We have not had a jumper lesson for 1 1/2 weeks. Last week, I had a migraine then sunday lesson was cancelled. I do ride my OTTB at home and we do a lot of flat work since I really only like jumping him twice a week ( and lessons are 2x per week). We did jump at home on sunday and all went super. So tonight, I figured no drama since it is not like he had 'time off'. During warm up, he was rather lazy. We worked on regular trot, then I would speed up my posting and ask him to speed up his trot. Then I would slow and he would slow. We did our usual leg yeilds, 20 m circles at trot and canter. Since he was being a bit lazy, I did ask him to gallop. Took some effort on my part to convince him that he needed to GO but we did it. Jumping started with lower fences and as usual, first pass he was great. The next few pass, got a bit sloppy. Then we did a course and I got the TB attitude! All of a sudden, he decided to rush, then buck then really rush, then go over fence and kick hind legs out and then buck, buck. What I have learned when he has these 'moments' is to give him something else to do. Obviously, I am boring him so he has to ad-lib thus after the last buck, we galloped and galloped, and galloped. I love his canter so this works for me! As we were canter around, he saw many lions and bears waiting to get him so I had to be ready for the spooking and correct him when he tried to dive towards the middle of the arena. After several laps, the lions left. The other riders in the lesson did their courses and then we joined the group again. We did our course without drama. After every one else rode the course, we raised the fences and he was lovely. These little TB tantrums just need a creative solution. I found that the best thing to do is carry on after the tantrum but do something stimulating such as galloping around. TBs are made to run so lets run. Bored with what we are doing? mix it up a bit. Do not get mad at the TB tantrum, rather re-focus all that energy.
This blog is dedicated to Off The Track Thoroughbreds. I will warn those that visit this blog that these are my ramblings, my personal experiences with my OTTBs and my future plans or dreams that involve OTTBs. Nothing here is meant to be a 'solution' or professional advice in regards to the training of these wonderful horses, for I am just an amateur.