Just in time.
I got outside just in time this morning - I looked in through the door to see the three of them standing shoulder by shoulder, facing me, looking as though butter would not melt in anyone's mouth - and water pouring from the tap which one of them had just turned on, rushing in a stream across the floor of the barn. It can only have been on a minute. Another five minutes and the floor would have been ruined for days!
Don't hold your breath yet, but the advice from Carl Hester about how to calm a tense walk might be the best £25 I've spent in a long while. Day two of making George take one agonsiingly slow step after another worked an absolute dream today. I make him wait until he accepts the contact and raises his back, then I ask for one step forward. And so on, and on, and on. Every now and then he backs off the contact and stops and tries to shift his backside out so he doesn't have to stay engaged. I follow his mouth with the bit wherever it goes (usually in towards his chest) to keep the contact and I shift his shoulders over to keep his body in line. We do a strange backwards and sideways dance around in little circles until he realises that I am not going to let go of his mouth, or let him bend himself in the middle. Then he walks off straight again, and is better and better as the session goes on. It's certainly a technique I'll be trying again.
Zippy and Bungo were in TERRIBLE moods today, the pair of them. Zippy would not loosen his back. The answer with him was to pick up a whip and tap him with it, but he was not on his best form. Well we all have our off days !
Bungo did some absolutely lovely long and low trot until he decided that he had done enough. Then he started to shy at the damp patch on the floor that he had been quite happy with until then. I flicked him with the whip and he tried to rip the reins out of my hands. I held tight to the reins and then ...... blimey! Three caprioles - rears and a jump while standing on his back legs. When he returned to four feet, he seemed a bit surprised that I was still on board, gave a loooooong complaining groan, and did a wonderful trot like I had been asking for. What a fraud he is at times :-)
C
posted by cptrayes @ 11:26 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Good heavens, Bungo!! I am not at all sure I would still be on his back. Guess that eventer blood in you pays off in other ways too. Then again, I do know you trust Jazz, so that makes a difference.
Interesting technique for George. That's how Tucker doesn't move off when he's balking, so I guess I am halfway there. *G* Gee, at least George wants to move instead of to just stand there.
Now, just who turned on the water? I'd vote for Zip. Around here, it'd be Chance, with Tucker running a close second. Good thing you caught it in time. I think you might need to find some way to protect the spigot from raiders, eh?
Opening the tap! I had to laugh I could imagine the three of them staring at you with an innocent look ^-^
My money is on Jazz, did he not switch the light back on?
Bungo ? who is that? have you swapped Jazz? LOL
Good progress withe George, It woudl be nice if you could film your self. That for sure would be educative.
He doesn't try to get me off, as such, Jean, he is just protesting about working too hard :-) It's not malicious and not particularly difficult to sit and I find it quite amusing !!
I'm pretty sure it's Bungo that did the water, last time he did it there was a sprinkler attached and his was the wet rug - giveaway!!
The spigot is no longer attached to the tap, but sitting on top of the wall. I should add that the tap had a timer attached, so he actually turned on a cylindrical timer, which was quite a difficult feat. He's card, that horse :-)
Zippy, Bungle and George are the Rainbow characters Muriel - do you know that children's program? Bungle gets changed to Bungo, I don't know why :-)
Heehee sounds like something Polo would get up to ..although I wouldnt put it past Ali both of my two cant leave anything alone!
They get bored like litle boys in the school holidays, don't they Nicola?
C
Mine just steals the farrier's tools, and proceeds to hide them/throw them around/go steal his lunch.
Doritos are never safe, they'll be swiped then when you go look for him he's in his paddock on the other side of the barn behind a locked gate with orange crumbs around his whiskers.
Post a Comment
<< Home