Only one issue left!

Jazz was jumping superbly today. We have him up to over three feet on uprights and only just below that on spreads, with the spread at least as wide as the height. It's beginning to look like a serious sized course. And he is jumping brilliantly - when he has his mind on the job!

The farrier was working just outside the school, and the smoke was drifting into the arena. Of course Jazz is not familiar with that smell and he was focussing on that and not on me. It was a great training aid, because we managed to warm him up without any real problems and he needs to learn to perform even when there are distractions. He just stopped the first time I asked him to go up to the smoky end of the arena and jump a fence. Quite understandable really, and my fault entirely for not having him flowing forwards.

My technique of staring hard at the middle of the top pole is working really well and he had no problem whatsoever with spreads today. He felt my commitment and decided to go with me. In fact - he's only got one issue left to crack with this jumping lark - he thinks when he is given a rest that he has finished. He point blank refused to start again, particulary as we were introducing the complexity of a double. He was switched right off. Every fence he jumped he got wrong, he threw himself over several and twice he jumped into the one stride double and shot left before the second element. How I stayed on I'll never know! He didn't want to play, and in consequence he was taking no responsibility for getting the right take off point at all.

I was getting pretty mad when Superhubby made me come over and talk about it. Then we realised that the precious little darling had decided he'd done enough. Well of course he can't be allowed to make that decision, especially as he clearly had more juice in the tank. So I gave him another rest on a long rein, and started again with purpose. I put him into a strong canter and made sure I had him up in front of me, and we tried again. He jumped eight fences straight off, two doubles, one spread he hadn't yet done that day, the biggest of the lot.

His attitude of thinking that he's allowed to decide when he's done enough is the only problem we have left. Hopefully it's a simple solution - don't jump again until you have got some sharp canter/trot transitions and you're sure he knows he has more work to do.

He finished fabulously. His jumping is superb. He's the most confidence giving jumper I've ever sat on - he gets it right almost every time (when he's focussed) and he's so easy to go with and sit to because he has such brilliant technique. I think we are almost there. I certainly feel as though we have moved a heck of way forward from where we were immediately after his operation.

I had a huge smile warming up too - he did some fantastic lengthened strides in trot. He was loving having the space of an arena 70 or 80 metres long, so I asked him to lengthen the trot and away it went. Not as good as Zippy's, but brilliant for a horse who doesn't extend naturally who has only tried it a few times.

I was SOOOOO peed off in the middle of our jumping session, but in the end I think we actually learnt more about Jazz and how desperately complex he is mentally, and how to manage him. One more issue almost cured. We're definitely progressing and I have to say that I was chuffed to bits with how big those fences were when I got off and stood by them :-) !

C