Does my bum look big in this?

Yes it does!

Both Zip and Jazz have suddenly gone bum high. Interestingly, Zip has done it with what looks like a pretty impressive increase in the length of his hind leg. Both his parents are 16.3 and I would put him on target to match their height by the time he is four, and probably end around 17 hands. He's going to be a stunner of a 17 hander with his elegance.

Jazz has also got a fat ar&e! He's definitely growing. It won't help his balance and I'll try not to expect too much of him until he comes level again.

Now I have a bone to pick with you all. You told me that these warmbloods were immature mentally. Now, when you told me that, why didn't you scream it so loud that I couldn't ignore it??? Huh? Huh? Answer me that one!

Anyway, we took the toddler with the temper tantrums showjump training. He made it clear that he was bored to be where he was and slouched out to the arena as slow as he could go. He warmed up trying to swing right and jump the highest part of the cross pole. I put that right with improved steering, got him motivated and jumped two sets of four fences absolutely perfectly.

At this point, Superhubby and I were beaming and congratulating ourselves on what a fabulous job we had done. He had been bouncing around with a perfect take off point every time, jumping the course at three feet high. Yes, we snuck in another inch and he never even noticed.

Then, all of a sudden, bolt out of the blue, he worked out what I had been doing to keep him hopping along like a giant orange spacehopper (doesn't THAT image work if you've actually met Jazz!) . So he stopped. He simply put himself in an arrangement where I couldn't get it. Then I could get the bounce, but only if we were going at a speed where he found it a piece of cake to avoid actually jumping the fence, by stopping (or simply dropping flat) miles away from it.

He finished up refusing to move, then rearing several times and punching the air in anger at not getting his own way. Superhubby said "he looks bored. He looks like a two year old who is bored with the old game and wants to go and play a new one." Superhubby also got the solution - send him on, quite fast, over all the uprights, leaving plenty of room between them and getting him really moving. I did that.

Then I went back to bouncing, and completed a fantastic set of jumps, with spot on take-offs and perfect bascules. We stopped then of course!

What a pain he is - no sooner do we teach him the job and he gets to be able to do it easily adn confidently, than he comes up with another objection "I'm bored with this". Obviously we are going to have to find other places to go and things to do until he grows up.

C.

ps I have cancelled from Eland on the 8th. The Court has begged me to sit on a three day trial that they are short of a JP for, and by mistake I agreed and now don't feel I can let them down. I don't feel, somehow, that we will be missing much! I have also decided to do Barefoot Camp on September 8th/9th so our next affiliated outing won't be until mid September. There's some Riding Club stuff meanwhile to keep us interested.