More tension than a Hitchcock film.

Goodness me George is going through an interesting spell. Casper did it too, so I am not worried, I know that it will stop in time. On the other hand, we knew why Casper did it - he was anticipating hating being ridden so much that he bucked his rider(s) off. George, as far as we know, has no such experiences, but he is currently starting each session full of tension. He walks off extremely short striding and far too fast. He gets worse if you try to slow him down, skewing his back end out sideways and/or refusing to walk on. He runs if you try and work him forwards. If you turn him, he panics and kicks his own legs. He starts to heavy breathe and is soon sweating even though he is still only in walk. He does this for about half an hour, then suddenly reaches forward into the bit and produces a long swinging walk with a completely flexible neck, that would do grace to a warmblood. I praise him extravagantly when he does it, we have a little trot and then we stop so he can finish on a good note.

I think that one answer with him would be to lunge him first. But that is really not much of an option in the confines of the barn - which is simply not big enough to get the free forward movement that would unlock him. And this morning there were drifts of snow up to a foot deep and it was minus 2, so outdoors was not an attractive proposition either!

I didn't ride the other two, I wanted to give my shoulder a relatively easy time today. I'm just about able to tack up normally now, though not without some discomfort when threading the ears through the headpiece. I can take a fair pull on the reins with it with no problems, and it is very mobile now, so I think that we can probably take George jump training on Thursday if I can book somewhere. I plan to do the farm ride with a friend with Jazz on April 5th if the weather holds. It will give me a good chance to find out how far we have been set back with our confidence.

C.