An eventful outing.....

[jennyb]

First time at Vale View yesterday. Travelled there fine, got directed to warm up indoors so we did, swags on the walls, jumps in the middle and a gallery but all was well. Then a coloured horse came in and seemed to really upset Gazdag although it didn't do anything as far as I could tell, Gazdag felt like he was heading for a full on Zebedee moment but luckily he stopped short of erupting. So most of the warm up was spent trying to calm him down and get him to relax.

The tests were in another indoor arena which was only wide enough to hold a 20m wide arena, so that meant that Gazdag had to go right up against the walls of a strange arena which to him means risk of imminent DEATH from the MONSTERS which live in arena walls. Added to that some twit from the centre decided that my test would be a great time to harrow a frozen warm up arena next to the indoor arena, making loads of noise and rattling around. So the test was rather tense but Gazdag tried hard and I managed to get him to relax in between spooks. Unfortunately he had a major spook just before our turn up the centre line, leaping sideways and running backwards, so that didn't help matters! 63% in this test.

Then later we warmed up for the medium test, warm up was fine and Gazdag was listening well. Then back into the arena of doom for the test, he was a bit skitty but rideable, then we had another major spook when some twit decided to appear in the doorway right as we were cantering past it and frightened Gazdag. 60% in this test.

Overall I was quite pleased with him as he hates competing indoors, and last time we competed indoors he did canter backwards and a demi-pirouette in levade in an elementary test, so at least he was slightly more under control with his spooking!!

[antares]

Oh dear, poor gazdag! Some horses just don't like indoors do they and that one sounds particularly scary.

I took a friend's youngster wh yesterday and he was obsessed with one of the other horses (she was a coloured too) every time he went past this horse he just whinied and tried to follow her. Strange, must have thought he knew her

[jennyb]

Gazdag seemed frightened by this horse, it was ever so strange, he's never reacted like that before. He's normally quite a chilled horse as far as meeting other horses and people goes, my friend describes him as Tim Nice But Dim, as he likes to introduce himself to strangers!

[antares]

Other horsie must have been giving off some kind of vibe. Wonder if he's met a similar looking one before that was mean.

[bertie666]

Sounds entertaining!

Would it be any good trying him with some rescue remedy before doing indoor arenas? I know quite a few horses that dislike those high sided walls. Dont think Id ever be brave enough to try Whin in one we might go out through the roof!

[jennyb]

I wondered that, it was odd, must have been a negative vibe about that horse although I thought it looked very nice!!

Rescue remedy doesn't seem to touch him. Gazdag is a HUGE drama queen and loves to create a drama, he's lovely competing outdoors so I think it's just a habituation thing for him, it's something he's got to get used to. He doesn't do anything particularly unseating so I'm happy to just ride him through it and steer him around as best I can, encourage him to relax and view the indoor outings as just training shows for him. :-)

[curlytobiano]

Good for you Jenny, another couple of dozen of those and you will be aboard a relaxed Lipi getting 80%s!

[jennyb]

Ha ha, I doubt he'll be an 80% horse, closer to 70% would be nice! He's such a nosy, reactive horse and his mind is so busy that it's easy for him to lose focus and quickly reduce a mark from a 6 or a 7 to a 5. I am waiting patiently for him to grow up and let me ride him throughout a whole test. I have had flashes of it in the past and I come out of the arena with a huge grin on my face, it's the best feeling and that's usually when he'll win a strong class. However relaxed days like that are a rarity with a sharp Lipizzaner and usually reserved for hot summer days when it's too hot for him to bother being nosy!

[Amanda Seater]

Ahh- game of speed chess - this I empathise with! Well done for playing speed chess in public!

[Lulu]

Winter time dressage is completely different to Summertime I think, fresher horses in winter, it's colder, windier and noisier. Summer, it's hot, and horses are usually calmer in summer than in the cold of winter

Lena is also a nosy reactive horse, when walking her out in hand yesterday she didn't want to concentrate on me, but someone in very far distance who was riding a bike (1/3 mile away). I did insist on her looking at me, not at the bike, then we carried on.. she can be explosive too, so am working with her more in hand to gain more leadership skills before getting back on board (and building her up in hand first). Gazbag will get better the more he does it, Lena I've noticed is getting more maturer with age (sigh). Maybe she'll be nicer to ride as a 7/8yr old, like her Mum was

[jennyb]

He's loads better this year than last and he's still only 8yo, he's not 9 until March. The Medium tests take quite a lot of concentration to ride accurately, they are quite busy, lots of technical stuff to do!

[SarahW]

If it is any consolation (and actually what a great experience) Theoden decided that Pie (Kelly's Pie) was some sort of rocking, dare I say it cow, when we went up the gallops together. It stopped him in his tracks. I don't know whether it was the motion of Pie cantering beautifully on the spot, or his colouring, but Theoden was most unsure....

[jennyb]

Ha ha! Glad I'm not the only one! It's very strange, I'm sure he's seen coloured horses before but he got extremely tense about this one and even started passaging when it got close. It made me reschedule my warm up plans quickly anyway, they went from practising the moves we were going to do in the test, to "attempt to stay on and if horse would also calm down and relax a fraction before the test this would be a bonus".....

[lisap]

Jenny, we quite often get horses who for whatever reason, take a good hard look at the coloured horses before deciding they are actually OK. Jane's Harry was quite aggressive with them until he became Badger's best mate!
Well done for riding the Drama Queen. Tuli has had his shoes taken off to see if we can get to the bottom of his toe first gait, so he's on restricted work at the moment, which is doing *NOTHING* for his behaviour. He was a complete evil demon yesterday evening with Emma. Haven't seen him that naughty for months, rears, rears into caprioles, rears and spins. How that girl stays on is a complete mystery to me. After a lot of "TULI!" and "GRRRRRRRRRR GET ON!!" he finally decided that the corner of the arena next to the car park was rideable. So Mr Gazdag has a halo in comparison! ;D

[jennyb]

Oh dear, wonder what's got his underpants into a twist?! Hope it's a short-lived thing. Life will never be dull with a Lipi. I'd never swap him for a warmblood, but sometimes I watch other competitors riding their calm, non-reactive horse around and think "Oh, that would be nice, to have a non-eventful ride now and again!" I can't ever ride Gazdag without him telling me all about the potential dangers round and about, mostly it's just a slight turn of the head of a twitch of the ears to say "Have you seen that?!" but regularly we get a full on "OH MY GOD WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!! LEG IT!!!!" He's not bad really, he's a good egg and is learning to submit and relax slowly and by degrees. I think we will have this relaxation and submission lark cracked in about another 20 years.....

Roland makes me laugh if I complain about his spooking in a lesson. He just says "Well, you wanted a sharp one!" and makes me get on with it. At least he can identify with the challenges of spooky horses, one of his top horses ended up facing the wrong way in a GP test recently because it spooked in the pirouettes..... ;D