Fun and games

I have a new word for a perfect hack. It has four letters in it. Jazz. Yes, really. He was superb. OK it helps that the sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze to stop us getting too hot. But that aside, he was my idea of a perfect hack. He was alert and interested and noticing what was going on around him, but not being silly about any of it. He didn’t even spot that the road had been repaired in several places, but he did see, and then ignore, the shut gate, new cars and grazing lambs (in the wrong place) at his favourite place for throwing a tantrum. He was swinging along fabulously, loose and long and relaxed. He did some super lengthened strides up a rise in the road. And he was bold and forward at a couple of things, including a bright white/red/black for sale board wobbling gently in the breeze on the top of a hill. That is just amazing. Not only was it new but when he first spotted it, it was on the horizon. Six months ago he could have been guaranteed to completely freak out. Today he marched up and stuck his nose on it. I love him, he’s a delight. Even if it takes another two years to get him to be that confident when he competes, he will have been worth the wait.

Zippy was sharp this morning. Not naughty, but definitely on his toes. I showed him to the friends who I am helping find a horse and they were, of course :- ) , impressed – who wouldn’t be?

Then I got the child, who is ten but VERY tall for her age, to tack up George. This was to prove whether she could manage a horse that big. And she did, to my surprise, easily. Then I rode him to make sure he was OK, and he seemed to be much happier with an audience than he is on his own. The two sisters (twins of very different sizes) and their mother seemed to calm him down. Then the child rode him and loved him. She did not look remotely overhorsed, yet George is as big a 16 hander as you will find anywhere. I put up a jump, tiny, and she jumped it and asked for it to be made bigger and bigger until she was popping nearly 3ft :-0 Her mother was having kittens; she was having a whale of a time.

So, the idea of the exercise had been to prove to her that she really didn’t want a 16 hand horse, but a 14.2 pony. We failed. She just loves riding horses and she is big enough to ride horses. So although she is only ten, I think we should find her a 15.2 – 16 hand horse that will keep her going for 4 or 5 years. She understands that she will have to compete against adults and not her friends on their ponies, and she really doesn’t seem to care about that at all, she wants a horse. We’ll be off to see a few next week.

Meanwhile, I’m off to wallow in the memory of what a gorgeous ride I had on Jazz this morning.

C