blood_magik
Well-Known Member
Well, a 'Mini' 6 bar challenge anyways...
It was a bit of a last minute thing but Beau's been going really well and he seems to have found his spark again. R wanted to have a go at the six bar but didn't have a horse to do it on and I figured it would do the big guy good to have a go at something a bit different.
R had a practice on Sunday and Beau jumped his socks off. It's been a while since he's jumped anything 'big' and he really had to shorten and sit back on his hocks to get the distance between the last two fences but he managed without any issues. I was a bit worried he'd be sore the next day because of his joint issues but the injections have obviously done their job because he was perfectly fine.
He jumped a double clear yesterday and then another good double clear in the 1m open today. R decided to just aim for the clear instead of kicking on as she didn't want him to get too forward incase she struggle to get him back in the six bar later on.
He was on his toes in the warm-up but he soon settled once R got on. They were drawn 6th to go so we didn't have too long to wait. I thought he looked pretty chilled when he came out for the first round and they got a nice stride into the line of fences. They were one of 13 combinations to jump clear.
The fences went up from 95cm to 1.15m for the second round but unfortunately, it didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. It was lovely until the 5th fence (4th in the line) and then it went slightly wrong. Beau couldn't make up the distance to the last fence and he stopped. Fair play to him though...
It's a bit disappointing that he only made it to round two because I know he's more than capable of going further but I'm not going to complain because this time last year he would have been pulling R's arms out of the sockets trying to get every single fence. And that was in a pelham. He was in a loose ring snaffle today and I thought he jumped really well.
Some pics:
Video:
[video=youtube;M1m07hGWJlc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1m07hGWJlc&list=UUyt5goPATJoFj9zZZ_AoxiQ[/video]
A few weeks ago my friend, her mare, Lenny and myself dressed up for the livery Christmas show. The theme was Christmas so we went as pigs in blankets, complete with Miss Piggy wigs. The horses were absolute saints to let us put tinsel, blonde curly wigs and pig snouts on them (I thought Lenny suited the blonde curls).
The day before that we did some jumping and ended up jumping this:
Lenny also went to the Hogmanay show to do the 1m open. He's been super fresh since getting clipped last week but he seemed a bit more settled today. He was really cheeky and ran straight past number 5 but other than that he jumped well.
Posing...
And finally, I had a sit on Raz now that he has a saddle that fits him. He's an absolute dream to ride on the flat - A bit spooky, but he's so easy compared to my two delinquents.
I may have told my dad that he's not getting his horse back.
So that's it for this year. It's been full of ups and downs but it's finally looking like we're back on track. Once I get my new saddle then it's all systems go. Fingers x-ed.
It was a bit of a last minute thing but Beau's been going really well and he seems to have found his spark again. R wanted to have a go at the six bar but didn't have a horse to do it on and I figured it would do the big guy good to have a go at something a bit different.
R had a practice on Sunday and Beau jumped his socks off. It's been a while since he's jumped anything 'big' and he really had to shorten and sit back on his hocks to get the distance between the last two fences but he managed without any issues. I was a bit worried he'd be sore the next day because of his joint issues but the injections have obviously done their job because he was perfectly fine.
He jumped a double clear yesterday and then another good double clear in the 1m open today. R decided to just aim for the clear instead of kicking on as she didn't want him to get too forward incase she struggle to get him back in the six bar later on.
He was on his toes in the warm-up but he soon settled once R got on. They were drawn 6th to go so we didn't have too long to wait. I thought he looked pretty chilled when he came out for the first round and they got a nice stride into the line of fences. They were one of 13 combinations to jump clear.
The fences went up from 95cm to 1.15m for the second round but unfortunately, it didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. It was lovely until the 5th fence (4th in the line) and then it went slightly wrong. Beau couldn't make up the distance to the last fence and he stopped. Fair play to him though...
It's a bit disappointing that he only made it to round two because I know he's more than capable of going further but I'm not going to complain because this time last year he would have been pulling R's arms out of the sockets trying to get every single fence. And that was in a pelham. He was in a loose ring snaffle today and I thought he jumped really well.
Some pics:
Video:
[video=youtube;M1m07hGWJlc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1m07hGWJlc&list=UUyt5goPATJoFj9zZZ_AoxiQ[/video]
A few weeks ago my friend, her mare, Lenny and myself dressed up for the livery Christmas show. The theme was Christmas so we went as pigs in blankets, complete with Miss Piggy wigs. The horses were absolute saints to let us put tinsel, blonde curly wigs and pig snouts on them (I thought Lenny suited the blonde curls).
The day before that we did some jumping and ended up jumping this:
Lenny also went to the Hogmanay show to do the 1m open. He's been super fresh since getting clipped last week but he seemed a bit more settled today. He was really cheeky and ran straight past number 5 but other than that he jumped well.
Posing...
And finally, I had a sit on Raz now that he has a saddle that fits him. He's an absolute dream to ride on the flat - A bit spooky, but he's so easy compared to my two delinquents.
I may have told my dad that he's not getting his horse back.
So that's it for this year. It's been full of ups and downs but it's finally looking like we're back on track. Once I get my new saddle then it's all systems go. Fingers x-ed.
