It is winter again here. The temperature has not risen above 7 degrees for three days and has usually been lower than that with hail, sleet, and rain. Yuk!
But today I did manage to squeeze a ride on Jazz and Ace between the hailstorms and I have a definite answer on Ace's spiky behaviour.
It is related to the temperature. He was every bit as feisty as he was in the middle of winter. He did a number of really violent spins using any excuse he could. Once it was Smidjun the ginger tom who jumped over the wall, but he's seen him jumping over his stable door plenty of times without hardly batting an eyelid so there was no excuse. He also kicked out a few times walk at trot transitions, not for any reason I could tell.
So that answers one question - he is temperature triggered. And now the next question - is it just the cold, or does the cold make something else hurt somewhere? What could it be if it does? If something hurts, why does he do such super work once he's got the shenanigins out of the way? I don't quite know what to do about this. There is nothing whatsoever to give a vet to go on, no heat, lumps, stiffness or anything. If the weather is cold again tomorrow I plan to give him a bute for breakfast and then ride in the afternoon and see if he is any more relaxed. That should tell us if there is any pain, and we can go from there.
Jazz was very sweet and gave me one three time tempi change (two changes two clear strides apart) in less than ten minutes of working, so I stopped and put him away, I was so pleased! I was musing again on what he was like 18 months ago, when I was training him by changing speed or direction every ten strides or less. The intention of that was to make him focus on me, all the time, not to go off thinking that he was responsible for where we were going and how we were going to get there.
The horse I ride now is unrecognisable. It's the same height and colour but it's not the same horse, I swear it :-) He is SO responsive. He is waiting every moment for the next command - speed up, slow down, turn ... whatever. We can be in working trot and even while warming up he will instantly slow to a near piaffe or lengthen to a medium at the lightest aid. What a horse, he is turning out to be, I'm so proud of him.
C
Very curious about Ace. Could you heat the saddle pad to see if that makes him hsppier? I know my new knees ache a bit more in the cold, so any physical issue certainly might crop up sooner.
ReplyDeleteIf you lunge him before you ride, does that make a difference? Perhaps it might be a way of avoiding the battle instead of having to fight it out--remember your post about Jazz the other day. If that works, although it can be a pain, it might defuse the behavior under saddle so it becomes less of a habit.
Jazz sounds wonderful. He is one of those horses that needs a job to be happy. The more difficult dressage exercises are just perfect. He has to work just enough to accomplish them and then is super pleased with all your praise. You've done a great job training him.
Now what you need is a coach who says, "Oh, let's just do it," rather than, "Oh, he has to be perfect on a 20m circle before we can go on."
Ooh, I have a long post to do about trainers soon Jean :-)
DeleteC
yes, if I lung him first he doesn't spook when he's ridden. Makes me think it's behavioural, not pain.
DeleteC
I should also say Jean that the "battle" with him is almost entirely mental, not physical, and is mostly a battle to stay on his back in those spins!
DeleteC