Aug bank holiday weekend plans!

Meredith said:
Well done to every one.

Our first competition of any kind went pretty well yesterday. We did a walk and trot test. C was as good as gold. Even though the venue is encouraging to novice and nervous competitors when I arrived I had begun to wish I had not entered. I warmed up very quietly and did a sleepy kind of test instead of asking for more and getting too much. I did not expect to be placed. Imagine my surprise to find we were 2nd of 6.
Happy day.
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Well done Meredith.

And also well done MP and everyone else who has been out this weekend.
 
Well done all of you who have had a successful weekend so far. Sounds like some of you are having a great time.

We had a huge day yesterday. The baby horse wasn't up for dressage so I called it early and hopped off before anything too dramatic happened. He wasn't feeling himself so better safe than sorry.

That left the grown up horse to carry the team forward, and he out did himself. He went into the arena and for the first time he was truly geared up to do dressage. It was so much fun (never thought I would say that about dressage!) and although there were a few mistakes where I wasn't organised enough it was a really solid test. I was pretty happy.

Jumping went really well too, he jumped clear in the 90 but the 100 wasn't quite as smooth. We had some improvements though and that's all you can ask for.

We finished the weekend winning our first rug. I am so totally proud of my boy. Then I nearly died because we won a second rug that i was totally not expecting :eek::D:cool:. Picture with the lovely show jumping judge (and husband!)

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We did our 3rd and 4th prelim tests - our first time at trying 2 (mainly due to me being incapable of remembering 2 tests and not good at listening to a caller. Warm up went a bit iffy as order got a bit lost when one rider didn’t turn. Everyone is so lovely at the centre though so we all worked it out between us. Red went nicely in first test (we’ve suffered with tenseness) but was lacking some oomph despite me carrying whip and leg was on with a vengeance! Lesson night before was not a good plan! I nearly pulled out of 2nd test but few there gave me the right encouragement and agreed to call for me. Didn’t go as well but glad we did it as was a new test for us - reader was fab too. We managed 2nd and 3rd with those (best placing) in a busy class but best of all we improved our score on the 1st test. Day off yesterday due to rain and I’ve promised Red we’ll spend the week hacking and explore some of the now softer ground!
 
scats said:
Millie’s first competition report!

After wondering whether it was actually an ark we needed this morning, not a wagon, we headed off to do our first dressage test today. I had two main aims- give her as stress-free a journey as possible (she loads brilliantly but is a very nervous traveller) and hopefully make our way around the test without disgracing ourselves.
Venue is a couple of junctions up the motorway so we set off with rain lashing against the windscreen, the wind getting up, and me seriously questioning my sanity. Anyway, the warm up and test were actually both indoors so I decided I had no reason to complain and ought to pull myself together and stop being such a fair-weather wuss.

She was a bit eyes-on-stalks on arrival, but nothing too major. Got absolutely soaked tacking up so got to the warm-up as quickly as possible. She warmed up well, not bothered by the other horses at all, which was good, as we always ride alone at home. She was a bit gawpy at the mirrors but no silliness.

Over to the large indoor for the test, after some encouragment to actually get in the arena. I’d opted for an Intro test to keep the day easy for us both. She wasn’t bothered about the mirrors in this arena, so that was good. Quick trot around and the bell went. She did a really sweet test and didn’t put a foot wrong. I felt her flagging a bit about half way, but I think her adrenaline had finally stopped and she suddenly realised the whole experience had actually been quite tiring!

Judge probably wondered why I was so ridiculously happy at the end, but I have been through absolute hell over the last 12 months, so to just be able to take my own horse out and do an Intro test meant absolutely everything to me.

We managed a very respectable 4th place, with 68.26%.

Loaded and travelled home fantastically and is currently in her stable looking pleased as punch.

And I’ve only owned her for 8 weeks, so we are still a relatively new partnership.

Some pictures-



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Well done - first test and putting on new pony! Took me 15 months to do mine! Lovely photos
 
8th place at Keysoe yesterday. Shocking dressage, double clear sj xc with some time faults for when I went the wrong way (for the second time in as many weeks).

Not a particularly enjoyable round, Boggle was pretty hacked off at the insanely wet weather and head shook most of the way, it was slippy despite studs and just all felt a bit haphazard but he was very honest even though I got a general cross feeling from him! He’s not a wet weather pony, need to stick some ears on him next time he’s XC in the rain.

Also behaved super being left on lorry and his travel companion leaving etc- so that’s the real win of the day for me.

 
We managed our 10 mile fun ride rather well. Set off in the first group, and we had some excellent gallops across private fields and a good time in the cross country field including a play about with some steps and a bank. Plenty of jumps round the whole route so it was worth an early morning start.
 
Rara let me make my scurry and trials debut, slowest round, only two cones and biggest cheer of the afternoon (it was really busy!) so I reckon that's a win ;). Cheeri was a very good pony but rara definitely makes his canter transition look easier than it is, so once we'd slowed to trot we were staying in trot but we did the slalom in canter :D which was really fun and I was well chuffed that having never driven an obstacle (well or Cheeri out of a 20x40 arena) that I nailed both of them without hitting anything (so chuffed that I totally didn't realise the line to 8 wasn't straight, woops! Rara was still sure we'd make it but he was being such a good pony for me that I opted to circle rather than pull him round last minute.)


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(Cheeri does figure given that he spent the weekend having to be admired and being in people's selfies that there is no need for all this energy expenditure to be liked :D :D)

When I wasn't driving I felt much more solid on the back than I have previously too, which is definitely nice :).
 
scats said:
Well done Meredith.

And also well done MP and everyone else who has been out this weekend.
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Thank you scats.
Today we have been to a fun ride. It was damp and breezy. C was very good again and we jumped 10 or so mini jumps on the hill and enjoyed a fair few lengthy canters.
All in all a very good weekend.

Congratulations to everyone for their achievements this weekend
 
scats said:
Looking good MP.

How do you go about putting the music together?
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I went to a clinic and got Equidance to do it! :D
We did it for a PSG floorplan though which I couldn't use for RC so I had to jam a new floorplan together to use the same music for advaned medium which was a headache. Much easier to get the floorplan first and then fit the music to it, but this made it pretty good value for money even if it did give me grey hairs :D

I have done my own using Audacity before but tbh I think the pro jobs are noticeably better for the average person, if you're really skilled or have plenty of time to throw at it then no doubt people can do their own. But at PSG I wanted something that didn't have nasty joins etc so was happy to cough up and get the professionals in :D :D plus it meant I got expert help from Stef Eardley to write my PSG plan, I wasn't being very imaginative when trying to create my own.
 
EKW said:
I am heading to Blair tomorrow! So if you are around in the afternoon (probs about 2-2.30pm) The Wee Coloured Job will be in the NPS Scotland In-Hand Small Breeds Final! He won it last year and whilst it would be nice to reclaim our title I will be happy with a top 6 finish! The beast is as clean as he is going to get tonight but I will have plenty of time to get any dodgy bits sorted in the morning as we aren't leaving til about 10.30am.
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EKW - how did the wee coloured job do on Friday? Was he the chestnut/white shetland? If so, he is adorable! I did stand to watch the class but didn't see where you were placed. Hope you had a good Blair this year!
 
HeyMich said:
EKW - how did the wee coloured job do on Friday? Was he the chestnut/white shetland? If so, he is adorable! I did stand to watch the class but didn't see where you were placed. Hope you had a good Blair this year!
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Hey yes he is the wee chestnut and white - he stands out a country mile in Shetland classes up here! We finished 7th which at the time was a little disappointing but looking back the judge wasn't a fan of entires and the Wee Coloured Job was the only entire not to be stone cold last in his class so there is that bonus to take away! It didn't help that he was a wee bit fidgety as we had some lead rein mum Muppet walking up his backside the whole way round! 3 times I asked her to give him some space and 3 times I was ignored. I cut corners, I jogged on to get away from her but she just kept following! Head in cloud cuckoo land! On the plus side said Muppet finished last in the class!
 
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