BE100 debut at Munstead today

star

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I just wrote all this then my computer decided to randomly shut down on me - grrrrrr!

Off to Munstead today for our BE100 debut. Nice leisurely start with dr not until 2.24pm and Munstead being only 10miles down the road.

Was at RC camp earlier this week so hoping for good things SJ/XC as we did a lot of work on our jumping technique. Course walk was good - looked at the 90 and was glad we were doing the 100 which was a good start. Tried not to look too hard at the rather large and deep ditch at the trakehner at 5 but otherwise nothing to trouble us.

Got on and walked round to the dressage then promptly got off again as they opened the SJ course for walking. SJing is my least favourite phase so tried not to look too hard at the width of the fences!

Back on for a short dressage warmup whereby the heavens opened although fortunately rain stopped for the test itself. Test wasn't too bad and he did everything where it should be and obediently but it wasn't forwards and it severely lacked sparkle. Was hoping for mid 30's. Got back to trailer and the heavens opened again. Went to look at score and was tempted to go home! 39 is not quite what I'd hoped for and left us 29th out of 41 :(

Fortunately the rain stopped again so decided to go and SJ and see if he woke up a bit. Didn't really fancy going XC with a less than forwards horse over our first BE100. Jumps seemed to wake him up a bit, knocked a couple in the warmup but went in a jumped a super super round. Just got fence 6 a bit wrong and got in too close but he launched into orbit to clear a pretty wide oxer. Rest of the round was pretty smooth for us though so very pleased with that.

fence3:


fence4:


2nd part of the double:


video:
http://youtu.be/3PivJS546fo

So, onto XC. Quick warmup and off we went. Had a good look at fence1 and decided the brush might eat him so orbited over that and it seemed an awfully long way down! Eventually we landed and made it over 2 and 3, if a bit stickily - gave him a wake up smack on the shoulder and he went well over the chair at 4 then onto the dreaded trakehner. Looked up, kicked on but he clocked the ditch last minute and threw in a huge catleap over it which didn't make for a very comfy landing but we were over!



Neatly through the coffin and then another slightly awkward jump over the "hump" at fence 7.

video:
http://youtu.be/hAU32wikFMY

Then on to the skinny log at 8 before down a steep hill into the dark woods and then pop up the bounce steps and up and out over the log pile which he did very neatly. No probs through the water and then long gallop, round a corner and got a good stride to the pheasant feeder. Through the trees and out over the skinny hanging log then round to the sheep feeder where he insisted on clearing the brush again! Sharp left to the arrowhead then good gallop over the flowerbed, steadied up for the corner which he hopped over and then fab gallop over the big oxer, no probs over the sharks teeth, a little close to the 2nd last then flew the last but did have to kick him through the finish - he seemed tired for the first time ever.

Was expecting some time faults but we managed to get 9secs inside the time so finished on our dressage score of 39. Ended up 14th out of 41. Not bad for our BE100 debut considering 5mths ago I was wibbling about going round an 80cm course!

Just need to refind our forwards button for the dressage as last few tests have been a bit lacklustre. Appreciate today he might have been a bit tired after doing a lot of jumping at camp on Wed/Thur but he has been a bit reluctant to do anything resembling work recently. Still quite happy to bomb around the ranges and try and kill me on the roads by leaping into oncoming traffic because a banner on the fence looked at him wrong on Tuesday. He has had a rather busy season so not sure if he's just fed up with working but he's got a couple of important events coming up so would like to instill some forwardness again! We've got BE90 Regionals in 9days time then was aiming for the Tweseldown unaff champs mid Oct then he is going to have a nice holiday. Not sure if he is really lacking energy and needs different feed or whether that wont make any difference? He is on a calmer as it seems to reduce the spooking out hacking so I could drop that and hope I survive to tell the tale to see if that livens him up in general. Considered a short course of Propell Plus or some other similar rocket fuel (may have to employ draw reins for hacking if I do that though!). I could change his feed a bit - he is currently on Spillers slow release cubes (1 round scoop), 1.5cups of Outshine, 1/2 scoop of Alfa-A Oil and TopSpec Comp Balancer once daily. I could change to Spillers quick release or add in a small amount of Power/Performance or similar. Have got physio on thursday to make sure it's nothing physical. I could check some blds to make sure he's not got a virus or something. I might be panicing about nothing and over-analysing as usual but need to rejuvenate him somehow for our last few events. Any ideas please?

Have got twirl bites and choccie cake for anyone with any ideas?

PS - anyone know who the pro tog was there today? I saw big cameras but no photo tent?
 

LEC

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Well done! Amazing to think how far you have come.
I sometimes find at coat change time of year they can drop off slightly. I would give a boost through Propell Plus. I would probably leave the food alone but it would be easy to add more Alfa A Oil.
 

star

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yes, i think fence 3 SJ he was a little deep and he just went higher. Same with fence1 on the XC - i think we nearly went into orbit - it sure felt like a long way down!

LEC - good point about the coat change time - had forgotten that can affect them. He is moulting big time at the moment. Weight wise he is spot on so dont want to increase feed too much but a bit more alfa-a shouldn't make too much difference. It's not like he's so flat he cant do his job, but we need a bit of pizazz! I wonder if clipping him might help? He is getting kinda fluffy and was very hot after XC.
 

Leg_end

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Well done! It might be worth clipping him before your RFs... That may have been why he was a bit more tired after xc too.
 

TarrSteps

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Well done, both on the day and general progress. Glad you seem to have cracked the sj.

Definitely worth trying the clipping and perhaps a ' boost' of some sort but I'd agree, it might have a negative effect on the spooking. What about trying a different calmer?
 

lex2501

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Woohoo! Well done star! Clear SJ rounds seemed to be rare yesterday so fab result - especially for your first BE100 :)

The photographer was probably Hamish Mitchell ... He usually does it, and no trade stand which is very annoying!
 

diggerbez

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well done! a great result in your first 100! definitely echo clipping him. i've got to clip mine before kelsall at the weekend. urgh...i really object to clipping in september! :(
 

star

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i was putting off clipping for as long as poss but looks like the time is here :(

been out this morning and bought him some propell and some power+performance so am going to just add a little of each and clip him and see what happens.

if you see a report from me next about having 4 broken limbs you'll know what happened!
 

Fairy Dust

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Fab well done! :):)

I would definitely recommend Propell Plus as an energy booster, it really helped with my gelding but not so much as too make him more spooky etc, it's really cheap too! :)
 
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