Pastures new.
I took Zippy in the barn today, just because I wanted to school him for a few minutes while I waited for SH to be ready to drive Jazz and me down the road so that we could hack back. He was good for the walk, with some decent lateral work, but then he decided not to trot. When he does this, he locks his back, and because he is very short backed, it's very difficult to get him free again. I had to push him into trot and then immediately put him on a 6-7m circle. The transition was dire, a mad dash, and the circle had to be that tiny or he simply would NOT use his back at all. He got the message in about 3 minutes, and then the trot was gorgeous and we stopped.
I tacked up Jazz and threw him into the lorry untied (but roped down as usual - we'll never trust him, all it takes is the sight of another horse and up he tries to go, onto the shelf). This was an experiment to see whether I could get some more varied hacks by being dropped a few miles from home and riding back. SH was going out anyway, so he just took the lorry instead of a car!
Jazz and I, dressed from head to foot like lemons, in both senses of the word :-), rode four miles home again. A mile of the route had been newly gritted and was littered with those 10mph signs that they put up. A man was strimming the verges with an industrial strimmer. It was bin day and all the wheelies were out on the road. Jazz hardly noticed any of it, including the strimmer :-0 The only thing he was scared about was Winston, a lovely golden retriever who patrols a row of weaver's cottages where he lives. But even then Jazz went past him. I can't say he was totally happy, he was thinking backwards quite a bit, but he was interested and accepting, even though he was slightly anxious. This is surely progress indeed?
George had the day off. Both of us are excited about going showjump training tomorrow!!
C.
ps for the barefooters, Jazz coped with a mile of brand new grit with no trouble at all - though his feet certainly showed the wear by the time he was home and I have some sharp edges to take off now.
posted by cptrayes @ 5:45 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Ah, the short, locked back. Not fun at all. Does Zip stretch down? Sometimes that will loosen up the back.
You can also try making a lateral transition, doing a bit of leg yield as you ask for the trot, again with the theory of displacing the hind end so he cannot effectively lock.
The circling's good too, as you found out. Have to wonder why he locked his back in the first place. You haven't been working him a lot, so it's not likely muscle soreness unless he did something to himself in the pasture.
As for Jazz what a great idea to test out his new found maturity. If he's good on new tracks it really is an honest breakthrough and not just "familiarity breeds contempt." Way to go. You should be pleased.
Zippy's always done it when he feels he's done enough work Jean. It seems to be a natural evasion for him. He locks his head up and out too, and makes it impossible to move his neck either. It'll be a frightening evasion in an open space, so I want to cure it soon.
Yech. Tucker's been doing a head lock thing too. I'll do a halt, he'll stick out his nose and lean on the bit, absolutely refusing to give in any direction. Is all this a short back horse thing, I wonder? Seems the benefits of that back may have some interesting negatives as well??
I want Zippy pictures!
It's a threatening kind of evasion, isn't it Jean? With Zip it feels like he could choose to bolt at any moment. I hope he never does!!
Zippy and George are opposites Gen. George photographs much better than he looks in real life, and Zip photographs much worse. I'll see what I can do!
C
Jen, sorry!
C
Has Jazz changed OR are you more understanding of his "fears"?
I wonder? I bet it is a bit of both, since you know that he does not take the mickey but he is frankly frightened, you must be more understanding, no?
You better keep Zip on the straight line ... I bet he is going to be a tough cookie!
sounds a bit like molly's locked jaw effect ... and yes, can be scary!
now are you ok, did you survive today, how did it go?
Just about to post about today Claire.
Muriel I changed my approach with Jazz to "sit and wait him out" about a year ago. This improvement is coming from him, not from me.
C.
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