Decisions decisions.

I've been struggling to work out what to do. I want to jump Jazz, but I don't want to event and not complete the cross country (which for me is most of the point!). George is 100% for that (more later!) but he isn't the kind of horse I meant to be riding - a little black cob :-)! And then, I don't want to ruin Jazz by trying to restart too early, before my own confidence is completely restored, because he is so sensitive that I will just ruin his confidence if I have any doubts. On top of that, I don't want to compromise George's preparation for the season. How complicated things can get :-) !

Anyway, I decided that with Rodbaston two weeks away, George needed to go cross country schooling today to show him all the fence types that he hadn't seen yet.

I've run out of superlatives about George, so the plain straightforward description of how he reacted will have to speak for itself.

Ditches - "a ditch is just a step over, isn't it?"
Sharks teeth - "just another timber fence"
Steps down and up - "ooh, this is odd but let's try anyway"
Flower bed (no flowers) - "is this a bank, I'll step on it and see. No? Not what you wanted? OK, bring me in again and I can jump it for you."
Coffin - "what's the problem supposed to be?"
Tiger trap, ditch under - "what ditch?"
Water - "ooh no, can't get my feet wet. Oh, all right then."
Pheasant feeder - "oh look it's got two sides, how nice!"
A bench - "more timber, that's OK."
Fence with a roof - "oh no, I don't like those shadows. OK, let's try it again - whoops, here we go!"
Parallel telegraph poles - "let me at it!"

He was wonderful, fanstastic, marvellous. Inexperienced, tentative at times, but SO game.

So finally, I felt so confident that I took him to ...................... the pallisade with the deep ditch in front that Jazz fell over seven weeks ago tomorrow. I almost begged him to run out the first time, so he obliged :-) The second time, I stared at the horizon beyond the fence and he popped it so sweetly I wanted to hug him. I even went back and did it again. This time I begged him to run out again, and he swung slightly to face the highest bit and then I heard him say to himself - "huh? It would be easier just to jump this than go round it so that's what I'll do." How on earth could I have conquered that fence if I hadn't found George?

He had been trying the whole time to head for fences so that he could jump them. "This one? No? OK, what about this one?" And he was desperate to be allowed a gallop. So after having been so brilliant what else could I do? I let him go. I was a bit concerned about whether we'd be able to stop, because he had set on the bit a couple of times, but I figured I had sixty acres in which to turn and I might just about manage it.

Coooooeeeeee he is FAST! Really, seriously fast. Never mind "fast for a cobby horse", he is fast for ANY horse. And I did have trouble stopping, but who cares. He certainly didn't and neither did I.

So the upshot is that it will be the most tremendous lost opportunity not to get George up to Pre-Novice. Although he's "not my kind of horse" he's obviously going to be so much FUN. And I have realised that there are plenty of local, well-judged combined training (dressage and showjumping) competitions running this summer at another local venue with great facilities. Wouldn't it just be SO sensible to start Jazz at those, where the poles fall, and wait until he does that confidently before trying anything more complex? I begin to feel like we are headed for a fun summer!


C

ps I schooled Jazz before we went because he seemed to be begging to do some work for me (as is Zip!). And we finally have a spring day. Windy but beautifully sunny and not tooooo cold. George has been rewarded by going out without a rug so he can scrub himself from head to foot in the dirt.