We have owned Benny and Rummy for four months now. They have already done a great deal and all of it has been good education but they have not started their full program of ‘how to be an eventer until now. They have shipped to Florida, learned to live in a field with a herd, lived in a block of tent stabling for a week and attended one of the biggest events of the Spring and made it home almost in one piece. I say ‘almost’ because Benny has a lump on the front of one cannon bone that he didn’t have when he left. It doesn’t bother him in any way but I hope it will disappear with time. I expect he either whacked it on something or he got a kick. No matter how careful you are, it seems that baby thoroughbreds can find something to do that they shouldn’t.
Up until now Benny has only hacked. He is a big boy and only four, so I don’t ask his growing and maturing skeleton to do more than carry the rider in walk trot and canter. He will start learning about circles and jumps this Summer. Rummy did a little bit more in Florida as he is a year older. He has had a half dozen or so days of schooling gently on the flat and has hopped over a few little jumps. He has not really had jumping lessons but that will all change now.
The first ‘jumping’ lesson will be flat poles on the ground. As soon as he is calmly trotting and cantering over one pole, he will build up to doing a course of poles. Teaching them to jump is much more about keeping the balance and rhythm of the canter than about leaving the ground. I find most horses leave the ground quite willingly but it takes time and muscle over their topline to be able to leave the ground and rebalance on the other side. With an eventer, if they are difficult to balance before and after a jump you are not going to make the time cross country. I used to ride a fabulous horse that was as brave as a lion and would jump anything you put in front of him, but he was a nightmare to organize in front of and after a jump. As a result I never once made the time on him in six years of riding him. I took him to Advanced and loved riding him but I could never win, winning on a non adjustable horse is almost impossible unless it is ‘Murphy Himself’ and I am not brave enough to ride a ‘Murphy’. I have always made sure that my young horses are brought on very slowly with a big emphasis on balance and control before they ever do anything as exciting as a cross country course.
Both the TBs are in happy mouth snaffles. I really like those bits for early education and the lower levels of competition. They have ofttimes been banned for dressage because of the bobbles on the mouthpiece. I have to say I agree, I am not quite sure what those ripples do against the tongue but they definitely do something, as I have used these apparently innocuous soft plastic bits on the strongest horses, and I have been able to hold the horse easily. The bobbles must press on the tongue in some way, anyway, it works, and I find the horses learn to take a contact with the soft surface without becoming anxious about their mouths. Benny has hardly had a bit in his mouth before he came here but Rummy most probably had some kind of metal jointed snaffle previously. He loves his new bit and sucks happily on it with lots of nice white lipstick at the end of a ride. The other nice thing is that the plastic doesn’t get cold like metal does, it must be awful to have an un-warmed metal bit thrust in your mouth in the winter.
They were accustomed to being out all the time in Florida and only coming in for a couple of hours a day to be fed and worked. Now they are in for most of the time and only getting turned out for a couple of hours. They are not thrilled with this change of scheduling but they are very sweet and accepting of their fate. I don’t think I have ever had two such gentle kind OTTBs at once. There is nothing to choose between them for manners and temperament, both are outstanding and I think I am a very lucky lady to have them to play with.
Benny hoping that the camera might have treats inside
