Firewell
Well-Known Member
I find myself at an unusual loose end this morning so I thought I would write a report!
First of all I decided to move J from his uber posh Showjumping yard to somewhere a bit more 'us'. I was very sad to go as I have met some lovely people there but there were a few things that were starting to niggle me. 1. No hacking. Riding around the same 30 acres gets really really boring after a while! 2. No full time turnout. He came into a pen during the day but I was always worried he had run of hay or he would still be in his pen and not turned out when I wanted. He kept coming in with loose droppings or straining and nothing coming out... I dunno call it mothers intuition but even though he didn't have colic I just knew something wasn't right.
So he has now moved to a yard 5 mins from my house
. I am super super lucky I found it. We looked round it to buy but then the lady didn't want to sell but it stuck in my head as a nice place to keep J so I gave them a call and they said I could board there 
. It has it's own well and gigantic pump so the fields are irrigated a lot all year round ( very rare in the desert) and he is able to live out next to a donkey in his own one acre grass field. He gets hay morning and night in the field and they do his rugs for me. I go up once a day and groom/exercise and feed and the rest of the time he sunbathes in paradise never running out of food and never worried if he's staying in or going out . It has hacking(!!!!!), a lovely big arena which I pretty much get all to myself, a sand indoor round pen, hot walker, wash rooms and even a hydra therapy walker (which I doubt I'll use but anyway it's pretty cool).
Before we left the posh showjumping place Jae's new rider (event rider who rides him while I'm pregnant) made sure they got in lots of course practice. I was a bit worried for a short time that they weren't gelling. She (I'll call her H) is a lovely rider, much much better than me and H is very dilagent about technique and training and doing everything perfectly which is super as she is improving him which is what you hope when you are paying someone! However, I dunno... she was working on keeping his rythm really soft and quiet into jumps (which sounds perfect) and he just was fussy with that, they kept getting too close or too far away or he was rushing or crawling in not really paying attention and I could tell she was getting a bit frustrated and then he was getting a bit frustrated and tail swishy and then he would try too hard and start getting cross with himself. H was very good and was giving him time and being gentle with him helping him understand but I kept saying 'he likes to jump out of a quicker tempo' and yet no one was listening to me
. I must have said 100 times, he likes a bouncy up tempo canter, he likes to come in to the jump how he wants. I also said he prefers to get slightly closer to the jump but she still kept trying to make him jump from a longer spot and then he would bust a gut to fit in a tiny stride and snap up because he wasn't comfortable going from too far away but what do I know, I'm just the owner who trained him 
.
Anyway one day she said she would practice some turns on him (he LOVES turns). I said she should practice like it was a jump off. Oh my word FINALLY they clicked! It was amazing to watch and I was hopping around all excited. He doesn't go fast but his pace quickened, his head came up and he was turning and jumping and turning and jumping ears pricked, seeing his own stride, snapping his feet up and H was grinning like a cheshire cat. We were both buzzing when they stopped and she agreed that he has his own style (which he is rising 10, he does know what he likes). You can't tell him where to put his head or even to stay straight, you just get that canter he likes so much, steer and you both see the same strides and it's amazing. He does struggle a bit with stiffness so it's more comfortable for him to do it his way but he is incredibly athletic and H was like 'wow', she said he is like the over grown pony jumper of her dreams. Which is what he feels like to ride except he is 16.1. I said 'I told you so!' ha ha. She said 'he see's the jump and he's worked out the line and the stride for you and all the while he's looking for the next jump' and I was like 'I know!!!'.
So anyway that was a bit of an exciting breakthrough and now she is able to help him with his issues by knowing how to work with him. We warm him up with some turns which helps him engage and use a lot of poles, he's so quick with his feet he adores doing the poles before and after the jump and it really gets him thinking and using his body properly.
H came yesterday and we took him for a hack (she rode, I walked), he hasn't been off a property for 18 months and he was so happy! He got a bit excited when we went past racehorses training on a track the other side of the road but he soon got over that. H has also been teaching him flying changes which I have never bothered teaching him 1. Because I don't know how and 2. Because he does them automatically in a jump off so it's never bothered me. They are kind of expected here though, even the lowest level horse should do clean changes so it's important for him to now learn them.
I have a few pics of him learning changes. The first one being quite hilarious, he's got his ears back concentrating so hard and even though he's not quite sure what he's meant to be doing he's jumping into the change as much as he can to try and get it right which basically sums his attitude and has me rolling round in giggles.
I love this pic of them both smiling:-
He's also been a bit naughty, trying to drag me round the new yard the other day and he did have to have a sharp reminder that he is coming 10, has travelled the world and no he's not a 4 year old so none of that behaviour please! No dragging pregnant humans or pregnant humans get cross. He does like to try and take charge occassionally! He's settled very well though in his new place and he no longer has loose droppings. I definitely know I did the right thing by moving him and I adore seeing him so relaxed and happy.
One of my friend's from the old yard thinks he looks like a Brats doll with his 'bangs', looking at this picture I see her point:-
Big random cactus anyone?
Hard life:-
Looking sheepish (and standing very still) after his telling off the other day:-
So that is it really! Hopefully H will take him XC schooling soon, J will love that. H had another clients horse that took 1.5hrs for her to get in the water jump! I said to her it will take her 1 second to get J in the water but maybe that long to get him out.... he loves playing in water.
Oh I have also bought him yet another new saddle. A Harry Dabbs this time, I decided against a new Kieffer after H said she thought it would benefit us to have a closer contact saddle. Fingers crossed it fits :/. It has front gussets... oh we'll see.
First of all I decided to move J from his uber posh Showjumping yard to somewhere a bit more 'us'. I was very sad to go as I have met some lovely people there but there were a few things that were starting to niggle me. 1. No hacking. Riding around the same 30 acres gets really really boring after a while! 2. No full time turnout. He came into a pen during the day but I was always worried he had run of hay or he would still be in his pen and not turned out when I wanted. He kept coming in with loose droppings or straining and nothing coming out... I dunno call it mothers intuition but even though he didn't have colic I just knew something wasn't right.
So he has now moved to a yard 5 mins from my house
. I am super super lucky I found it. We looked round it to buy but then the lady didn't want to sell but it stuck in my head as a nice place to keep J so I gave them a call and they said I could board there . It has it's own well and gigantic pump so the fields are irrigated a lot all year round ( very rare in the desert) and he is able to live out next to a donkey in his own one acre grass field. He gets hay morning and night in the field and they do his rugs for me. I go up once a day and groom/exercise and feed and the rest of the time he sunbathes in paradise never running out of food and never worried if he's staying in or going out . It has hacking(!!!!!), a lovely big arena which I pretty much get all to myself, a sand indoor round pen, hot walker, wash rooms and even a hydra therapy walker (which I doubt I'll use but anyway it's pretty cool).Before we left the posh showjumping place Jae's new rider (event rider who rides him while I'm pregnant) made sure they got in lots of course practice. I was a bit worried for a short time that they weren't gelling. She (I'll call her H) is a lovely rider, much much better than me and H is very dilagent about technique and training and doing everything perfectly which is super as she is improving him which is what you hope when you are paying someone! However, I dunno... she was working on keeping his rythm really soft and quiet into jumps (which sounds perfect) and he just was fussy with that, they kept getting too close or too far away or he was rushing or crawling in not really paying attention and I could tell she was getting a bit frustrated and then he was getting a bit frustrated and tail swishy and then he would try too hard and start getting cross with himself. H was very good and was giving him time and being gentle with him helping him understand but I kept saying 'he likes to jump out of a quicker tempo' and yet no one was listening to me
. I must have said 100 times, he likes a bouncy up tempo canter, he likes to come in to the jump how he wants. I also said he prefers to get slightly closer to the jump but she still kept trying to make him jump from a longer spot and then he would bust a gut to fit in a tiny stride and snap up because he wasn't comfortable going from too far away but what do I know, I'm just the owner who trained him .Anyway one day she said she would practice some turns on him (he LOVES turns). I said she should practice like it was a jump off. Oh my word FINALLY they clicked! It was amazing to watch and I was hopping around all excited. He doesn't go fast but his pace quickened, his head came up and he was turning and jumping and turning and jumping ears pricked, seeing his own stride, snapping his feet up and H was grinning like a cheshire cat. We were both buzzing when they stopped and she agreed that he has his own style (which he is rising 10, he does know what he likes). You can't tell him where to put his head or even to stay straight, you just get that canter he likes so much, steer and you both see the same strides and it's amazing. He does struggle a bit with stiffness so it's more comfortable for him to do it his way but he is incredibly athletic and H was like 'wow', she said he is like the over grown pony jumper of her dreams. Which is what he feels like to ride except he is 16.1. I said 'I told you so!' ha ha. She said 'he see's the jump and he's worked out the line and the stride for you and all the while he's looking for the next jump' and I was like 'I know!!!'.
So anyway that was a bit of an exciting breakthrough and now she is able to help him with his issues by knowing how to work with him. We warm him up with some turns which helps him engage and use a lot of poles, he's so quick with his feet he adores doing the poles before and after the jump and it really gets him thinking and using his body properly.
H came yesterday and we took him for a hack (she rode, I walked), he hasn't been off a property for 18 months and he was so happy! He got a bit excited when we went past racehorses training on a track the other side of the road but he soon got over that
. H has also been teaching him flying changes which I have never bothered teaching him 1. Because I don't know how and 2. Because he does them automatically in a jump off so it's never bothered me. They are kind of expected here though, even the lowest level horse should do clean changes so it's important for him to now learn them.I have a few pics of him learning changes. The first one being quite hilarious, he's got his ears back concentrating so hard and even though he's not quite sure what he's meant to be doing he's jumping into the change as much as he can to try and get it right which basically sums his attitude and has me rolling round in giggles.
I love this pic of them both smiling:-
He's also been a bit naughty, trying to drag me round the new yard the other day and he did have to have a sharp reminder that he is coming 10, has travelled the world and no he's not a 4 year old so none of that behaviour please! No dragging pregnant humans or pregnant humans get cross
. He does like to try and take charge occassionally! He's settled very well though in his new place and he no longer has loose droppings. I definitely know I did the right thing by moving him and I adore seeing him so relaxed and happy.One of my friend's from the old yard thinks he looks like a Brats doll with his 'bangs', looking at this picture I see her point
:-
Big random cactus anyone?
Hard life:-
Looking sheepish (and standing very still) after his telling off the other day:-
So that is it really! Hopefully H will take him XC schooling soon, J will love that. H had another clients horse that took 1.5hrs for her to get in the water jump! I said to her it will take her 1 second to get J in the water but maybe that long to get him out.... he loves playing in water.
Oh I have also bought him yet another new saddle. A Harry Dabbs this time, I decided against a new Kieffer after H said she thought it would benefit us to have a closer contact saddle. Fingers crossed it fits :/. It has front gussets... oh we'll see.
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