Wheels
Well-Known Member
It was way back in early March when I entered for the Connemara Working Hunter at Balmoral Show
It was my first time at a show like this and also his so wasn't quite sure what to expect. We arrived and went to our temporary stable and he was very on his toes so settled him in with a haynet, gave him a brush and some cuddles and a few treats and left him to settle whilst I got my breakfast and bearings. He had a few leg stretches in hand throughout the morning and he was more settled each time, even getting comments about how calm he was, very proud of him at such a big and busy event.
Our class was late afternoon so when the time was right we tacked up and went to warm up, he came out super hot, very strong and a bit too fast! By the time we finished our warm up he was much more settled and pinging the practice fences very confidently, extremely well. Into the ring which was a large grass arena, banners all around, a bar and grandstand on one side and picnic area on another with spectators on every side. Great atmosphere but M found it a wee bit scary. Going from being full of bravado in the warm up to lacking confidence in the main ring, understandable for a pony of his age (6) and experience.
He wasn't an easy ride in the main ring, I had to ride very positively but he really tried over the jumps for me even though he was not feeling his most confident. The first fence was an inviting spread, I felt M back off but I rode forward and he jumped very high over it, a bit of an 'oh shit' moment, 2 & 3 he jumped well, 4 was a water tray parallel quite close to the edge of the ring and going towards the crowd so again he backed off but cleared it with plenty of room to spare. Fence 5 was again nice and inviting with barrels and straw bales, he jumped that particularly well. Fence 6 was a pretty horrible double, a roll top on stands with brush coming out the top with 1 stride to a parallel with logs underneath - he got way too close to the first element meaning a very awkward jump and he couldn't make the distance so we had a run out at the second part. Second time around the approach was much better, but we knocked the second element. Only 2 fences left and by the end he was really starting to settle down and jumped them very well so we finished on a good note. Shame there wasn't a second class as I think he would have been much happier the next time around.
Then into the second arena where the flatwork show and trot up in hand was taking place. I was very happy with his individual show, his trot work was lovely and his canter was good too although he was running on a little, we had a great gallop and he came back reasonably well all things considered.
So no prizes given our jumping faults - trouble at the double lol
A very long but thoroughly enjoyable day - some pics below
1st part of the double (second time around)
first fence - I think my face says it all #ohshit lol
relaxing in the sun before our class
I didn't get many photos of the rest of the days proceedings but a couple I liked are below
line up of winning ridden IDs
donkey parade!
It was my first time at a show like this and also his so wasn't quite sure what to expect. We arrived and went to our temporary stable and he was very on his toes so settled him in with a haynet, gave him a brush and some cuddles and a few treats and left him to settle whilst I got my breakfast and bearings. He had a few leg stretches in hand throughout the morning and he was more settled each time, even getting comments about how calm he was, very proud of him at such a big and busy event.
Our class was late afternoon so when the time was right we tacked up and went to warm up, he came out super hot, very strong and a bit too fast! By the time we finished our warm up he was much more settled and pinging the practice fences very confidently, extremely well. Into the ring which was a large grass arena, banners all around, a bar and grandstand on one side and picnic area on another with spectators on every side. Great atmosphere but M found it a wee bit scary. Going from being full of bravado in the warm up to lacking confidence in the main ring, understandable for a pony of his age (6) and experience.
He wasn't an easy ride in the main ring, I had to ride very positively but he really tried over the jumps for me even though he was not feeling his most confident. The first fence was an inviting spread, I felt M back off but I rode forward and he jumped very high over it, a bit of an 'oh shit' moment, 2 & 3 he jumped well, 4 was a water tray parallel quite close to the edge of the ring and going towards the crowd so again he backed off but cleared it with plenty of room to spare. Fence 5 was again nice and inviting with barrels and straw bales, he jumped that particularly well. Fence 6 was a pretty horrible double, a roll top on stands with brush coming out the top with 1 stride to a parallel with logs underneath - he got way too close to the first element meaning a very awkward jump and he couldn't make the distance so we had a run out at the second part. Second time around the approach was much better, but we knocked the second element. Only 2 fences left and by the end he was really starting to settle down and jumped them very well so we finished on a good note. Shame there wasn't a second class as I think he would have been much happier the next time around.
Then into the second arena where the flatwork show and trot up in hand was taking place. I was very happy with his individual show, his trot work was lovely and his canter was good too although he was running on a little, we had a great gallop and he came back reasonably well all things considered.
So no prizes given our jumping faults - trouble at the double lol
A very long but thoroughly enjoyable day - some pics below
1st part of the double (second time around)
first fence - I think my face says it all #ohshit lol
relaxing in the sun before our class
I didn't get many photos of the rest of the days proceedings but a couple I liked are below
line up of winning ridden IDs
donkey parade!
