Interesting clues Watson .........
We did an experiment today. We took Jazz to a new showjumping place, a little local show, and we put him in the novice class which was barely 2ft 6 high. He warmed up over a cross pole, choosing to take it himself. We tried the upright, which was a terribly scrappy fence on pretty poor footing with a metal wing on one side. He did one of his front-leg-prop-stops (10 mph to 0 mph in nought seconds :-) three strides away. I didn't punish him, push him, or do anything but ask him to walk up to it. Then I turned him away, came in exactly the same again, and exactly the same thing happened. I did the same thing, came in again, and he kept his rythmn and jumped the fence beautifully.
It's not the jumping! He is perfectly happy to jump, keen even, ears-forward all the time. But he is so overloaded with input from being in different places that he doesn't seem to have enough brain power left to work out where to put his feet until he has had a jolly good look at everything. Punishing him last time was counter-productive. Holding back any reaction and waiting for him to be ready is much more effective. Obviously you have to make it clear what you would like, but he must have the option to tell you he is not ready. It's a difficult balance but one I feel I got right today.
We took him to the arena and went in. He approached fence one cautiously and jumped it. Fence two was away from the collecting ring and had the fillers pulled out to the sides as wings. He did a prop-stop. I walked him up to it, circled away and then he popped it nicely. Three was a viaduct wall, and from then on he was clear, including seven and eight which were both extremely narrow, no more than six feet, possibly only five. He was very slow, he would approach each fence wavering and slowing down. I kept him straight, asked him to keep going forwards, but I made no attempt whatsoever to push him over the fences. I praised him every time he jumped one. He jumped several from a virtual standstill, but he jumped fence nine really nicely. It was an away-from-home spread with a filler that the horse before him had thrown a complete wobbler about. He jumped clear and ended with only four faults from the one refusal.
We weren't going to make the same mistake as last time! We put him back in the lorry and brought him home. I think now that he does like jumping, but that he is still overloaded mentally every time we go somewhere to jump. He doesn't have enough processing power to work out what to do with his feet as well as to take in everything that's going on around him. I could feel his brain frazzling gently as he looked at the showing rings, the generator for the cafe and then realised that we wanted him to jump too.
He would almost certainly now benefit hugely from jumping in company, but what worries me about attempting to Drag Hunt now is that the excitement of being with so many other horses might cause him to carry on cantering for longer than his muscles are capable of when he can't breathe properly. They may get damaged with lactic acid buildup or he could tie up completely. That would be disastrous and is entirely preventable (by not going!) so I will obviously be having a serious talk with my vet. Meanwhile I'm off to research laser hobday operations compared with tie-back and flap removal, because today he proved to me that he will be worth it :-)
C
ps setting off was fun! All hell broke loose before we left :-0 !! I don't know where my brain was, but I was stupid enough to forget that Zippy was in his stable with the door open. Jazz was already loaded and I left the gate open to the yard as I got hay for him to travel with. Zippy dashed out of his stable, up the yard and proceeded to run riot with Superhubby in a frenzy scrabbling to get the gate to the yard shut before he made a mad dash out onto the road. Jazz went abolutely ballistic in the lorry - I saw him rock back onto his hocks and launch himself full throttle at the window bars. Thank goodness he was tied down by his ropes, or he would have seriously hurt himself, not to mention the lorry :-0 !! We got Zippy back in the field after a bit more shenanigans, put the hay in, and set off. Jazz took a while to settle down but really, considering, he didn't behave badly at all!
posted by cptrayes @ 5:44 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Now comes the time when keeping your horses at home has its disadvantages. At least at a livery/boarding stable, you would have other riders who might be willing to go out with you to help you train Jazz in a group. Unlike the hunt, you could be in control and set the perameters. Any friends you could call on to go out with you somewhere?
Great job at the competition! The fact that Jazz managed a nearly clear round without a fuss is a great accomplishment. Again, his apparent arrogance is really a cover up for some pretty basic insecurities. Plenty of positive exposure and experiences like today are going to be a big help. Already he has made great progress.
Now that you understand him better, all I can predict is more success each time out. I do like your feeling that he really does like to jump when he's confident. That's great and takes a load of all our minds about his future as an event horse.
Keep us well posted on the news about the potential surgery routes. Laser is an option??? If so, that would be fantastic as the healing and layup time is probably a lot less.
I am going to do a bit of research myself to get more familiar with the whole situation. That way, I will acutally be able to make some informed comment as things go along.
maybe some time at a show just walking round with you on top, or just standing with you on top, not being asked to do anything except look at and accept everything going on? then next time go to the same venue with some work in mind ... if they keep the same set up, he should know where he is and that he's seen it... might that help?
On the basis of what you've found out today I think a trip out somewhere every 10 days and being asked to do relatively little and always at a relatively low height (without pushing him to jump bigger for a good while yet) could really help his confidence. Not until he's cruising round 2'6 and pulling you into all of them would I up the ante to bigger courses (which inevitably become more technical).
Bearing in mind you're not up for a drag hung (wisely i think with his breathing issues) can you not find someone who will do the farm ride with you and you can go round in a pair - just jump quietly over relatively few fences, sitting behind to start, then alongside and towards the end with his nose in front....a very slow and confidence boosting way to do things. I'd really like to hear your comments after you'd done some pairs xc..
Hardly any of my friends like to jump Jean, anon. The one who would give me a lead works six days a week and even she's a bit nervous, not really what we need.
If you find any information that suggests a laser operation on its own will work, let me know. All I can find is that it is not recommended stand-alone except for horses which are not required to perform at high levels of activity. The full tie-back surgery seems to be the only answer, but I really would be happy to find that I could avoid the general anaesthetic and the hole in the throat.
I don't think we need to avoid jumping altogether Claire. He seems to learn and cope as long as we keep it small. He's also clearly happier outside than inside. More space, I think.
C
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