Fun fun fun.
Gorgeous George, Joyful George, Goodness Gracious George, The Goodness of George III, Generous George, Golly Gosh George, Good Old George!
This morning George has been jumping courses at three foot one (1m95 later edit - I mean 0m95 of course :-). It took Jazz eighteen months to get to this point. It has taken George less than nine WEEKS. Now I know Jazz is slow but by heck I've never met a horse that learns like George before. I used to love Tetley because, apart from his inherent sheer lovableness, he restored my confidence in myself after a dreadful horse called Jack (Earl Grey III on BE). Whether George stays or goes, he's going to have a similar place in my heart for restoring my confidence in my ability to train a novice horse after the minefield that Jazz has been.
George absolutely loves jumping. He could hardly wait to get into the lorry, and when we got there he towed me out to the arenas. He warmed up ogling the fences and wanting to get to them. And then he jumped. Brilliantly. He has begun, as I hoped, to go from a canter. And he is SUCH a quick learner. He makes a mistake, then he learns from it.
After warming up and doing some singles, we faced him with a round of eight fences today. First time round he was stunned. He's only jumped fences in ones and twos before and he was quite shocked that we kept going. He hit two, out of surprise I think! Second time round, he was totally confident and popped over every one, including a double with a 3ft1 spread in and an upright out.
He's completely the opposite from Jazz. Jazz knows where to take off innately, but lacks the confidence to believe that he can clear the fence. George hasn't a clue how to adjust his stride to get the take-off point right, but will go from wherever he ends up with total confidence in his own ability to get over the fence. He's such fun!
What a pony. What a bargain. It was almost worth breaking my shoulder to find out how quickly he could learn :-) If I can't do an Intro on George I should take to my armchair in a pair of woolly slippers.
C
ps the other two are very well but want this bitter East wind to stop.
posted by cptrayes @ 1:38 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Oh we have a bitter cold wind and at last rain YAHOOO! lots of it ^-^
I love reading about George, it kind of restores my faith in horses.
I hope to find a "George" for me too :-)
1m95 hmm that is very high.
At GP level the max they jump is 1m60. And the max in "Puissance" is 2m40.
So maybe I misunderstood you ^-^
Well no he WOULD be a wonderhorse if he was jumping 1m95 !!! Well spotted Muriel, I mean 0m95 of course :-))))
C
Oh, I would never have noticed the height mistake. I was too excited to "read" and share your enthusiasm. George is an absolute star, what more can I say? I think you've used up all the superlatives.
An entusiastic jumper makes it all so much fun. That was my Russell. I even remember an announcer at a horse show commenting about Rusell's attitude in a special fun/grooms' bareback jumping class. Until my friend fell off AFTER the last jump she and Russell were tied for first place and going over 3+' fences bareback. He was a "George Gem" as well.
Jazz needs his rider's confidence, but George is brimming with his own. You are so lucky to have found him--or was it Fate that found him for you?
I will not tell you the temperature here. But I am so happy Muriel is finally getting rain! That's fantastic news.
the other two have the right idea - but i reckon its a north wind!
It's an East wind here Claire, it's keeping our double catflap open and that's east facing. It's probably coming down from teh north over you and then swinging east across the pennines. Whatever, it's damned cold!
You are right of course Jean, I am so lucky to have found him.
C.
Sympathise about the weather - even own here its a 45 mph east wind and bitter - feels like Feb not April, and wet too yesterday...We were out 6 hrs in it, but at least we were allowed our waterproofs :-)
C, a crowd from Cheshire were down at the meet and said the same as you - no waterproofs allowed!!!!! They said they just went home when they got too wet :-( Think they thought we were a bit rustic, esp woth no shoes :-)
If you got the Delamere Forest lot then I would think they were totally bemused! Heart of Cheshire and real "County" set. We went to their Hunter Trials last year and in the middle of a field there was a Smoothie stand and the burgers were guaranteed organic - you're lucky at a Riding Club event if they're even from a cow!
C :-)
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