lizzieb
Well-Known Member
After flying around Berrington PN as my horses first event in 2 years I was feeling positive about Solihull but how wrong could I be. After we arrived the first thing I saw was SJ indoor which my horse hates so I knew day was going to be bad but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was.
Dressage was OK then onto SJ and he kept trying to duck out of the indoor warmup everytime we went past so he wasn't very settled or jumping very well. Then we went into the main arena and he turned into the greenest horse ever and started trotting into the jumps which he never does so he had 6 down so I just scraped through to the XC
Onto XC and he warmed up very positive and flew out of the start box and over the first 4 but at the 5th, a vegetable box parallel to the start, he chipped in an extra stride and climbed all over it. So I gave him a reminder and he jumped the sun lounger complete with beach balls and towel well and jumped well through the water so I thought number 5 was just a blip. But then coming into number 7, a sheep feeder type fence he wasnt really paying attention so I slapped him down his shoulder which he responded to. I saw a perfect stride (and Im the first to admit if Im a tiny bit wrong) and expected him to take off but he chipped another one in, clambered all over it, put me off balance and I fell off after clinging on for a few strides
I retired straight away as its so unlike him to chip in so he obviously wasnt happy
But I must admit he seemed fine as he cantered happily back to the start nearly colliding with the next horse who was coming through the water!
Got him back to the trailer expecting scrapes down his back legs and all he has is a cut down the inside of his front left cannon bone where his boot was covering anyway!!! Only my horse is capable of that! I thought he would probably be a bit stiff this morning but he trotted up sound and was fine out hacking.
So now Im confused what went wrong as he went so well at Berrington. I think the indoor SJ must have upset him more than I thought. Im undecided as what to do next as were entered for Draycott PN but I cant decide whether to change to Intro which will be very scary if hes back on form as he wont respect them at all but if he is sticky again theyre smaller. Any guidance will be appreciated
I think I'm going to take him BSJA next Sunday then make my decision on how that goes.
Dressage was OK then onto SJ and he kept trying to duck out of the indoor warmup everytime we went past so he wasn't very settled or jumping very well. Then we went into the main arena and he turned into the greenest horse ever and started trotting into the jumps which he never does so he had 6 down so I just scraped through to the XC
Onto XC and he warmed up very positive and flew out of the start box and over the first 4 but at the 5th, a vegetable box parallel to the start, he chipped in an extra stride and climbed all over it. So I gave him a reminder and he jumped the sun lounger complete with beach balls and towel well and jumped well through the water so I thought number 5 was just a blip. But then coming into number 7, a sheep feeder type fence he wasnt really paying attention so I slapped him down his shoulder which he responded to. I saw a perfect stride (and Im the first to admit if Im a tiny bit wrong) and expected him to take off but he chipped another one in, clambered all over it, put me off balance and I fell off after clinging on for a few strides
Got him back to the trailer expecting scrapes down his back legs and all he has is a cut down the inside of his front left cannon bone where his boot was covering anyway!!! Only my horse is capable of that! I thought he would probably be a bit stiff this morning but he trotted up sound and was fine out hacking.
So now Im confused what went wrong as he went so well at Berrington. I think the indoor SJ must have upset him more than I thought. Im undecided as what to do next as were entered for Draycott PN but I cant decide whether to change to Intro which will be very scary if hes back on form as he wont respect them at all but if he is sticky again theyre smaller. Any guidance will be appreciated
