iknowmyvalue
Well-Known Member
Following Henry's debut ODE last weekend we were out again this weekend! Again, a very educational experience. This weekend was on paper a smaller height, but since it was an area level ODE it was technically more challenging and with a much bigger and busier atmosphere than anything we've been at before. It started well in that when I walked the XC on saturday I felt pretty confident, I was even looking at the 80cm course and thinking mmm yeah I think we could manage that, last weekend I walked the XC and it made me feel physically sick, so that's progress in the right direction! As seems to be the usual now he was also lovely to deal with on the ground, which always makes life so much easier.
Dressage was hugely improved from last weekend! He warmed up absolutely beautifully (other than a particularly offensive gate but that doesn't matter
) and was feeling great, very supple, uphill and balanced. Tensed up a little when we went into the arena and then lost his balance/bend on a few of the corners, but still a very pleasing test for a nice score of 29.8 which put us in the top 5 of our section!
SJ was a bit of a mission I have to say. The arena was incredibly spooky in places, as it was surrounded by all the trade stands and marquees which were flapping in the wind (they were right up against the arena fence). There were loads of horses/ponies just standing by the entrance gate, which meant he was hanging back to them slightly. It was not a pretty round by any stretch of the imagination, but we got round without any run outs/refusals and all the poles stayed up
I could have absolutely strangled the guy with the enormous motorbike who decided to rev the engine incredibly loudly and speed off (making the marquees flap too) just as we came past, he was literally less than 5m from us and definitely knew we were there. I was just getting H into some kind of rhythm and convincing him that it wasn't so scary and then that happened which set him off big time. To be fair, all H did was slow right down and bend his body away to properly look at it, but the rest of the round was then very tense and hesitant because he was so worried. But in the end, we were clear and he did seem more worried by the other things than the actual jumps/fillers.
In the XC warmup he was absolutely terrified of the generator which was at the back of the photo stand (XC warmup was also right against all the marquees) but was fab when we weren't near it. Apparently generators eat horses, who would have known Actual XC round started great, I was determined to really ride him and get him going forwards, and definitely achieved it! First 3 fences were brilliant, he was really taking me to them and feeling so much more confident than last weekend. And we even kept cantering past the horse-eating fence judges Then it all went a bit belly up at fence 4. Skinnyish roll top double with green plastic brush on top. He was going well and I didn't want to break the rhythm so I kept him cantering to them, mistake number one. Mistake number 2, I got in front of the movement. Result: an unceremonious dumping on the floor in front of the fence because he decided that actually the green plastic brush was much scarier than anticipated. Oops 
Lessons learned there. Luckily since it was running under PC rules, I was allowed to get back on and continue. The rest of the course he felt pretty great, really moving forward and taking me to the fences, to the point we nearly squished the pony in front of us . Though I was a little more cautious after that and did make him come back to trot a few times, no point riding for the time as we'd already been eliminated anyway. On paper it doesn't sound as good as last weekend (where we were clear) but he gave me a much better and more confident feeling, just had an unfortunate mistake.
I don't think that's too bad of an effort for our 2nd attempt at one! He is incredibly green still, since this is only his 3rd proper outing, and he is a bit of a worrier/spooker, life is just very scary according to Henry! He's not nasty or particularly sharp with it but it does stop him performing the way he does at home. I think it's mostly going to be a case of repetition and exposure, and he'll get better the more he goes out (at least I hope so!) but if anyone has any useful tips feel free to share
[video=youtube_share;Et1uAeFnsB4]https://youtu.be/Et1uAeFnsB4[/video]
Dressage was hugely improved from last weekend! He warmed up absolutely beautifully (other than a particularly offensive gate but that doesn't matter
) and was feeling great, very supple, uphill and balanced. Tensed up a little when we went into the arena and then lost his balance/bend on a few of the corners, but still a very pleasing test for a nice score of 29.8 which put us in the top 5 of our section! SJ was a bit of a mission I have to say. The arena was incredibly spooky in places, as it was surrounded by all the trade stands and marquees which were flapping in the wind (they were right up against the arena fence). There were loads of horses/ponies just standing by the entrance gate, which meant he was hanging back to them slightly. It was not a pretty round by any stretch of the imagination, but we got round without any run outs/refusals and all the poles stayed up
I could have absolutely strangled the guy with the enormous motorbike who decided to rev the engine incredibly loudly and speed off (making the marquees flap too) just as we came past, he was literally less than 5m from us and definitely knew we were there. I was just getting H into some kind of rhythm and convincing him that it wasn't so scary and then that happened which set him off big time. To be fair, all H did was slow right down and bend his body away to properly look at it, but the rest of the round was then very tense and hesitant because he was so worried. But in the end, we were clear and he did seem more worried by the other things than the actual jumps/fillers. In the XC warmup he was absolutely terrified of the generator which was at the back of the photo stand (XC warmup was also right against all the marquees) but was fab when we weren't near it. Apparently generators eat horses, who would have known
Actual XC round started great, I was determined to really ride him and get him going forwards, and definitely achieved it! First 3 fences were brilliant, he was really taking me to them and feeling so much more confident than last weekend. And we even kept cantering past the horse-eating fence judges Then it all went a bit belly up at fence 4. Skinnyish roll top double with green plastic brush on top. He was going well and I didn't want to break the rhythm so I kept him cantering to them, mistake number one. Mistake number 2, I got in front of the movement. Result: an unceremonious dumping on the floor in front of the fence because he decided that actually the green plastic brush was much scarier than anticipated. Oops Lessons learned there. Luckily since it was running under PC rules, I was allowed to get back on and continue. The rest of the course he felt pretty great, really moving forward and taking me to the fences, to the point we nearly squished the pony in front of us . Though I was a little more cautious after that and did make him come back to trot a few times, no point riding for the time as we'd already been eliminated anyway. On paper it doesn't sound as good as last weekend (where we were clear) but he gave me a much better and more confident feeling, just had an unfortunate mistake. I don't think that's too bad of an effort for our 2nd attempt at one! He is incredibly green still, since this is only his 3rd proper outing, and he is a bit of a worrier/spooker, life is just very scary according to Henry! He's not nasty or particularly sharp with it but it does stop him performing the way he does at home. I think it's mostly going to be a case of repetition and exposure, and he'll get better the more he goes out (at least I hope so!) but if anyone has any useful tips feel free to share
[video=youtube_share;Et1uAeFnsB4]https://youtu.be/Et1uAeFnsB4[/video]
