It's time to accept that I've bought the wrong horse!

Now don't get me wrong. I have a fabulous horse who is immensely physically talented. And he has a character that you'd want to live in the house with you. And he turns heads with his looks everywhere I take him. But if I wanted a horse to compete seriously on this season, I bought the wrong horse!

That's the trouble with buying youngsters. You pay less, but you don't know what you've got until you've had it home 6 months. And let's be frank, I have a stroppy, opinionated, defensive bit-of-a-coward. I love him to bits, but I write this warts and all because the sanctimonious "experts" who often write in forums make it sound as though nothing ever goes wrong for them, or that all horses are saints and it's only riders that make problems. It makes other people who read it feel like failures just for being normal. I hope my writing makes other people feel better, not worse!

Jazz had a day today just like he had in the showjumping training immediately before we got a breakthrough. He just decided that today he knew what he was doing with this cross country stuff, and today he just wasn't going to do it. He "took fright" at fence two (having already stopped at fence one adn the warm up fences) which he had been jumping without any issues at all last Thursday. From then on he was turning for home, rearing, bucking when I hit him, and refusing to even approach the fence. When I did get him over it, by jumping the 1ft and the 2 ft options first, he threw the same paddy at fence 3, and then fence 4.

At that point I lost my rag. Superhubby told me what to do and I yelled at him "if it's that easy YOU TRY IT!" Superhubby said that it was clear that today Jazz had decided not to jump and that if we were to make the same cross country breakthrough as we had showjumping, that he had to understand that this was simply not optional.

Anyway, when I had calmed down enough I did what he said and picked 5 tiny fences and forced Jazz to jump them. And I mean forced for a couple of them. Rails a foot high and he had to be hit to make him do them. He was in a seriously bad mood! (Yes, I'm sure there was nothing physical bothering him, except maybe that it was warm.) I walked him round for 10 minutes then to get his breath back, and then did the course. He was fine, jumping everything until I put in a sheep feeder that I hadn't jumped last time, when he tried it on again. He didn't win.

Superhubby and I then conferred and decided that the real breakthrough would come if we went round again. So we went and sat on a warm-up fence in the sun for 20 minute until Jazz's breathing was right back to normal. Then I went round again, and this time he was a lot better. I even put him at the coffin, which was a good pre-novice fence with solid rails in and out and a very substantial ditch in the middle. I had done this already, last week and today, as a half coffin with the ditch as the first bit. He did stop for a look the first time, but I turned him without telling him off and he popped through it really nicely the second time. For such a big and complicated fence I was really pleased. It shows though, that his resistances are all in his mind, because once you have persuaded him that he really has to jump when he's told to, he can do anything you put him at with ease. And just to illustrate that he promptly tried to run out again at the sheep feeder!

We are certainly over any problems with fence construction and dressing. He has a minor issue with fences with a ditch in front which we still need to work on. But most of what is left now is in his head about whether he can be bothered to make the effort. He's all for an easy life, and he has yet to learn that this is exciting, or to accept that he has to do it even if he doesn't think it is exciting. I hope that will come ..... we'll see!

Zippy was a sweetie. He didn't want to have his breastplate or bridle on this morning. This isn't unusual, but he was worse than usual, walking away and stopping me getting the breastplate fastened around his neck. In the end, I got sick of him waving his bottom in my face, and smacked it with the breastplate each time he did it. It took three goes, and then he worked out that it would be easier to have it around his neck than be smacked on the bum with it.

The challenge after a spell like that is to believe that the silly behaviour will not translate into when he is ridden. Because it never does! He was great. He stood still at the second attempt to be mounted. We did a little leg yield, a bit of trot. He was lazy and had to be tickled with the whip to go forward. Just a lovely quiet three year old, what more could we wish for :-) ?

Whew, I'm worn out now, that training with Jazz took it out of me almost as much as him. I'm off for a lie down!

C

ps he's stopped pawing in the lorry - the board that stops him making all the noise has obviously ruined the fun and it's not worth doing any more! 10/10 to SH again.