Updates Galore: Racehorse Relapse and More!

Ooh. Epic April fail - many updates needed! I'll let most of the pictures/videos speak for themselves.

April 9th: Attempted another canter on the J-Man. J relapsed into racehorse mode. The following ensued:

After that I had several really nice rides on JJ, including an EXCELLENT trotting lesson the day before I left for a week-long visit to MA/NH. Which means JJ had a week off. I knew what to expect upon return...

April 20th (return from break): I only lunged JJ, and actually he only had a few small outbursts. Nothing like his flying days of February. Also, note his brand new booties courtesy of Lisa's tack shop ;)

Yesterday, Monday, I decided to forgo lunging JJ at all. I swear it just makes him more wound up and stressed out. I brought him down to the ring and hopped on his back, and he was like a little angel. Well, up until he heard to quad driving around and delivering dinners, but you can't have everything I guess!

Jumpin' JJ: Part Deux

Had a blast this weekend!!! So much good stuff - I love this little man!

On Saturday I was trotting around the ring and over poles on the ground, having a grand ole' time. Sue turned her attention to me. Anytime she sees that JJ is going nice and calm she decides to its time for a challenge. She set up a couple cross rails and had me go over them one at a time. Meh, no problem! We've done that! With success over single crossrails she had me do two in a row. Aside from a fair amount of wiggle-wormy-ness in between, JJ was fine.

Sue seemed to be getting bored so she dropped one of the crossrails and made a two foot vertical out of it. I was watching her and seeing the 2' jump I said NO! We had never done a vertical - I wasn't ready to start over something two feet high! In my head all I could imagine was JJ coming up and leaping over the jump as though it were 5' tall instead of 2' tall. If you've ever seen a young horse learning to jump, this is a fairly common reaction.

An explanation of jumps for all you non-horsey people :)

"Relax! I was just seeing how high it was!" she answered. She put the jump down to about 18'' - the lowest it could be set. "Come on over!"

What I expected to happen

I relaxed, knowing I had to trust Sue and I had to trust JJ. He had never even tried anything bad and he had never been anything but predictable. Why would he throw a wrench in the system now? He didn't. He trotted over the vertical so easily that if I had closed my eyes I wouldn't have even known it was there.

Up it went to 21''. JJ's reaction was the same.

What actually happened.. More or less...

24''. Back to the height it started at. I was laughing at this point. Stupid me, what had I been so worried about? JJ tried to trot over it again but couldn't lift his legs high enough at the trot and stumbled a bit. "OK, so you need a little more leg in front of the jump so he starts to get the right idea", Sue said. Right. I brought him around again. He wiggle-wormed in front of the jump as if to say hey are you paying attention? You're steering me into something when there's plenty of space on either side to go around it! I got him up to the fence and squeezed, and up he went into a little hop over the jump and landed in a confused canter. I'm pretty sure I had a huge smile on my face at this point and patted JJ happily. Yay! We did the jump a few more times before I cooled JJ out.

On a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon we tried another canter - this time to the right. JJ picked up the right lead and we did a couple rather decent circles on the top half of the ring. Yahoo!!

I GIVE UP!

It's true - I gave up!

I was so stuck in the mindset that I had to get JJ in a nice frame and fuss with his face to do so. I wasn't hard on his face at all but I was consistently asking him to bring his head down, so of course the poor thing was trying to escape the pressure. For JJ the only solution was to pick his head up, hollow out, and run.

I want you all to know that I blame all you readers for not slapping me in the face and reminding me that all horse problems are really rider problems. Come one guys, pay attention!

So anyway, on Thursday I gave up. I dropped the reins. Dropped them. Held the buckle. JJ trotted around like a happy little duck, and I actually had to apply more leg aid to keep him trotting. There was even a giant herd of deer in the field adjacent to the ring and he didn't mind one bit.

In other news, JJ's paddock has had a recent remodel - he is now surrounded by electric fencing and let me tell you, he HATES it! The electric went up on Thursday and JJ was absolutely convinced that suddenly EVERYTHING had become electric - the lead rope, the bridle, the lunge whip, all the fences... Everything. Poor thing. I think he's figuring it out :)

All In Good Time

Last week JJ basically had three days off - I only lunged him on Wednesday and failed to work him at all Thursday and Friday. On Saturday JJ was fine on the lunge but very quick under saddle. Not bad, but not as nicely consistent and balanced as he had been, which is quite frankly a little disappointing. He was the same on Sunday - quick, hollow, and unbalanced - basically exactly what you might expect from an OTTB. But what happened to my shockingly nice balanced boy?? All in good time, I suppose.

On Monday JJ was a little better and I was enjoying myself a bit more, until suddenly Sue called me down to the "top half" of the arena. There was only one reason she might do this.... "OK, sit and think canter!" she announced. Crap. I wanted to yell and scream and protest that I wasn't ready!! I'm not ready!! But I made a pact with myself a few months back that I would always trust Sue, no matter what. So I sat, and I thought. JJ didn't react, so I kissed and squeezed (OK that sounds weird to anyone who doesn't ride, but it's true). He popped into a sloppy, akward, unbalanced canter on... The wrong lead. UGH! I was going left for his benefit and he jumped into the right lead! Testament to me, I guess ;)

What I think happened

What actually (probably) happened

Whatever, it was fine. I'm pretty sure I didn't freak out that badly ;)

JJ's mounting block issues are... evolving... He for some reason feels the need to circle the block about 8 times before he is content to stand still. When he finally decides to stop moving he kicks like hell with his back legs, but the aggression seems to have disappeared - his ears are floppy and sideways and he's not aiming for me (trust me, if he was I'm sure he'd get me!). When I begin to mount he stands like a perfect gentleman until I am fully mounted and I ask him to move forward. Um... Weird? I'm really not sure what to make of this behavior so I've decided to stop worrying about it and hope he just gets over it. There's only so much I can worry about.

Today, Sue decided to climb aboard after my ride. It was a lot of fun to see JJ under saddle but I realized how disgustingly high his head set is - EW! He looks like a camel. Or a thestral. Or both. I have to keep reminding myself that we'll get there... All in good time.