Four days in a row, how wonderful. It quite lifts your heart to see so much sun and blue sky.
Ace and Radar both had a hack today and were both good. Ace is always jumpy about his own shadow in bright sunlight, but a couple of months back I would not have dared take him out on a day like this with a fair amount of ice around.
I could have gone hunting, but my heart was not in it even though it was close to home. It would have been hill work and wall jumping and it just wasn't an attractive proposition. SH and I had a fantastic 5 mile walk in the sunshine together instead.
Woody is not sound on his off fore on the lunge, and on a circle he is
also fairly obviously stiff through his back. None of that is remotely
surprising, so he will be a while before he is back in work. He looks
happy enough though.
The plan for him now is to get him fit again, finish his basic reschooling, then get him out doing some showjumping and dressage to prove that he can do both, and travel, and stay sane. And then find him a new home with people who will want to compete, because he does not strike me as suitable for a light hack with anyone remotely novice or nervous. If he ever again shows even half the amount of insane behaviour that he produced on Saturday, then I will have him put down unless his old owner wants him back instead. He was as close to killing himself and me as I have ever been, and if it wasn't a one-off then I'm not prepared to put myself at risk and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone else to.
It's not what we hoped was going to happen, but that's horses for you!
C
Sorry about Woody, but I know you will do right by him, no matter what. Hope he recovers quickly. It's still amazing he is in as good shape as he is after that explosion.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like a lovely day for hacking. How nice that Ace is taking to it so well. Again you've managed to figure him out and make him into a good ride--even with the spooks.
Sunshine in short supply today. It warmed up, then clouded up and now it's chilly and rainy. Yuck.
Well Ace will never be a novice ride either Jean, but I don't want him to be. His spark is what gives him such enormous presence in the dressage ring. As long as he is not dangerous, I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteSorry you don't have weather as good as ours.
C
I did comment last night but for some mysterious reason it didn't come through. I said about the shadow - in England the horses don't have much experience with them. He would get used to it here soon enough. Having said that we might get 5 inches of snow the next day or so. We need that twice a week for several months, then we might be ok.
ReplyDeleteAs for Woody. I totally agree with you about trying him out and judging him on his behavior. It's just not right to sell or give a horse away that has the potential to behave like that - not fair to the horse or person. That experiment could probably be done before additional training, as it's a mental issue not a training issue?
I'll be doing both at the same time, ML, because I do enjoy schooling him. I will start with loading him the next time we have the lorry open (for hunting Radar on Saturday I hope). I'm watching like a hawk for irrational behaviour, and also wondering how he got a very severe injury to a front leg a long time ago that has left scarring and additional bone formation.
ReplyDeleteC
I know Woody's behaviour was extreme - and I wasn't there to witness it, but I knew a girl who had bred a horse to go hunting out of her old mare. This fellow was a complete and utter ******* whatever you want to call him. She had introduced him to hounds with hound exercise, they lived very close to the kennels so he saw them regulary, but when they got to go hunting he was a complete and utter dork. She gave him to a man to try and he gave him back as too dangerous. In the end, one of the hunt servants took him out every day (went to neighbouring packs) until he did get the message. I think the message was, he either comes back a horse I can hunt or he stays at the kennels for the hounds! It might have been one week, or a bit more. He turned into a good hunter for his owner and is still alive, although retired.
ReplyDeleteI've thought it through and considered sending him away to be made into a hunter Judith, but I just can't ever trust him. His job was to be stand-in, not to go out every week. I will never, ever, know whether he is going to explode or not.
DeleteI had so many people at the Hunt Ball tell me how brave I was on the Children and Beginner's meet the week before, so I know it's not me, cos I thought he was pretty OK by the end of that one.
Even Radar starts each season very strong and very excitable and calms down after 3 or 4. For Woody, almost every time he went out would be a "restart" situation. If you couple that with not even knowing if you can travel him home again standing in the lorry the right way up, it's just not feasible.
He has to go. To a new home hopefully, we'll see how he is over the next two to three months.
C.