Promises

I solemnly swear that I will post at least once a week from now on. See, the problem is, I've been having various issues with JJ lately and when we have issues I get depressed and when I get depressed I don't want to blog about things that depress me. But, alas, the reason I started this blog in the first place was to be able to look over the bumps in the road from a very distant land in which JJ and I are galloping around the Rolex 4* on our way to winning on our dressage score.

So, I'll update.

I started my journey with JJ trying hard to put him in his place without putting too much pressure on him, because I've been trying so hard to build his trust. I think, though, that I've been a little too soft with him. He's developed this issue of kicking out randomly - like little temper tantrums from impatience. I'm beginning to understand more and more about how his little baby brain ticks, and I'm beginning to fully comprehend just how much work this little man is going to be. Anyway, today one of his little kicks came a little too close to my personal space bubble and I gave him a good hard thump and yell for it, at which he decided to dance in circles around me. All of this took place in the back field after I dismounted from a lovely ride. But it was close to 5:30PM and JJ's internal alarm clock was screaming dinner time and his impatience was over the top. So, I solemnly swear to get after him for all the BS he pulls, rather than excuse it as baby behavior.

Also, I'm pretty sure JJ is pretty sick of doing circles in the ring, so today we hacked out into the back field for the first time. I feel pretty comfortable with JJ - there aren't many things that bother him, and he really was fine out in that field... Once we got there. The clock was approaching 5PM as we headed out so JJ found a nice puddle along the way and used it as an excuse to avoid going forward and turn back to his paddock. We spent a good 5 or 10 minutes having a heated conversation about this behavior before I leaped off his back and marched him through the lousy puddle. Days passed the point of having any fear of JJ, I climbed back on his back in the middle of the field (Yea OK I was pleading with him not to take off while I hauled myself up). He stood quite nicely and once aboard we wandered around the field at the walk for a while. I think JJ enjoyed this and I solemnly swear I will keep him out of the ring as much as possible.

P.S. I don't actually have any ambition to ever compete at the 4* level. I think pre-lim is a pretty sturdy goal for me.

P.P.S. I broke Mike's camera (actually I blame JJ...) so documentation will be forthcoming...