Jazz threw every evasion in the book today until he simply refused to canter bent at all. In complete frustration I went and put Radar's Liverpool on him, with maximum curb action, and I tied his mouth shut with a flash. He fought me for all of 30 seconds, realised he couldn't win, and offered a respectable attempt at half pass left in both canter and trot.
I've given him some bute tonight and I will try again tomorrow and see if there is any reduction in resistance. If there is, then I will think again about hock injections for him. If not, we will continue in the Liverpool and flash until he gets the message.
Radar and I went for a whizz across the road and we both had lots and lots of fun and came back with a grin on our faces :-) I left the Liverpool on "maximum torque" and he was so easy to manage that I think I will hunt him like it. It is better to have it set severe and use it very lightly than have him pulling like he did at the first meets last year.
Ace got a well deserved day off, and I sat on Buttie! He was just stood having a mooch and I was lying on his back watching the others in the barn and I wondered what he would do if I put my leg over his back. Nothing, he just stood there quite happy. How daft, eh, riding a 10 hand pony :-)
C
Hard to say what's going on with Jazz. If he is muscle sore, the bute may not do anything. I had that issue with PJ when I got him. Acupuncture was the answer. PJ had chronic muscle soreness and there were things he simply could not do. He fought with me, or panicked. Acupuncture was a miracle for him. Eventually, I did regular acupuncture and chiropractic, as painkillers had no effect.
ReplyDeleteIf it is his hocks, then the bute should help. If not, don't be 100% sure it's attitude. You might want to go over his body pushing and prodding to make sure it's not something else bothering him.
As you can see, I tend to give the horse the benefit of the doubt. Here too, we know that Jazz has been trying very hard for you of late and I'd hate to think he's aching someplace so he can't please you. A nice massage might help too, if the bute doesn't improve him.
I do check Jazz regularly for stiff bits and I can't ever find any. Of course that doesn't mean to say that an expert wouldn't, so I'll keep my mind open, but check out today's post Jean, for an interesting development.
ReplyDeleteC