Baydale
Well-Known Member
Here we go again, more blogging thanks to my insomnia - I'm sure you'll all be wishing I could/would sleep by the end of this. 
Busy bee Baydale has been gadding about and making the most of her extended summer holiday - yep, I'm still unemployed, or should that be unemployable? - but Joooopiter hasn't been so lucky as it's been work, work, work for him. I seem to have spent the best part of a week at Lincoln hospital having a routine CT scan, bone scan and echocardiogram, also - which I found hilarious - being pregnancy tested before one of them. It's fine, no mini-Baydales will be appearing any time soon...
SuperFran and I headed up to Somerford for the Intermediate, and why have I not been there before, ever? It's fantastic, well worth sitting in traffic on the outskirts of Nottingham for... I should have been suspicious when Jup was well-behaved in his dressage: no sighing or spooking, but a tad lacklustre I'd say. Oh well, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I shall be pursuing that judge around the country as he very kindly gave me 28.6.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji28HlTh63c&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=6&feature=plcp
To say it went downhill from there would be an understatement! I had the most godawful showjumping warm-up where he just didn't seem to be taking me to the fence. You can see how hard I had to work to get him round, just having the bogey fence down but being incredibly lucky at several others. Anyone thinking that I should have not jumped him has maybe not owned a Cleveland Bay cross as they're canny as hell at getting out of work by kidding you that their excessive laziness is a terminal illness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4F5jLYgpOQ&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=7&feature=plcp
He wasn't right at all as we went back to the lorry, huffing and puffing and so my gut feeling was not to run him as that was a serious enough Intermediate track and I didn't want him to have a horrid experience. So, lorry packed up we headed home, just in time to hit the Nottingham rush hour traffic again - what joy!
I consoled myself with a trip to the PC Champs at Cholmondeley: mainly to catch up (and drink gin) with TableDancer and Mini TD (who didn't drink gin, I should add), also to help a pupil of mine who got a PB dressage score but time faults for going too fast in the Open Eventing, oops. She blames me for that as she was so riled that an old 'un like me went quicker than she did at Aston Intermediate that she forgot that she didn't need to go that quickly at Cholmondeley.
Yet more road tripping ensued this week: with the sun out and the roof down it would have been rude not to visit some friends, pat some Very Important Dressage Horses and socialise some more. At home it's mainly been hunters and the taming thereof: Week 6 finds them very well, very naughty and I was recently to be seen cantering sideways through the village on Punk, leading HumungaHorse, with Punk bucking every stride as I'd told him off for spinning round - twice - at the "slow" painted on the road! Suffice to say my core stability and lightning (not!) reflexes are back to normal levels...
Wellington was next on the list of road trips as Jup had been feeling back to normal ie. irritating and as rude as hell. SuperFran and I had a sleepover, the first overnighter in the Baydale Barbie Bus (if you see it you'll know why it has that moniker), and Joooopiter fell in love with his stable companion and was distraught when he got to go out in the field the next morning and he didn't, bless him.
Dressage warm-up was ok, or it was once I'd stopped being over-awed by the who's who of famous/medal-winning riders and lovely horses warming up around me. The arena was a bit lumpy and Jup lost balance in one medium, his walk's still lousy and he was surly about establishing both halts...I think I prefer him when he's not so well, to be honest. The judge smiled at the end but I think that was a sympathy smile, not a "gosh that was a lovely test" smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyfP9O0mnh0&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=1&feature=plcp
The showjumping warm-up went well (whew!), and Jup was entertaining each time someone going cross-country galloped past the back of the warm-up, squeaking and setting off, sideways mainly. He was a little inattentive in the ring but we somehow managed to pull a clear out of the bag, and one which I really enjoyed riding as I appeared to have my pingy pony back rather than the flat-as-a-pancake pony I had at Somerford.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHpEDhS5jg&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=2&feature=plcp
The cross country was meaty enough, although I have to say that having an Advanced track alongside makes Intermediate tracks look more palatable, as does standing behind a 4 star fence of maximum dimensions:
The flower bed to double of corners at 8 seemed to be a cause for concern, and whilst I saw someone go through on 6 and 5, 4 and 2 seemed to be the preferred option for longer-striding horses, which Jup ain't. Sooooo, I decided to try 5 and 2...more of that later.
He set off feeling fantastic, ignoring my attempts to showjump the first three.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFV5NHFXTfE&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=3&feature=plcp
Thankfully I remembered about forward riding and the triple bar over a yawning ditch didn't bother the usually-ditchy Jup, mainly because he didn't get a chance to peep thanks to the afore-mentioned forward riding. We came round to the flower bed before the corners, maybe a tad too forward, I sat up, lined up and held for 5 but obviously was a bit fluffy and wishy-washy the last stride as Jup decided to spook at the stone animal at the base of the fence and nipped out the side. Boo. Lesson learnt: if you're gonna hold, do it the stride after the previous fence, not the whole way to the base of the important fence. I don't think I'd have done it any differently ie. gone for 4 strides, but I know I was a bit slow to commit Jup to the 5 stride plan and he took his eye off the ball. Ho hum.
Do I sound pathetic if I say the rest was fab and I was really pleased with him? I had to growl at him over the coffin but he was never going to stop, just likes to ponder a while, but other than that he felt super over a fair-ish track with enough to do. I'd seen a couple stop at the water when I was walking the course, but he was ace, and the house in the water was big enough if you didn't have enough oomph.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mLyaEadKs&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=4&feature=plcp
This was a skinny, although not very, near to the end, followed by some very angled houses which he jumped beautifully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=784ecsp4R_w&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=5&feature=plcp
So, all in all this thread finds me in a shameless "I Love My Pony" mood, and with a bit more practice and the wind in the right direction I think he and I could be pretty good together.
Muesli and builders' tea if you've got this far. Ma Baydale needs to come and visit soon or I'll have no friends left - meardsall_millie, TarrSteps and SuperFran only like me for my never-ending supplies of cake.
Busy bee Baydale has been gadding about and making the most of her extended summer holiday - yep, I'm still unemployed, or should that be unemployable? - but Joooopiter hasn't been so lucky as it's been work, work, work for him. I seem to have spent the best part of a week at Lincoln hospital having a routine CT scan, bone scan and echocardiogram, also - which I found hilarious - being pregnancy tested before one of them. It's fine, no mini-Baydales will be appearing any time soon... SuperFran and I headed up to Somerford for the Intermediate, and why have I not been there before, ever?
It's fantastic, well worth sitting in traffic on the outskirts of Nottingham for... I should have been suspicious when Jup was well-behaved in his dressage: no sighing or spooking, but a tad lacklustre I'd say. Oh well, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I shall be pursuing that judge around the country as he very kindly gave me 28.6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji28HlTh63c&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=6&feature=plcp
To say it went downhill from there would be an understatement! I had the most godawful showjumping warm-up where he just didn't seem to be taking me to the fence. You can see how hard I had to work to get him round, just having the bogey fence down but being incredibly lucky at several others. Anyone thinking that I should have not jumped him has maybe not owned a Cleveland Bay cross as they're canny as hell at getting out of work by kidding you that their excessive laziness is a terminal illness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4F5jLYgpOQ&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=7&feature=plcp
He wasn't right at all as we went back to the lorry, huffing and puffing and so my gut feeling was not to run him as that was a serious enough Intermediate track and I didn't want him to have a horrid experience. So, lorry packed up we headed home, just in time to hit the Nottingham rush hour traffic again - what joy!
I consoled myself with a trip to the PC Champs at Cholmondeley: mainly to catch up (and drink gin) with TableDancer and Mini TD (who didn't drink gin, I should add), also to help a pupil of mine who got a PB dressage score but time faults for going too fast in the Open Eventing, oops. She blames me for that as she was so riled that an old 'un like me went quicker than she did at Aston Intermediate that she forgot that she didn't need to go that quickly at Cholmondeley.
Yet more road tripping ensued this week: with the sun out and the roof down it would have been rude not to visit some friends, pat some Very Important Dressage Horses and socialise some more. At home it's mainly been hunters and the taming thereof: Week 6 finds them very well, very naughty and I was recently to be seen cantering sideways through the village on Punk, leading HumungaHorse, with Punk bucking every stride as I'd told him off for spinning round - twice - at the "slow" painted on the road!
Suffice to say my core stability and lightning (not!) reflexes are back to normal levels...Wellington was next on the list of road trips as Jup had been feeling back to normal ie. irritating and as rude as hell. SuperFran and I had a sleepover, the first overnighter in the Baydale Barbie Bus (if you see it you'll know why it has that moniker), and Joooopiter fell in love with his stable companion and was distraught when he got to go out in the field the next morning and he didn't, bless him.
Dressage warm-up was ok, or it was once I'd stopped being over-awed by the who's who of famous/medal-winning riders and lovely horses warming up around me. The arena was a bit lumpy and Jup lost balance in one medium, his walk's still lousy and he was surly about establishing both halts...I think I prefer him when he's not so well, to be honest.
The judge smiled at the end but I think that was a sympathy smile, not a "gosh that was a lovely test" smile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyfP9O0mnh0&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=1&feature=plcp
The showjumping warm-up went well (whew!), and Jup was entertaining each time someone going cross-country galloped past the back of the warm-up, squeaking and setting off, sideways mainly. He was a little inattentive in the ring but we somehow managed to pull a clear out of the bag, and one which I really enjoyed riding as I appeared to have my pingy pony back rather than the flat-as-a-pancake pony I had at Somerford.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHpEDhS5jg&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=2&feature=plcp
The cross country was meaty enough, although I have to say that having an Advanced track alongside makes Intermediate tracks look more palatable, as does standing behind a 4 star fence of maximum dimensions:
The flower bed to double of corners at 8 seemed to be a cause for concern, and whilst I saw someone go through on 6 and 5, 4 and 2 seemed to be the preferred option for longer-striding horses, which Jup ain't. Sooooo, I decided to try 5 and 2...more of that later.
He set off feeling fantastic, ignoring my attempts to showjump the first three.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFV5NHFXTfE&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=3&feature=plcp
Thankfully I remembered about forward riding and the triple bar over a yawning ditch didn't bother the usually-ditchy Jup, mainly because he didn't get a chance to peep thanks to the afore-mentioned forward riding.
We came round to the flower bed before the corners, maybe a tad too forward, I sat up, lined up and held for 5 but obviously was a bit fluffy and wishy-washy the last stride as Jup decided to spook at the stone animal at the base of the fence and nipped out the side. Boo. Lesson learnt: if you're gonna hold, do it the stride after the previous fence, not the whole way to the base of the important fence. I don't think I'd have done it any differently ie. gone for 4 strides, but I know I was a bit slow to commit Jup to the 5 stride plan and he took his eye off the ball. Ho hum. Do I sound pathetic if I say the rest was fab and I was really pleased with him? I had to growl at him over the coffin but he was never going to stop, just likes to ponder a while, but other than that he felt super over a fair-ish track with enough to do. I'd seen a couple stop at the water when I was walking the course, but he was ace, and the house in the water was big enough if you didn't have enough oomph.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mLyaEadKs&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=4&feature=plcp
This was a skinny, although not very, near to the end, followed by some very angled houses which he jumped beautifully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=784ecsp4R_w&list=UUITXXFxUhnZR0e7eK5tJsmw&index=5&feature=plcp
So, all in all this thread finds me in a shameless "I Love My Pony" mood, and with a bit more practice and the wind in the right direction I think he and I could be pretty good together.
Muesli and builders' tea if you've got this far. Ma Baydale needs to come and visit soon or I'll have no friends left - meardsall_millie, TarrSteps and SuperFran only like me for my never-ending supplies of cake.
