Monsters, Mayhem, and a Fourth Gear!

After a nice ride on Sunday and a day off on Monday, I arrived at the barn on Tuesday with a tight schedule. Because of this lack of time I planned on simply lunging JJ. I had also just received the chambon that I ordered in the mail, so lunging would work out well to see how JJ went with the chambon for the first time. I ordered the chambon at the suggestion of a good friend and former trainer of mine. It's a piece of equipment that goes over the horse's poll (just behind the ears), such that when he raises his head he feels pressure there. He is not restricted at all, but the more he raises his head the more pressure he feels, so he begins to play with the idea of bringing his head down. I like this much better than his being restricted by the German Martingale.

As I was lunging JJ, a friend of mine (and an EXCELLENT rider), showed up at the barn. She had just returned from her first year at college in Virginia, and was itching to be back in the saddle. I didn't even hesitate to offer her a ride on JJ - I knew this would be fun for both of us! After a few times around the ring at the trot and canter, she popped him over a few crossrails, then aimed him at a vertical, maybe 2' or 2'3'' in height (remember, I haven't taken JJ over anything really since the 2' vertical from a while back, which he trotted over quite nicely). He didn't balk at the fence, but he didn't really know what do with it either. He sort of jumped/leaped/fell over it, knocking the rail down and almost landing on his back feet instead of his front. I almost died laughing. Excellent-Rider-Friend then aimed him at the culvert pipe in the middle of the ring which, even though it has been there since before JJ came, apparently posed a threat. The culvert pipe is only maybe 12'' or 18'' in height, but looks like this:

Monster? JJ thought so. He did everything from stopping in front of it to rear/falling over the corner of it, but he was NOT going to go over it. I tried standing on the end of it with my arms out to block that as an escape route, but that just ended with me dodging giant horse baby. I'm really quite sure his little baby brain wouldn't even have registered running over the human in the way. So that didn't work. Excellent-Rider-Friend tried a few more times, then jumped him over the normal vertical and some more cross-rails before dismounting. I do not fault her AT ALL for not getting him over that culvert pipe, and to her credit she spent another 45 minutes or so working with him on the lunge. She tried leading him over the culvert and lunging him over it all to no avail. But she was not devoid of tricks yet. She lunged him over a simple vertical, then placed a black barrel in front of the vertical, leaving him enough space to jump next to the barrel. She lunged him that way a couple times, then placed two black barrels in front of the same vertical, leaving him space to jump in between. She lunged him that way a few times, then filled the entire from of the vertical with black barrels. JJ didn't like it, but LEAPED over the barrels like a flying Pegasus. The barrels are probably almost twice as big as the culvert pipe. She lunged him over the barrels a couple more times before calling it a day. I hopped on JJ's back just to cool him out, and was surprised to feel how anxious and unraveled he felt. Whew - his little baby brain got overworked today!! He eventually calmed down, stretched his neck, and began breathing again. 

It was really good for me to watch Excellent-Rider-Friend work JJ, because I saw how easily she ignored all his anxiety and head-upness and quickness, and just went about her job riding him. I've been trying to focus on that since.

On Wednesday I decided to let JJ take it easy. I took him up to the field and trotted and cantered a bit, then felt a little bold and squeezed him forward into fourth gear. The three beat rocking canter became a four beat, driving gallop. I let him run the edge of the field once before sitting up and quietly saying "ho". He dropped right back into an easy walk and I dropped the reins and let him relax again. So nice to have breaks!

Thursday was great aside from a minor incident in which my saddle ended up on the ground... I was doing a quick saddle pad change on JJ, with an arm looped through the reins to keep hold of him. I lifted my saddle while Sue attempted to switch the pad under it. As soon as things began moving around on JJ's back his brain seemed to disappear. He bolted forward, catching the reins on my arm and launching into a rear. SLAM went my saddle into the dirt. He reared again before I could get a real hold on the reins and calm him enough to keep his feet on the ground, and then he seemed fine. And my saddle is fine to, so it's all OK, and I ended up having a nice ride at the end of it.