and vids… since you all asked so nicely- my BS debut at BCA!

floradora09

floradora09

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Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and wished me luck- it worked! :)

Plan was to jump round the BN and then go round again HC as was a long journey for the one round but haven’t ever done a 1m class before so was defo not going to do the disco, esp at BS where it would all be up to height.

We were the first to arrive (much to mum’s delight for dragging her out of bed so early :rolleyes: ) and I entered the BN for two rounds. Walked the course and felt fairly happy, a couple of bigger spreads but nothing to worry about. As advised on here I went in 4th, so warmup wouldn’t be too scary!!

Anyway, he jumped really nicely and we finished clear on quite a good time. I was so pleased! :D And was lovely because somebody commented on what a good round it looked- perhaps these showjumpers aren’t so scary! :p But left us with a bit of a quandary, as felt there was no point going round again just for the sake of it- so put my brave pants on and swapped my entry to the disco- perhaps not the best time to make the jump up but I decided to walk the course and make my final decision then.

BN vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3647EWZO0wg

Waited blimmin’ AGES for the course walk, I was 3rd to jump so we could go home quickly if I decided it was too big. In the meantime found out I’d come 4th in the BN and won £13!! Mega chuffed!! Not won any money before, and probably my first pure SJing placing for nearly 1 1/2 years! :D

The disco course looked big, but jump-able, so I went for it. Had our usual wobbly in the warmup (me not riding) but knew we’d be fine if I just kicked on and went for it. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but he felt AMAZING jumping round, and we just had the 1 down. :)

Disco vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZiYBZ_9kY

Disco pic:

BCADisco.jpg


So all in all, I am over the moon! Thanks for reading :)
 
Huge congratulations! The disco round looks really lovely, he's pinging and obviously finding it very easy.

There'll be no stopping you now!;)
 
Great fab job, they always play with the distance between one and two and its mostly by the exit so does catch people out. I thought you rode two lovely rounds you wouldn't know you were nervous,you maintained a nice rhythm and moved on and committed to your turns. Was the warm up very wet today, it can get a bit boggy in places?
 
Well done! Both looked lovely smooth and flowing rounds, lots of potential for the future. You must be very pleased with yourself and pony :)
 
Great result, so glad the plan worked for you :D

Going home with a bit of money if your pocket always helps too, means you had a 'free' round in the Disco too :)
 
Thanks! :) He was super-awesome. He's been there done that before etc but showjumping really is our weakness (he loves jumping- regardless of whether it's over or through!!) so hoping it won't be after this winter. To be honest the disco was the best he's ever jumped with me I think, as he suddenly came alive and was jumping out of his skin!

We've got one or two more outings planned this month to our more local BS centre. Prize money is better there too so I might be more driven with ££ signs in my eyes!! ;) Isn't it bad what I'll do for a bit of dosh.

Stencilface- Yep worked brilliantly, thanks! :) I managed to persuade mum to let me keep the winnings, so even better.

NR99- Thank you, at that point I just wanted to get round so didn't really ride the second as well as I could have, he clunked it in the BN too. It's good to have got a disco under my belt though now as I know I can do it. I thought the warmup was good, the takeoff and landing spots were getting a tad boggy so probably would have got worse as the day progressed. I've not been there before but it's a lovely venue, and would def go again!

I just feel sorry for the poor people doing the later classes- they were already very behind time when the disco started :eek:
 
rossiroo said:
Well done, and you had to ride the horse, not a push-button schoolmaster, keep at it.
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Thank you, he has taught me so much, I just have to remind myself on frustrating days when the poles are flying that no matter how annoying it is- if you don't ride him right, he'll knock it, so I'll be all the better a rider for it (in theory/hopefully!) :o

Scarlett/applestroodle- let's hope I can keep it up! Might be a good way to supplement babysitting money, although with all the waiting around I don't think the hourly rate is quite as good... ;) Seriously though, I am pretty convinced I was just very lucky as clear rounds are like gold dust for us! Not expecting a follow on performance, but will ride as well as I can and hopefully be in luck sometime soon...
 
Well done on the great result :) You must be so pleased. The round looks lovely and flowing and well done on the super fast time.

floradora09 said:
I just feel sorry for the poor people doing the later classes- they were already very behind time when the disco started :eek:
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Yep that was me! I waited until 7.30pm and they still hadn't started the 1m15 so I left and didn't even get to jump a single fence. Someone fell off at the end of the NC they didn't restart the show until 8.30 and had 3 more classes to jump.
 
Haha yes he is rather strong most of the time! I'd gone on a hack with Ali16 off here the day before and he charged off with me, which was quite embarrassing, but yesterday I did have some brakes! Also I just felt I needed to really kick on and keep a forward pace to make the jumps in the disc, so he was a bit like 'ooh we can go now can we?' :)

clairep- That's crazy. How frustrating for you! :( Is it usually that bad or were they trying to run too many classes on one day? We left at about 12pm and they'd only just started the discovery really, and I was looking at the schedule thinking how on earth will they get through all that..

shark1- Thank you! Of course, don't go anywhere without the vid cam :)

ETA- I'm having a bit of a think about how I warmup. Does it matter if I don't jump the class height in the warmup? I'm saying this because I can get in a bit of a fluster in the warmup and struggle to ride properly and yesterday we had a couple of dodgy jumps over the spread. It's mainly a thing about lots of people being there and I find it hard to get the right canter and a good line without either getting in the way of anyone. Kind of like brain overload! He's quite an experienced horse so prob doesn't need to be overjumped anyway, and just so long as I've been jumping near enough the class height I can go in, kick on and do the job better in the ring- especially when my blood's up a bit more than it is in the warmup.. ? :confused:
 
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floradora09 said:
ETA- I'm having a bit of a think about how I warmup. Does it matter if I don't jump the class height in the warmup? I'm saying this because I can get in a bit of a fluster in the warmup and struggle to ride properly and yesterday we had a couple of dodgy jumps over the spread. It's mainly a thing about lots of people being there and I find it hard to get the right canter and a good line without either getting in the way of anyone. Kind of like brain overload! He's quite an experienced horse so prob doesn't need to be overjumped anyway, and just so long as I've been jumping near enough the class height I can go in, kick on and do the job better in the ring- especially when my blood's up a bit more than it is in the warmup.. ? :confused:
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Firstly, you look fab together and really secure at the height. Definitely wouldn't have guessed it was your first time at that level :)

Secondly, I don't think jumping the height is really necessary as long as you've warmed him up sufficiently over the lower fences, especially if it only worries you. Al never used to and still rarely does jump the actual height of the class but just focuses on getting a really nice canter and letting Reg jump confidently out of a rhythm. She knows he can jump 1m easily, so might do a spread at that height just to set him off...
 
Lolo said:
Firstly, you look fab together and really secure at the height. Definitely wouldn't have guessed it was your first time at that level :)

Secondly, I don't think jumping the height is really necessary as long as you've warmed him up sufficiently over the lower fences, especially if it only worries you. Al never used to and still rarely does jump the actual height of the class but just focuses on getting a really nice canter and letting Reg jump confidently out of a rhythm. She knows he can jump 1m easily, so might do a spread at that height just to set him off...
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Really? Might think about having another go at the 1m class at next weekend's BS then.. :)

Thanks for the advice re warming up. It's a bit of a tricky one because I need to jump him a similar height to what's in the class so that a) I'm mentally prepared how to get the canter and see how he's jumping and b) so he doesn't get a nasty shock when we go in! But without getting in a flap and losing confidence just before we go in, too...

Planning on braving it to Blewbury next weekend and if I remember correctly the warmup there is TINY so I may have to put my plan into action if it's hectic! Although it means an early start, jumping early in the class seems to help me as I'm still on the ball from the coursewalk and don't get flustered by the busy warmups.. :rolleyes:
 
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