The Adventures Of My Ponies..

This is a journal all about the progress of my two horses, Chinga and a young mare I am leasing called Jazzie. First, I’ll tell you a little bit about them both.
Chinga, who I’ve had for around two years now is nine years old, 16.1 hh and his a Thoroughbred who use to race but he ended up getting “banned for life” as he bled three times on the race track, when I first got him like many race horses he needed a lot of work. Although we later discovered he was abused and when we purchased him he was drugged. So we basically spent the first year re-training him and getting the basics down. The second year, he has become amazing. His improved in leaps and bounds. His dressage, still needs a lot of work but his coming along nicely and getting the general idea of things. His jumping is what has improved the most – he is fearless. Currently – he is on a five week spell, he has two weeks before he returns.
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-riding/i-miss-him-76220/ - Refer to this thread about that.
I took him out to a cross country training day and jumped 2* fences on him. He did well and didn’t refuse once. His show jumping has become so much better, he regularly picks the correct leads by himself and no longer rushes into fences.

Then there is the little four year old mare, who also is a Thoroughbred. She is a fair bit smaller then Chinga , she’s only 15hh. Her name is Jazzie, she knows a bit and is very calm and relaxed for her age. Yesterday, I took her to a show jumping training day. She rode so well, I discovered she likes to rush into fences a few strides before. But I also discovered how to ride her and soon she was cantering in nice and steady, without trying to rush at all. I jumped her the highest she has jumped, she did really well. Although she is blind in one eye and she did find one jump rather scary and she refused a few times but in the end she went over it confidently. Today I am planning on working her flatwork a bit, but keeping it small and basic as she struggles with her dressage and she also worked pretty hard yesterday. So she may be a bit tired. She's lovely to tack up and takes the bit well and she isn’t bothered by the girth at all.

Chinga:








Jazz:

13-2-11

Hey,
Today I rode and lunged Jazz. She did so well, I'm very happy with her. Turns out she's only lunged a few times and she coped really well with it, at first she didn't really understand what I was asking her to do but she quickly got the idea of what was going on. I kept her at a walk today, but I still felt like she learnt alot.

Riding wise, she did well. Worked on her gaits a bit, got her to relax some more and get her trot to canter transition more balanced. I also got her to slow down and think about what she was doing some more, overall. I'm very happy with how she did and she will be having tomorrow off. As she has worked pretty hard over the past two days.



Jazz.



Lunging her.

Omg looks like you are going really well. Though I have to say in you second post I love the first, third and sixth photo :) amazing shot on the sixth love it. :)

14-2-10

Hey guys,

It was way too hot to ride today and Jazz really deserved the day off, so I didn't actually manage to make it down to the horses and Jess fed her for me. So I'm excited to see her tomorrow and hopefully she will ride well. Not long till Chinga comes back too, which is something I've been looking forward to for a while - which will also mean giving Jazz the weekend off and not riding her as much. Because Chinga will be my main focus and he needs alot of work before he will be back to his well-schooled self. But I think it will come quickly to him once I get the sugar out of him.

xx.

Its good to hear that you to are going well.. And hopefully after chinga is all cool I can ride him again :)

You to are both looking really good. I can't wait to meet her, and hear more of you 3's progress. Good luck!

Sounds like your doing well with her I love all the pictures

Sounds like you're having fun! Jazz is super adorable, but when you lunge her you should really make sure the reins don't hang like that so she doesn't get all caught up in them.

Thankyou all for your replies.

15-2-10

Hey.

I rode Jazz today, she did well! I'm really proud about how well she is going for me and she's improved very much over the past few days. We played with a few very low jumps and she went through her first triple!! It was really small, about 20cm high. But I was still very proud of her, the first time she difted to the left and ended up jumping out on the last fence. But the second time she nailed it, went through calmly and quietly. She started getting the idea of sitting trot today as well. Such a gooood little girlie. She's relaxed into ALL her gaits so much. Very proud.

I worked on her ground manners a bit today too and decided the were something I'd like to focus on. She likes to rub and not stand still and of course, this will not be tolerated. But she is a smart pony and I'm sure soon she will work this out. She had a hose today and stood well and quietly, though it was almost dinner time so by the end her behaviour started too drop, so I finished on a good note while I still could.

One thing I am very proud of is the respect she has around food - she never puts a foot wrong.

Thats all for today,
Maddie.
xx.

16-2-10

Helloooo (:

Wow. Jazz was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Her flatwork has improved SO much, she did so well and her ground work came along nicely. She has started to get so much confidence with the bit, her gaits and well, I could almost say everything. She started to slow down and listen with her canter some more and start to understand voice ques.




Working on her leading - she did really well and followed quietly.



Putting her reins over her head.

Riding:






17-2-10

Hey;

I didn't ride today - instead we worked on weeding and preparing Chinga's paddock as it looks like he will be moving to where I am keeping Jazz so we both can have the company of many other riders and horses.