It’s been an interesting few weeks for Team Maxwell. I am now away from home three days a week working with other people’s horses and, as I said in my last blog, I am dealing with a lot of loading problems. I have also been out to a very nice dressage horse that suffers from large event nerves and stress induced over-sensitivity. The session went really well, but as ever the success will be down to the owners and how much work they continue to put in. I do have high hopes for them though.
I've had a couple of clients with handling problems, such as bolting in hand. I think it’s because of this long winter where many people haven’t been able to put in the work that they would have liked and their horses have just got a bit above themselves and have quietly taken control - so quietly that the owners haven’t noticed until it’s too late.
My big horse Jo has now gone to a loan home. His new rider is a young girl called Alice Ellison, who has come off ponies and was looking for a horse to jump. On their first outing (and first for Jo in two years) they entered a Blue Chip Novice qualifier. There were 43 in it and Alice only entered to get some rounds in, so imagine all our surprise when Jo came second and qualified. What has shocked Alice is that winning a jump off isn’t always about speed, Jo is so well schooled that you can land and turn, land and turn... what a horse!
Because I am away such a lot I have made the decision to find William a local trainer who can help when I’m not there. I went with him to the first session just to make sure that we are training from the same view point and that it isn’t going to confuse William. Nick summed up William and Trevor within five minutes. Sam and I were laughing, maybe now William will realise that actually I do know what I am talking about. It was really nice to see another trainer talk about control, and the importance of William's ponies having more than one gear, so he got him working on stopping and starting when asked so that when he lands he can get Trevor back to him, rather than Trevor taking control. (It’s amazing how children listen when being taught by 'strangers'?!)
So with all that in mind it was interesting listening to the conversations when I went to a junior show. A lot of parents were talking about finding the right pony and how it’s all about confidence - if the child is confident then they ride really well. So thinking about that and William’s lesson, I believe that if you have control, and controls in place, then confidence will be a by-product of that. I even find when I am working with clients where their confidence has been shattered, by having all the ground work done and the owner/handler being able to put in place a teacher/pupil relationship and having control of a situation really increases their confidence, and in a relatively short space of time.
I am going to end this blog by telling you that in the early hours of Sunday morning Sam couldn’t sleep and ended up surfing the net looking at ponies for sale (something that neither of us really do) when she came upon a nice pony in the north of England. It was a 128cm pony that has never jumped affiliated but had a very nice pop in the video supplied. So we gave them a call and the pony was still for sale but with people booked to see it this weekend, from Devon and Scotland. So to beat the crowds (if you snooze you lose!) we jumped in the wagon on Tuesday, went ‘oop north’ and came home with a pony. To look at her you couldn’t imagine that she would jump so well. So we have another addition to Team Maxwell - Lolly Pop - we can’t believe that is her name, even on her passport.
So what’s happening in the coming weeks? Well there will be more travelling to works with horses and their owners, and with the weather improving William and I are really looking forward to our weekly training sessions with Jill Day and getting the ponies ready for POYS. I also have a birthday party to attend at the snooker and bowls club - it is Jack, our youngest son’s 10th birthday, I don’t know where the time goes...