blood_magik
Well-Known Member
We've been plugging away at home since our last show didn't quite go to plan. I've been making a conscious effort to jump both of my boys (and dad's, too 
) at *least* once a week to keep my eye in and I think I can safely say that it's starting to pay off. 
Last week we had a quiet weekend at home and took advantage of having the arena to ourselves. It was Beau's first time jumping a course since having his hocks medicated a few weeks back and my first time really pushing myself with Blue but they both felt really fresh and up for it even though it was pretty warm inside.
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On Friday I had booked a lesson with Old Trainer (OT) to try to tire Beau out a bit before his first class on Saturday. It's been ages since we jumped anything significant so we just did a line of poles to a single fence and OT kept putting the fence up until we reached 1.30-1.35m. Once we'd popped that a few times, he made it into an oxer and Beau really started jumping - a friend who was watching said he was jumping over the tops of the wings. 
To finish, I asked OT to pop the water tray in as they're not my favourite filler and we had a cheeky stop the first time we came to it (Beau tried to duck out of the line of poles and we got a duff stride once I'd corrected) but then he sorted himself out and we ended up finishing with a decent sized fence. He felt great - really up for it without dragging me along the line of poles and I didn't have to do much bar put my leg on a touch on the last stride.
When I went to get on him on Saturday, he didn't feel tired at all.
To give him his due, he warmed up really well and we managed to get it out of the way before the arena started getting busy (he's a stresshead and hates being crowded). I was 4th to go so let him walk (march around) for a few minutes before popping one final upright and heading in.
He started off really nicely but got stronger and stronger as we went round and by the end it felt like I had no control whatsoever. All I could do was just go with him, which lead to some interesting distances.
Luckily, he's really genuine and he jumped everything without really even thinking about where he was taking off.
Somehow, I managed to steer him round and we finished with everything still standing. My dad was really pleased, whereas I was a bit annoyed about the lack of brakes given how relaxed Beau had felt the previous week - it felt like we galloped round, even though it looks okay.
As we were walking off, I joked that Beau had better win his section this time (we were pipped to the post by less than half a second the last time he'd jumped like that) and well, he only went and won it, didn't he?
So that was our first ever win together.
[video=youtube;tSdSAPepYPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdSAPepYPE[/video]
Next up was Blue and I think the less said about that round, the better. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great - I got slightly left behind over the second part of a one stride double and then I overshot the turn into 8 (on the wrong leg) and Blue left a front leg dangling so we had it down. But fair play to him because he could have decided he wasn't jumping that fence.
Then today, I moved Beau up from British Novice to Discovery in the the hope that the slightly bigger fences would make him back off a bit. I also decided to pop a flash onto his bridle to see if it would help with our braking issues.
We had a rather rushed start as there were only five left to go in the class before ours when I arrived so it was a case of flinging Beau's tack on and hoping I'd left enough time to warmup properly. Luckily my dad arrived then and offered to start warming the big guy up so I could go and walk the course. By the time I'd walked round from the stables, the first person was already in so I had to quickly learn the course watching from the sidelines, which wasn't exactly ideal.
Dad and I swapped over with only four to go and I just had time to pop a few uprights and two oxers before the ring steward called us over to the gate.
Once in the ring, Beau settled a bit and I felt like I could actually get him back if I needed to. He jumped a super round - really confident and flowing but without trying to bomb off along the longer stretched. I got a little close to one of the oxers towards the end but Beau managed to leave it up and we made it round in one piece to finish clear again. I was so pleased with him considering he barely got a warm-up and hadn't had his usual dose of calmer.
[video=youtube;JFoVwQgB470]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFoVwQgB470[/video]
Quick change onto Blue as we were 5th to go in the 1.05m and they announced that Beau had only gone and won his section again! So Blue got to go in and do the lap of honour in Beau's place, which I think he rather enjoyed.
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I thought today's 1.05m course flowed a lot better. It was (I think) a speed class but as usual, my aim was to just get round clear. Blue warmed up really well - nice and forwards once he'd gotten a little tap with my whip - but he'd switched off a little by the time we made it into the ring and we started off a little backwards. He didn't travel enough over the first so I had to kick to make the distance to the second but after that I thought the canter opened up and the distances felt much more comfortable (apart from 5 to 6). I just got a teeny bit close to number 7 and Blue tipped the front rail so that was that. But hey, at least it was an improvement on our last two rounds.
[video=youtube;wUZN3gauyCk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZN3gauyCk[/video]
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Next weekend I'm planning on moving Beau up to the 1.05m class at Blue Ridge but he'll have a quiet few days before we start practicing as he's worked hard over the last few days. With Blue, my aim is still to get round clear so I think it's time to book a lesson to see what I'm doing wrong before we go. Fingers crossed we'll get that elusive double clear eventually.
) at *least* once a week to keep my eye in and I think I can safely say that it's starting to pay off. Last week we had a quiet weekend at home and took advantage of having the arena to ourselves. It was Beau's first time jumping a course since having his hocks medicated a few weeks back and my first time really pushing myself with Blue but they both felt really fresh and up for it even though it was pretty warm inside.
On Friday I had booked a lesson with Old Trainer (OT) to try to tire Beau out a bit before his first class on Saturday.
It's been ages since we jumped anything significant so we just did a line of poles to a single fence and OT kept putting the fence up until we reached 1.30-1.35m. Once we'd popped that a few times, he made it into an oxer and Beau really started jumping - a friend who was watching said he was jumping over the tops of the wings. To finish, I asked OT to pop the water tray in as they're not my favourite filler and we had a cheeky stop the first time we came to it (Beau tried to duck out of the line of poles and we got a duff stride once I'd corrected) but then he sorted himself out and we ended up finishing with a decent sized fence. He felt great - really up for it without dragging me along the line of poles and I didn't have to do much bar put my leg on a touch on the last stride.
When I went to get on him on Saturday, he didn't feel tired at all.
To give him his due, he warmed up really well and we managed to get it out of the way before the arena started getting busy (he's a stresshead and hates being crowded). I was 4th to go so let him walk (march around) for a few minutes before popping one final upright and heading in. He started off really nicely but got stronger and stronger as we went round and by the end it felt like I had no control whatsoever. All I could do was just go with him, which lead to some interesting distances.
Luckily, he's really genuine and he jumped everything without really even thinking about where he was taking off.Somehow, I managed to steer him round and we finished with everything still standing. My dad was really pleased, whereas I was a bit annoyed about the lack of brakes given how relaxed Beau had felt the previous week - it felt like we galloped round, even though it looks okay.
As we were walking off, I joked that Beau had better win his section this time (we were pipped to the post by less than half a second the last time he'd jumped like that) and well, he only went and won it, didn't he?
So that was our first ever win together.
[video=youtube;tSdSAPepYPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdSAPepYPE[/video]
Next up was Blue and I think the less said about that round, the better. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great - I got slightly left behind over the second part of a one stride double and then I overshot the turn into 8 (on the wrong leg) and Blue left a front leg dangling so we had it down. But fair play to him because he could have decided he wasn't jumping that fence.
Then today, I moved Beau up from British Novice to Discovery in the the hope that the slightly bigger fences would make him back off a bit. I also decided to pop a flash onto his bridle to see if it would help with our braking issues.
We had a rather rushed start as there were only five left to go in the class before ours when I arrived so it was a case of flinging Beau's tack on and hoping I'd left enough time to warmup properly. Luckily my dad arrived then and offered to start warming the big guy up so I could go and walk the course. By the time I'd walked round from the stables, the first person was already in so I had to quickly learn the course watching from the sidelines, which wasn't exactly ideal.
Dad and I swapped over with only four to go and I just had time to pop a few uprights and two oxers before the ring steward called us over to the gate.
Once in the ring, Beau settled a bit and I felt like I could actually get him back if I needed to. He jumped a super round - really confident and flowing but without trying to bomb off along the longer stretched. I got a little close to one of the oxers towards the end but Beau managed to leave it up and we made it round in one piece to finish clear again.
I was so pleased with him considering he barely got a warm-up and hadn't had his usual dose of calmer. [video=youtube;JFoVwQgB470]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFoVwQgB470[/video]
Quick change onto Blue as we were 5th to go in the 1.05m and they announced that Beau had only gone and won his section again!
So Blue got to go in and do the lap of honour in Beau's place, which I think he rather enjoyed.
I thought today's 1.05m course flowed a lot better. It was (I think) a speed class but as usual, my aim was to just get round clear. Blue warmed up really well - nice and forwards once he'd gotten a little tap with my whip - but he'd switched off a little by the time we made it into the ring and we started off a little backwards. He didn't travel enough over the first so I had to kick to make the distance to the second but after that I thought the canter opened up and the distances felt much more comfortable (apart from 5 to 6). I just got a teeny bit close to number 7 and Blue tipped the front rail so that was that. But hey, at least it was an improvement on our last two rounds.
[video=youtube;wUZN3gauyCk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZN3gauyCk[/video]
Next weekend I'm planning on moving Beau up to the 1.05m class at Blue Ridge but he'll have a quiet few days before we start practicing as he's worked hard over the last few days. With Blue, my aim is still to get round clear
so I think it's time to book a lesson to see what I'm doing wrong before we go. Fingers crossed we'll get that elusive double clear eventually. 
