Wow! Just had the best morning, and a bit of advice please

madhector

madhector

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 December 2006
Messages
12,679
Location
soon to be up north!
www.darlingdressage.co.uk
Took Jerry to Poplar with Ali XC schooling, as it shuts in the next week and wanted to get him round the intro course before march. He was extremely hyper warming up, and very strong, jumped the practice log huge, landed and bucked
crazy.gif
He settled a bit but was still full of himself (day off yesterday not quite such a good idea maybe....)

Once we started however he was brilliant, very focused. We just played over some of the smaller ones and then did the bank which he kept bucking afterwards
mad.gif
but then settled. So then he did some of the pre novice jumps, and jumped them beautifully. Had a battle getting into the water, but followed Ali's horse in, (he did this at every water, once he had been in once he was quite happy to canter through/jump in etc) Then did some combinations and he is so clever, didn't put a foot wrong.

Did a few more bigger ones and then left it for the day. Ali said she would take him straight into the PN in march rather than do the intro as she said he was easily capable. I think I need to do the intro first though
wink.gif


He gave me such a good feel, really takes you into the fences and is so careful. I just need to work on the water, we came to the conclusion he was taking the mic as he didn't look bothered by it tbh, just planted himself. Any tips would be really great.

I am so excited about next season now, and I am so chuffed with my horse. Ali has never seen him jump really and thought he looked fantastic, I do feel I hold him back somewhat but never mind, we will get there together eventually I'm sure

Thanks for reading, sorry bit long and self indulgent but I love mornings like this
smile.gif
 
sounds fantastic, i bet you are chuffed. any pics?
smile.gif

if it was me i would still do an intro first, but really its up to you, if you would be happier and more relaxed doing an intro first time out, then do that. there will be a whole season ahead of you to do a PN, so why rush.
you must be so excited, bring on march!!!
 
we live on dartmoor, so luckilly theres water and streams everywhere, so i can get my youngster used to water that way. i dont know what to suggest otherwise, just keep trying thats all you can do really. is there anywhere you could take him in the coming weeks, to practise, whilst its fresh in his mind?
 
sounds very good!! i think great witchingham are open all year but it is a way-but they have a nice water (its a bit of a river) and you walk though one end and then the water jump is the other if that makes sense-its a really lovely one-and they have some nice intro fences as well such as ditches/trakehners-im going to take my new one there in the new year
 
yeh its lovely
smile.gif


i will probs fall off if we went together hehe...I probably wont take him until iv done a bit more flatwork and basic grids with him as i have only jumped him in trot when i tried him so would be beneficial to do some more work with him so i can canter into some fences!!

maybe i will take up the offer at a later date
tongue.gif
 
The water thing wil come
smile.gif
Its just doing more nad more, and making sure you dont make too much of a big deal of it
smile.gif
Intro is just a slope in anyway, we normally end up comingto a walk when going in
crazy.gif
but they get more confident as time goes on
smile.gif
He sounds awesome
smile.gif
 
Ohhh that sounds fantastic! What a clever pony! He really does sound SO ace!
Re; the water- have found that once there out there at a competition doing a proper course, and are settled in a rythym- that by the time they get to the water, all they want to do is to just keep on going forwards as they are usually enjoying themselves so much that they dont have backwards or nappy thoughts. I bet you'll find that Jerry wont even hesitate when he is out there doing the real thing.

XC schooling is difficult because you are starting and stopping all the time, and you have other horses going in other directions etc-which is never an ideal situation for a young horse. Owen didnt want to know when he was XC schooling with other horses as he was always so worried about where the other horses were! He was best out there doing the proper thing then his mind got focused.
 
sounds like a fab day!

re the water thing, try taking him to a beach somewhere (dont actually know where sufolk is
tongue.gif
)

I took my old pony to a lake, and we went swimming
laugh.gif
and luckily for me he got over his fear of water (and was incredibly fast swimmer
shocked.gif


for my horse, he has not done a lot of water jumps, but we have acess to a friends water jump which when i am using their arena i usually finish off by jumping into the water. also go drag hunting, and find out which one has water in it
tongue.gif


= when hacking, make horse walk into every puddle!
laugh.gif
 
He was better than last time, but still stopped at each water, once he has been through it once he is fine, even jumped in and out. Hopefully he will get the hang of it. I was so pleased when he jumped his first PN fence, then we found out it was actually a novice one
grin.gif
 
When you see a puddle/water before you ask him to go in it make him do something really hard like shoulder in, small circles, transitions, leg yeilding, canter 10m circles etc and make him do if for about 5 minutes then ask him to go into the water stand there and pat him and let him relax. That way he learns water is nice and relaxing.
My horse is terribly suspicious of water but is getting there. I make him go through every puddle, water filled grip and stream that I can find. I do not care how slowly my horse does it as long as he does not stop moving forwards as that is when you get penalised xc.
 
[ QUOTE ]
When you see a puddle/water before you ask him to go in it make him do something really hard like shoulder in, small circles, transitions, leg yeilding, canter 10m circles etc and make him do if for about 5 minutes then ask him to go into the water stand there and pat him and let him relax. That way he learns water is nice and relaxing.
My horse is terribly suspicious of water but is getting there. I make him go through every puddle, water filled grip and stream that I can find. I do not care how slowly my horse does it as long as he does not stop moving forwards as that is when you get penalised xc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that very useful advice, I will try it tomorrow (while water is fresh in his head) on our hack. The thing with J is he doesn't just slow down or run out, he just plants himself and the stubborn Irish streak comes into play. I managed to get him moving forwards by going sideways back and forth but he soon worked that one out
 
All sounds very positive.
His water experience sounds very similar to snoopy - i didnt have a battle but he had to investigate it quietly first.
Once in he was happy to bound about and jump fences in and out of it.
He was like this the first few times going xc schooling. But because i just kept it simple and fun he soon learnt that going into water was fine.
The first few events he just trotted in and then would canter on. He got braver the more he did it and he hadnt see a water fence for 2 months when we went to Munstead but he flew that happily in September
smile.gif

It all sounds so positive tho hon, and like snoopy i was very tempted to take him straight out at PN. But personally because its an awful lot to all take in on a day, taking him out at Intro makes life a little easier
smile.gif

Means then when the take the step up they hardly notice
smile.gif
because they know what its all about.
Good luck hon.
Vx
 
My horse planted himself. You can push, pull, beat him or sit there. The first time I went I could not get him in. 2nd time I took lunging whip and rein and he was better. Found the trick for my horse is to occupy his brain so he cannot think about planting himself. If he is tired/doing something he finds hard he is more co-operative. At his 1st HT he was eliminated every time at water! He was horrid. It has taken hard work because he is not scared just stubborn and suspicious. I visited every water jump in the area. He is now flying round novice with no problems and is pretty confident but every year at start of season he goes schooling over water. I also have found that now he understand what xc is about and is not a nappy horrid git that he thinks much more forwards.
 
Mine is often funny about water when we are XC schooling and will have a good look and a prat-about but she's fine when we're at a competition and she's in her stride. She's the same with ditches... took her XC schooling at Pontispool last summer and couldn't get her anywhere near the ditch by the big trakaner in the second field. It is at the bottow of a slope and has water in so is a bit spooky.

Took her HT up there and the same ditch was in the course. Thought I'd have 3 stops for sure but when we got to it, she was well in her stride and didn't even look. (I had my eyes shut to TBH and was just kicking a lot
wink.gif
).

Might be yours is the same if he doesn't seem genuinely worried. Once he's up and going he might just go in without bother.
 
Not sure if the Suffolk Hunt Pony Club course is open all winter at Ickworth Park, but they have a fab water. I think Ely Eventing centre is open all winter, unless the weather is really grotty, so might be worth a try.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top