BSJA Holmside Park

ann-jen

ann-jen

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Well I was hoping Jen would oblige me with a double clear in the British Novice for my Birthday but I managed to cock it up myself.
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We were only the 2nd ones in and she did a beautiful clear round, despite me giving her a very wobbly line through a dog leg after the first double. It was a rather spooky yellow and green viaduct style wall and we approached it on a bit of a dodgy angle so she was quite genuine to jump it from there. The rest of the course went no problem.
We had to wait for ages to go in the jump off and were drawn somewhere in the middle. She warmed up well enough. My main problem at the moment is not riding forward enough into the first fence - because Jenny is so fast normally I think I mentally worry about pushing her on at the start. Anyway I wasn't going to make that mistake today so got a good canter going before we approached the first fence. I think I was so fixated on the idea that I should be riding forward that I didn't really look for my stride properly and should probably have been holding her more this time.
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Anyway we hit it on a decidedly dodgy stride and Jenny (bless her) chipped a little extra one in and then ballooned over it and just hit the back bar with her hind legs and then jumped everything else clear. So she would have given me my double clear if I'd ridden a bit better - hohum!
Anyway it was our first BN this year and it didn't go too badly really and the JO was HUGE and we managed so it wasn't a bad start to the year really.
 
Hey, happy birthday - I did exactly the same thing in the 1.05 yesterday so I know how you feel - it'll come, give it time.
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Happy Birthday. You deserve brownie points for competing on your birthday instead of spending the day in the pub! You got into the JO which is an achievement in any SJ competition, so don't beat yourself up about having one down!
 
happy birthday
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i was at holmside today too with my mare in 105 and 110 opens.

well done for getting into the jump off its better than we managed.

for a foxhunter horse she chucked the towel in today and said no. which was quite disappointing.

the white double on a dog leg to the greeny yellowy jump you mentioned was what caught us out. trend just scared herself and talked herself out of jumping a solid white fence. it did seem as though she was genuinely scared of it instead of just taking the biscuit. shame she's jumped it many times before though.

well done =]
 
Thanks everyone.
Abi - that fence was a bit spooky wasn't it - Josie always seems to have loads of fillers and things to look at. I did like the little rustic stile jump though - looked like a little XC fence.
 
Thank you - its dressage next time out - our first affiliated effort at Union Hall. Our next BSJA will probably be Richmond on the 10th.
 
in the novice were you jumping the planks oxer towards the rustic or the other way round?

cos when it was rustic to oxer it was a bit more difficult to get a proper line into it.

when i was watching the discovery quite a few horses were spooking at the christmas penguin filler. thought that was a bit odd seen as christmas is over for another year!
 
I think they changed the course after the BN because there was a rustic with normal length poles and a little rustic filler going across the diagonal to the planks and the little rustic stile was on its own on the long side by the cafe windows. I think they changed the 2 jumps round for discovery - I thought it looked much more tricky to go from the planks on a related to the stile.
I wonder if its unlucky to still have festive fillers after the twelfth night! Did you notice the wooden ducks sitting under one of the christmas trees too? Last time I went to Holmside there were some red fillers with a white arrow on them that looked fairly harmless but loads of horses seemed to stop at them but jump the big white ones with the horses on no problem. Makes you wonder how horses see things differently to us because I'd of thought the white ones were much more spooky.
 
i thought the black and white ones with the horses on were much scarier too! but as hard as i try i will never understand my horse. and probably nobody elses either!
i noticed the ducks too! well, my horse did before me but thats nothing new.
yeh the long rustic poles was a parallel next to the cafe wall by the time i got there.
keith was obviously not in a very good mood that day. either that or he just fancied getting alot of people out!
 
I've given up trying to work Jenny out too - like one day I can get on her and she's like the riding school plod and the next day jogging on the spot, spooking and rushing into the jumps like a loon! Doesn't seem to have any connection to feeding, how much turn out she has or her seasons. She literally has a split personality and can be different one day to the next!
Yeah I thought the line from the white double to the yellow/green wall was tricky in my class but the rest was ok. It seems to be a different course builder every time I go to Holmside. It was Alan Mewse the last time I went. Is is Keith that normally builds at Richmond? I've done a couple of the intro shows there but am thinking of doing the BN there on the 10th Feb. I've heard he often overbuilds at Richmond and the BN looks more like a Discovery which has put me off but I thought the height at Holmside was fine. If anything I find Alans courses more imposing - the one I did at Northallerton was huge!
 
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