blood_magik
Well-Known Member
So, lots going on in the bloodmagik camp at the moment, which I am very excited about. But more of that another time...
We've had a pretty quiet season so far but it's been pretty successful in terms on achieving what we'd set out to do - usually, get round in one piece without embarrassing ourselves too much.
I'm trying to get the boys out to different things so that they realise they're not always going to be jumping when we go to shows, so we tootled along to our local BSPS branch's UA warm-up show a few weeks back. We left Beau at home as he'd only had his hocks and back medicated a few days before and wasn't back in ridden work yet, and took the other three to have a go at the workers and a couple of flat classes.
Raz was up first. I entered the 60cm as I wasn't sure what he'd be like over the WH fences and wanted to make it a good experience for him. He came off the lorry standing a good hand higher than when he'd gone in and we headed round to the ring blowing like a steam train.
Once inside, he settled down and worked in quite nicely, even though muppet here couldn't see a stride to save her life when we started jumping. A quick talking to sorted that out and then it was our turn to go in and strut our stuff in front of the judge.
Raz was a little tense as we headed off to start our round and had a good look at pretty much every single fence. He got a little cocky about halfway round and tried to run on a bit, but he listened when I took a check and came back, and went on to finish clear. We went straight into our individual show once we'd jumped. It wasn't perfect - we almost broke into trot during the left canter but it wasn't a disaster, and when we all went back in at the end, I was pleased to be pulled forwards out of the line-up to be placed. Because we were called out last I thought we'd gotten 6th, so imagine my surprise when we were presented with a lovely red frilly. Clever little sausage... 
Video here (not the prettiest round, but relatively effective): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7hze7P9ms
Next up was Mr. Leonard. Armed with our new bit/noseband combination, I was relatively confident that I would have control from start to finish.
Well, he jumped brilliantly. His individual show, however, was pretty awful - his brain was completely blown so all I could do was try to keep a lid on things and keep Lenny from imploding. So, no placing for him but we did get a lovely consolation rosette for our board so I can't really complain.
Link to the pro pic I bought: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=924514440721&l=facbc344f9
Finally, it was Timberland's turn. I'm not quite sure what happened because he warmed up nicely and I had a good, forwards canter coming into the first fence. We were spot on for take off (friend who was helping me agreed he could have taken off from there), but he stopped dead and went up, and then I went out the side door when he spun. The judge very kindly said I could remount and start again if I wanted to but I decided to leave it as we were entered in a flat class later on and I didn't want to risk hurting myself if he stopped again.
Next up was the championship. I very nearly missed it but I so glad I didn't because Raz ended up taking Reserve for the entire Workers section. We didn't have quite so much luck in the flat classes as the judge seemed to prefer the chunkier types. Raz ended up 5th in the Riding Horse and Timberland didn't place, but that's the way it goes. Still, we had a pretty good day.
Next up, we headed to Edinburgh for some BSJA. This time we left T at home as he'd been slightly unlevel the day before. I put Beau in the smallest class as we hadn't gotten a chance to jump that week and I wanted to be sure he wasn't still sore (he decked me twice in the space of 5 minutes, which is what made me call the vet). We gave him a calmer before we left as he finds warm-ups stressful and I definitely noticed a difference - he was still a little tense but he stood quietly while we were waiting out turn and didn't try to nap at the gate.
So, in we went. He spooked at the water tray that had been propped up in the corner closest to the first fence but I got his attention back and he popped number one sweetly. 9 strides to number two and he stopped dead. Again, we got a good stride to it and he could have taken off but no... So we circled and came back to it, and he popped it the second time.
After that, I pulled up because Beau is not a stopper - he only stops when he's sore and occasionally when I bury him in a big (1.20+) fence, plus I had a niggling feeling he was still sore. Funnily enough, it turned out his coffin joints were needing medicated again so I'm glad I didn't push him to keep going.
Because he's a handsome big dude:
Next up were Lenny and Raz. It was super busy so the venue had two horses in the arena - one jumping, one waiting to jump. Lenny had ants in his pants by the time it was our turn to go in and it felt like he grew as we were trotting round to come to the first fence. He also spooked at the water tray in the corner but quickly locked onto number one and popped it sweetly. I got a slightly better stride to number two and then put my leg on for the picket fence filler at number three (my phobia, not his). He felt fab - a little strong towards the end but still controllable and he flew round to finish clear and go into the jump off.
Dad was nervous. The last time he'd been there with Raz they'd gotten eliminated so the plan was to just try to get round in one piece. Well, they managed it - Raz didn't even look at the filler that had been their downfall and you could see him getting more and more confident the further he got.
The J/O was drawn order. Dad was near the end but I was drawn second, which meant I didn't have time to warm-up again properly. Because of that, Lenny really struggled to make the distance through the one stride double and ended up stopping. I wasn't too worried about that, to be honest, because it wasn't dirty - he just couldn't stretch enough to get through it. So we circled and came back to it, and then took our time around the rest of the the course since we were out of the running for the placings.
Coz he's handsome, too:
Then it was dad's turn. He's super competitive so he also took all of the shortcuts, and they romped round to finish with a fast double clear. They started off in second place but by the end of the class, they'd been bumped down to sixth - not bad, considering there were 70 starters. That's the second time they've beaten me now - I'm gonna have to do something about that the next time we're out.
Link to pic of them posing with their rosette; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=927149694651&l=aba47e43d5
TBC...
We've had a pretty quiet season so far but it's been pretty successful in terms on achieving what we'd set out to do - usually, get round in one piece without embarrassing ourselves too much.
I'm trying to get the boys out to different things so that they realise they're not always going to be jumping when we go to shows, so we tootled along to our local BSPS branch's UA warm-up show a few weeks back. We left Beau at home as he'd only had his hocks and back medicated a few days before and wasn't back in ridden work yet, and took the other three to have a go at the workers and a couple of flat classes.
Raz was up first. I entered the 60cm as I wasn't sure what he'd be like over the WH fences and wanted to make it a good experience for him. He came off the lorry standing a good hand higher than when he'd gone in and we headed round to the ring blowing like a steam train.
Once inside, he settled down and worked in quite nicely, even though muppet here couldn't see a stride to save her life when we started jumping. A quick talking to sorted that out and then it was our turn to go in and strut our stuff in front of the judge.Raz was a little tense as we headed off to start our round and had a good look at pretty much every single fence.
He got a little cocky about halfway round and tried to run on a bit, but he listened when I took a check and came back, and went on to finish clear. We went straight into our individual show once we'd jumped. It wasn't perfect - we almost broke into trot during the left canter but it wasn't a disaster, and when we all went back in at the end, I was pleased to be pulled forwards out of the line-up to be placed. Because we were called out last I thought we'd gotten 6th, so imagine my surprise when we were presented with a lovely red frilly. Clever little sausage... Video here (not the prettiest round, but relatively effective): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7hze7P9ms
Next up was Mr. Leonard. Armed with our new bit/noseband combination, I was relatively confident that I would have control from start to finish.
Well, he jumped brilliantly. His individual show, however, was pretty awful - his brain was completely blown so all I could do was try to keep a lid on things and keep Lenny from imploding. So, no placing for him but we did get a lovely consolation rosette for our board so I can't really complain.
Link to the pro pic I bought: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=924514440721&l=facbc344f9
Finally, it was Timberland's turn. I'm not quite sure what happened because he warmed up nicely and I had a good, forwards canter coming into the first fence. We were spot on for take off (friend who was helping me agreed he could have taken off from there), but he stopped dead and went up, and then I went out the side door when he spun.
The judge very kindly said I could remount and start again if I wanted to but I decided to leave it as we were entered in a flat class later on and I didn't want to risk hurting myself if he stopped again. Next up was the championship. I very nearly missed it but I so glad I didn't because Raz ended up taking Reserve for the entire Workers section.
We didn't have quite so much luck in the flat classes as the judge seemed to prefer the chunkier types. Raz ended up 5th in the Riding Horse and Timberland didn't place, but that's the way it goes. Still, we had a pretty good day. Next up, we headed to Edinburgh for some BSJA. This time we left T at home as he'd been slightly unlevel the day before. I put Beau in the smallest class as we hadn't gotten a chance to jump that week and I wanted to be sure he wasn't still sore (he decked me twice in the space of 5 minutes, which is what made me call the vet). We gave him a calmer before we left as he finds warm-ups stressful and I definitely noticed a difference - he was still a little tense but he stood quietly while we were waiting out turn and didn't try to nap at the gate.
So, in we went. He spooked at the water tray that had been propped up in the corner closest to the first fence but I got his attention back and he popped number one sweetly. 9 strides to number two and he stopped dead.
Again, we got a good stride to it and he could have taken off but no... So we circled and came back to it, and he popped it the second time. After that, I pulled up because Beau is not a stopper - he only stops when he's sore and occasionally when I bury him in a big (1.20+) fence, plus I had a niggling feeling he was still sore. Funnily enough, it turned out his coffin joints were needing medicated again so I'm glad I didn't push him to keep going.
Because he's a handsome big dude:
Next up were Lenny and Raz. It was super busy so the venue had two horses in the arena - one jumping, one waiting to jump. Lenny had ants in his pants by the time it was our turn to go in and it felt like he grew as we were trotting round to come to the first fence. He also spooked at the water tray in the corner
but quickly locked onto number one and popped it sweetly. I got a slightly better stride to number two and then put my leg on for the picket fence filler at number three (my phobia, not his). He felt fab - a little strong towards the end but still controllable and he flew round to finish clear and go into the jump off. Dad was nervous. The last time he'd been there with Raz they'd gotten eliminated so the plan was to just try to get round in one piece. Well, they managed it - Raz didn't even look at the filler that had been their downfall and you could see him getting more and more confident the further he got.
The J/O was drawn order. Dad was near the end but I was drawn second, which meant I didn't have time to warm-up again properly. Because of that, Lenny really struggled to make the distance through the one stride double and ended up stopping. I wasn't too worried about that, to be honest, because it wasn't dirty - he just couldn't stretch enough to get through it. So we circled and came back to it, and then took our time around the rest of the the course since we were out of the running for the placings.
Coz he's handsome, too:
Then it was dad's turn. He's super competitive so he also took all of the shortcuts, and they romped round to finish with a fast double clear. They started off in second place but by the end of the class, they'd been bumped down to sixth - not bad, considering there were 70 starters. That's the second time they've beaten me now - I'm gonna have to do something about that the next time we're out.
Link to pic of them posing with their rosette; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=927149694651&l=aba47e43d5
TBC...
) to running away in the canter and leaving the arena, and going around like a llama because someone was having a jumping lesson next door. 
