Time for Georgie after all.
The bad boys all pleaded guilty quickly today so we got away at lunchtime and I had time to ride Georgie after all. I went out in the glorious evening sunshine and did a jolly good schooling session on the outdoor. He was, as usual, tense in the walk. As usual, slowing it down worked very well, probably better than it has ever worked outdoors.
The trot was a bit wild to start with - he threw himself into the transition and then backed off. I had to work on the two things - getting a more settled transition and a more forward trot. I got the first by putting him onto a circle and letting him flail around until he realised that if he chucked himself about in the transition he had no balance on the circle and scared himself. Then once we had a transition worth the name, I had to use the whip to flick him out into the trot. I put him on a square to stop him rushing away, using the corners to rebalance him, and we got some pretty decent trot.
He'd had a good workout by the time we stopped. Jazz and Zippy both seem chilled and I'm looking forward to working both of them at the weekend. Football so no hunting. I'm off early tomorrow til Friday, seeya!
C
posted by cptrayes @ 7:14 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
The more I hear, the more I am convinced Georgie never had any real schooling in his life before you go him. "Slap on a saddle and head for the hills!!"
Great, though, to be able to work him properly outdoors where there is room and the sun shines!
Good work on the transitions. It will just take time until he figures it all out.
Why do you think that George is so tense at the walk? If he had been hacking/hunting horse, would walk and canter not be his strongest gaits?
Just wondering.
How old is George? I cannot remember. He is pretty young, isn't he, younger than Jazz?
is he was hunting, muriel, he probably wasn't asked to do a proper walk, and they do spend a lot of time trotting as well as galloping ..none of it schooled!
Claire's right Muriel, you rarely walk when hunting and never do anything recognisable as a schooled canter. You trot the roads to get out of the way of the traffic (fifty horses make people very cross when they are blocking a minor road!) and gallop the fields.
George is no more than 8, but Jean is quite correct. He was not unbroken, but he was 100% unschooled. Turning a circle was completely new to him, as was walk and canter, both of which he still struggles with. In March he was physically unable to canter a complete THIRTY metre circle.
He is actually a very tense little fellow and he has a struggle to accept any contact. The way he was broken left him with a very sensitive mouth, so he doesn't work properly until you have overcome his fear of the contact.
He won't work without contact, he is just in "let's go, we're off as fast as we can go" mode. But for the first third of a session he is unhappy to work with it either. He's a schooling challenge, but improving steadily. The quality of each of the three paces is unrecognisable from the horse who arrived here, even in the field. He's also a completely different shape, with a long neck, pronounced wither and huge shoulders. The transitions are always fraught until he remembers each time how to keep himself in balance through a change of pace.
When I have slept off my hangover, I'll be going out into the gorgeous sunshine to try some more!
C
i wonder, caroline, if it's worth trying a bitless on him, at least when schooling? i could lend you mine if you wanted to give it a whirl - helped molly substantially, she was downright dangerous but 6 months bitless at least help resolve that issue!
I've got one thanks Claire. Thankfully he's not unsafe, he just backs off and has to be sent forward constantly with taps of the whip until he remembers that it's a good place to be. He's improving, so I think I'll carry on with a pelham for now.
C
Me again! sorry.
V has been on the ranitidene for 3 days now and i've definitely seen a change - he's still wary of being girthed because he's expecting pain but he's stopped panicking when taking his first step.
Sadly I couldn't find a Tescos near me (how??? this supermarket is supposed to be everywhere!!) so got a Boots branded one which is costing me £3 a day!!
I know you mentioned Omeprazole (sp) but that's Gastrogard isn't it? is that what you've ordered? where from? through vets? cheaper than through vets?
sorry 101 questions.
Hope everyone enjoys the autumn sunshine this weekend.
Cassie
Cassie that's really interesting. If you are insured, then I guess you can go straight for a scoping to confirm the diagnosis, and Gastrogard on prescription. It's phenomenally expensive! If you aren't insured, it's still over £100 on ponymeds.com, but they do guarantee safe arrival in the UK.
It certainly sounds like he has ulcers. What a relief it must be to know what's causing him to play up. Hitting concrete is no fun!
C
Eeek!!
Sadly don't think the vet will be able to scope him - he's terrified of vets and just throws himself all over the shop, it's dangerous. Even doped enough for an elephant he can still pull himself out of it enough to create havoc!!
He is insured though, wonder if vet will prescribe it without scoping....
Hmmm.
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