Worried1
Well-Known Member
OK... 
This is mega so grap a cuppa and a couple of packets of biscuits and enjoy
In September last year we went to Pacesham to do the Open Elementary Area Festival after a disappointing Regionals at The College where Arthur was a tit in the Novice He had done some elementary classes and had enough sheets to qualify for the Area festival. It was a horrible day, cold windy and rainy and he was rather hot! Couple of mistakes in the test were costly and he finished 7th with 65.67% I was gutted as felt he was in with a chance had he stayed on side. However he has been very difficult at times so it wasn't that unsurprising...
He then went to the Regionals at Elelmentary where he did a lovely test but Mr W forgot the G&R so again proved costly
Fast forward to last month when we got a call from BD saying we had been given a wildcard for the finals! I was so excited Promptly booked a stable, hotel and began meticulously planning his every move from the moment the call came to yesterday!!!!
I know some of you have followed Arthur but for those that don't know he came to us two years ago for a couple of weeks. His owner had died in a tragic accident and it was undecided what was going to happen to him. I had heard Mr W talking about him but will admit that I wasn't overly keen on acquiring another equine
So I went on my own to collect him and was immediately struck by how beautiful he was! However I distinctly remember lunging him prior to Mr W getting on and being really disappointed by his canter but it was slightly better under saddle and... well he never left!
He arrived looking like this
Mr Worried spent a year just trying to get him around a test without him whipping round! He was and still is, one of the hottest horses we have ever worked with. He hates noises and if he can he will whip left or right and try and bolt!
Little by little he began to grow in confidence, he is a prime example of the damage draw reins can do to a horse. He was tight in his neck and would adopt a broken neck and try to put himself in rolkur. Mr W has spent the last two years trying to put his neck out and it has got better and better and there are virtually no BTV comments anymore
Last year we had a wobble and thought about trying to find him a new home, money was tight and he was so very frustrating at times, I felt we might be flogging a dead horse! But after some heated discussions and some tears on my part we decided to stick with him.
Slowly we began to see him change shape and his work ethic got better and better, he began to stay on side rather than flipping out, this was never more evident than at the Hickstead Masters Semi-final last year when the arena blew away
There was a dressage horse lurking in there...
So Tuesday morning I turned him out and pretended it was a normal day Mr W was left to supervise mini-W and get his stuff ready for a sleepover with Nanny and Grandad W. I had my list at the ready and packed for Arthur, me and Mr W
I dragged Arthur in and he was sludge brown so he was duly stuck in the wash bay and bathed much to his disgust! By this point he twigged that this was not a normal day so I left him under the solarium with two rugs on piaffing! I went up showered and changed and then went back to get him ready to load.
We left with Arthur piaffing the whole way down the M2, one Mini-W dropped off by the time we hit the M25 Arthur had given up Had a great run and arrived at 5.30 by which time the piaffing had begun again Unloaded for a vet check and he looked like he had just completed the Grand National, running with sweat, Mr W's mum said: "Gosh he has dropped weight hasn't he!"
He then proceeded to terrify the vet checking him by leaping around and generally being a tit! "Wow!" said the vet! "His pulse is racing!!!!" This was unsurprising given he was beside himself! Passed fit to go, we popped him in his stable and began unloading.
We really needed to work him and do an arena walk with him as I love Mr W very much and don't want to be unnecessarily widowed! He worked nicely and wandered nonchalantly around the Petplan arenas without so much as a look or a spook
Tucked him up for bed, cleaned tack and headed off to our hotel. Had a lovely meal and then tried unsuccessfully to sleep, I was so nervous for the pair of them. I instead listened to the dulcet tones of soft snores being emitted by Mr W who has never been nervous in his life (except when he was waiting to tell me Mini-W had washed my new iphone).
Up at the crack of dawn to get Arthur fed and plaited, Arthur by now had well and truly sussed something was amiss and wouldn't eat his breakfast so meant he didn't eat his calmer or electrolytes! Mr W's mum was dispatched to buy syringe-able calmer and electrolytes, by the time I had been spun round the temporary stable like a towel in a spin dryer, Arthur and I weren't really friends and he was cross!
By the time I had finished plaiting him we were friends again and we had a little chat about the fact this was a VERY BIG DAY and I really wanted him to prove how good he could be...
I spent ages getting him ready and my heart was in my mouth. Got Mr W on and miked up and round we went
Round 1 Mr W was in Arena 1 and his time was 10.23am, it was still relatively early so was quiet and he warmed up beautifully.
His test was super, couple of really minor things but no helicopter manoeuvres, spooks etc. As he finished I cried I was just soooooo proud of them. Results were up quickly and ne judge placed him first the other 11th he ended up 4th and was into the second round :
This is mega so grap a cuppa and a couple of packets of biscuits and enjoy
In September last year we went to Pacesham to do the Open Elementary Area Festival after a disappointing Regionals at The College where Arthur was a tit in the Novice
He had done some elementary classes and had enough sheets to qualify for the Area festival. It was a horrible day, cold windy and rainy and he was rather hot! Couple of mistakes in the test were costly and he finished 7th with 65.67% I was gutted as felt he was in with a chance had he stayed on side. However he has been very difficult at times so it wasn't that unsurprising...He then went to the Regionals at Elelmentary where he did a lovely test but Mr W forgot the G&R so again proved costly
Fast forward to last month when we got a call from BD saying we had been given a wildcard for the finals!
I was so excited Promptly booked a stable, hotel and began meticulously planning his every move from the moment the call came to yesterday!!!!I know some of you have followed Arthur but for those that don't know he came to us two years ago for a couple of weeks. His owner had died in a tragic accident and it was undecided what was going to happen to him. I had heard Mr W talking about him but will admit that I wasn't overly keen on acquiring another equine
So I went on my own to collect him and was immediately struck by how beautiful he was! However I distinctly remember lunging him prior to Mr W getting on and being really disappointed by his canter
but it was slightly better under saddle and... well he never left!He arrived looking like this
Mr Worried spent a year just trying to get him around a test without him whipping round! He was and still is, one of the hottest horses we have ever worked with. He hates noises and if he can he will whip left or right and try and bolt!
Little by little he began to grow in confidence, he is a prime example of the damage draw reins can do to a horse. He was tight in his neck and would adopt a broken neck and try to put himself in rolkur. Mr W has spent the last two years trying to put his neck out and it has got better and better and there are virtually no BTV comments anymore
Last year we had a wobble and thought about trying to find him a new home, money was tight and he was so very frustrating at times, I felt we might be flogging a dead horse! But after some heated discussions and some tears on my part we decided to stick with him.
Slowly we began to see him change shape and his work ethic got better and better, he began to stay on side rather than flipping out, this was never more evident than at the Hickstead Masters Semi-final last year when the arena blew away
There was a dressage horse lurking in there...
So Tuesday morning I turned him out and pretended it was a normal day
Mr W was left to supervise mini-W and get his stuff ready for a sleepover with Nanny and Grandad W. I had my list at the ready and packed for Arthur, me and Mr W I dragged Arthur in and he was sludge brown so he was duly stuck in the wash bay and bathed much to his disgust! By this point he twigged that this was not a normal day
so I left him under the solarium with two rugs on piaffing! I went up showered and changed and then went back to get him ready to load.We left with Arthur piaffing the whole way down the M2, one Mini-W dropped off by the time we hit the M25 Arthur had given up
Had a great run and arrived at 5.30 by which time the piaffing had begun again Unloaded for a vet check and he looked like he had just completed the Grand National, running with sweat, Mr W's mum said: "Gosh he has dropped weight hasn't he!" He then proceeded to terrify the vet checking him by leaping around and generally being a tit! "Wow!" said the vet! "His pulse is racing!!!!" This was unsurprising given he was beside himself! Passed fit to go, we popped him in his stable and began unloading.
We really needed to work him and do an arena walk with him as I love Mr W very much and don't want to be unnecessarily widowed! He worked nicely and wandered nonchalantly around the Petplan arenas without so much as a look or a spook
Tucked him up for bed, cleaned tack and headed off to our hotel. Had a lovely meal and then tried unsuccessfully to sleep, I was so nervous for the pair of them. I instead listened to the dulcet tones of soft snores being emitted by Mr W who has never been nervous in his life (except when he was waiting to tell me Mini-W had washed my new iphone).
Up at the crack of dawn to get Arthur fed and plaited, Arthur by now had well and truly sussed something was amiss and wouldn't eat his breakfast so meant he didn't eat his calmer or electrolytes! Mr W's mum was dispatched to buy syringe-able calmer and electrolytes, by the time I had been spun round the temporary stable like a towel in a spin dryer, Arthur and I weren't really friends and he was cross!
By the time I had finished plaiting him we were friends again and we had a little chat about the fact this was a VERY BIG DAY and I really wanted him to prove how good he could be...
I spent ages getting him ready and my heart was in my mouth. Got Mr W on and miked up and round we went
Round 1 Mr W was in Arena 1 and his time was 10.23am, it was still relatively early so was quiet and he warmed up beautifully.
His test was super, couple of really minor things but no helicopter manoeuvres, spooks etc. As he finished I cried I was just soooooo proud of them. Results were up quickly and ne judge placed him first
the other 11th he ended up 4th and was into the second round :
