nikicb
Well-Known Member
I figured it gets a bit boring having weekly updates from my lot, so here’s a bumper edition catch up. 
Two weeks ago I took Raffles out for his second attempt at in hand showing. I am very proud of him, he really does seem to be enjoying this showing business. We went up to Newbury showground again for the HEROS charity show. I had to drag small jockey along as groom, as there was no one else at home, but he was in good spirits with Lego and an IPad to amuse him.
Raff had done a fair bit of work the day before at my instructor’s yard (he does a few days a week in the RS as he doesn’t get enough work at home), so I lunged him off the headcollar for a few minutes to allow him to loosen up. It wasn't needed at all though - he really does defy his age.
I took him into the in hand veteran class, he strutted his stuff and we were pulled in first! Second place went to a smart chestnut horse of the same age (21 years old). The judge said that it had been a hard decision as they both looked great, but Raff still had a twinkle in his eye. Too right he does - he is one of the whizzier ponies in lessons!
Next up was the coloured/odd coloured class. Raff is roan, so qualifies for this although I only really entered it as we were there already and the classes were consecutive. We placed a creditable fourth out of a largish class, it is lovely to see that he is still in the placings even in non-veteran classes.
We then went into the in-hand championships off the back of our veteran win. I really didn't expect anything. Champion was a lovely Fell from the M&M class. Reserve was the winner from the coloured class - a skewbald sports horse type. There were long conversations between judge and steward before the champion and reserve were pulled in. I found out why as I left. They were trying to find out if they could award a third prize as they wanted to award one to us. Sadly they couldn't, but so lovely to know that my senior boy was in the running against the young whippersnappers!
And links to a couple of pro pics:
https://www.facebook.com/MrCamHorse...0.1405288212./417291325076567/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/MrCamHorse...0.1405288212./417291278409905/?type=3&theater
Last week, small jockey did pony camp. He is part loaning a lovely little pony for the summer who he will take to PC camp later in the holidays. The last time my boys went to PC camp, my older son came off Cam and ended up in an ambulance and taken off to not one but two hospitals to have his jaw X-rayed as they thought it was broken. Luckily he only had to have the inside of his mouth/lips stitched up (I say only, it was very painful and the poor chap looked like Desperate Dan for a good week afterwards, but far preferable to a broken jaw). Small jockey could probably cope with Raff at camp, but we would need to be a little restrictive about the activities they did as he is a very forward going, but not nasty pony. So we decided that to make the experience as enjoyable as possible (and stress free for me!), he would loan Tommy for the summer. So far they seem to be having an absolute ball. He came first in a little combined training competition, and just look at how they dressed up for the drill ride!! He’s certainly game for a laugh my son.
On to Cam….. we trekked down to West Wilts BD on Thursday. It’s quite an easy journey for him as much of it is on the motorway, but it does take 1½ hours even without traffic. It was our second outing there, and for a second time we melted in the heat. Last time we went I worked out that 20 minutes was the optimum warm up time for him. I also learnt that I could not allow him to switch off between warm up and test, so jacket had to be on already, and I had to literally be ‘in the zone’ until we were called.
We went into our first test. It was the same fairly tough judge from last time, and also a test which has some tricky little bits for us. Despite being of pony appearance, Cam is nudging 16 hh and covers the ground fairly well especially in trot. So the smaller movements are harder for us. Prelim 13 has always thrown up some challenges, but we have been practising, and I’m happy to say I was actually able to ride it and everything happened where it should do. There was a funny incident before we started though. We were working outside the arena waiting for the judge to finish writing up the previous sheet. We turned a corner and came face to face with the advertising banners and at exactly the same time, the judge sounded the horn. Cam screeched to a halt, front legs splayed like a giraffe drinking. Clearly banners or horns separately are fine, but both together needs a little more consideration.
We only had 20 minutes between classes, so after a quick swig of orange squash for me (nothing stronger I promise!), we went back into the warm up focussing on keeping Cam’s attention and softness. Back into the arena for Prelim 14 this time – the judge was careful not to sound the horn just as we got to the banners this time! The test started out quite nicely and Cam was listening and working within the boards, which is an improvement from last time. We picked up right canter and it was amazing. So amazing in fact that I stopped riding it and Cam took advantage and dropped back into trot. Well, that’s rude I thought, so gave him a swish of the schooling whip. Well that’s rude he thought and bucked, and took off up the arena! I can only apologise to my fellow competitor in the adjacent ring! Anyway, we were meant to trot, then walk at the A end, then free walk across the diagonal. We screamed round the top end, I pulled him up at the place the free walk was meant to start, dropped the reins and walked across the diagonal. Judge's comment - late to walk!.
The rest of the test continued without major incident although I did comment to the judge on my way out that we thought she might be a little bored with watching the same test from everyone, so we added a little excitement for her.
Popped Cam back on the lorry and went to pick up my sheets and buy older son the much promised burger for grooming for me, still haven’t decided whether it is worth the aggro of getting him and the horse on the lorry by 7am, but there you go.
61.7% for the first test – a little disappointing not to top 62% for another area sheet, but up by more than 5% compared with the same test with the same judge a month ago, so not to be sniffed at.
57.5% for the second test, but actually we did rather well not to be eliminated given that we nearly left the arena, so no complaints there.
Lots of positives to take away from this outing:
We improved versus our previous scores with the same judge, and her comments were lovely – “super type”, “good try”.
For the first time ever in the warm up, I felt like we had a right to be there and really worked him rather than spending my time avoiding others.
The couple of spooking/disobedient incidents actually made me laugh. Considering I had to have my instructor literally walk next to me 18 months ago, that felt amazing. And there was no delayed reaction – I’ve happily schooled snce and competed today, and carried a whip without worrying about it.
I have decided though that I will be giving West Wilts a miss for at least a couple of months. It is a long way to go, and the classes seem to attract very small numbers, which means I find it quite hard to calibrate how we are doing there. It may seem weird but I would rather compete against 10-15 others than just a few. That way I can see several combinations warm up/compete and really see how we are doing.
To be continued.....
Two weeks ago I took Raffles out for his second attempt at in hand showing. I am very proud of him, he really does seem to be enjoying this showing business. We went up to Newbury showground again for the HEROS charity show. I had to drag small jockey along as groom, as there was no one else at home, but he was in good spirits with Lego and an IPad to amuse him.
Raff had done a fair bit of work the day before at my instructor’s yard (he does a few days a week in the RS as he doesn’t get enough work at home), so I lunged him off the headcollar for a few minutes to allow him to loosen up. It wasn't needed at all though - he really does defy his age.
I took him into the in hand veteran class, he strutted his stuff and we were pulled in first! Second place went to a smart chestnut horse of the same age (21 years old). The judge said that it had been a hard decision as they both looked great, but Raff still had a twinkle in his eye. Too right he does - he is one of the whizzier ponies in lessons!
Next up was the coloured/odd coloured class. Raff is roan, so qualifies for this although I only really entered it as we were there already and the classes were consecutive. We placed a creditable fourth out of a largish class, it is lovely to see that he is still in the placings even in non-veteran classes.
We then went into the in-hand championships off the back of our veteran win. I really didn't expect anything. Champion was a lovely Fell from the M&M class. Reserve was the winner from the coloured class - a skewbald sports horse type. There were long conversations between judge and steward before the champion and reserve were pulled in. I found out why as I left. They were trying to find out if they could award a third prize as they wanted to award one to us. Sadly they couldn't, but so lovely to know that my senior boy was in the running against the young whippersnappers!
And links to a couple of pro pics:
https://www.facebook.com/MrCamHorse...0.1405288212./417291325076567/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/MrCamHorse...0.1405288212./417291278409905/?type=3&theater
Last week, small jockey did pony camp. He is part loaning a lovely little pony for the summer who he will take to PC camp later in the holidays. The last time my boys went to PC camp, my older son came off Cam and ended up in an ambulance and taken off to not one but two hospitals to have his jaw X-rayed as they thought it was broken. Luckily he only had to have the inside of his mouth/lips stitched up (I say only, it was very painful and the poor chap looked like Desperate Dan for a good week afterwards, but far preferable to a broken jaw). Small jockey could probably cope with Raff at camp, but we would need to be a little restrictive about the activities they did as he is a very forward going, but not nasty pony. So we decided that to make the experience as enjoyable as possible (and stress free for me!), he would loan Tommy for the summer. So far they seem to be having an absolute ball. He came first in a little combined training competition, and just look at how they dressed up for the drill ride!! He’s certainly game for a laugh my son.
On to Cam….. we trekked down to West Wilts BD on Thursday. It’s quite an easy journey for him as much of it is on the motorway, but it does take 1½ hours even without traffic. It was our second outing there, and for a second time we melted in the heat. Last time we went I worked out that 20 minutes was the optimum warm up time for him. I also learnt that I could not allow him to switch off between warm up and test, so jacket had to be on already, and I had to literally be ‘in the zone’ until we were called.
We went into our first test. It was the same fairly tough judge from last time, and also a test which has some tricky little bits for us. Despite being of pony appearance, Cam is nudging 16 hh and covers the ground fairly well especially in trot. So the smaller movements are harder for us. Prelim 13 has always thrown up some challenges, but we have been practising, and I’m happy to say I was actually able to ride it and everything happened where it should do. There was a funny incident before we started though. We were working outside the arena waiting for the judge to finish writing up the previous sheet. We turned a corner and came face to face with the advertising banners and at exactly the same time, the judge sounded the horn. Cam screeched to a halt, front legs splayed like a giraffe drinking. Clearly banners or horns separately are fine, but both together needs a little more consideration.
We only had 20 minutes between classes, so after a quick swig of orange squash for me (nothing stronger I promise!), we went back into the warm up focussing on keeping Cam’s attention and softness. Back into the arena for Prelim 14 this time – the judge was careful not to sound the horn just as we got to the banners this time! The test started out quite nicely and Cam was listening and working within the boards, which is an improvement from last time. We picked up right canter and it was amazing. So amazing in fact that I stopped riding it and Cam took advantage and dropped back into trot. Well, that’s rude I thought, so gave him a swish of the schooling whip. Well that’s rude he thought and bucked, and took off up the arena! I can only apologise to my fellow competitor in the adjacent ring! Anyway, we were meant to trot, then walk at the A end, then free walk across the diagonal. We screamed round the top end, I pulled him up at the place the free walk was meant to start, dropped the reins and walked across the diagonal. Judge's comment - late to walk!.
The rest of the test continued without major incident although I did comment to the judge on my way out that we thought she might be a little bored with watching the same test from everyone, so we added a little excitement for her.
Popped Cam back on the lorry and went to pick up my sheets and buy older son the much promised burger for grooming for me, still haven’t decided whether it is worth the aggro of getting him and the horse on the lorry by 7am, but there you go.
61.7% for the first test – a little disappointing not to top 62% for another area sheet, but up by more than 5% compared with the same test with the same judge a month ago, so not to be sniffed at.
57.5% for the second test, but actually we did rather well not to be eliminated given that we nearly left the arena, so no complaints there.
Lots of positives to take away from this outing:
We improved versus our previous scores with the same judge, and her comments were lovely – “super type”, “good try”.
For the first time ever in the warm up, I felt like we had a right to be there and really worked him rather than spending my time avoiding others.
The couple of spooking/disobedient incidents actually made me laugh. Considering I had to have my instructor literally walk next to me 18 months ago, that felt amazing. And there was no delayed reaction – I’ve happily schooled snce and competed today, and carried a whip without worrying about it.
I have decided though that I will be giving West Wilts a miss for at least a couple of months. It is a long way to go, and the classes seem to attract very small numbers, which means I find it quite hard to calibrate how we are doing there. It may seem weird but I would rather compete against 10-15 others than just a few. That way I can see several combinations warm up/compete and really see how we are doing.
To be continued.....
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