Bit of a self-indulgence post!

[DreamerII]

Sorry if I sound a but self-indulgent today but I have a good reason to be so!

Dreamer and I jumped our record height today at 2ft10! I'm SO proud!

Asked YO this morning if she'd mind giving me a bit of a jumping lesson as I've been having problems at home (that's a whole other story) and thought it might give me a bit of a morale boost!

It certainly has! She had us sorting out our striding first, then we did a fairly wide spread (which scared me a little)....she then put a jump up that was probs only about 1ftish!

Gradually she built us up and I told her not to make it too high (I lost my nerve jumping a certain height after D refused and I landed on the jump - it hurt!)....but she promised she wouldn't and it would be ok!

And he went into it lovely....put LOADS of effort in and cleared it by about an extra foot!

I was so happy I sat there in the arena, cuddling my pony's neck and cried! I think I scared YO though as I think she thought I didn't like it....but I LOVED it!!

Needless to say he got apples and treats and loads of cuddles and kisses from mummy! Now we can just have a little 15 min plod round the small field tomorrow as a relax and do some more work at the weekend when my friend will be there to help set up jumps!

Sorry for long post....cookies for anyone that got this far and thanks for reading! No pictures as neither of us had a camera!

 

[amandathepanda]

Wow! It is so exciting when you feel like you are suddenly making progress. Congratulations!

 

[DreamerII]

Panda2007 - I've been fairly nervous since just before Xmas when I had a fall attempting a jump that YO told me he'd clear easy! I wasn't convinced and went out the side door and landed on the jump (which REALLY hurt)!

I'm never gonna compete at that height but it's nice once in a while to get some height in...and it's given me such a confidence boost!

We're just gonna try get him used to being around other horses this year and then possibly towards the end of the season I might be able to do some little SJ comps (I'd happily just take part in minimus classes for a while!)

I forgot to mention....not bad for an old boy....my ponio will be 17 in April!!

 

[StarFell]

Wow well done you! Its a fantastic feeling isn't it

I jumped a 3ft3 jump on my 13.3hh fell at the end of last summer and I was ecstatic

I think I had my eyes closed though! You might compete at that height, never say never. I cried jumping a 1ft6 jump at the beginning of last year because I was so scared (pathetic I know) and I jumped round a 2'9 course at the end of summer. If I can do it, so can you

 

[CBAnglo]

Well done! It sounds as though you had fun today and that is the most important thing, no matter how high the jumps are.

Sometimes it helps to have someone there who believe you can do it as it gives you the confidence to believe you can do it yourself. And sometimes having the confidence to do something is half the battle.

For example, my youngster hates ditches and always refuses to jump them and I usually let him off after the first refusal. On the weekend, feeling particularly brave I pushed him on instead and he cleared it. Twice. Would never have done that if my sister hadnt said to me at the time "of course he will make it - dont be silly" and of course she was right. It wasnt the biggest ditch in the world but it was a ditch all the same! I still wont do xc though!

 

[DreamerII]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow well done you! Its a fantastic feeling isn't it

I jumped a 3ft3 jump on my 13.3hh fell at the end of last summer and I was ecstatic

I think I had my eyes closed though! You might compete at that height, never say never. I cried jumping a 1ft6 jump at the beginning of last year because I was so scared (pathetic I know) and I jumped round a 2'9 course at the end of summer. If I can do it, so can you

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think I want to compete him at that height....atleast for a little while! Our nevxt majour issue is about being around other horses that we don't know as Dreamer can be a kicker and is also quite a whimp when in crowds!

We're going to do some climatisation(sp?) with him this year so that he gets used to all the other horses, the noises and so forth of a show!

At present we sho in-hand but not ridden at all because he just becomes literally unstopable and runs round and round in circles (sometimes not even wanting to enter a ring)....might be different and SJ if it's only him in the ring at that particular moment but haven't tried that yet!)

Roll on summer!

 

[DreamerII]

[ QUOTE ]
Sometimes it helps to have someone there who believe you can do it as it gives you the confidence to believe you can do it yourself. And sometimes having the confidence to do something is half the battle.

[/ QUOTE ]

The YO (and in fact my boss) is also a good friend of mine and has been for around 5 years now! She's a fantastic confidence boost to me and it's nothing like a great feeling when you do something that you have been scared to do for so long!

Not quite sure if I'll ever jump the height again (at least not until we get a bigger arena maybe).....but at least I can say I did it now!

Told one of my friends last night and she was like "ooh that's good....but it's not very high though" ....RARGGHHH it was a massive achievment for us and I'm still so proud! Can't stop thinking about how it felt as we were FLYING!!