Lolo
Well-Known Member
It was a weekend of reckoning for the equine members of Team Reggie 
Baby Bee had her first competition and Reg was strutting his stuff in both the dressage arena and the SJ ring!
Baby Bee first At her (one and only!) race, she was a lunatic who spent most of time screaming, sweating, bronking and needed 4 people in a stable to pin her down for the jockey to get on her... This didn't bode well for her first outing as a 'proper' pony to Forest Edge to do some little SJ. Al was kitted out in her body armour, Mum was on speed dial (he couldn't make it) and we were all on hand for some serious pony-pinning...
She came off the lorry sweet as you like, warmed up with her best game face on despite the presence of small ponies both in the arena and the adjacent fields (they were very scary, but a change of direction made them much safer and after that she ignored them) and only had one minor moment when the tannoy first came on which lasted all of 10 seconds. Everyone was very pleased, but the moment of truth was yet to come!
In she went, and trotted into the first fence. Her nose got closer and closer to it as they got closer, but she didn't hesitate and after that she was off and trotted round with her ears pricked and eyes on stalks! Pink spotty poles, planks, Olympic fillers, spooky spreads... No problem for Brave Bee! They went round again straight away and cantered a bit this time. The second fence caused a flat-on-face moment as coordinating gawping at the outside world, cantering and taking off was too much multitasking but after that she focussed and was very neat and tidy
Buoyed by this success, they tried the 65cm class which had a wall in it... Bee did a lovely clear round right up until this wall (the final fence), but her courage failed at the last second and she decided to take a closer look! It was thoroughly investigated, approached again with much wibbling... And she popped it So lots of smiles and pats for the clever girl- she's just turned 5, been (re)broken for 3 months and she was a proper pro!
Mooching to the warm up... Looking a bit TB here, for her!
Managing a tight (!) canter turn to get to the warm up jump
Her only 'ping'- her first spread of coloured poles. You can see her concern as she approaches it in the video!
Jumping the super scary wall
And a video of her three rounds- her trot is so big compared to Reg's, and even more so when she's working properly!
[youtube]XkWS2z8GF8s&feature=bf_prev&list=UU8Bu1at0ZeLX4u4QZELauKw[/youtube]
And onto today, with Reggie I'll keep the stressage bit brief, as it's a bit dull!
He warmed up really well, but you can see the difference the Vetrofen makes to him as he's had a while off it now as the order hasn't arrived (ggr!)- he's on it with vet advice and it's just helped him endlessly. He was a little stiff behind as a result, and dropped behind Al's leg a little which you could see in the downward transitions but the test was really nice and soft and very forwards into the contact. She was dead chuffed to get 66%, including a 9 for the entry and 6 8s, including one for her riding! The judge gave them lower marks (6s mostly) for the trot work as he was inconsistent behind at times, which is a problem entirely sorted by the Vetrofen so that bodes very well for some good tests to come The winner was on 72%, then Al was 4th in class of 15 or so. The lowest was on 55% and it was an open class! Woop, clever pony!!
Onto the SJ...
There's been a lot of frustration over this as you can get him on a total misser and he'll fly, but get him to the fence on the perfect stride in a good canter and he'll go right through... Understandably, Al's confidence in herself and in Reggie has been knocked by some awful outings recently. The last lesson, a new tactic was tried. A really short, bouncy canter and almost jump-off turns to limit the time in which he can get strung out, and also the time where they can worry and get worked up on the approach. That, and the "F!!k it!" attitude she's been instructed to work on
They did the 90cm (waiting for the 1m seemed like a very dull idea!), and warmed up with some angled jumps, short approaches and general positivity. Went in, and it worked! He's never seemed more confident, Al looked like she was actually enjoying it and they did a stunning clear. He never even touched a pole, didn't fight for his head and came out looking happy and pleased rather than scared and confused. I am SO proud of them, and I really hope this marks a turning point. In the jump off, they had 2 poles but he took them in front and usually he's very careful that way. He was tired and not warmed up sufficiently really (Al was busy cuddling him to notice she'd been drawn second to go...), but managed a 4th place
Look at those toes! He has poles by dragging his backs through them when he's not had the perfect jump... Not here!
I hope that this does mark the start of some confidence for them both. Al adores him, and the rounds today gave her a massive boost and she's now got a clearer plan with him, with lots of support and help from her instructor. I've hated seeing her so upset recently as they are such a team- he's her absolute star and he adores her back
On a different note, Al passed her full B test now and has her bright red patch! Trying to persuade her to take her Lunging test, and then her AH as she seriously has the knowledge for it after all these years of Reggie self-harming She's dithering though!
Baby Bee had her first competition and Reg was strutting his stuff in both the dressage arena and the SJ ring!Baby Bee first
At her (one and only!) race, she was a lunatic who spent most of time screaming, sweating, bronking and needed 4 people in a stable to pin her down for the jockey to get on her... This didn't bode well for her first outing as a 'proper' pony to Forest Edge to do some little SJ. Al was kitted out in her body armour, Mum was on speed dial (he couldn't make it) and we were all on hand for some serious pony-pinning...She came off the lorry sweet as you like, warmed up with her best game face on despite the presence of small ponies both in the arena and the adjacent fields (they were very scary, but a change of direction made them much safer and after that she ignored them) and only had one minor moment when the tannoy first came on which lasted all of 10 seconds. Everyone was very pleased, but the moment of truth was yet to come!
In she went, and trotted into the first fence. Her nose got closer and closer to it as they got closer, but she didn't hesitate and after that she was off and trotted round with her ears pricked and eyes on stalks! Pink spotty poles, planks, Olympic fillers, spooky spreads... No problem for Brave Bee! They went round again straight away and cantered a bit this time. The second fence caused a flat-on-face moment as coordinating gawping at the outside world, cantering and taking off was too much multitasking but after that she focussed and was very neat and tidy
Buoyed by this success, they tried the 65cm class which had a wall in it... Bee did a lovely clear round right up until this wall (the final fence), but her courage failed at the last second and she decided to take a closer look! It was thoroughly investigated, approached again with much wibbling... And she popped it
So lots of smiles and pats for the clever girl- she's just turned 5, been (re)broken for 3 months and she was a proper pro!
Mooching to the warm up... Looking a bit TB here, for her!
Managing a tight (!) canter turn to get to the warm up jump
Her only 'ping'- her first spread of coloured poles. You can see her concern as she approaches it in the video!
Jumping the super scary wall
And a video of her three rounds- her trot is so big compared to Reg's, and even more so when she's working properly!
[youtube]XkWS2z8GF8s&feature=bf_prev&list=UU8Bu1at0ZeLX4u4QZELauKw[/youtube]
And onto today, with Reggie
I'll keep the stressage bit brief, as it's a bit dull! He warmed up really well, but you can see the difference the Vetrofen makes to him as he's had a while off it now as the order hasn't arrived (ggr!)- he's on it with vet advice and it's just helped him endlessly. He was a little stiff behind as a result, and dropped behind Al's leg a little which you could see in the downward transitions but the test was really nice and soft and very forwards into the contact. She was dead chuffed to get 66%, including a 9 for the entry and 6 8s, including one for her riding! The judge gave them lower marks (6s mostly) for the trot work as he was inconsistent behind at times, which is a problem entirely sorted by the Vetrofen so that bodes very well for some good tests to come
The winner was on 72%, then Al was 4th in class of 15 or so. The lowest was on 55% and it was an open class! Woop, clever pony!!
Onto the SJ...
There's been a lot of frustration over this as you can get him on a total misser and he'll fly, but get him to the fence on the perfect stride in a good canter and he'll go right through... Understandably, Al's confidence in herself and in Reggie has been knocked by some awful outings recently. The last lesson, a new tactic was tried. A really short, bouncy canter and almost jump-off turns to limit the time in which he can get strung out, and also the time where they can worry and get worked up on the approach. That, and the "F!!k it!" attitude she's been instructed to work on They did the 90cm (waiting for the 1m seemed like a very dull idea!), and warmed up with some angled jumps, short approaches and general positivity. Went in, and it worked! He's never seemed more confident, Al looked like she was actually enjoying it and they did a stunning clear. He never even touched a pole, didn't fight for his head and came out looking happy and pleased rather than scared and confused. I am SO proud of them, and I really hope this marks a turning point. In the jump off, they had 2 poles but he took them in front and usually he's very careful that way. He was tired and not warmed up sufficiently really (Al was busy cuddling him to notice she'd been drawn second to go...), but managed a 4th place
Look at those toes! He has poles by dragging his backs through them when he's not had the perfect jump... Not here!
I hope that this does mark the start of some confidence for them both. Al adores him, and the rounds today gave her a massive boost and she's now got a clearer plan with him, with lots of support and help from her instructor. I've hated seeing her so upset recently as they are such a team- he's her absolute star and he adores her back
On a different note, Al passed her full B test now and has her bright red patch! Trying to persuade her to take her Lunging test, and then her AH as she seriously has the knowledge for it after all these years of Reggie self-harming
She's dithering though!
Hopefully will do a bit more next year as he was so good, despite such an enormous atmosphere