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Post by MagicStar on Feb 4, 2008 9:45:25 GMT 11
So I figured i'd start a progress blog for Magic!
I think I'm going to be retraining him this coming spring before Youth Fair. I'll work with him on jumps that are 6 inches and under and then I'll move him up to jumps 12 inches and under. I think he needs to re-gain his trust/confidence going over the jumps. He takes to much time sitting in front of the jumps, and some times he flies through the course. I think it depends on his mood that day, but I'm not sure, it just really frustrates me when all he does is destroy the jumps. I think he'll be retired next year as he doesn't listen to me and that just makes me mad.
But anyway, I'm going to work with him on some water jumps too. I'll basically just get him used to going over smaller jumps and then we'll work our way back to bigger jumps. He's definitley improved on his jumping when we moved. At the old house he was under 12 inches, and now he's just soaring. I think once we moved I may have brought him along a little too fast, so I need to slow it down and just stick with the same height for a while. I do have a video of him jumping. He was jumping about 5 to 10 inches so he's definitley staying in the lower-jump range.
Emily
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Post by MagicStar on May 27, 2008 6:01:35 GMT 11
I haven't updated Magic's blog in a while, so I figured I will - since I have some free-time and there's nothing else to do online! lol. Magic's jumping records are getting higher and better each lesson. A few lesson's ago, he jumped a 26 inch vertical - only twice - and then he never has jumped it since. He hasn't been out for training in a while but I'll take him out today after I do some work on his course, fixing jumps, pulling weeds/grass (making it shorter), and putting out some different jump combos. I'll take some video of his training lesson today. Here are some recent pictures of Magic --  -- Relaxing in his cage after a hard day of playing outside.  -- Still more relaxing! Lol And here's a jumping video of him a few weeks ago; He's on his harness --  And a free-jumping video taken the same day as the above video. He isn't harnessed --  Well, I think I'll go for now. I'll update later with pictures and videos of Magic's training lesson!  ETA: The jumps in that video consist of a vertical that is about 17 inches, 1 spread fence that is 25 inches, 1 long jump that is 25 inches, and then the short little oxer which I think was about 7x10 inches. Emily & Magic |
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Post by MagicStar on May 28, 2008 10:53:47 GMT 11
Hey! So yesterday I brought Magic out after I cleaned up his course - that included weedwacking/mowing, setting up all new combos, the whole lot. lol. At first he was nervous because a yappy-dog chased him (I was soo scared that dog was gonna kill him and the dog's owner just stood there as I chased it and tried to get my bunny. The dog was a JR terrier!  ) Anyway, I brought him out and he was doing very good. I let him have a break for a while, and then took him out again, and I made a water jump! At first he was like "what's this?" but then he was jumping it!! yay! lol. Here's a picture of the course:  The water jump is the first jump on the left course. My sister also had out her Polish doe and was training her. She's very fast, and very good. She's soo easy to control also. Magic thought it was fun jumping all his jumps and then running in a circle and going over her jumps. lol. I need to make an enclosed oval training area or something, that'd be cool, but totally takes off the point of free-jumping and directionals, plus at compeititions there's no fences so yeah. Anyway, I didn't get any pictures/videos but I will hopefully today. I did get this picture of me and Magic though:  Well, I'll update later or tomorrow with pictures/videos! |
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Post by MagicStar on Aug 20, 2008 16:20:31 GMT 11
It's been like 3 months since I've updated! I will only continue to do so if I get replies!  Anyway, we had our county fair a few weeks ago and after I debated, I put Magic in. He ended up winning! yay! He did some things he'd never done before, including weave poles and pause pads/boxes. I was very proud of him and so happy that I had entered him! Anyway, lately I've been working on his approaching and taking off skills by doing some simple gridwork. He was doing really well today on the gridwork and I could already see the improvements when I put up some jumps! I was so happy! Anyway, here are the videos from today's training: au.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOH2eOg6g8 - Here he goes over four groundpoles and then a small cross bar. au.youtube.com/watch?v=O-hiFz_dDDI&feature=user - Here he is going over two grounds poles, and then a small single/straight rail. au.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXLcsQq24A&feature=user - 2 grid poles and a large X-rail. au.youtube.com/watch?v=QjIrjJOiM-c&feature=user - Here is where I set up three jumps. Can you see the difference in this one, from the others? He doesn't stop between the jumps and he keeps focused all the time. I'm very proud of him. I should have more videos & hopefully some pictures up very soon! Please comment! |
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Post by MagicStar on Oct 30, 2008 13:43:55 GMT 11
Today I was finally able to take Magic out for a good training session. It's been pretty icky here the past couple weeks, and the other nice days I was busy doing other things. So to begin with, I set up Magic's fancy little crooked course (which you will see in the video ;D Also I have two pictures!) instead of a straight course. There's soon going to be a rabbit hopping club close to where my Dad lives, so I'm really working on getting Magic ready for future competitions....He's going to need a lot of adjustment training to working on different courses, etc. Anyway, after I set up the course, I let him jump the short ones as a small warm-up but he was just raring to go today (hasn't been jumped in a few weeks, so all that energy is building up!) and I took him over the course. His aids were kind of off....He picks up easier on the aids going right then he does going left, so this lesson was good for him on that point. All in all, he did OK with going where I asked him to go, but once I wanted to video-record he was being extremely stubborn and not flying through the course. I think today was just one of his bad days, and hopefully when I train him tomorrow it will be much smoother. He was taking the last jump EXTREMELY well, because that is his favourite jump! So anyway, I was pleased with his performance today, as well as a little bit dissapointed. This just means that there are lots of things to work on! I really would like to know how to get his enthusiam to run and jump faster...so that I dont have to ask him so many times to jump!! ETA (8/24/09): Links to photos/videos were broken so I removed them Emily |
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) Anyway, I brought him out and he was doing very good. I let him have a break for a while, and then took him out again, and I made a water jump! 
Anyway, we had our county fair a few weeks ago and after I debated, I put Magic in. He ended up winning! yay! He did some things he'd never done before, including weave poles and pause pads/boxes. I was very proud of him and so happy that I had entered him!