M
mu0ljk
Guest
I don't know if anyone remembers the thread I did a month ago (ish!) about getting some dressage spurs for Sid. I was advised to get them by my RI because we know he CAN work very well and quite adavnced but he is INCREDIBLY lazy or as my RI said he is very good at conserving his energy!
I borrowed my RI's spurs and the difference was amazing - I can't quite believe the difference in him. He didn't object he just worked. So I did get them. The only thing is is that they are marking him. Yesterday I had a lesson (I don't wear them often - once a week or even less) and again - amazing. But when I got home he was really marked by the spurs. I felt awful. I felt really cruel and ended up in tears.
I have been talking to people on my yard and they have said that perhaps I should sell him and look to getting something younger and with a little more energy. That he has been the perfect horse for me but that perhaps now that I am wanting to do more and asking more that I should think about another.
YO also reckons that he is stiff behind and that it may be a physical thing rather than a mental thing becasue he is a very genuine horse. I have never really noticed him being stiff and RI said he isn't particularly stiff. But YO sees him in the afternoon when she puts him out after he has been standing in all day. Now the vet is coming out next month anyway to do boosters so I will get him to have a look. On the same topic YO suggested that maybe he needed to be on a bute a day?
Somebody else suggested that perhaps the RI is a little unsympathetic towards SId. She certainly does expect them to work and to work to the best of their abilities which is fair enough but I do kinda see where my friend is coming from - RI can be quite tough on both rider and horse at times in her expectations. She refuses to comprimise on the level of work we produce. But after having had a really bad RI she has done wonders for me. There are just too many people - all of whom I respect that have completly opposite views. The guys on the yard for example see him as being a bit of an old plod (but thats all they see of him really - me hacking out) whereas RI sees him as a horse capable of doing an elementary dressage test (horse that is - don't think I am!)
I'm just really stressd out about it all at the moment. The spurs really did work but I'm not going to use them if they are going to mark him and irritate his skin. But then, I DO want to do more and I know that now I have seen how he can go I will never be satisfied with less because I'll know that he can do better in that dressage test for example.
I just don't know what the answer is.
<big sigh>
I'm so sorry that this is so long.
I borrowed my RI's spurs and the difference was amazing - I can't quite believe the difference in him. He didn't object he just worked. So I did get them. The only thing is is that they are marking him. Yesterday I had a lesson (I don't wear them often - once a week or even less) and again - amazing. But when I got home he was really marked by the spurs. I felt awful. I felt really cruel and ended up in tears.
I have been talking to people on my yard and they have said that perhaps I should sell him and look to getting something younger and with a little more energy. That he has been the perfect horse for me but that perhaps now that I am wanting to do more and asking more that I should think about another.
YO also reckons that he is stiff behind and that it may be a physical thing rather than a mental thing becasue he is a very genuine horse. I have never really noticed him being stiff and RI said he isn't particularly stiff. But YO sees him in the afternoon when she puts him out after he has been standing in all day. Now the vet is coming out next month anyway to do boosters so I will get him to have a look. On the same topic YO suggested that maybe he needed to be on a bute a day?
Somebody else suggested that perhaps the RI is a little unsympathetic towards SId. She certainly does expect them to work and to work to the best of their abilities which is fair enough but I do kinda see where my friend is coming from - RI can be quite tough on both rider and horse at times in her expectations. She refuses to comprimise on the level of work we produce. But after having had a really bad RI she has done wonders for me. There are just too many people - all of whom I respect that have completly opposite views. The guys on the yard for example see him as being a bit of an old plod (but thats all they see of him really - me hacking out) whereas RI sees him as a horse capable of doing an elementary dressage test (horse that is - don't think I am!)
I'm just really stressd out about it all at the moment. The spurs really did work but I'm not going to use them if they are going to mark him and irritate his skin. But then, I DO want to do more and I know that now I have seen how he can go I will never be satisfied with less because I'll know that he can do better in that dressage test for example.
I just don't know what the answer is.
<big sigh>
I'm so sorry that this is so long.