Almost!

I got on Zip today and he almost boiled over - you know that point where you heat milk and it's about to foam up and over the top of the saucepan? - that's where he was! I have no idea why - perhaps it was that I had the door of the barn open, so he knew that we were about to go out on a hack? Anyway, I sent him on into a walk and he calmed immediately, but we were a fraction of a millimetre off an explosion :-0 I am glad that I have chosen to back him this year, he's going to be far too sharp to have allowed him to get any bigger without understanding what life's about.

We went out for a half hour's hack and when he got back he was very tired. He worked 10 minutes yesterday of course, and two days in a row is clearly enough for him at the moment. He was a little spooky on the ride, but nothing more than expected of him at his age. He was unfazed by several motorbikes, including some very noisy scramblers. Cars and pushbikes hold no fears for him, and four deer (which would have sent Scooby skywards) were of very little interest to him. Personally, I thought they were delightful :-)

He was unconcerned about turning for home and tried to carry on. When we got home, tired as he was, he tried to carry on past the gate instead of turning in. He's obviously very adventurous.

I schooled Jazz on the outdoor, which is in surprisingly good shape considering the amount of rain. He tried three times to leave the arena, but no time was anything of the attempts serious, so that was a huge improvement. We did some walk, shoulder in, travers and then had a relax. Then we did some trot where he was very strong and I had to keep half halting to bring him back into balance. Once he had settled, we tried some lengthening and got some definite change of pace, which is all I want at this stage. Then another relax.

We tried walk to canter and he was OK on the right but got extremely strong on the left. I realised that he was completely out of balance because he was not going forwards in the walk. I tried to send him on into the walk but he did not completely release his back. So I put him on an eight metre walk circle. Half way around the circle, if you hold the shoulders straight, his back "clicks" into a relaxed position. I leg yielded from that to the track and took canter and bingo, there it was. He could only hold it six strides, so we did six strides and came back to trot. We repeated it a couple of times to prove it was no fluke and then stopped on a good note.

Jazz's withers have risen and he has gone down a gullet plate in size. I put the narrower gullet back in Zip's too because it was too unstable with the wider one. Thank goodness for adjustable saddles otherwise changing them would be costing me a fortune.

Has anyone else tried the new Easy Plait thingies that have just been launched on 4dobbin.com? I've got some, and I have to say that after a couple of practices, they look like a marvellous solution to plaiting. They cost a lot for what they are - a bit of furry material around a loop of wire, but they really do produce a neat looking plait in seconds! They are reusable, so hopefully they will last a season, in which case they are worth every bit of £10. Jazz will be "plaited" the next time he competes - maybe even unaffiliated since it's so easy.

Meanwhile - more showjump practice tomorrow! Strategy this time - jump a round at 2ft9, another at 2ft 11 and a final one at 3ft 1. Objective - get him enjoying it right from the start, and stop the early refusals.

C.