More 5 year old stuff!!
I got home in time to ride Jazz but not to take him cross country schooling. I tried to school him on the outdoor in a snaffle. He lasted about ten minutes until he decided that the trot stuff I was asking for was too much effort and he left the arena. I put a pelham on him and took him out to try again. We got the trot, brilliant. And some super lengthening. We'd only done about 20 minutes in total, so I asked for walk to canter right. He would not give it. He was stopping and refusing to carry on, and finally he went to the entrance and reared. I got him to carry on a couple of times by turning him left not right, but it was all beginning to feel too fraught, so I took him indoors.
Indoors, he was refusing to work, not going forwards with the pelham and he ended up rearing and boxing the cladding on the barn, at least six feet off the floor. He was practically verticle :-0 I waited until he came down again and then made him work. He kept on going to the same corner and refusing to move. I kept on waiting until he moved again and then made him work again. If I tried to move him before he was ready he just reared.
He finally realised that he wasn't going to get to stop until he gave me walk to canter, came down to a nice walk again, and then walked on around the corner instead of sticking his head into it and pawing madly at the floor in temper. So we stopped.
This is now clearly all about him deciding that if he finds something too much effort then he doesn't believe that he has to carry on. I hope that he will have got it into his head a bit today that he cannot bully me and get away with it, and that I have more options up my sleeve to make life difficult for him until he has some respect. I wonder how long it will be before I can work on the outdoor with him? When he's 6? 10? Never?
I am away now for two days and then on Friday afternoon I'll be squeezing in a cross country training session if the weather allows.
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 9:11 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
One more question....are you sure Jazz is totally gelded? Just a thought. Some of his stuff smacks of stallion behavior. I had a friend who had a horse that pulled a lot of the rearing stuff. Turned out he still had a testicle hidden away. Just keep it in the back of your mind should this nonsense not start to resolve itself with your solutions.
In the meantime...what a brat. I guess that snaffle just isn't going to work. It the pelham a legal bit in the dessage over there? I should hope he wouldn't decide to just leave the dressage arena during one of his tantrums.
You certainly do have the determination and skills to deal with his nonsense, though. Sooner or later, he should figure out you are not one to fool around with.
I don't think Jazz's behaviour is that uncommon. A friend of mine has a wonderfully talented Welsh D who at the age of 11 will rear up and sit there for several seconds when he decides he's had enough. This is a horse that's classically trained, has everything he needs and can work wonderfully. Just sometimes he decides not to. It's a case of his owner working him through it, just as you're doing with Jazz.
Bebe used to fling herself around the school at 40mph when she'd decided she'd done enough. One time she was so bad I actually got off and left her in there as I completely lost it and decided I needed to be away from her! Thankfully she's given that one up, took a couple of years though.
He's smart and will catch on that it's just easier to do as he's asked - eventually!
i wonder two things
1. whether you should start him in a double bridle?
2. whether someone like richard maxwell might be of use? (she says, having found him of excellent use ...but seriously! wouldn't be a bad idea ....). all this rearing and battling is worrying, it's not something you want to continue....
These are the same types of behaviours/battles ive had with Polo..although he doesnt rear he bucks.
I was convinced it was his back for years and made every excuse under the sun for him but it totally boils down to him being lazy and pig-headed.If its something he finds hard he wants out..simple as that really.Just took me a long time to realise it;0
Ive just had to keep work through it with him .Our second lesson with Ryan contained at least 8/9 bucks..well im getting YOU off broncs.Luckily I stayed on a kept him working and didnt let up on him.
Recently I swear he's really starting to enjoy his schooling and lessons trying to turn into the school when going past.
Interesting Jean as Polo is VERY riggy which im sure has made him a much more difficult horse.
Keep plugging away,the penny will drop........eventually!
Nicola
Jean the pelham is not legal for dressage and the double can't be used until Intermediate eventing and Elementary dressage. But for eventing I can warm up in any jumping permissible tack, so I can, and might, warm up in a pelham.
Amanda I'm glad I'm not alone.
Claire I'm obviously not explaining properly. I relish these battles. I have no intention of letting Richard Maxwell cure him - I'm going to do that myself!!
Nicola, I'll be sharing notes with you on the riggy stuff!
My plan now is to stop the rearing by not provoking the behaviour that causes it, but to put him back to work every time he wants to stop, by getting off and lunging him.
I am in Kent right now, but I rode Zip this morning before I left and he was a total sweetie. I've let my stirrups down a hole because he's grown, and my leg felt wonderfully positioned on him.
I'm back on Friday, still planning a cross country session.
Post a Comment
<< Home