Off to Tweseldown xc schooling . . .

He was amazing!

Very distracted to start with . . . dumped Z at the second fence (the old drop shoulder and spin routine), but after that knuckled down and jumped everything. Tiger traps, combinations, ditches, water, chairs, houses. He was so, so fab . . . and is now very, very tired.

A gentle hack with me tomorrow around the big field next to the yard and then probably some schooling on Saturday.

Oh - and he has an arse now :D.

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Oh c'mon . . . chuck me a bone.

Kali hasn't been out and about much since we bought him . . . he was a bit of a project when we bought him and in the middle of getting him schooled up I had a nasty illness and then he was diagnosed with navicular.

Then he chucked me on the floor and I fractured my pelvis.

So . . . to see the rather green, unschooled donkey I bought and then found had a nasty degenerative disease go out and compete and school like he did last weekend and today is nigh on a miracle.

I had a lump in my throat watching him today . . . and he had a great big smile on his face.

The big dope still cantered round with his head on a swivel . . . oooh look a blade of grass, ooh look some dog walkers, oooooh look a tree (not spooky, just looking) . . . and then practically fell over some of the jumps to begin with . . . but once he listened to Z and settled into a rhythm he as on fire. It didn't matter what stride he was or wasn't on, he jumped it . . . sometimes a good two strides out. When he jumped the first chair really, really early (scarily early) he I was so worried he would clart his back legs on the fence, but he didn't . . . sorted himself out and landed safely. Ditto the log out of the water. And then the next chair he jumped beautifully . . . and the house . . . and the tiger trap. Didn't even look at the ditch despite the branches of a tree growing out of the bottom of it . . . and popped through the combination with the messy striding like he'd been doing it all his life. He jumped hedges, hanging logs, skinnies . . . it's all there, he just needs to learn how to focus.

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sychnant said:
It sounds like he was amazing, well done for getting him this far and best of luck for the next bits :)

Do you have any pics??
Click to expand...

He was amazing . . . I can't stop smiling. He went alone, tried his heart out, came home sound.

All credit goes to Zoe for giving him a wonderful ride round . . . she was kind, patient, firm and forgiving - shouted at him only once "when I put my LEG ON . . . " and realized that his lack of steering at the end was down to tiredness.

Next step is the team chase at Fair Oak . . . the idea is to get him round the same track he went round Sunday but with company to give him some confidence and improve his focus.

Pics to follow. I didn't take my camera (numpty) . . . but my dear friend took some on her phone.

Love my big grey donkey.

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