Less than elegant
It was obvious that Jazz wasn't just going to come out of the stable and do fabulous work today - he wouldn't go into it in the first place! He came out of the barn and Zippy put himself in his stable to eat his breakfast, but Jazz went to the gate. I went and pushed him away from the gate, giving him the command "in", which he knows full well means "go into your stable now". He walked off up the other end of the yard. I knew from the look on his face that if I went up that end and tried to push him into his stable, that he would either jump or demolish the gate. So I just shut his stable door, breakfast inside, and went and mucked out. You should have seen the look on his face! He spent the time that I was mucking out wandering up and down on the concrete and looking longingly at his breakfast out of reach in his stable. It was no surprise when he went straight in when I finally opened the door.
So it was not surprise either that we had a schooling session which was less than elegant - he walked off nicely to start with, but very soon was dawdling dreadfully - he just didn't want to walk out. I sent him on and he jogged, so I tried to balance him with half halts and he set and really yanked at my hands. I yanked him back and he ducked behind the bit. I sent him on but he was overbending, rushing, screwing his backside out sideways - anything to avoid working through and relaxing. I did some slower/faster walk, which worked well, but then he ducked behind the contact again and dawdled around the arena - so I flicked him with a whip to send him on and he bucked. I hit him every time he bucked. If he bucked higher, I hit him harder. He worked it out in the end! I did walk trot transitions, because he can't take the trot unless he is walking forward into the walk. That worked very well after a few minutes of mad dashes and on the spot canters. All in all it took nearly an hour to get a nice walk, and it really was very nice when it happened.
Of course we hadn't finished! I went to fetch a dozen white electric fence poles and threw them down in a heap near the wall, with two right across the track. He looked at them and said "OK I know what you want now!" and walked straight over them. He was slightly more sticky on the left rein but still went straight over. We are making progress :-)
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 12:03 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
We are in touble. I am now convinced Jazz and Tucker have established a psychic network and are in constant communication. Jazz's "work ethic," or lack thereof sounds all too familiar. However, the difference is that you are ready, willing, and able to sit out the bucks and discipline him for them. My sympathy...*sigh*
Do keep in the back of your mind a physical reason for the inconsistency. Ulcers, that hoof thing, a vertebra out of alignment, etc. Some horses, like Tucker, unfortunately, just can't work through the aches and pains other horses ignore. Age and experience help, but if the training pattern gets too erratic, you need to sort out any such possibilities. PJ used to get muscle sore. Maybe Jazz would like a nice massage? (Book called "Beating Muscle Injuries" my J. Meaghershows in great detail how to do massage at home.)
Oh Jean don't scare me :-) The mad red monster doesn't need any backup from Tucker :-000
Seriously though, his buck is hardly unseating at all, so it's not much of big deal to keep after him until he stops. Even when he throws a whopper he doesn't twist, so there's always a saddle there to come down from orbit to :-)
I hav been feeling his back fro tension lately, and there is a little behind the right hand side of the saddle, but I can massage it out in a few strokes before I ride, so I figure it can't be that bad.
C
so he got out of the wrong side of the bed?.....
hope it is just that, and nothing else! he's probably still thinking he's allowed to rest on his cross country laurels a bit longer...
Now buck's are my expertise:))))
Polo is a master at them he tends to go for head between the knees launch then twist....luckily he never explored the rear to its full potential!
Well we all have bad days I suppose.I never like to get out of bed.......
Yup, wrong side of bed Claire! You see, you let him know that he's been a good boy and he thinks he can take over again :-) !
Nicola I would not have envied being a person of your size on ahorse of Polo's size if h e specialises in head-down screw bucks :-00000
C
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