Ever upwards
George trained at 3ft 5 today and found it no problem at all. Only a double off a corner gave him any difficulty, and that wasn't the jump, it was keeping his balance in the turn in canter, because his flatwork isn't up to the standard that his jumping is. He was, as always, full of glee that he was jumping again :-)
Then we went off round the first loop (OK, OK we belted off round the first loop :-) about a mile and half - of the farm ride, because it has a water jump on it and I needed to check whether he would jump down a step into water before we do our first PreNovice. We had a run through down the ramp and up the other side, water spraying head high :-0 )) Then we did the steps down and out up the ramp, then steps down and out up the steps the other side. On the last attempt he just leapt straight out into the middle of the pond - he is going to be just like Tetley - TOO bold into water! Sit baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!
Jazz & Zippy's pulses we well restrained this morning. Jazz has lost a fair bit of weight, not that he needed to, so I am feeding him more. It is quite obvious now that when I take the mask off he goes for just the stuff that poisons him most. You would think he would go for the grass on the bottom half of the field that is 4-5 inches long, to eat and fill his stomach. No, he goes into the croft, which is grazed to within a quarter inch of its life by the sheep, but is very sweet because it is fertilized by the septic tank soakaway. He his own worst enemy that boy!
C
posted by cptrayes @ 6:26 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
fence it off? that would mean you could leave the muzzle off and hopefully not have to worry about pulses as well?
George is worth his weight in gold, i feel.
The croft is only a tiny fraction of the land Claire, about a quarter acre. It's not the whole answer, the top half of the field is equally overgrazed by the sheep and presumably therefore sweeter. He's picking the sweetest bits out of the whole 12 acres instead of going for fibre like George does. I'd rather they had room to move than strip graze and he seems perfectly happy in the muzzle.
C
Whee!!!! Careening around with George seems to be your recreation lately. *G*
I always had to concentrate to remind myself to sit back on the drops. Once you do, they are really easier to ride. If you don't, they are downright scary. I was told the drops don't tend to intimidate the horse, just the rider.
Love the leap into the water, though! Makes a great splash, cools you off and is really impressive to the spectators. Clearly George is in his element.
Nobody ever said horses do what's good for them. If the muzzle works, it's the answer for Jazz. Do you think Zip is going to need one too?
I think Zip is going to get away with it Jean. Once we are over the spring flush of grass I think he'll be fine. He didn't put on weight like Jazz did, he's got a different level of metabolism.
George is amazing, he just kept on and on and on cantering really fast around the ride. I had to make him stop after the best part of two miles and fifteen fences. It was only when he had stopped that it was obvious how much work he'd done! I needed him to have a good workout though, our next event at Catton runs on a hillside and needs the horse to be really fit to be safe over the final few fences - second to last being the water!
C
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