Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Hustle training

I've decided to show Hustle this weekend at Circle G in Ohio. Just in jumpers friday and saturday. Is he ready? Not a chance! He can't really weave yet, and has no idea what a rear cross is. But my friend April dared me to show him, and I never back down from a dare. It'll be a good chance to see how well he understands front crosses and his jumping skills (since that's ALL he knows!) Oh well, should be entertaining! He is jumping quite nicely at 22, 24 and 26 inches. I am impressed by his turns so far and he is looking forward to jumps at hand nicely. Rear crosses are terrifying him right now! It seems when I go in towards him on the flat, he bolts. I'll have to teach him somehow, without applying too much pressure to his line. I have decided to put a stop on his contacts too. I know myself all too well, and I know I won't train the running as much as I should, so 2o2o it is!
 I've been working Moxie on weaves, just a couple of repetitions and big rewards and then move on. I'm also working with a clicker and having her hold her back feet to things. Anything to get her to stop on that damn aframe! She was a rock star the last couple of times I did a whole course with her. She has so much potential, and I just need to figure out how we can grow as a team and work on our weaknesses more. She's such a little diva! I have already figured out that she needs a lot of personal attention before each run, and some connecting time with me. She is so different than Sally, who is a machine. Sally is all about the job. Like a reliable tractor, take her out, start her up, and off she goes, full tilt. Moxie expects dinner and a drink first ;)
 The cold has been bothering Sallys arthritis a bit, so I have let her run herself in the yard more than any real training. As soon as it gets warmer, I'll swim her in the pond and build her up more. I am going to increase her adequan dosage and see if that doesn't help her out any. She's 9 years old, and still has a lot of competition life left in her, so I want to make sure I am taking care of her as much as possible to let her do what she loves to do.
 Hopefully I'll have good things to report after this weekend!

1 comment:

  1. Sorry about Sallys arthritis...
    WOW HOW EXCITING, hope you have a really great time at the trial. Are you going to try to get video, video of the first time would be so special to look back on. I can not wait to hear how it goes, I will look forward to hearing -)----Kathy with Liz/Breeze/Cricket

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