Clare Posted August 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 (edited) I think most horses can jump bigger than the owner will ever ask. It does very much depend on the horse, they soon tell you if the jumps are too big for them, or if jumping is not their thing. Some horses won't jump 2ft if jumping isn't their thing but generally I would say most manage 2.9ft without thinking too much about it. Loki certainly needs / wants to jump higher and I am having to extend my comfort zone to keep up with him Edited August 10, 2010 by Clare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabbagepatch88 Posted August 10, 2010 Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 Loki is looking stunning I have a real soft spot to piebald cobs, I had one before Earl, and im pretty sure I'll have another one again! Earl is finally recovered after his bite ordeal, his leg was swollen up last week so he's been having a rest but its all back to normal now. Im off on holiday on Thursday for 10 days so hes under strict instruction to be good whilst im away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pendlewitch Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Wow, way to go Loki! He does look so good and is giving the jumps some air, I'm sure he's ready to go up a notch or 6! I'm just a little concerned as to how far out of the saddle and up his neck you are getting, I'd want you a tad more secure, if he pecks on landing or pops a short one in unexpectedly you just may fly on without him. Sorry if I'm sticking my neb in, slap me with a wet fish if you want to. Seriously though, I've been around show jumpers a lot of my life and I'm really impressed with Loki and think he can go a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare Posted August 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I'm just a little concerned as to how far out of the saddle and up his neck you are getting, I'd want you a tad more secure, if he pecks on landing or pops a short one in unexpectedly you just may fly on without him. Sorry if I'm sticking my neb in, slap me with a wet fish if you want to. No you are right Its a bad habit that is proving hard to break. I did tell her I wanted to work on my position because I felt I tipped far too far foward, but it was never mentioned in the lesson and when I asked she said that beacuse he has such a powerful jump and there is so much movement through his body she felt my postition was acceptable, which is a first and not altogether helpful as I need an instuctor to help me with it! I can see I am going to end up travelling miles to my old instructor who taught us from day one but moved away three years ago, she has now set up her own yard and teaches from there, but its a 50 min journey which is a bit much for regular lessons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlTRPD Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 (edited) Goodness, Loki really does look to have a powerful jump and lots of potential. There is a youngster (yearling colt), belonging to a friend, currently on my yard and who is very similar in looks to Loki. He should mature at about 15.2hh + and looks to be a cob cross something finer - possibly a TB x. His owner has had him on my yard for a year now, and failed to find anywhere else to keep him despite me saying that I just don't have the facilities for him this winter, and that he can't stay after the end of the month, when I need the stable to bring my old horse in. (She also has a gelding and a mare, the latter has a foal at foot and is yet to come in, when the foal will be weaned and go to its new owner.) Well, she has now decided to sell the colt, but has made no attempt to advertise him at all yet. (The reason being, I am told, that she is working long hours and often 7 days a week.) I can see things ending up with the colt going either to a market or a local dealer, which the owner, understandably, doesn't want. I gather that I upset her a few weeks ago by saying that my grazing really did need a total rest this winter, and a chance to recover over the winter, and that, although I was willing to compromise and put my little pony mare in with my old horse in the one large stable, and to allow her the use of my second stable for her mare, and for her to utilse the field shelter that is being built as a stable for her gelding, there simply was not room for her colt as well. Time is now ticking on, and I don't have a magic wand - just two stables and two and a half acres of overgrazed land! I'm ususally a fairly assertive person, but beginning to wonder if I am being taken seriously now, or just seen as a 'soft touch' as I have helped this owner out of her predicaments a few times now. This time I simply cannot, as I'm not prepared to compromise on resting the grazing land again. Any suggestions welcomed, as I'm beginning to feel like I'm being branded an ogre for insisting the colt is either sold or else relocated, and that if she does sell him, it will be all my fault if he makes less than she paid for him as a foal or ends up in tins! On a happier note, Bron, the little yearling waif I bought as a companion for Merlyn when his sister died, is now four years old and broken to ride and drive. She's turning out really well, and resembles a Sec. C type, sturdy little 12.2hh cob. A very bossy little one, too! Edited August 11, 2010 by AlTRPD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlTRPD Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I just found this photo of the colt so you can see how similar he is to Loki, although it was taken a while ago and he'e grown since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare Posted August 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Awww he is lovely, not that I am biased or anything, thankfully he wouldn't grow big enough for me so I can't be tempted I really wouldn't think she'd have much trouble finding a good home for him I don't have any advise on getting this moving with his owner I am the worlds most unassertive person Would love to see some pics of the now all grown up Bron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BilRed Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I think most horses can jump bigger than the owner will ever ask. It does very much depend on the horse, they soon tell you if the jumps are too big for them, or if jumping is not their thing. Some horses won't jump 2ft if jumping isn't their thing but generally I would say most manage 2.9ft without thinking too much about it. Loki certainly needs / wants to jump higher and I am having to extend my comfort zone to keep up with him Thanks for your answer Clare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlTRPD Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Clare, your wish is my command, although this pic was taken a few weeks ago and before I started driving her. Since then I have hogged her mane and she looks a lot smarter and less like a 13.2 Thelwell pony body on 11.2hh legs! For those who don't know what she was like when I bought her at a year old... here's a reminder... Quite a change, eh? I'll have to remember to take the camera with me next time I get the harness on her. Having to have the shafts on the cart widened now before I can use it, as she's so broad and compact they are too narrow for her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare Posted August 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Oh my she is a proper lady now isn't she I can't believe how the time has flown, doesn't seem long ago I remember the first pic You definately have to remember the camera next time she is in harness Did you manage to find a little rider for her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlTRPD Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 A lightweight friend backed her and has ridden her away for me, and another small, but less experienced friend and her 10 yo daughter are going to share her with me, Clare, and are having some lessons first. Bron managed to throw a splint a few weeks ago - probably by banging her leg when climbing into the bath we were given recently as a water trough! She was a bit lame for a week or so, and needed the old Bone Radiol treatment, then a set of shoes, but she's fine now and regularly galloping around the field cutting it up again! Another friend has a 14.2hh Welsh cob mare that is the image of Bron - just bigger. Saw the woman who originally bred Bron a couple of weeks ago when at the feed merchants. It turns out that Holly, the little old Sec. A mare mentioned before that was looking for a home, is Bron's mother! They were in the same field together for a while and a couple of times were mistaken for one another from the rear and at a distance. Bron's father was, apparently, a 13.2hh gypsy cob called Thunder. Holly... Bron's dam. Her breeder had heard that I now owned her 'Flicka', as she'd called her, and said how pleased she was of that, because she'd always thought a lot of Bron as a foal. I can't help wondering, if that's the case, how come she'd had four or five owners by the time she was just a yearling and I bought her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pendlewitch Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Aw Bron is just gorgeous, super type for a driving pony. The colt is nice but in all honesty you can't save them all and when it comes down to it he is not your responsibility, I'd tell her straight to do as you said, either move or sell him and give her a time limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlTRPD Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Yes, she's coming along nicely in harness, and has turned out much better than I anticipated when I bought her. I suspect that she'd be a good gymkhana pony, too, in the right hands. She has a very good mouth, is very agile in the field, and a turn of speed you'd not believe from her build, although she'd need a child rider with long legs to wrap around her, as she really is broad! I learned this morning that the neighbouring yard are planning to take a pony they have to the sales shortly, and think they are going to suggest to his owner that the colt goes along, too. If so, then I shall add to that suggestion. Also think I'll be getting a padlock for the field gate to enforce my point that the fields have to be rested. While Merlyn was being shod this morning, the colt and the gelding were charging around the fields cutting them up a lot. The one fence between paddocks has been flattened and will have to be replaced, as will the gate - although I think Merlyn and Bron might be responsible for that! She's now been teachng herself to jump... which is better, I guess, than copying Merlyn's habit of just leaning and trampling them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare Posted August 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 Bron is obviously training for her jumping career Had an interesting time at the xc clinic this morning Loki was a little shall we say full of himself. It really wasn't a pleasant hour, but guess I just have to chalk it down to one of those days, he was stupidly sharp and spooky, jumping everything huge and then on landing was shoving his head down and bombing off bouncing behind is the best way I can describe it, kinda of a stage before bronking. I am hoping its just excitement as its the same thing he does in the field when charging around with his mates, his head goes down and his front feet fly around his ears and his back end comes up Added to that is started raining and the ground was slippery so I was much more aware of his speed and probably was trying to steady him more, and when he tugged at me the reins kept slipping through my fingers and he got away from me even more. Pics aren't great but they are for PW to show how quickly I can improve sitting upp when I know the front end is going to dissapear on landing Look at the little monster spooking at the fence next to the log Actually have to say on a positive for the first time today he jumping a ditch first time in a sensible manner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reds Posted August 14, 2010 Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 To Loki because it's been a while! Will catch up shortly with everyone - great to see you both back in action Clare!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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