IsabelleJ
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone!
Well, after a rubbish year last year (we moved to a new yard in May to take advantage of the hacking over the summer, horse went lame with suspensory injury due to a bony spur on his coffin joint, leading to most of the summer off. Then, as he was coming back into work my Dad died and I had to abandon poor Sidney for a month. THEN when I came back, the yard got sold and we had to move to a new one at two days notice!!) Suffice it to say, 2011 could only get better!
My wonderful friend agreed to ride Sidney at British Dressage for me, so I affiliated him at the end of 2010. I have never done much with him, being at prelim unaff level, but he is a lovely schoolmaster who was working at Elementary with his last owner.
So, in mid Jan we headed off to Quob to do his first affiliated Novice test in 5 years, Novice 36 in the restricted section! I was hoping for a couple of points, and maybe a rosette if we were lucky. Despite getting a whee bit excited in the warm up and trying to destroy the fence by bucking, he did an absolutely super test. Now, Sidney has nice paces, but is not a fancy warmblood, being a Shire/Thoroughbred cross. He is, however, very consistent and accurate! I was chuffed to bits with his test, and dared to hope for a rosette! I stayed with Sidney by the trailer, while my friends and entourage headed off for tea and scores. They came back looking a bit glum, knowing how paranoid I am, and then as I started to panic, waved a red rosette at me! Sidney had come first overall with 68.85%! I'm not ashamed to say that I cried like a small child, my superstar had done me proud!
By our second test, Novice 35 at the start of Feb, I had started to hope that we might be able to qualify for the regionals, which had always seemed a remote dream to me! Unfortunately, there was obviously something wrong with Sidney, as he rodeoed his way around the warmup. His test was a bit subdued, as the rider was afraid to put her legs on in case we had airs above the ground during the test. Bless him, he still managed 5th place and 65%, but I knew that he wasn't himself.
The next week we had the saddler out (absolutely no issue with his saddles), and a physio/sports therapist, hoping desperately that we wouldn't have to get the vet out. The wonderful sports therapist discovered that Sidney had done something to his sacro iliac, probably long before I bought him 3 years ago. He had been compensating so well that we hadn't noticed anything wrong with him until he had to start using his backend more, but then it started to HURT! All of a sudden, so many things over the years became clear. Luckily, in between treatments, we just have to build up the muscles that have been neglected over the years and can carry on as usual.
So! Only about a week after his first treatment we had an exciting outing to Step by Step in Sussex planned! We were there to do Novice 22 and Novice 39, and try and get some more qualifying points (8 so far!). Sidney is still not very fit, so two tests would be quite a lot for him. Luckily, he is very quick to warm up as we had to be careful not to tire him out! Novice 22 was outside - and he was obviously feeling very good, with a few excited bucks but nowhere near as bad as his last outing. As soon as he entered the arena though, he knew he had to work, and did a lovely, accurate test. He, unlike me, was not intimidated by the very posh looking competition! He looked very pleased with himself as we went inside to do Novice 39. Despite breaking in canter, and being rather tired, he did an outstanding test and I was so pleased with him! He really deserved a good score! And was rewarded with a pack of polos
We put him back on the trailer with his massive haynet, and went inside for cups of tea and Debbie's famous home made cakes! After last time out, I was just happy with the tests he had done, but was once again gobsmacked to find he had come 2nd in N22 restricted (and 4th overall!) with 62.76% (a very low scoring class, with no one getting qualifying results
) Then, even better, he was 1st in N39 restricted, and 3rd overall with 69.66%!! I've said it before and will say it again - this is my horse of a lifetime, and a complete superstar! He owes me absolutely nothing and I am over the moon with his success! So now we have 13 points out of the 19 we need to qualify for the novice regionals! I can't believe it!
Sorry for the long report, but I just had to let you all know how blimming fantastic this is after our horrible year last year! Here are a couple of photos of his first time out in January - I adore him, he is a giant overgrown pony, and a teddy bear to handle, but also a bit of an unlikely dressage star
Cookies and red bull for reading so far! Thanks
Isabelle
Well, after a rubbish year last year (we moved to a new yard in May to take advantage of the hacking over the summer, horse went lame with suspensory injury due to a bony spur on his coffin joint, leading to most of the summer off. Then, as he was coming back into work my Dad died and I had to abandon poor Sidney for a month. THEN when I came back, the yard got sold and we had to move to a new one at two days notice!!) Suffice it to say, 2011 could only get better!
My wonderful friend agreed to ride Sidney at British Dressage for me, so I affiliated him at the end of 2010. I have never done much with him, being at prelim unaff level, but he is a lovely schoolmaster who was working at Elementary with his last owner.
So, in mid Jan we headed off to Quob to do his first affiliated Novice test in 5 years, Novice 36 in the restricted section! I was hoping for a couple of points, and maybe a rosette if we were lucky. Despite getting a whee bit excited in the warm up and trying to destroy the fence by bucking, he did an absolutely super test. Now, Sidney has nice paces, but is not a fancy warmblood, being a Shire/Thoroughbred cross. He is, however, very consistent and accurate! I was chuffed to bits with his test, and dared to hope for a rosette! I stayed with Sidney by the trailer, while my friends and entourage headed off for tea and scores. They came back looking a bit glum, knowing how paranoid I am, and then as I started to panic, waved a red rosette at me! Sidney had come first overall with 68.85%! I'm not ashamed to say that I cried like a small child, my superstar had done me proud!
By our second test, Novice 35 at the start of Feb, I had started to hope that we might be able to qualify for the regionals, which had always seemed a remote dream to me! Unfortunately, there was obviously something wrong with Sidney, as he rodeoed his way around the warmup. His test was a bit subdued, as the rider was afraid to put her legs on in case we had airs above the ground during the test. Bless him, he still managed 5th place and 65%, but I knew that he wasn't himself.
The next week we had the saddler out (absolutely no issue with his saddles), and a physio/sports therapist, hoping desperately that we wouldn't have to get the vet out. The wonderful sports therapist discovered that Sidney had done something to his sacro iliac, probably long before I bought him 3 years ago. He had been compensating so well that we hadn't noticed anything wrong with him until he had to start using his backend more, but then it started to HURT! All of a sudden, so many things over the years became clear. Luckily, in between treatments, we just have to build up the muscles that have been neglected over the years and can carry on as usual.
So! Only about a week after his first treatment we had an exciting outing to Step by Step in Sussex planned! We were there to do Novice 22 and Novice 39, and try and get some more qualifying points (8 so far!). Sidney is still not very fit, so two tests would be quite a lot for him. Luckily, he is very quick to warm up as we had to be careful not to tire him out! Novice 22 was outside - and he was obviously feeling very good, with a few excited bucks but nowhere near as bad as his last outing. As soon as he entered the arena though, he knew he had to work, and did a lovely, accurate test. He, unlike me, was not intimidated by the very posh looking competition! He looked very pleased with himself as we went inside to do Novice 39. Despite breaking in canter, and being rather tired, he did an outstanding test and I was so pleased with him! He really deserved a good score! And was rewarded with a pack of polos
We put him back on the trailer with his massive haynet, and went inside for cups of tea and Debbie's famous home made cakes! After last time out, I was just happy with the tests he had done, but was once again gobsmacked to find he had come 2nd in N22 restricted (and 4th overall!) with 62.76% (a very low scoring class, with no one getting qualifying results
) Then, even better, he was 1st in N39 restricted, and 3rd overall with 69.66%!! I've said it before and will say it again - this is my horse of a lifetime, and a complete superstar! He owes me absolutely nothing and I am over the moon with his success! So now we have 13 points out of the 19 we need to qualify for the novice regionals! I can't believe it!Sorry for the long report, but I just had to let you all know how blimming fantastic this is after our horrible year last year! Here are a couple of photos of his first time out in January - I adore him, he is a giant overgrown pony, and a teddy bear to handle, but also a bit of an unlikely dressage star
Cookies and red bull for reading so far! Thanks
Isabelle
