Basically before Christmas I felt like he just didn't like me much anymore! He wouldn't come to me when I called him in the field and generally just didn't seem as friendly towards me. It sounds silly I know but he has always been quite a affectionate horse and now he was pretty much ignoring me.
Maybe he just needed a bit of a break as since he was left in the field for a few weeks over New Year while I was too ill to go down he has been back to his friendly and affectionate self that I love! He comes cantering over to the gate when I call him and grooms me back when I'm brushing him etc. He seems so much happier and happy to see me too everyday which is lovely :) There has only been 1 day where he was difficult to bring in from the field and I do think it has to do with when the mares are in season, they get split up from them in the Spring so it shouldn't be a problem, I'm hoping anyway!
His ridden work continues to impress me and we have just started cantering out on hacks, we can't do that much as the ground is too deep and sticky in a lot of places but we have managed a little canter along the edge of a field which is drier, Jack was very well behaved and calm the first time which surprised me! We are mostly hacking and increasing the distance as well as the amount of trotting plus adding canter where possible. He is really behaving well out hacking and his nappy behaviour from pre op has completely disappeared, we can now pass other horses out hacking without a battle, this is a major improvement! We also do a couple of lunging sessions a week in the pessoa over poles and 1 schooling session a week too, this really seems to suit Jack, he is feeling fitter and stronger and when I do school him he feels fantastic! I still carry a whip but I never have to use it now as he is foward and responsive to my aids. The biggest difference is in the trot to canter transitions, he used to find these a real struggle and would often go crooked and hollow in the transition taking a good 3/4 strides before actually making the transition. That was an improvement on pre op where he would not canter at all and if asked would just stop and rear however it still needed a lot of work. Now I just have to sit and move my leg back ever so slightly and he bounces instantly into a lovely energetic canter :)
I was pushed for time one day last week so I decided to see how Jack felt about loose jumping, I popped up a little cross pole and warmed him up on the lunge then let him go and he flew round leaping about and enjoying himself, he was doing a wonderful extended trot down the long side of the ménage! He jumped beautifully and actually ended up jumping about 1m, he was enthusiastic taking out strides and going for long ones,I got some stills from the videos I took when the jumps were a bit smaller :)
I might even try jumping with me on this week!
We still have nothing definite in the pipe line but will hopefully take part in some pairs hunter trials over the summer to get back into the swing of things and maybe even get some ODE's in before the end of the season if all goes well but I'm not setting my sights too high and just want to enjoy having a fit, healthy and happy horse again :)
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