Arniebear
Well-Known Member
Thought i'd entertain you all with some more of our antics! Last update saw us come home with a frilly in the 80cm ODE at Keysoe!!! 
Well i can safely say we have stepped it up a gear since then and bear has been fricking AWESOME!!!
Due to his awesomeness i may have spoilt him just a little!
After keysoe i had a few issues with my lorry which was on and off the road but eventually it was back and semi working so i headed off to our local BE course Little Downham to have a play over their recent 90 BE course that was still up! This was the first time i have schooled bear over a complete 90 course and well he was a dude! Flew absolutely everything like a pro! Every combination on course and he took me into everything, clocked a few of the bigger ones too!! Cheeky!
We threw in another schooling session with some friends at Carlton again he was flying over some of the 90s there! So all was beginning to look good for our first UA90 run at Aston!
Ive kept up with my sj lessons as its my worst phase! My instructor was a little mean in my last lesson and set up a grid at what i thought was 90! It did look quite large for a 90 but i went with it and we jumped down it fine, he then made the fatal mistake of telling me it was actually 1m05!!!!! so when i came to it once more i rode like a pleb and we crashed and burned! Lesson learnt - RIDE MY HORSE! End of the lesson saw us playing over a course of 1m biggest course ive ever jumped and bear most probably as i got him as a 4yr old! HE WAS AWESOME!!
Aston was looming ever closer! I had managed to secure a place on a free BE training clinic 2 days before aston for a bit of a tune up, the clinic went fine until i went to leave and find out my hydraulics on my ramp had died! Que massive panic of can i find somewhere to repair it in a day as i was due to leave at 5:30AM sat morning for Aston! Ended up with friday off work, me driving from one mechanic to retreive said broken lorry and take it to another mechanic then driving to yet another mechanic to retrieve the part they needed, finally the lorry was home at 6pm friday night... nothing quite like a good panic before a big (big for us - we had never jumped a 90 ode!!!) event!
Finally got en route to Aston, the day went well!! 37 dressage i did think this was harsh as he deserved so much better but heyho perhaps the judge thought differently the test actually rode very nicely! Onto the sj, warmed up really nicley in the heat popped everything on good strides, entered the arena and yeah well it went a tad wrong! Totally missed my stride to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd! The less said about the rest the better, all i will say is my horse is ledgend because even with all my ******* ups we only had 1 down!
The XC looked huge on walking it! I wasnt sure if the napping behaviour would return and fences 1-3 were big and wide and scary! Why was i doing this again?? Lovely little pep talk from the starters i was basically told to shut up and enjoy it, which was exactly what i needed! Flew out the start, over 1, 2, 3 and 4 with absolutely NO NAPPING!!! Didnt even try it just dragged me into the fences! Perhaps i got a little complacent or maybe the question a was little too much but we ground to a halt in front of 5a, a log before the water, the water couldnt be seen until take off point. Represented and he popped the jump and into the water. I kicked myself a little for it maybe i should have pulled him back to a trot so he could see the qu properly? Anywho it was done time to carry on! Over 6 a wide table, 7 was the bank we came a little unstuck here too, he flew up it and then dithered for what felt like ages trying to figure out how to get down, bless him once he got it he was off and over 8, 9, 10 and all the way home I was very proud of him first ever 90 and ok we werent clear but we had no napping and we learnt ALOT!
a few pics! (Full permission to post these!)
Chilling out afterwards!
The SJ
Fence 10
Just beacuse he looks AWESOME!
We headed to houghton hall for a spot of clear round the other night, jumped 90 and 1m got better by the end so lots more course practise to be done!
Next up was this weekend just gone we headed off to stratford hill for another bash at a 90! 30 dressage in the pouring rain! I was over the moon with this! 1 down sj again, he saved my bacon i really need to get more course practise in i just seem to forget to ride him! Onto the xc for me it was a tough 90, tougher than aston, they had used the undulating ground well, there was a fence before the water again, a trakenher, a ditch combo and a double of steps down to a skinny so plenty of qus! I was sick with nerves warming up really thought i was being stupid doing it but stupid as i am we flew out the start box, over 1,2, 3, 4 and sadly ground to halt at 5a the fence before the water again, i trotted him into this time but it just felt like he didnt see it at all (lots of practise with this kinda of thing will be done!!) popped it the 2nd time and off we went over, 6, 7 and then the trakenher was looming... I blimming hate these fences with a passion so i stared at the top of the tree line and kicked... he flew it didnt even look at it.... LEDGEND! Flew the ditch combo and the double of steps down to the skinny too!! (have video of this - its very funny lots of vocal encouragement was used!!!! I think most of essex could hear my 'GOOD BOY') So we were home again safe and sound with only 1 stop xc, annoyingly we were sat in 3rd after dressage and sj so the stop dropped us to 15th but i dont care we learnt lots again and with every outing his confidence is growing!
Sadly there isnt much on UA around here so in 2 weeks time we are heading off to Gt Witchingham for our first ever BE!!! I had entered the 80 but sadly they have cancelled it so i have swapped us to the 90, he's been round most of their 90 course in UAs anyway so im 98% sure we will be fine, either way im sure we will learn lots and have fun! He is entered for Little downhams BE90 beginning of Aug too, thats home turf thou so should be great fun!! Very much looking forward to the rest of the season!
Over and out! Thanks for reading my ramblings!
Well i can safely say we have stepped it up a gear since then and bear has been fricking AWESOME!!! Due to his awesomeness i may have spoilt him just a little!
After keysoe i had a few issues with my lorry which was on and off the road but eventually it was back and semi working so i headed off to our local BE course Little Downham to have a play over their recent 90 BE course that was still up! This was the first time i have schooled bear over a complete 90 course and well he was a dude! Flew absolutely everything like a pro! Every combination on course and he took me into everything, clocked a few of the bigger ones too!! Cheeky!
We threw in another schooling session with some friends at Carlton again he was flying over some of the 90s there! So all was beginning to look good for our first UA90 run at Aston!
Ive kept up with my sj lessons as its my worst phase! My instructor was a little mean in my last lesson and set up a grid at what i thought was 90! It did look quite large for a 90 but i went with it and we jumped down it fine, he then made the fatal mistake of telling me it was actually 1m05!!!!! so when i came to it once more i rode like a pleb and we crashed and burned! Lesson learnt - RIDE MY HORSE! End of the lesson saw us playing over a course of 1m biggest course ive ever jumped and bear most probably as i got him as a 4yr old! HE WAS AWESOME!!
Aston was looming ever closer! I had managed to secure a place on a free BE training clinic 2 days before aston for a bit of a tune up, the clinic went fine until i went to leave and find out my hydraulics on my ramp had died! Que massive panic of can i find somewhere to repair it in a day as i was due to leave at 5:30AM sat morning for Aston! Ended up with friday off work, me driving from one mechanic to retreive said broken lorry and take it to another mechanic then driving to yet another mechanic to retrieve the part they needed, finally the lorry was home at 6pm friday night... nothing quite like a good panic before a big (big for us - we had never jumped a 90 ode!!!) event!
Finally got en route to Aston, the day went well!! 37 dressage i did think this was harsh as he deserved so much better but heyho perhaps the judge thought differently the test actually rode very nicely! Onto the sj, warmed up really nicley in the heat popped everything on good strides, entered the arena and yeah well it went a tad wrong! Totally missed my stride to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd! The less said about the rest the better, all i will say is my horse is ledgend because even with all my ******* ups we only had 1 down!
The XC looked huge on walking it! I wasnt sure if the napping behaviour would return and fences 1-3 were big and wide and scary! Why was i doing this again?? Lovely little pep talk from the starters i was basically told to shut up and enjoy it, which was exactly what i needed! Flew out the start, over 1, 2, 3 and 4 with absolutely NO NAPPING!!! Didnt even try it just dragged me into the fences!
Perhaps i got a little complacent or maybe the question a was little too much but we ground to a halt in front of 5a, a log before the water, the water couldnt be seen until take off point. Represented and he popped the jump and into the water. I kicked myself a little for it maybe i should have pulled him back to a trot so he could see the qu properly? Anywho it was done time to carry on! Over 6 a wide table, 7 was the bank we came a little unstuck here too, he flew up it and then dithered for what felt like ages trying to figure out how to get down, bless him once he got it he was off and over 8, 9, 10 and all the way home I was very proud of him first ever 90 and ok we werent clear but we had no napping and we learnt ALOT!a few pics! (Full permission to post these!)
Chilling out afterwards!
The SJ
Fence 10
Just beacuse he looks AWESOME!
We headed to houghton hall for a spot of clear round the other night, jumped 90 and 1m got better by the end so lots more course practise to be done!
Next up was this weekend just gone we headed off to stratford hill for another bash at a 90! 30 dressage in the pouring rain! I was over the moon with this!
1 down sj again, he saved my bacon i really need to get more course practise in i just seem to forget to ride him! Onto the xc for me it was a tough 90, tougher than aston, they had used the undulating ground well, there was a fence before the water again, a trakenher, a ditch combo and a double of steps down to a skinny so plenty of qus! I was sick with nerves warming up really thought i was being stupid doing it but stupid as i am we flew out the start box, over 1,2, 3, 4 and sadly ground to halt at 5a the fence before the water again, i trotted him into this time but it just felt like he didnt see it at all (lots of practise with this kinda of thing will be done!!) popped it the 2nd time and off we went over, 6, 7 and then the trakenher was looming... I blimming hate these fences with a passion so i stared at the top of the tree line and kicked... he flew it didnt even look at it.... LEDGEND! Flew the ditch combo and the double of steps down to the skinny too!! (have video of this - its very funny lots of vocal encouragement was used!!!! I think most of essex could hear my 'GOOD BOY') So we were home again safe and sound with only 1 stop xc, annoyingly we were sat in 3rd after dressage and sj so the stop dropped us to 15th but i dont care we learnt lots again and with every outing his confidence is growing!Sadly there isnt much on UA around here so in 2 weeks time we are heading off to Gt Witchingham for our first ever BE!!!
I had entered the 80 but sadly they have cancelled it so i have swapped us to the 90, he's been round most of their 90 course in UAs anyway so im 98% sure we will be fine, either way im sure we will learn lots and have fun! He is entered for Little downhams BE90 beginning of Aug too, thats home turf thou so should be great fun!! Very much looking forward to the rest of the season!Over and out! Thanks for reading my ramblings!
