What good boys.
Buttie is taking his duties as a bucket cleaner very seriously and doing a sparkling job. You would hardly know that there had been any food in them.
Radar. Well what can I say really. I took him outdoors to get the space and the arena rode surprisingly well. There is a lot of standing water in the footprints, but I didn't notice any problems riding on it. It has no membrane and only packed mud for a base, so I don't use it much when it's wet otherwise the base will go soggy, but I did want Radar to have the space today. He is really beginning to get his act together, with some decent walk and trot and some really lovely canter. His canter is naturally excellent - together and very springy. You can feel how well he is using himself.
For a big horse he is suprisingly Thoroughbreddy in his head when he schools. Once you have trotted you lose the walk. Once you have cantered you lose the trot and the walk. He is just programmed to go as fast as he is allowed and the schooling task is to calm it alllllllllllllllllllllll dowwwwwwwwwn. In another year I think he would hold his own against a warmblood in a dressage arena.
Jazz was lovely today too. I took him indoors, and to start with he was either very stiff or was locking himself out to avoid working. I'm still not quite sure which and it might be a bit of both. In that tiny space it is difficult to get a stiff horse to release, but we did it with some ten metre trot circles (you tend to fall over if you try and trot a circle that small without using your back :-) and some jog serpentines. They are meant to be walk serpentines but if you get a jog every time you try to put the shoulders up in walk, then you end up in a jog serpentine and that's a lot better warm-up than a stiff walk.
Once he was loose, he got canter 10m circles easily and walk to canter beautifully. And then a number of pretty decent attempts at flying changes, many of which connected both ends at the same time and stayed pretty balanced.
Buttie 10/10. Radar 8/10 (lost two marks taking an AGE to settle to a free walk before we stopped). Jazz 8/10 (can do better but a good effort today).
C
posted by cptrayes @ 12:30 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Anyone I know would be delighted with an 80% in the dressage arena.
I know what you mean about the "under" footing. It's the reason I don't like to ride in my arena when it is really wet this time of year. If you mess up the base, that causes a lot of potential for bad footing later. I have a clay/dirt base packed under a few inches of sand.
Radar is really getting an hang of doing some decent work in the arena. One TB comment, though. My TB's always tended to go better in walk and trot if I warmed them up at canter. Guess maybe they didn't have the same "go" button Radar has.
The key to Jazz is that you now seem to have tactics and training enough under his belt/girth that you can work through the not so good days.
As for Buttie...he apparently takes his new job very seriously. Now if you could only get him to clean the stables as well. *lol*
I found the ex racers were about 50/50 Jean. Half of them wouldn't settle to a slower pace once they had done the faster pace, half would. It depends what happens when you get on. If they are raring to go and have to be stopped from dashing off, those are the ones that find it hard. Radar is a failed flat racer in his head !
C
I have to take back half of my defense of TB's. I forgot that once my Boys get into GO, BUCK, RUN! mode, no amount of work will settle them back down. TB's do not "work down" with exercise if they are too excited--even my Boys.
I do have the advantage of owning two that were never raced. PJ didn't even know how to gallop properly when I got him, and, as long as we were with other quiet horses, he would settle after some galloping. But if the other horses didn't settle right away, he was dreadful. And once he was wound up....forget it.
Yup that's it, once up they won't come down. Radar put in an impressive display of half rears, dives, minces and various attempts to have the back end moving in a completely different direction from the front until he realised he was going to be out there for as long as it took to do a decent walk. Suddenly, on went the lightbulb and there was a lovely swinging walk. So easy - why did it take SO long?!
C
Picture of Radar and me (a little the worse for Sloe Gin!) and the field master out on Saturday - slide 93 of 95 on the gallery of the Rushton meet on CFDH.co.uk
C
The field master's horse is a big one considering how he looks next to Radar. The master looks pretty clean except for one spot on his breeches. Was this after the famous hedge?
Not too many jumping photos in the lot. Hope to see some eventually.
I am very disappointed with the lack of jumping shots. I've been snapped plenty of times but they are never posted.
River is currently on the front page of Horse and Hound - you can see it on the website. His previous owner hunted him with no bridle on for a leg just before Christmas. He's about 18 hands, I think, so he makes Radar look tiny.
C
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