August Bank Holiday weekend plans

[Ample Prosecco]

Just on my way home from Eland and I am so happy.
Dressage was extremely tense and he did a yeehaw before we got into the boards but we got a 38, which I’m happy with as I thought it would be like 45! So lots of dressage outings to come
Show jumping he was perfect. Very forward and confident
Cross country we had one refusal at the horrible log ditch hedge thing and some speeding penalties (but everyone in the 50cm did!!)
On paper not a great day as we got like 91 haha but a lot of those were speeding penalties and for our first time out I am just so proud of him!!

That's brilliant. There were very, very few double clears in the 50. I think something like 5 in each section. And not that many XC clears either. About half I think. Most events have a more clears than that so it was a course that was asking a lot of questions.

 

[J_sarahd]

Well done!
There's a photo of you on the Eland facebook page, he looks great!

Thank you! Feeling very chuffed that they chose a photo of us two

 

[Ample Prosecco]

We survived eland. 36.8 dressage, but harsh imo but the best score in the group was 30.8 so harsh all round is fair. He did bronc in to his first canter ?
Had a clumsy SJ fence, he tried for a long one and failed lol. He was dreadfully spooky and distracted about the arena - fences were fine, silly horse.
Thought he was shattered but we got up to the xc warm up and he found his second wind. Had a green refusal at fence 2 of all things, and another 20 odd time penalties to add so we came in 16th but I'm not looking for frillies yet, the important thing is we came back safe and well. He needs to be quicker generally, but there were a lot of moments where we came back to trot just to rebalance etc. Crap on paper I suppose but I'm happy with him.

Well done!! I love Eland but I think it's a tough event. And having done the BE before, the unaff actually harder There were a few 80cm fences today that were in the BE90.

 

[J_sarahd]

That's brilliant. There were very, very few double clears in the 50. I think something like 5 in each section. And not that many XC clears either. About half I think. Most events have a more clears than that so it was a course that was asking a lot of questions.

Yeah I was looking at the results for both sections and I was shocked at how high ALL of them were. But it made me feel better. It definitely was a very testing course for a 50. Glad your round sounded positive as well!! ?

 

[Chippers1]

Well done everyone I'll hopefully be there next time ?

 

[scats]

Well done everyone!
We headed out to a local chaser course to meet a friend. Millie was super (apart from one rear- which appears to be the new party trick, but I’m willing to overlook it given she only did the one after stopping to gawp at a tractor in the next field)
Last time we went she wouldn’t go anywhere near any jumps. Well today I asked her to do two tiny logs (tiny, very tiny) and after a bit of amateur dramatics, and broncking after them, she got the idea. I’m sure she thought she was at Burghley then! I’ve always assumed she’d be a dreadful jumper, having based this on her ability over trotting poles, but she’s actually pretty decent.
Finished with a good gallop. Super day!

Pic of tired pony, I promise she is not as fat as she looks in this picture. She is a very odd shape and does not photograph well from some angles!

 

[Wheels]

Brilliant day at Eland.

Toby had a dire day on paper but actually I am so happy with him! He was on and off the lorry all day, Dolly was coming and going, he was leaving her at times too. And the lorry park was soooo busy. And he was just so totally relaxed about it all. Easy to do tack changes in the lorry park, not phased by the chaos. Happy to be left alone for ages while I was watching Dolly. Just chilled and easy to deal with.

He warmed up beautifully for dressage but then the judge honked just as we were passing the car. He spooked at that - nothing dramatic just a baby-horse 4 leg 'whassat' splay. But he was mightily suspicious of cars after that . Went down the centre line staring straight at it suspicously with his head in the air and kept a beady eye on it every time we were down that end. So not a great score but lovely comments saying he was clearly distracted but a very smart horse who should do well in the future.

Then SJ. He caught poles by being generally a bit clumsy and just not picking up properly but he was forward and willing and maintained a nice canter rhythm all the way round. So again I felt pleased with him.

Finally XC. I planned to miss out the ditch hedge. He was keen out of the start box but he had a stop at number 3 which is just as you come into a very busy part of the course - judges cars were right there, the commentary box, lots of spectators etc so he just got distracted. But jumped fine second time. And then as you came round the corner into the wood to the hanging log there was another car very near the log. He saw the car first before the log and shifted sideways to get a good look at it as if to say 'watch it car, no funny business!' and I actually did not even present him to the log but circled as he was simply not looking at it at all. But once he saw it he jumped no problem and flew the rest getting more and more keen as he went along. Began to lock on from further away as he realised he was having fun. Very happy with him.

Then Dolly was a superstar in the 80cm. Nice dressage, uncharacteristic pole for 4 SJ then clear XC in the time to finish 4th. Now filthy, knackered and very happy with them both.

Pics of course. Love Katie's grin as she comes over the last!!

That's brilliant, did you jump your bogey fence?

 

[Ample Prosecco]

That's brilliant, did you jump your bogey fence?

No I skipped it deliberately. I thought he had enough pressure to deal with as it was without adding in a super- scary fence! I wanted him to finish the the day with a smile on his face.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

We are shod!


and how we’re going to be turned out ??

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Well, we managed our 3rd day on the trot, at our end of summer RC training day. B Fuzzy was such a good girl today, bit of a banana at the start of sj lesson as cheerfully bouncing and leaping about but knuckled down. Then an hour break and she went xc training, we never ever get the chance to use the PC fences so this was a great experience for us both and my jaw kept dropping as B cheerfully tackled so many different fences, particularly the coffin, owl hole, water, steps and lots more. She still had enough petrol in the tank to jog back to the box after!
I think a gentle pootle round the block tomorrow is in order after an active 3 days out ☺

 

[blood_magik]

Newbie discovered the arena mirrors today. He kept stopping to stare at himself ?
Not the most flattering angle - he’s not quite that long in the back, although he is bum high at the moment ?

 

[TheHairyOne]

Looks like people have had a fab weekends! Its so nice to read about people going out and doing things after this weird year.

Mine actually didnt have any horse at all involved on saturday as I went long distance walking (just short of 20 miles) so sunday was quiet hacking. The boys moved fields Friday so are very happy.

Today the legs were recovered enough and I was feeling brave so put some fences up at home. My lovely horse flew around an 85 - 95cm course and I am actually starting to enjoy it rather than feeling a bit ill.

All going well I should be out the next 2 weekends on the trot!

 

[humblepie]

Not real competing but it should have been the ROR National Championships this weekend so they did a virtual online show instead with entries from abroad including Hong Kong and Australia. My very clever horse managed to win a class so that was super exciting as they did it by video announcement with a countdown of the last 6. He has always done very well at the Championships in real life so nice to do well again this year.

 

[j1ffy]

The weekend has been so busy that I've only just managed to get back to this post! It sounds like everyone else has been busy too - well done to all those competing / out and about.
AE - I'm pleased you went and that Toby was such a delight.
BM - I hope your dad's leg is ok!

We had a pretty successful outing on Saturday. I tried the calming cookies for the first time to take the edge off Danny's tension and it was a bit too effective - he turned into a complete donkey! That combined with mission 'get Danny off the leg at competitions' made for a very messy test, although it looks better on the video than it felt. We came away with 65.69% and comments about suppleness over the back, hollowing at points. All things which don't happen at home where he's more off the leg so hopefully that will improve with more confidence at competitions. CDJ was warming up with us and Danny took a bit of a shine to her mare , but she was lovely and not running people over (despite my best accidental attempt to collide with her - she just smiled!).

I'll be brave and upload a video, you can see the stickiness particularly in the left canter transition. If you wait until the end you can see CDJ trot in on her lovely horse (they won the class with 80%).

 

[Roxylola]

That looks quite regular and relaxed Jiffy, I think you did a pretty good job there
Fence 2 that apparently we couldn't jump first time - looks ok here though, silly horse
And a jolly little canter transition because hed much rather have been playing at the xc behind the hedge

 

[j1ffy]

He looks like he's loving it Roxylola!

 

[SpotsandBays]

How did everybody get on?
My 2yo did fairly well! I didn’t expect any placings at all as he’s going through that gangly stage, (looks like a foal on stilts), but he was so beautifully behaved and we got some really good comments from the judge. Proud mummy! 4th/5 in youngstock, 5th/6 in foreign, and 4th/8 in coloured.

 

[little_critter]

A rather late update. We did our intro to xc on Monday. Just doing the really really tiny stuff, but the focus was on control and manners. Before we left the ground the trainer had us walking and trotting round and even the good old ‘trot to the rear of the ride’ purely to test that everyone had control.
Ive had a couple of group lessons in the past where T has got overwhelmed and I was pleased to say he had manners in abundance on Monday.
We started off with a little log, just popping over and checking we could stop afterwards. Then moved on to a little brush, at this point a pony from another group got loose and T felt like he grew a hand and had turned into a coiled spring. Trainer was good and talked me through keeping him occupied with circles and serpentines. I’m pleased to say that once the pony had been caught T chilled out again and we popped the brush a few times.
Then over to another field where we could join a few jumps together, again all still done with manners and control.
We finished off with a play in the water which T loved.
So I’m very pleased, knowing that T can get over reactive in group situations I was so glad he stayed chilled through most of it.