Normal service has been resumed.
We have just got back from Jazz's first showjump training session in over two months. We were able to go straight to three foot two (nearly 1m) immediately after warming up. He was different altogether than he has been in the past. He stopped twice, but both times it wasn't the silly "I can't do this" panicky stopping. It was more an "I've got this wrong, can I have some more time please?" stopping. Quite a different feeling. He was jumping beautifully - once we had the fences big enough - he was so dismissive of the little warm-up ones we did.
SH said he has a very different technique from George. George just scuttles up to the fence and takes off as soon as he thinks he is close enough and can clear it. That's an eventer through and through :-) ! Jazz starts to size up the fence ten strides or more away and adjusts in tiny increments on the way in until he is extremely close to the bottom and then jumps it. That closeness to the fence is characteristic of a top class showjumper, which of course he was bred to be :-)
Whatever, his physical ability has never been in doubt. But his mind is now coming together too, and everything is moving in the right direction with him. He felt magnificent and SH says he looked magnificent.
I'm off out now to give George some interval training to try and get his fitness level up a notch. Oh all right, I just fancy a gallop!
C
MR WHIPPY BECOMES MR SOFTY
For those who are too young to get the reference, those were the names of the two ice cream vans that used come round when I was a child :-) I was torn today between continuing George's education and keeping him fit. I finally decided to go into the barn for as short a time as I could manage, and hope to go out afterwards. Well! No whip needed today, and only one pull on the reins. He really did try hard to get things right. He didn't succeed all the time, but neither did he set on me or run his way out of trouble. He steadied himself, thought it through, and carried on. What a good boy.
So we went out on the fields opposite the house. The flat piece on the top that I like to go on is closed off to grow for hay. So I was reduced to doing canter circles on tussocky grass with a marked slope. The transitions were rough but after a couple of strides, he did the most balanced canter that any horse I have ever cantered in that place has ever done. Including Jazz in a pelham. Including Tetley after years of training. I was quite shocked :-0! George has either lived his whole life on a tussocky slope, or been hunted over hills, or both.
Another insight - I have twelve acres of land as one field. I have one tiny patch with a spring in it, perhaps ten feet by ten feet at the most, tucked away in one corner. It's very clear from the mud on his legs that George is choosing to go and stand in that bog every single day. Now isn't that interesting???
C
posted by cptrayes @ 1:48 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
The trick now is to get Jazz convinced he can jump from all different spots. That's where the gymnastic training comes in. Set up difference distances in combinations. We used to do tons of that kind of stuff and it made Russell R. and incredibly athletic and reliable jumper. If we came in a little "wrong" to a fence he just adjusted himself and got over it.
You do need a ground person, though, who can help set up the different combos. Vertical to a short stride to a spread. Spread to a long stride to a vertical. Two verticals close. Two verticals with a long stride between. Combinations that challenge his body to collect and extend between the fences.
Unless you have the perfect "eye" and can set him right to every single fence he needs to jump, he needs to learn how to jump from an awkward spot on his own. The top jumpers are very adjustable, both by the rider and by their own "instinct" for the fence. In time, Jazz will develop the instinct, but you can help by giving him those "puzzles" to solve.
I certainly don't have a perfect eye!
Just about to update about George - interesting insights into his previous history.
C
Well, that is curious. But, if the uneven terrain encourages him to canter well, then certainly you can use it to your advantage. Maybe he needs the challenge of having to think where his feet are. You could canter over poles in the arena and see if it makes him balance himself as a test.
The spring "stomping" has me puzzled. Do you think he might be playing in the mud/water. My PJ could never leave a mud puddle untouched. Make his feet feel better? But then, his feet would have to bother him and there's no sign of that. Part hippo? *G* Is there something out there he might be watching? Or, perhaps he's hunting frogs and turtles. *G again*
Or...it's his own "private" spot where Mr. Clean and Mr. Twinkeltoes never dare to tread.
That one I think Jean - they wouldn't dream of getting their hooves wet, never mind mud to mid-cannon, thank YOU very much :-00000 !!
C
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