He enjoys turning bags over and spilling all of the contents all over the place. He must think I don’t have enough to do.
His favorite thing is to undo any zippers or any Velcro.
People always think that he must be hyper and crazy because he is so silly and playful. Wrong. Sonny is the king of lazy. If he ever encountered a serious predator, he would eat it, or be eaten, before he would ever exert the energy to run. I don’t like to force him to do anything; I try to make my ideas his ideas. Which usually means I don’t ride because that requires too much work for him, but we still have as much fun with groundwork.
Well, yesterday was a rare occasion. I mean RARE. He has been inside since Tuesday because of this horrible ice storm we have had. I had midterms this week so I went down last night for the first time. He was crazy; completely wild! Bucking and tossing his head and running around like a mad man. I have never seen that side of him before and it was so funny! To see him be playful while moving his feet was totally new! He was really enjoying himself.
I decided to take advantage of his energy and jump him a bit. I don’t like jumping him when he is lazy because I don’t want him to learn to not like it. Last night ended up being perfect! My boyfriend came down, I had my camera, and Sonny was hyper and ready to jump! AND he even jumped 2’3” for the first time without any problems!
This is what I got out of it:
By the end of the night he had calmed down a bit, but was still full of himself ;).
:D I'm glad he was good! He looks like he's bored with those fences, haha.
ReplyDeleteDo you mind if I offer a suggestion?
Of course!!! I have done dressage my whole life with little to no experience in jumping! You're the professional in that field ;) So please, go ahead!
ReplyDeleteI've had my hand with lazy horses... I know this pony mare who thinks that it takes less energy to walk through a jump than go around it.
ReplyDeleteI prefer those I have to hold back than those I have to constantly kick.
A rescued Quarter Horse I am working with becomes 'crazy' like your horse does when it's rainy. I would love to use his energy to jump him, but it is believed he has navicular. (and he's only around 6! I can't believe how some people treat their horses) I have no idea about any of his history, but I have seen him jump little logs in the pasture.
Haha walk through the jump! That is so cute!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was competing all the time, I also preferred horses with more Go than Whoa! But, with Sonny it doesn't bother me ;).
Aww poor guy! At least he is in good hands now!
LOL, I'm no pro. But I was just thinking, he doesn't seem to get a good spot to the fences, which seriously affects his style. It might be worth to have him going without a lunge line so he has free use of his head and body. The small circle you're going around doesn't give him enough room to fully prepare which at his level of experience is not beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI'd try something like this video shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPppchwSiIg
Of course, you might want to go at a slower pace. And if he doesn't like it or doesn't pick up his knees properly, jumping might not be his thing.
Horses should look like this going over fences:
http://www.osjs.com/images/ForParagon/FPGPMD0706c.jpg
Some horses look like this and it's not good:
http://www.freewebs.com/jandkperformancehorses/taz%20jump2.jpg
It means that if the horse hits the jump, he has no chance of getting up/not falling. You also want the knees to come up square, as in the first picture.
Another thing I see is that because he's on such a short circle, he doesn't have time to see a spot and is almost always dug way too deep into the base of the fence, making the jump awkward. See how he's practically vaulting over the jump with no momentum and a bad stride? That's not how it should be.
All in all: Free lunging might help. Make a big long channel along one wall and use the lunge whip to get him to canter along it to the fence. He'll have time to sort himself out and get right to the fence. Start this out over a cross rail to make sure he can see what he's doing and hopefully get a spot.
Hopefully that helps. Just ask if you have any more questions. :)
Hey Eva!
ReplyDeleteWow that was very sweet of you to do that for me!
Here's the thing: I can't really do free lunging right now. We are to liberty yet, and I don't want him picking up any bad habits. The circles are actually part of my parelli program, the Squeeze Game. But, I think you are right! I need to keep the jumps smaller or only jump him in the outdoor where he can use more of my 22 foot line!
He is definitely not built for jumping. In fact, I am not sure he is really built for anything, except me ;). I don't ever plan on showing again, that is why I got rid of both of my show horses and bought him. We are just jumping for fun. He is a left brain introvert which means he does get bored super easy so I am constantly trying to find new things for him to do. So far jumping has helped a lot!
If I have any more questions I will be sure to ask! Thanks again!