Opposites attract
I have one horse who wants to do dressage and not jump. And one who wants to jump and not do dressage. Thankfully, it's the right horse that wants each thing. Radar is making it more and more clear that he does NOT consider schooling a suitable pursuit for a hunting fellow!
I put him in a straight bar snaffle today because I thought that his refusal to go forward to the bit might have been because the one I was using, a Myler copy, is very thin and therefore quite severe. It was soon very clear that I had practically no control and he knew it. I left the arena before he took us off it, and changed back to the thin bit.
That was better but he still would not go forward and was mincing around with choppy strides and totally lacking rhythm. I tried every trick but he was getting more and more mutinous and it was beginning to feel like I might lose control again. So before I lost my temper or he blew up, I took him back to his stable again.
This time I put a pelham on him. I was very cautious with it because he is a horse who offers to rear, and a pelham can easily make horses rear. True enough he jumped around and threatened to go up. But with some very careful negotiation, it did the trick completely. He was pretty mad about it to start with and threw himself around the arena a bit scarily. But I sat tight and after a minute or two he gave in reasonably gratiously. The work then was an order of magnitude different, just showing that he CAN do it, but doesn't want to. I hope that if I school in a pelham for a few times that we will be able to go back to the snaffle if we can just convince him that it is so much more pleasant for BOTH of us if he has some balance and cadence.
Jazz did a run-through of elementary 42, more to get the test firm in my head than for any other reason. Well, also partly to test the arena surface, which I FINISHED this morning. It is riding really, really well.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 8:26 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
PJ used to be a difficult, erratic ride on the flat until I found out he was muscle sore. Acutpunture made all the difference. (Didn't know about ulcers back then, but he'd be a candidate for that too.) He would throw temper tantrums. Had the same issues with Toby. Might be something to keep in the back of your mind.
Trouble is, Radar does need some good flat schooling in order to be a better jumper. Wish you could explain that too him.
Sounds as if the arena is working the trick as you'd hoped. I take it Jazz handled all the exercises in the test...in order...just fine. The challenge is to do them one after the other without repeats when things go askew. Then again, maybe Jazz doesn't go so askew any more? *lol*
Ive sold a fair few tickets C..am waiting for a few more people to get back to me then will send a cheque for the books.
The choppy strides and lack of forward sounds like Ali sometimes!
Im going to mention the surface to our YO's as they STILL havent done the school as promised, if its cheaper than rubber they might get on with it.
Is there a website with more info that I can point them at?
I've found that sometimes different horses do much better in different snaffle mouthpieces, due to the shape of their mouths and palates. I've tried lots of different ones and have a collection - I did a post on May 9 on bits, with pictures, that you might be interested in. I have a mare that I bought as a hunter who, it turned out, hates to jump - we may try it again sometime as her dislike of jumping may relate to her pain issues when I got her - but for now she's very happy not to!
Great stuff Nicola, thanks! I haven't posted ML or Sarah's book yet, but the draw isn't until October so don't panic!
The plastic came from Manchester Plastics. They do deliver nationwide, though obviously the cost would be a lot more to you than the ten miles to me! Still, you only need 20 tons for the whole arena if there is already a base down, and that should be just one lorry load. Probably not more than £1500. It's so beautiful to spread that one "spreading party" plus a few tinnies would have it done in an evening.
Jean I'm sure Radar is "uncomfortable" because he would still like to be so, so crooked if he can. But he needs to work both sides to make himself more comfortable. He can do it easily, and I'm sure he is not still in pain, but he certainly seems to have a body memory of discomfort and fights to avoid having to work straight. Only once you have battled through does he realise that nothing hurts, and produce lovely free work. Unfortunately, his temperament is on the obstinate side so "battling through" does not mean a direct confrontation!
Mmmm, slight drawback in a hunter not to jump Kate :-))
C.
Sorry Nicola, I meant to say Manchesterplastics.com is the website.
C
Ok thanks i'll point them in the direction of their website there might be an firm more local doing something similar but its somewhere to start.
Our school is quite small 20x40 with a awful boggy sand base.
shame you can't take 2 horses to one event.... you'd walk it!
Post a Comment
<< Home