Michen
Well-Known Member
Photos either mine or with relevant permission for social media.
We went over to West Wilts today for the 90. I wasn't feeling too terrified as we had done the Blenheim eventer challenge the week before and he was super, bar one run out in the XC which was my mistake.
That not too terrified feeling quickly went away when I walked the XC. It was a totally different ball game to Aston 90. A beautiful course but everything was max height and even worse max width. A hanging long with a seriously nasty steep bank on landing made me feel pretty ill (especially as I had a fall XC schooling off something similar but half the size) and there were some combos which were a huge amount more difficult than Aston.
Dressage first, he warmed up feeling absolutely super. The minute we went to do our test it fell apart a bit and he was pretty fiery. The judge said to us afterwards that he looked "a bit tricky". He did execute the most perfect turn on the forehand. Shame it was meant to be a square halt. We did get a 35.5 though which was about mid range for our section which I was really delighted with as our dressage has been slowly getting worse but this was our best yet.
SJ I was so so pleased with, although we had two down (one down at Aston) I thought he felt the best he ever has and for our third time SJing at this height I was delighted. And he certainly saved me at the last! Any comments/criticisms are more than welcome, I'm still new to this so anything is helpful and I won't take offence
I know my lines are still rubbish, especially into 1 where I couldn't work out which side of the timer to be on... Very dumb moment! lower leg is a working progress lol!
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WdSxfnV-XeA[/video]
And the XC... My previous crippling nerves were back in full swing and I thought of various excuses to not go. A couple of cans of pimms mixers (really is the only way I can get myself out of the start box when I feel like this) and off we went. He was a bit backwards to the first which was turning away from the lorry park but after that he absolutely nailed it. I've really struggled getting him focused and not looking everywhere bar the jump in the 3 80's and one 90's he/we've done and although he's only ever had one XC Penalty it's always felt a bit messy. But he was totally different today. He answered question after question with no hesitation and jumped the combos absolutely wonderfully. I really couldn't have asked for a better round- he just flew. I think as well because I was so scared and so worried, I rode a huge amount more positively and he responded. I had to choke back a bit of a tear at the end! Have a good laugh at my absolutely horrific face in one of these ��.. Oh to be one of those poised graceful riders!
We have come a long way from scraping over cross poles and 70's in February and it's a credit to him that he's done so well with a rider who frankly doesn't have a clue what she's doing or where she's going most of the time! Here was our very first competition, his first ever proper SJ comp and the second I had done in over 15 years
Next up is Calmsden if we don't get balloted and then Tweseldown if the ground stays ok, he doesn't like deep going and no point scaring ourselves if it's not good.
And a fun pic from hound exercise the other week... Cheeky boy!
Pep talk
We went over to West Wilts today for the 90. I wasn't feeling too terrified as we had done the Blenheim eventer challenge the week before and he was super, bar one run out in the XC which was my mistake.
That not too terrified feeling quickly went away when I walked the XC. It was a totally different ball game to Aston 90. A beautiful course but everything was max height and even worse max width. A hanging long with a seriously nasty steep bank on landing made me feel pretty ill (especially as I had a fall XC schooling off something similar but half the size) and there were some combos which were a huge amount more difficult than Aston.
Dressage first, he warmed up feeling absolutely super. The minute we went to do our test it fell apart a bit and he was pretty fiery. The judge said to us afterwards that he looked "a bit tricky". He did execute the most perfect turn on the forehand. Shame it was meant to be a square halt. We did get a 35.5 though which was about mid range for our section which I was really delighted with as our dressage has been slowly getting worse but this was our best yet.
SJ I was so so pleased with, although we had two down (one down at Aston) I thought he felt the best he ever has and for our third time SJing at this height I was delighted. And he certainly saved me at the last! Any comments/criticisms are more than welcome, I'm still new to this so anything is helpful and I won't take offence
I know my lines are still rubbish, especially into 1 where I couldn't work out which side of the timer to be on... Very dumb moment! lower leg is a working progress lol![video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WdSxfnV-XeA[/video]
And the XC... My previous crippling nerves were back in full swing and I thought of various excuses to not go. A couple of cans of pimms mixers (really is the only way I can get myself out of the start box when I feel like this) and off we went. He was a bit backwards to the first which was turning away from the lorry park but after that he absolutely nailed it. I've really struggled getting him focused and not looking everywhere bar the jump in the 3 80's and one 90's he/we've done and although he's only ever had one XC Penalty it's always felt a bit messy. But he was totally different today. He answered question after question with no hesitation and jumped the combos absolutely wonderfully. I really couldn't have asked for a better round- he just flew. I think as well because I was so scared and so worried, I rode a huge amount more positively and he responded. I had to choke back a bit of a tear at the end! Have a good laugh at my absolutely horrific face in one of these ��.. Oh to be one of those poised graceful riders!
We have come a long way from scraping over cross poles and 70's in February and it's a credit to him that he's done so well with a rider who frankly doesn't have a clue what she's doing or where she's going most of the time! Here was our very first competition, his first ever proper SJ comp and the second I had done in over 15 years
Next up is Calmsden if we don't get balloted and then Tweseldown if the ground stays ok, he doesn't like deep going and no point scaring ourselves if it's not good.
And a fun pic from hound exercise the other week... Cheeky boy!
Pep talk
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He really is and looking like quite the little event pony at the moment. 
