I schooled Jazz yesterday and I am so pleased with myself. It may sound like a minor thing, but to me this is major and is a skill that I desperately need to learn in order not to spoil Ace.
I warmed Jazz up as normal with a little walk, trot and canter. Depending which rein I was on he was persistently setting on my inside hand. He lacked true forwardness and was fudging engagement and straightness. I stopped him and thought to myself
- You are not going to get what you want if you carry on. What are you going to do about it?
- I'm going to put aside what I wanted to do and do something else instead that we can succeed at.
So I did 20 minutes in walk, insisting on straightness and forwardness, which he wriggled and wriggled to try and get out of. Once I had a submissive straight walk I did some smashing sharp single canter changes and then a short bit of a really bouncing, forward trot with a bit of lengthening. And stopped. Half an hour max.
When I got off Jazz did something I can never remember him doing before except when tied to the lorry at a show and wanting to get on with things - he stood and pawed the ground repeatedly. (and when I say "pawed" I mean he extended his foreleg into Spanish walk and then brought his foot to the ground and dragged it back)Together with the bemused expression on his face, I could swear he was saying
- how the hell did that happen? I set out to make it clear I wasn't going to work and then to have a nice battle, and somehow I end up having done some really advanced gymnastics that were almost good. What went on there??
So I'm so chuffed with myself. I recognised very, very early that we were on course for a battle. I accepted that I could not have what I wanted. I avoided giving Jazz the frisson of battle that he seemed so clearly to be looking for. I did a short session ending in geniune achievement of good work instead of an hour's battle to try to get brilliant work, ending in grudging mediocrity. I must be growing up at last :-).
C.
Excellent!!! Such a wise move. Too often we set out with our goals and forget that our horses might be on a "different wave length" that day. Better to avoid the battle with good strategy than engage.
ReplyDeleteTucker has taught me a lot that way because of how explosive he can be. I do not take his "mood of the day" for granted.
Good work to go for that good walk firs. And look at the ultimate rewards.
And my one trainer used to say, "Better 20 minutes of good work than an hour or more of nothing."
I swear he was disappointed though Jean - he was up for a fight :-) c.
DeleteWow, amazing to have recognized the situation for what it is, accepted reality and made something of it. Plenty of people never do this in their lifetime, of that I am sure. You WERE a good girl!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I love the picture of Radar. What a classic!
It is rather textbook, that pic, isn't it:-) ??
DeleteC
It is! I just think you are so brave! I am a total chicken. My knees shake over a 1 ft jump. (Well maybe not with Tetley but I think I shouldn't jump him.)
ReplyDeleteAh now you see, my definition of bravery is that you know something scares you, or will hurt, and you do it anyway. So for you, jumping one foot is exactly the same level of bravery as me jumping a 5 foot hedge. Except that in company and in the excitement of chasing hounds, it's easier still. So I'm not that brave. Stupid, yes, brave, not really :-)
DeleteI can't see what harm popping a little fence now and then would do him now if you fancy it - hang on to your hat though, he won't be taking no for an answer if you turn him to face a jump :-)
C
Well, I just might one of these days. It looks like so much fun and I know he loves it.
ReplyDeleteGo for it! You may find it easiest to ride him the way I did - take a light seat and stay in it. Don't sit down, just stay stood slightly, in balance, right up to the jump, and he will jump. I used to find that if I sat down on him and pushed him at all with my seat, he would worry about why I wasn't just going with him.
DeleteC.