Beau's bouncy BS

blood_magik

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Hello again. :D

It's been a few weeks since Beau's last competition so I was keen for him to get back out there and get some more experience.
Last time he did newcomers he had two fences down and then went down with a virus overnight so he didn't get a chance to learn from his mistakes.

He started warming up sweetly and he was flying over the fences like he was stepping over a ground pole until the second last oxer. He went up too much and scared himself, and ended up shooting off around the collecting ring in a bit of a panic.

Well, it all went to pot after that.
He went in and jumped clear but he gave one of the oxers a good rattle and was very strong. Poor Martin nearly had his arms pulled out of their sockets.

I popped him back in his stable for a bit to chill but it appears that the damage had already been done. He kept launching himself towards the fences in the warmup rather than sitting back and waiting. :mad:

He was a bit unsettled when he went into the ring but he jumped nicely until the third fence (the one he rattled previously). I'm not sure what happened - either he just locked on and Martin braced himself or Martin pushed him on too much. Either way, he had the front rail down, which was a little disappointing.

At the end of the day, it's an improvement on the last attempt but he really needs to learn to listen to his rider. Some of the fences were on the bigger side (Ingliston generally build small) and Martin really cant afford to be arguing with him when the fences get bigger and more complicated.
Beau's jumping Newcomers again tomorrow and probably on Sunday as well so here's hoping he's a bit more relaxed tomorrow.

Pictures and Videos:
picture.php


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xyhzo5QyLs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWF5eski1XQ

Thanks for reading :)
 
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thanks for the comment.
I don't think the height is an issue - it's more that he's too cocky if you get what I mean?
In the j/o video it looks like he just locks on, away he goes and he gets himself into bother and has the front rail.

We'll see how he gets on tomorrow.
If he's panicking and scaring himself then he will go back down to the 1.05m class for a bit until he gets back into the swing of things.
I don't want to damage his confidence because he's still quite young. :)
 
I am no expert but I don't suppose he has tweaked something in the collecting ring has he?
He seems to get a little disunited and looks a little tight behind.

I don't know his usual way of going though. Just a thought.

Like I say though I am no expert!!
 
he very well could have with that dodgy landing and the subsequent tanking off.
To be honest, he looks tense for almost all of that round. He doesn't normally set against you like that. As excited as he gets, there's usually some adjustment in the canter.

He does have issues with his hocks so it could be that as well.
It sounds a bit horrible but I hope it's simply that he gave himself a bit of a fright in the warm up.
 
It's so hard to tell what is going on, he seems nervous to me. This could be because he's had a scare or maybe he did tweak something but you need to be sure this way of going does not continue. I would trot up tomorrow and check for any shortness and also have a good prod and poke about to see if he has any sore spots.

If all is ok I would be inclined to do a smaller height class even as warm up and see how that goes, you don't want him to get spooked and start running out.
 
argh. I'd just typed out a long reply and I've lost it all :mad:

Obviously throwing himself at the jump isn't something we want to
encourage.
I'll be giving him a good going-over tomorrow morning before I do anything else.

He's a sensitive soul though and he gets upset easily over silly little things.
To me, he looked tense and nervous rather than sore but better safe than sorry.
 
quick update for anyone who's interested.
gave him a good prod this morning and there were no sore spots so we decided to put him in the same class.
He was a lot better - he listened and waited and ended up jumping a nice double clear so I'm going to leave him at that and give him tomorrow off instead of doing the 1.10 open
 
quick update for anyone who's interested.
gave him a good prod this morning and there were no sore spots so we decided to put him in the same class.
He was a lot better - he listened and waited and ended up jumping a nice double clear so I'm going to leave him at that and give him tomorrow off instead of doing the 1.10 open

glad to hear he settled :) but yes, probably a good decision to give him tomorrow off as he did seem quite nervous/tense in those videos - very well ridden though
 
yeah, I spoke to Martin and he said that he felt him tense the minute he stepped into the ring so I guess the whole thing just blew his mind. it's been a while since his last competition and he was out every fortnight for a few months.
He'll get back into the swing of things.

I'm very pleased with him though. :)
 
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