Wolfie the Wonder Horse!

Wolfie the Wonder Horse!
Wolfie, 24/02/08

Monday 27 September 2010

A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart, and wins with his character

I loose schooled Wolfie today and put him over a couple of jumps.  He didn't really 'get' the loose schooling thing to start with ane used it as an excuse to gallop flat out, perform sliding stops and turns that any reining rider would admire and his usual flying corkscrew bucks.  I wish I could have filmed it, but I couldn't keep an eye on him (incase he did anything too silly) and film at the same time.  He settled after about 10 minutes and he trotted and cantered around.  I put out a few poles and he cantered over them.  I put up a small cross pole and he jumped it nicely on both reins.  I then put it up to a little straight bar.  He wasn't paying attention as he came in to it and obviously expected it to still be the cross pole.  He clattered it with his front legs.  He was well booted up, but when he came back around he cleared it by about two feet.  I was seriously impressed with him today.  He was picking up the correct canter leads on both reins and the couple of times he went onto the wrong leg on the left rein, he corrected himself.  He looked so strong and powerful.  The jump was pretty tiny, but he was careful, bold and it seemed effortless to him.  I've always thought when I've seen him jumping in the field that he makes a nice shape, but I've never seen him jump any great height.  I've always thought he was naturally better on the flat, but today made me rethink.  He was working things out for himself and was getting himself out of any difficulties which is really encouraging.  The one time I put him over a cross pole last year, he was good, but seemed a bit clumsy and not too sure what he was doing with his legs and feet. Today, it was a different horse jumping.  I was so proud of him.  He's been brought on very slowly, due to various reasons, but it might have been better this way.  He's certainly much more able to cope with things mentally now as well as physically.  He made me feel excited today, I need to get a body protector, I want to jump.












M and J are back from the vet school and on box rest.  C is back in the field, so there is three of them out at night, but Wolfie seems to be tired when he comes in and looks as though he's been awake most of the night.  I'm not sure who's in charge at the moment, Wolfie seems to be creating chaos and herding the others around.  Today, he was lying down sleeping in his stable, you rarely see him doing that.

Buttons has got a little rain scald.  I was surprised, but I can only think it's because it was so wet last week, and once he gets that wet, because of his thick coat, it takes a long time for him to fully dry out.  He has a got a field shelter, but the rain was torrential last week.  If I put his rain sheet on at the moment he would be too warm. They'll be in over night soon.

Fuzzy wuzzy what was he?

1 comment:

Summer said...

I have been reading your blog for a while but never commented. Wolfie is gorgeous and you guys have come such a long way! I have started from the beginning and am reading from there. Your blog is one of the ones that inspired me to attempt my own :)