Worth his weight in gold.

Bless his cotton socks. What a diamond pony George is. I rang this morning to be told the cross country course was too wet. I booked a showjumping arena and then realised immediately that was the wrong thing and rang and cancelled. Then I faced up to the fact that I was pretty scared of jumping fixed fences and I had to get on with it before it built up into something I couldn't get over (pun intended!). So I rang again and booked the farm ride, which is all weather.

And we have had a whale of a time! He saw the first fence and went immediately into canter and jumped it. Then he sensed my hesitation and had run-outs at the next three (might have been four) but jumped them nicely second time. Then I got my act together and realised that he was going in bent and pushing his left shoulder out because I wasn't sending him on, and that instead of trying to pull him straight I had to push him straight. From then on - WOW. The boy can jump, and how! His technique has improved enormously and he pops a fence with a huge spring with no trouble at all. We did the lot, up to a metre high. We loved it, both of us.

A friend caught me up half way round and we rode together for a while, which was great experience for him. He will hack along nicely with another horse, he will canter on in front and jump, and he will follow behind and jump. He's also found a lovely rolling canter which is sheer comfort to go with. He's a diamond, a real gem. I seriously doubt whether I could have got back to jumping fixed fences this year, if at all, without him. I'm tempted just to keep him, and already planning how we can get him to Pre-novice (which would pretty much mean abandoning Jazz's jumping for this year).

We may also have a clue to his schooling behaviour. He loves going forward, he just lives for it. Mandeigh suggested a while ago that his "tension" problem might be that he just wanted to get on with things, and I rejected that suggestion because he felt scared to me. I've changed my mind after today. I don't think that he is scared at all. I think he just wants to GO and the tension that I feel is actually frustration. It explains why praising him every time he takes a good step or two doesn't make him carry on with good stuff -because he wants to go. It also explains why he just "stops" the tension after a while - he's suddenly got the message that a gallop is out of the question and he needs to "work" instead. When we get dry enough weather to get on the outdoor surface I think he may be a horse that you start a schooling session with a few circuits of "standing up" canter.

What a day. I feel so relieved that my eventing career isn't over after all. I'm grinning, and I think George is too.

C

ps Jazz's eye is better. It's slow going, but the sore is definitely smaller and has no pus in it.