Bank Holiday (again!) weekend in May

SEL said:
Baby cob went on an organised ride along with @SpotsandBays Baby Spots. It was carnage with horses everywhere and lots of people cantering in big groups close to other groups. Baby cob found it all very exciting. Showed his excellent airs above ground and proved to the lady with the gorgeous Connemara that he was no plod when he left her (& most of the rest of the ride) eating dust 🙄

Baby Spots however was a superstar.

In fact for two young horses they both did really well - but I need wine!
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Baby Cob is now known as Turbo Cob. Turbo Cob features extra suspension 🤣
You sat those moves extremely well!! I’m quite glad the group got lost in the woods as I think it would have blown Spottys brain!
 
SpotsandBays said:
Baby Cob is now known as Turbo Cob. Turbo Cob features extra suspension 🤣
You sat those moves extremely well!! I’m quite glad the group got lost in the woods as I think it would have blown Spottys brain!
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It was the downhill canter / out of control blast with those warmbloods crashing into everyone where I did start praying!! Don't buck. Don't crash into the other group at the bottom of the hill and please, please don't let my saddle slip!!

Spots was incredible for his first time out and I bet he'll sleep for a week now.
 
YourValentine said:
I love doing stock work with horses, and have found that they tend to enjoy it too. I think because it is a nice clear job. They can see and understand what's being asked of them.
DR and some of the stuff we ask of them must seem very odd/abstract. They might enjoy it, but the point isn't as clear. If that makes sense?

Also you get to spend lots of time together in a low pressure situation which is always nice
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Yes, all of those things! :) I am getting more interested in the fine detail of this kind of training too; it's very practical but still requires real lightness, softness and responsiveness but at the same time the major test is one of partnership and 'relaxation/trust' etc. The maneovres as such are nowhere near as demanding as formal equestrian disciplines (no 10m circles required at a designed point lol) but the need to be able to drop the reins and have the horse take charge of speed and direction whilst you are concentrating on something else is interesting. And there is very little jeopardy either; no win or lose (other than time usually), no performance anxiety but the requirement to get 'better' feels very natural. I am looking forward to being able to work with our cattle but for now developing skills singling out and 'controlling' the movement of either a single or just a small group of ewes on the open hill is quite a blooming challenge - the little beggars are sooooo fast and flighty lol!!
 
ester said:
So we may have done a thing. .

I'm used to backstepping for rara quite a lot these days, and about 3 weeks ago she decided we should enter the gateway newcomers class at windsor even though I had never actually driven this supercob 🤣, and said supercob was yet to do any sort of solid obstacles on grass as he'd only done the indoor season with us so far having previously only driven in straight lines (he totally gets the assignment though and is loving his jew job!)

We fitted in two practice sessions with some cones and round a few barrels in the meantime and were declared ready 😅. Expectations were low, and I quote rara 'I knew we wouldn't die' so no pressure at all, only avoidance of death expected!

Said super cob only went and won it didn't he 😂. We did a very short dressage test which is designed to be driven in any sized arena but for this set up meant a 40m circle, I can confirm that's a very big circle that you feel like you might never finish and start wondering what on earth shape you've just created, but somehow we managed to win this stage.
The cones course was a lot twistier than we expected and 2 sections of it seemed built for the mini shetlands rather than us but we only had one down 2nd from last (I blame the cyclists acting as distraction 🤣) and were 3rd in this stage.
Then onto the obstacles, we drove 2 obstacles twice each which is how it works in indoors and is nice as it means you can have another go with a bit more confidence and improve on what you managed the first time. He tried super hard, listened really well despite really wanting to go faster and we won that stage too so a win overall!

We then switched places and he got to do them all again but faster this time with rara steering, and he won her class too.

It's quite exciting getting your first rosette doing something totally different! A fabulous opportunity and I did of course have some pretty experienced advice/coaching as we went round :D

Vids courtesy of my sister who came from bristol to watch/support
:D
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Cones

and our second go at both obstacles

and some pro speed obstacles
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AMAZING!! Well done all. :)
 
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Isn’t this thread fun about all the different things we do with our horses. Mine is a bit tame compared to some but had a lovely county show win with mine.
Ester/Rara - I used to show jump at Windsor Park back in the late 80s when I was young and brave. I fancy going there for old times sake to their dressage. Do you still go in via Saville Gardens. Remember how pretty it used to be and driving through there after the hurricane of 87 I think it was with big trees down. Huge congratulations on your driving outing.
 
HP, and the only reason I even know rara is this forum 🤣 actually met err 2010ish maybe?!

No not through any gardens, just straight off the A332 (I say straight off, the map was a bit questionable, there was I'm lost flapping involved 😅) and the dressage runs the other side of a small section of wood so away from the carriages a bit.

Red, you do a lot of walking! though learning 2 was definitely easier than learning the 6/8 involved in main outdoor comps. - The person on the back can be 'navigator' as well as keeping the carriage grounded round the corners so I've had lots of walking practice already doing that which helped!
 
Ah thank you that’s useful to know. We had we are lost flapping on Saturday - huge new housing estate and road change throwing us off route we knew. Another one in awe at carriage drivers rememBering where to go.
 
Ester That was brilliant, well done all.. you could see the pony thinking about popping into canter at the obstacle, but what a good pony
 
Fantastic
Well done everyone 👏

We've had a wonderful 3 days at Guy Robertson clinic
2 x 2 hour lessons each day learning so much with a little fun competition to finish off today
TP has been brilliant , having a go at everything
We had the most fun with the flag cutter , it's a cow shaped face on pullys that goes backwards and forwards along the side of the school , you do a figure of 8 herding it
And lasso skills , with me riding TP while swinging a rope around my head and lassoing a pretend cow 🐄 😅
 
TRECtastic said:
Fantastic
Well done everyone 👏

We've had a wonderful 3 days at Guy Robertson clinic
2 x 2 hour lessons each day learning so much with a little fun competition to finish off today
TP has been brilliant , having a go at everything
We had the most fun with the flag cutter , it's a cow shaped face on pullys that goes backwards and forwards along the side of the school , you do a figure of 8 herding it
And lasso skills , with me riding TP while swinging a rope around my head and lassoing a pretend cow 🐄 😅
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That sounds lots of fun, like the cow herding.
 
Unfortunately, our weekend at the championships was a bit of a disaster. We only jumped one jump over two courses. Little Madam just refused to jump in the arena. She was fine in the warm up, absolutely flying, but then just didn't want to jump in the arena. No idea why, it's very unlike her. She's normally generous to a fault. I need to have a think on what to do next (expect a new thread along the lines of "help!").

Well done to everyone who came back with ribbons or just had a lovely weekend. And get well soon to the sick notes, human and horses.
 
6yo jumped well at the Cheshire show - just a 90 and 100 class, but we were mainly there to expose him to more atmosphere - and there was loads of chaos to contend with, so that was good. I rode badly in the 115 with the older one in the main ring and had 4 down. Bit disappointed to be honest, but making myself feel better with the thought that he jumped better around the 125ish second half, and that's as big as a 4* showjump (trying to do some psychology on myself!!)

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Bernster said:
Titchy, same here, there might be a help thread coming soon, but not until I’m recovered and ready to think about what’s next!
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Hopefully we can both come to satisfactory answers / solutions. My brain's gone into overdrive. The immediate plan is to do a "test" at my usual riding school on Saturday in competition conditions (warm up area separate from the course, music, spectators, judges - luckily we had an internal competition planned anyway). If she's her usual self, I can defer worrying for a while, if she's still stopping then I'll know for sure there's something wrong, not just an away competition, possible hormones, etc... So many things it could be!
 
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