I think Radar heard me talking about selling him. The improvement in him today was huge! He actually trotted round listening to the rythmn that I was setting with my own rise and fall, and held himself back from his usual early mad dash to stay with my rythmn. Wow!! He even got figures of eight at the first attempt. That's never happened before. He was still a daft dork about canter being over-exciting,, but not for nearly so long and when I did get a nice strike off the canter circles were super and I could shorten him up too. He had a very short tantrum about walking nicely to finish, minutes rather than half an hour. What a super boy! One day he might even do it in a snaffle....
Jazz was lovely. Changes, extensions, half pass. He resisted in half pass left as usual and then something changed. I have been working on keeping him in front of me, because he loses half pass when he shrugs himself back behind my leg. Suddenly, 1/3 of the way into the half pass, I felt him give to the bend and he completed it better than he has ever done. I didn't try to repeat it for fear of spoiling things, and I hope to recreate that feeling next time.
Ace. Well, he chose the wrong part of the country to live in. He was very, very stupid about every single patch of damp on the road, and there were a LOT of them!!! He spun at the first so violently that I got off and led him past. I got on and within 50 metres he did it again. I got off and led him past. He only got 20 metres the next time before he did it again, so I concluded that getting off was making things worse and took a strategy of waiting him out.
I didn't push him, I just sat there. I stopped him turning for home, but other than that I did nothing. When he did dive left quickly enough to catch me out (he's sharp!!!) I continued the circle until we were facing the same way as we started. It took about five minutes until he walked past of his own accord, for which I praised him mightily. The next patch he just spooked at and I praised him for going past. From then on, he did a mild "oops" movement a couple of times but stopped when I said "no". He is genuinely scared, he is not messing me around. I think he will be better in time, because there were quite large parts of our ride today when he was swinging along more freely and confidently than he ever has before. I do hope so, I can't cope with TWO jazz-hackers !
C
Re The Ledbury Hunt - have you read Molly Watson's book about a year as a subscriber? Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThey do jump serious hedges down there.
Perhaps the threat did work for Radar. What a good boy. Then again, he may be finding it physically more comfortable to go correctly. If so, and if he's as smart as I suspect, he will start to cooperate more and more as you school him.
ReplyDeleteGood for Jazz. He seems to learn things in "light bulb" moments instead of gradually through training. Thing is, once he "gets it," he really "gets it."
Ace is a trip. Lots of wet saddle pads and miles under his feet sound like the best cure. Good about sitting it out as long as you can stay on. He just needs to gain some confidence in himself, and in you. Maybe your getting off flusters him a bit. Well done.
I haven't read the book Judith, but it would be the right hunt for him.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about Jazz, Jean. He does not learn gradually. He fights and moans and evades and then suddenly he gets a light-bulb moment and realises he can do it, and from then on he gets better and better.
C