JennBags
HHOSS Wonder Woman
Went to an arena eventing clinic yesterday held by my superb instructor Russell Cooper, at Coombelands. Last time we went, it was howling a gale, very wet and rainy, and we even had hail at one point, so George was not at his best and dumped me at a tiny cross pole; hence off I toddled yesterday with very low expectations indeed. A friend was there with her daughter riding their mare, so I managed to get some video evidence of my exploits this time.
I got there very early and watched the class before me, it was very interesting as one lady was having similar problems to mine, and I could see quite clearly why it was happening. Very shortly, they were jumping the whole course, and I thought to myself that there was no way I would be doing that myself.
Got on G, and he was very spooky but definitely rideable, especially once we joined the other horses in the warm-up area. If anything, he was a little too quiet, I had to use a lot of leg! After we'd warmed up, Russell sent me straight round the coloured poles part of the course. We got to the first fence, and (they were all tiny!) it was bigger than I had expected so I paused, and G then paused, so I thought "No you're not bloody well stopping at the first" and squeezed him on - he responded and we cleared it; he had a good look at the second and cat-leapt it, and then you can see for yourself the rest of the course. G has learnt to "chip in" an extra stride to look after me, as I don't cope very well with a long one - the double should be one stride, and he took two.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%20coloured%203101_zpsjakvpcg4.mp4[/video]
The others all went, and then it was time to do the rustic part of the course. I always have more confidence over these types of jumps and didn't really have any issues with this part. Was left behind a couple of times, but nothing too awful.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%20rustic%203101_zpsssqb9bqt.mp4[/video]
Lastly, we put the whole thing together. We almost had a stop at fence 2 again (very scary bright red and black fillers) then the video here is from fence 4 (the double) onwards. Knowing that G chipped in last time on the double, I pushed to get one stride, but this ended up in him running into the second part instead, apart from that we flew round.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%203101%20course_zpsxyfeegpr.mp4[/video]
All in all, a fab day, and I know those fences are tiny, but getting round a course is such an achievement for me, I have really bad nerves and unless I'm jumping every week any confidence just dissipates, and it is all about confidence. I have to ride every stride with G - my old boy was point and shoot, even when we got to terrifying fences (for me), he just said "Hang on mum, I'll sort it out". Although I've had G for 4.5 years, I'm only really learning how to ride him now.
Next up is an SJ clinic this week, but I don't think I'll get any photos or videos, although as it's indoor I might be able to persuade Mr JB to come along.
Thank you for reading
I got there very early and watched the class before me, it was very interesting as one lady was having similar problems to mine, and I could see quite clearly why it was happening. Very shortly, they were jumping the whole course, and I thought to myself that there was no way I would be doing that myself.
Got on G, and he was very spooky but definitely rideable, especially once we joined the other horses in the warm-up area. If anything, he was a little too quiet, I had to use a lot of leg! After we'd warmed up, Russell sent me straight round the coloured poles part of the course. We got to the first fence, and (they were all tiny!) it was bigger than I had expected so I paused, and G then paused, so I thought "No you're not bloody well stopping at the first" and squeezed him on - he responded and we cleared it; he had a good look at the second and cat-leapt it, and then you can see for yourself the rest of the course. G has learnt to "chip in" an extra stride to look after me, as I don't cope very well with a long one - the double should be one stride, and he took two.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%20coloured%203101_zpsjakvpcg4.mp4[/video]
The others all went, and then it was time to do the rustic part of the course. I always have more confidence over these types of jumps and didn't really have any issues with this part. Was left behind a couple of times, but nothing too awful.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%20rustic%203101_zpsssqb9bqt.mp4[/video]
Lastly, we put the whole thing together. We almost had a stop at fence 2 again (very scary bright red and black fillers) then the video here is from fence 4 (the double) onwards. Knowing that G chipped in last time on the double, I pushed to get one stride, but this ended up in him running into the second part instead, apart from that we flew round.
[video]http://vid1050.photobucket.com/albums/s415/JennBags/Red%20and%20George/Arena%20eventing%203101%20course_zpsxyfeegpr.mp4[/video]
All in all, a fab day, and I know those fences are tiny, but getting round a course is such an achievement for me, I have really bad nerves and unless I'm jumping every week any confidence just dissipates, and it is all about confidence. I have to ride every stride with G - my old boy was point and shoot, even when we got to terrifying fences (for me), he just said "Hang on mum, I'll sort it out". Although I've had G for 4.5 years, I'm only really learning how to ride him now.
Next up is an SJ clinic this week, but I don't think I'll get any photos or videos, although as it's indoor I might be able to persuade Mr JB to come along.
Thank you for reading
The last round looked so much more fluid! I'm going to have to get Dae out to a few clinics when we've got a saddle together. Tiny fences ftw 
