I'm sick.

I'm freezing cold and shaking from head to foot. I ache all over. I feel sick. I think I have flu now. I never usually make that claim, but this isn't a cold. I have a cough, but not much of a snotty nose and I feel far too foul, colds don't usually knock me down.

Thankfully, it didn't rage away in earnest until we were on our way home from showjump practice. He's been a very good boy. Initial tantrums when faced with a fence with a back pole, but jumping 3 ft fences brilliantly without knocking a single fence the whole session. If I can get some more energy later I'll tell you what he was doing.

part two.

We started with uprights at three feet, and he didn't put a foot wrong. He jumped them all first time of asking, with fantastic style. He was very positive, taking me to the fence. Then we tried a spread, and he was about two strides off it and going happily for it when he realised that it had a back bar on it and he stopped dead. Next time round he stopped at least 5 strides away. Third time he ran at it, and stopped dead right in front of it. Fourth time he refused to take canter on the corner, 50 metres away. I made him, kept him on course, and he jumped it absolutely beautifully. We tried another spread putting the front bar down six inches to make the back bar more obvious, but it didn't help and it might have hindered. The same thing happened, a number of refusals and then a perfect, perfect jump. The whole thing was repeated on a third spread. Then he clicked, jumped the next (and biggest of the lot!) perfectly first time and was happy to do four spreads in succession.

By this time, we trusted each other and I began to use the technique which I found so successful with Tetley. I fixed my eyes on a mark, or some colour, right in the middle of the top bar of every fence as I approached. Really staring at it as if my life depended on it. He rounded up under me, sat on his back end bouncing with short strides full of energy - and went straight through a big double (spread then upright, one stride) with terrific form. I wanted to stop. SH thought that I had made a breakthrough and wanted me to go again with the same technique as he had seen me use that time. Reluctantly, because I so much wanted to finish on an up, and was afraid of mucking things up, I did. He was superb - three spreads and the double, absolutely brilliant.

Next time, I will use the technique right from the start and see if we can't stop these panicky refusals, because he is clearly perfectly capable of jumping the fences when he keeps his brain straight, he was marvellous.

I'm going back to my sofa and pillows now ....

C