than a few minutes a day until he has grown into himself again. He did lose a bit of weight at Jonathan's but he always had a net of good haylage to eat. He may have been a bit stressed (he didn't look it) but he is probably also growing again. Whatever, he's not strong enough to do any serious work, not that I believe in "serious work" for 3 year olds anyway.

Jazz and the farm ride? Well he keeps me on my toes, doesn't he :-) ??? We have reached a new stage and he needed riding in a different way again today. He jumped everything first time, including the rolltop early on that always caused him a problem and he went into the farm ride water from the right direction for the first time too. Then after about 6 or 8 jumps, he started to drop to trot in front of the fence. That is new. Trot in yes, canter in yes, canter in and drop to trot no.

I have a friend with a nine year old, incidentally a chestnut warmblood with 4 white legs too, who does affiliated novice courses by dropping to trot in front of the fences :-0 He is perfectly capable of jumping a huge fence from a trot, and he knows it, so he slows down to have a look, even after four seasons of competition. Well I'm blowed if I'm going to go into novice fences at a trot, so I figured that it was time to start pushing Jazz on and making him take the fence on. When I knew that there was a fence coming up around a corner, I cantered before the corner and actually speeded up on the approach and made him attack the fences. I had to kick him on at first, but in no time at all he was having a whale of a time jumping everything from a cross country speed instead of showjumping them. He didn't refuse at one fence on the ride, and we did all the big options after the first three fences.

There will probably be another phase to go yet, where he will get totally cocky and rip the reins out of my hands to get to the fence before I want to. I'll deal with that one when it happens!

He needs, I think, two more sessions cross country, and two more showjumping, and he will be ready to do an Intro. Then we are in his hands as to whether he is going to throw his toys out of his pram just because the fences look different, or whether he is going to let me persuade him to attack them. We have a trial run at a local Riding Club this Sunday, which will be a fascinating experiment. I'm really looking forward to it!

C.

ps I've had a really lovely email from Holly and Tia, saying she has been doing a lot of gridwork (Jean :-) and that they have got Tia doing a lovely short showjumping canter. The trainer apparently rates her jumping and her paces for dressage and it's quite obvious that Holly loves her to bits.