GinaGeo
Well-Known Member
The alarm was set to go off yesterday morning at 5am - too early! Fatal mistake made by me. Hit the off button wanting an extra five minutes. Next thing, my lovely mother burst in declaring we'd overslept. Only by an hour! Oops! 
Which meant 45 minutes was to be had to brush, plait, pack the car, hitch up, muck out and get gone. Plaiting was accomplished in record time - which is going some for me - I am not quick at plaiting! Although I fear I may have to learn to plait with bands for speed's sake for such circumstances! Poor bay pony was loaded, still unbrushed and with slightly grubby white socks; somehow we were only fifteen minutes behind schedule.
Quick body brushing upon arrival - whilst I was thanking the Lord we'd had the good sense to buy a bay! And I was very naughty and chalked over the grimy yellow - not great but it'd have to do! Tack thrown on, I got changed and off we went to the Dressage warm up.
Somehow we were running early and as he'd been so relaxed and easy to warm up I was worried about overcooking it and tiring him out. So I went early - it was about 8:15 I think. Did the normal walk-trot-canter-walk round the arena with some thrown in halt transitions to get him in front of the leg. He felt ace, and was really secure in the contact and was so switched on. The test was going brilliantly, the marks all 7's & 8's until I asked for canter. The poor boy, shouted "Mummy I can't" and did a fine impression of bambi on ice and slipped and slid. Back to trot, wasn't worth scaring him - he has slipped over with me in the past but after the test at Speetley when he didn't slip at all I thought he'd be OK. But no, he wasn't. The trot work was still fine and bless him, he didn't let it worry him at all. The second canter was a little more successful, I asked him very tenderly, I know if he isn't happy he won't do it - strong sense of self preservation this one! - but he gave it and we kept it really underpowered to try and stay upright.
I've got a bit of dilemma now, he's not shod and has the best feet. He's the definition of rock crunching, totally self trims, walks over everything without a second glance and never knocks himself. He wasn't the only one that was slipping in that ring, so whether it was the early morning dew, or whether the grass is slippy there I don't know. But I don't want him to scare himself, but nor do I want to mess with his brilliant hooves.
Back to the trailer for a wash off, him - although I could have done with one too! Tack change, boots on. To our great surprise his breeder popped over, we'd let her know about it as she's relatively local and thought she might want to pop over to see him. She thought she might have to be elsewhere so when she arrived we were pleasantly surprised. Bay pony thoroughly enjoyed being told how clever he was and was all smiles and cuddles. As a small time hobby breeder she's struggling to make ends meet and despite having some lovely bloodlines and fabulous stock she's running on a loss. It's a crying shame, as we need quality youngstock and if it weren't for people like her, doing it for the love of it we wouldn't have them. It was lovely to have her there, an extra pair of hands and she took some lovely pictures for us! She's trying very hard to sell my a yearling colt as well, she's very excited about him and if I had the time I'd snap her hand off.
Bay pony was quite merrily snoring by the trailer, and I was concerned he'd be a little dead. But as ever, he perked up once we hit the school and I picked him up. He rattled the warm up upright a couple of times, which isn't like him, he's usually a very clean jumper. But jumped it on the angle a couple of times and he was starting to pick himself up and use himself better.
The course was relatively twisty and had quite a nasty ninety degree right handed turn in it. He was jumping round beautifully until the bad jockey cantered straight past fence seven and had to circle back round. Slapped wrist - sack the jockey - four faults
Bay pony was most disappointed with me letting him down and even more so when I totally screwed the stride up into the double. It was a one stride double, with a square oxer in front and a parallel behind and it walked on a fairly forward stride. I stupidly rode too forward and too flat to it, which meant he took the first pole of the oxer down with his front legs and the back pole of the upright down with his back legs. Another slapped wrist for jockey. Really annoyed with myself as he's such a clean jumper usually and I all I have to do is sit quietly and get him to the fence. So 12 faults in the SJ, all completely preventable. Need to walk the course twice and get myself some serious SJ training in. Apart from the clinics I've been having with Sam York I haven't had an SJ lesson in over a year. Need to sort this, am going to ring Sam this week and see if she can squeeze me for some private sessions I think.
I'd walked the XC the day before and this was the phase I was least confident about. Three of the first four fences were very full up 80 cm and are the sort of fences Bay pony looks at. He hasn't done much XC and has lacked confidence in the past and has needed me to hold his hand all the time.
All I can say is, I'm not sure where my little precious Dressage Diva went but he felt amazing in the warm up and turned into a proper XC machine. He was taking me into fences and we hit every warm up fence bang on. Tack check done we made our way over to the Start Box. Bay pony was very relaxed about the whole affair and I half thought he might fall asleep before setting off. We had a very pleasant conversation with the gentleman at the start box and Bay pony tried very hard to charm him into giving his ears a scratch. Much to his disappointment this venture was fruitless so he instead pinned them onto the course and started looking for his first fence.
3 - 2 - 1 - Good Luck!
I think his racing ancestry suddenly caught up with him as we flew out the start box and locked onto his first fence, I sat light stayed with him and tried not to interfere with the rhythm at all. He felt ace, jumping out of his stride - and he was giving everything plenty of space.
He did have a bit of a look at the Shark's teeth with their scarily positioned flower dressing. But a more secure contact and a little more support and he went without hesitating. Big grin, big pat, clever pony.
The Horseware Ireland didn't pose any issues and he bound straight on and gave the ditch plenty of space, just in case any pony eating trolls lurked in it.
Everything else he made light work of and he finished still full of running only two seconds outside the time. Considering I never kicked on and that we came down to trot for a slippy corner I was very pleased with that.
Even though it was early, it was still getting warm so straight back to the trailer, tack off, big wash off whilst keeping him moving and then put on his ice packs. Big hug, polos and kisses. What a clever boy.
Once he was sorted I wandered over to the secretary's tent to have a sneak peak at his Dressage score, I wasn't very hopeful and was over the moon to see he'd still scored 36 despite the dreadful slipping. The sheet was understanding of the slipping and the trot work was marked highly. The collectives also took a battering as the confidence, impulsion marks were affected. We didn't stay for the end of the class - too hot! - but we finished tenth in our section out of just over thirty and all things considered I'm very pleased with that.
Lots to work on and decisions to make but I'm looking forward to the next one - although I'm struggling to find anything. Thinking perhaps a BE90 on a day ticket? Don't want to scare him though, we'll see.
And just cos he's so pretty!
Which meant 45 minutes was to be had to brush, plait, pack the car, hitch up, muck out and get gone. Plaiting was accomplished in record time - which is going some for me - I am not quick at plaiting! Although I fear I may have to learn to plait with bands for speed's sake for such circumstances! Poor bay pony was loaded, still unbrushed and with slightly grubby white socks; somehow we were only fifteen minutes behind schedule.Quick body brushing upon arrival - whilst I was thanking the Lord we'd had the good sense to buy a bay! And I was very naughty and chalked over the grimy yellow - not great but it'd have to do! Tack thrown on, I got changed and off we went to the Dressage warm up.
Somehow we were running early and as he'd been so relaxed and easy to warm up I was worried about overcooking it and tiring him out. So I went early - it was about 8:15 I think. Did the normal walk-trot-canter-walk round the arena with some thrown in halt transitions to get him in front of the leg. He felt ace, and was really secure in the contact and was so switched on. The test was going brilliantly, the marks all 7's & 8's until I asked for canter. The poor boy, shouted "Mummy I can't" and did a fine impression of bambi on ice and slipped and slid. Back to trot, wasn't worth scaring him - he has slipped over with me in the past but after the test at Speetley when he didn't slip at all I thought he'd be OK. But no, he wasn't. The trot work was still fine and bless him, he didn't let it worry him at all. The second canter was a little more successful, I asked him very tenderly, I know if he isn't happy he won't do it - strong sense of self preservation this one! - but he gave it and we kept it really underpowered to try and stay upright.
I've got a bit of dilemma now, he's not shod and has the best feet. He's the definition of rock crunching, totally self trims, walks over everything without a second glance and never knocks himself. He wasn't the only one that was slipping in that ring, so whether it was the early morning dew, or whether the grass is slippy there I don't know. But I don't want him to scare himself, but nor do I want to mess with his brilliant hooves.
Back to the trailer for a wash off, him - although I could have done with one too! Tack change, boots on. To our great surprise his breeder popped over, we'd let her know about it as she's relatively local and thought she might want to pop over to see him. She thought she might have to be elsewhere so when she arrived we were pleasantly surprised. Bay pony thoroughly enjoyed being told how clever he was and was all smiles and cuddles. As a small time hobby breeder she's struggling to make ends meet and despite having some lovely bloodlines and fabulous stock she's running on a loss. It's a crying shame, as we need quality youngstock and if it weren't for people like her, doing it for the love of it we wouldn't have them. It was lovely to have her there, an extra pair of hands and she took some lovely pictures for us! She's trying very hard to sell my a yearling colt as well, she's very excited about him and if I had the time I'd snap her hand off.
Bay pony was quite merrily snoring by the trailer, and I was concerned he'd be a little dead. But as ever, he perked up once we hit the school and I picked him up. He rattled the warm up upright a couple of times, which isn't like him, he's usually a very clean jumper. But jumped it on the angle a couple of times and he was starting to pick himself up and use himself better.
The course was relatively twisty and had quite a nasty ninety degree right handed turn in it. He was jumping round beautifully until the bad jockey cantered straight past fence seven and had to circle back round. Slapped wrist - sack the jockey - four faults
Bay pony was most disappointed with me letting him down and even more so when I totally screwed the stride up into the double. It was a one stride double, with a square oxer in front and a parallel behind and it walked on a fairly forward stride. I stupidly rode too forward and too flat to it, which meant he took the first pole of the oxer down with his front legs and the back pole of the upright down with his back legs. Another slapped wrist for jockey. Really annoyed with myself as he's such a clean jumper usually and I all I have to do is sit quietly and get him to the fence. So 12 faults in the SJ, all completely preventable. Need to walk the course twice and get myself some serious SJ training in. Apart from the clinics I've been having with Sam York I haven't had an SJ lesson in over a year. Need to sort this, am going to ring Sam this week and see if she can squeeze me for some private sessions I think.
I'd walked the XC the day before and this was the phase I was least confident about. Three of the first four fences were very full up 80 cm and are the sort of fences Bay pony looks at. He hasn't done much XC and has lacked confidence in the past and has needed me to hold his hand all the time.
All I can say is, I'm not sure where my little precious Dressage Diva went but he felt amazing in the warm up and turned into a proper XC machine. He was taking me into fences and we hit every warm up fence bang on. Tack check done we made our way over to the Start Box. Bay pony was very relaxed about the whole affair and I half thought he might fall asleep before setting off. We had a very pleasant conversation with the gentleman at the start box and Bay pony tried very hard to charm him into giving his ears a scratch. Much to his disappointment this venture was fruitless so he instead pinned them onto the course and started looking for his first fence.
3 - 2 - 1 - Good Luck!
I think his racing ancestry suddenly caught up with him as we flew out the start box and locked onto his first fence, I sat light stayed with him and tried not to interfere with the rhythm at all. He felt ace, jumping out of his stride - and he was giving everything plenty of space.
He did have a bit of a look at the Shark's teeth with their scarily positioned flower dressing. But a more secure contact and a little more support and he went without hesitating. Big grin, big pat, clever pony.
The Horseware Ireland didn't pose any issues and he bound straight on and gave the ditch plenty of space, just in case any pony eating trolls lurked in it.
Everything else he made light work of and he finished still full of running only two seconds outside the time. Considering I never kicked on and that we came down to trot for a slippy corner I was very pleased with that.
Even though it was early, it was still getting warm so straight back to the trailer, tack off, big wash off whilst keeping him moving and then put on his ice packs. Big hug, polos and kisses. What a clever boy.
Once he was sorted I wandered over to the secretary's tent to have a sneak peak at his Dressage score, I wasn't very hopeful and was over the moon to see he'd still scored 36 despite the dreadful slipping. The sheet was understanding of the slipping and the trot work was marked highly. The collectives also took a battering as the confidence, impulsion marks were affected. We didn't stay for the end of the class - too hot! - but we finished tenth in our section out of just over thirty and all things considered I'm very pleased with that.
Lots to work on and decisions to make but I'm looking forward to the next one - although I'm struggling to find anything. Thinking perhaps a BE90 on a day ticket? Don't want to scare him though, we'll see.
And just cos he's so pretty!
