Michen
Well-Known Member
What an awesome day! My friend and I went to Calmsden for the BE90 and BE80 today. As I am an idiot who forgot to enter in time and got in off a waitlist, our times were somewhat far apart so we were in for a long day.
Dressage.... I hate dressage. I struggle to school Basil at home as our arena gets deep in the summer and he does not do well with it so any schooling is done out hacking (and I go through phases of commitment with that!). Our first event at Broadway in May we had a dressage of 39.9, improved this at Ascott a few weeks ago with a 35. Today we managed a 36.3 (I think.. Point something anyway!) which actually I was delighted with as it felt absolutely horrible. But hey ho, we were on the right leg and I didn't forget the test so that's something.
A quick warm up for SJ. He flew round... Video below for anyone interested. Pleased with this as a few weeks before at Ascott under Wychwood his excitement got the better of him and he decided he hadn't seen fillers before to have one down.
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JyZLKbhsvnE[/video]
Usage
On to the XC! B was sufficiently badly behaved to get us ticked off when we failed to activate our brakes after the practice jump, but he bounded out the start box confidently and flew over the first few. There were a few more questions in this 80 so it was perfect for him. This is his third XC now and he kept up his immaculate record (bar some time faults at Ascott) with a clear inside the time.
We also had the lovely 'be positive' come and join us which was brilliant. well and truly living up to her name with her wise words! Not to mention some rather fantastic cake which we were very grateful for on the journey home later this evening.
Pic says it all really! Our clear XC and SJ put us in 7th place which is his first eventing rosette so really delighted with him.
I entered the unaffiliated 90 at Aston a few days ago fully prepared to drop down if possible or withdraw. I'm still not sure how I feel about it or what to do. I like the fact the SJ is on a surface, and I am pretty confident that whilst it will scare me a fair bit it will be doable (I do suffer with terrible nerves but at 80 now I feel confident, the usual excitement but not nervous). The XC I am not so sure. It can be quite a struggle to get him to focus XC, on the jumps rather than everything else around him. That's fine at 80 but the height increase at 90 might be pretty scarey if he's not listening to me. I also struggle with brakes at times, he is in a snaffle as he jumps best in one and frankly he is the sort that if he wants to go he will go, whatever is in his mouth so I am trying to keep the bitting simple.
I don't know... He's flown round the three 80's he's done even if there have been a few sticky moments where he's got in deep to have a look. The only thing that really bothered me about the 90 course (walked it as well) was a corner and a few other meaty wide fences purely due to the size. Yet I did feel that I wanted more than what was in the 80 today. Dare I miss that mildly terrified feeling!? So not sure where that leaves us! Perhaps a 90 might make him concentrate a bit more, or perhaps I am expecting cruise control perfection with him when it's unrealistic.
I feel very lucky to have this horse in my stable, he makes everything so fun and I genuinely feel like he is a team mate. We may have the odd disagreement on which direction his head should be or how fast we should be going but he feels like he is "with" me every step of the way and he is still genuine enough to get me out of a sticky spot if I need him to. Much love for the super pony tonight, and every night in fact
Dressage.... I hate dressage. I struggle to school Basil at home as our arena gets deep in the summer and he does not do well with it so any schooling is done out hacking (and I go through phases of commitment with that!). Our first event at Broadway in May we had a dressage of 39.9, improved this at Ascott a few weeks ago with a 35. Today we managed a 36.3 (I think.. Point something anyway!) which actually I was delighted with as it felt absolutely horrible. But hey ho, we were on the right leg and I didn't forget the test so that's something.
A quick warm up for SJ. He flew round... Video below for anyone interested. Pleased with this as a few weeks before at Ascott under Wychwood his excitement got the better of him and he decided he hadn't seen fillers before to have one down.
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JyZLKbhsvnE[/video]
Usage
On to the XC! B was sufficiently badly behaved to get us ticked off when we failed to activate our brakes after the practice jump, but he bounded out the start box confidently and flew over the first few. There were a few more questions in this 80 so it was perfect for him. This is his third XC now and he kept up his immaculate record (bar some time faults at Ascott) with a clear inside the time.
We also had the lovely 'be positive' come and join us which was brilliant. well and truly living up to her name with her wise words! Not to mention some rather fantastic cake which we were very grateful for on the journey home later this evening.
Pic says it all really! Our clear XC and SJ put us in 7th place which is his first eventing rosette so really delighted with him.
I entered the unaffiliated 90 at Aston a few days ago fully prepared to drop down if possible or withdraw. I'm still not sure how I feel about it or what to do. I like the fact the SJ is on a surface, and I am pretty confident that whilst it will scare me a fair bit it will be doable (I do suffer with terrible nerves but at 80 now I feel confident, the usual excitement but not nervous). The XC I am not so sure. It can be quite a struggle to get him to focus XC, on the jumps rather than everything else around him. That's fine at 80 but the height increase at 90 might be pretty scarey if he's not listening to me. I also struggle with brakes at times, he is in a snaffle as he jumps best in one and frankly he is the sort that if he wants to go he will go, whatever is in his mouth so I am trying to keep the bitting simple.
I don't know... He's flown round the three 80's he's done even if there have been a few sticky moments where he's got in deep to have a look. The only thing that really bothered me about the 90 course (walked it as well) was a corner and a few other meaty wide fences purely due to the size. Yet I did feel that I wanted more than what was in the 80 today. Dare I miss that mildly terrified feeling!? So not sure where that leaves us! Perhaps a 90 might make him concentrate a bit more, or perhaps I am expecting cruise control perfection with him when it's unrealistic.
I feel very lucky to have this horse in my stable, he makes everything so fun and I genuinely feel like he is a team mate. We may have the odd disagreement on which direction his head should be or how fast we should be going but he feels like he is "with" me every step of the way and he is still genuine enough to get me out of a sticky spot if I need him to. Much love for the super pony tonight, and every night in fact
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