FigJam
Well-Known Member
A bit like buses- you wait ages for one Hopalong report then a whole load come along at once?! So following on from our Party in the Park fun last weekend and Hopalong feeling good, I thought I would take a chance on going out to a local RC's SJ show which was hosting a RC Style jumping qualifier... the final of which is held at Blair Castle International Horse Trials in August. Hopalong heard there was a good wee party/riot 
last year and figured she'd like an excuse to come along this year too! 
Up super early to get her white bits cleaned and mane/tail plaited. My yard pal kindly offered to come along as groom/cheerleader and we arrived with plenty of time to find a very quiet show ground. I had expected it to be mega busy but for some reason it wasn't?!
Entered and faffed around for a while then got tacked up. Hopalong had been pretty huffy about getting plaited as she figured it must mean stressage however cheered up when she couldn't see any white boards but could see jump wings. Mooched over to the warm up area to be stopped by a lovely lady who asked "is this Hopalong?" and when I said "yes", she said "I thought I recognised the ears"!
She confessed to being a lurker on here but has promised to sign up and join in, so I hope she does!
Before Hopalong got too big-headed about her celebrity status... we moved on to warm up! She was certainly feeling keen although I was a little concerned the "style" part may be an issue as she decided to set sail over the tiny warm up X-pole AND the take off spot on our first attempt in order to miss the muddy take off spot. 
Managed to convince her to get her princess-toes muddy next time around and had a good few warm up jumps where she was jumping more sensibly.
Decided to be brave a go in first since still no one else around! Style jumping (for anyone not familiar) involves going in, halt and salute, then canter on both reins for the judge before starting your round, then continue cantering after it until signalled to stop. They want you to be riding at 350mpm (instead of usual 325mpm) and you get marked similar to a DR test out of 10 for the bits before/after and for each fence jumped.
Didn't start very well, she was a little excited and somehow our left canter went disunited.
I should have come back and sorted it but by the time I ummed and ahhhed about it I decided just to change rein instead. Right canter was better and then whistle went and we were off.
She was so keen, really felt her power towards the first, lovely feeling. Round to number 2 then a fairly sharp dogleg to 3 which she did nicely. Tried not to waste any time heading round to no.4, we had quite a bit of pace and saw a longer stride to this spread, meaning the distance between 4 & 5 that we'd walked as 5 strides ended up being a very easy 4! She must be feeling well as she is usually a horse prone to adding strides in. 
Another dog leg from 5 to 6 then turn right to the double to finish. We just got a little close to the first part which I was annoyed about as I was maybe just letting her roll on too much but she is careful, and we got the 2 strides in and out over the 2nd part fine. We actually got our best jumping mark (8/10) for 7b!
Video evidence thanks to super-groom pal. (Mr FigJam sacked as he was off watching cars instead of coming with us for photo-taking duties, pah!)
YouTube video
Big pats and polos for Hopalong as she was just fab, then back to the trailer, untacked and she enjoyed munching the grass in the sunshine while super-groom kept an eye on the competition (all 3 others of them!). With top 3 to qualify I was very worried about coming 4th!!
However, a very pleasant surprise when we went to the score table after the class closed to find our sheet with a RED frilly attached to it! Hopalong was far more interested in the bag of treats that were also handed over.
We ended up with 99/140 marks, pretty much straight 7s for the jumps (a 6 for fence 4 where my lower leg went back slightly due to the over-jump and the 8 for the last fence at 7b), 5 for the canter at start (should have corrected that left canter!) and then 7,8,8,8,7 for the rider marks at the end. Comments were "Very good route and prep for turns, 1st canter very bad and overall a little fast. Lower leg excellent, couple of fences slipped back. Sometimes hand could go forward a little more." So plenty room for improvement before Aug but nice feedback all the same and I agree with it all.
I'd been told by everyone "you have to go much faster than you think", hence maybe appearing to be too fast!
So for next time I can maybe afford to not be so fast and aim for a punchier, more powerful forward canter instead. We shall practice between now and Blair!
So now I need to wrap her in cotton wool until the end of Aug?!? I am so excited at the thought of taking her to Blair (albeit I think she'd rather it was for the CCI*?!) and hope we get there with no further injury woes this summer... She is such a superstar, I'm so proud of her.
last year and figured she'd like an excuse to come along this year too! Up super early to get her white bits cleaned and mane/tail plaited. My yard pal kindly offered to come along as groom/cheerleader and we arrived with plenty of time to find a very quiet show ground. I had expected it to be mega busy but for some reason it wasn't?!
Entered and faffed around for a while then got tacked up. Hopalong had been pretty huffy about getting plaited as she figured it must mean stressage however cheered up when she couldn't see any white boards but could see jump wings.
Mooched over to the warm up area to be stopped by a lovely lady who asked "is this Hopalong?" and when I said "yes", she said "I thought I recognised the ears"!
Before Hopalong got too big-headed about her celebrity status... we moved on to warm up!
She was certainly feeling keen although I was a little concerned the "style" part may be an issue as she decided to set sail over the tiny warm up X-pole AND the take off spot on our first attempt in order to miss the muddy take off spot. Managed to convince her to get her princess-toes muddy next time around and had a good few warm up jumps where she was jumping more sensibly.Decided to be brave a go in first since still no one else around! Style jumping (for anyone not familiar) involves going in, halt and salute, then canter on both reins for the judge before starting your round, then continue cantering after it until signalled to stop. They want you to be riding at 350mpm (instead of usual 325mpm) and you get marked similar to a DR test out of 10 for the bits before/after and for each fence jumped.
Didn't start very well, she was a little excited and somehow our left canter went disunited.
I should have come back and sorted it but by the time I ummed and ahhhed about it I decided just to change rein instead. Right canter was better and then whistle went and we were off.She was so keen, really felt her power towards the first, lovely feeling.
Round to number 2 then a fairly sharp dogleg to 3 which she did nicely. Tried not to waste any time heading round to no.4, we had quite a bit of pace and saw a longer stride to this spread, meaning the distance between 4 & 5 that we'd walked as 5 strides ended up being a very easy 4! She must be feeling well as she is usually a horse prone to adding strides in. Another dog leg from 5 to 6 then turn right to the double to finish. We just got a little close to the first part which I was annoyed about as I was maybe just letting her roll on too much but she is careful, and we got the 2 strides in and out over the 2nd part fine. We actually got our best jumping mark (8/10) for 7b!Video evidence thanks to super-groom pal.
(Mr FigJam sacked as he was off watching cars instead of coming with us for photo-taking duties, pah!)YouTube video
Big pats and polos for Hopalong as she was just fab, then back to the trailer, untacked and she enjoyed munching the grass in the sunshine while super-groom kept an eye on the competition (all 3 others of them!). With top 3 to qualify I was very worried about coming 4th!!
However, a very pleasant surprise when we went to the score table after the class closed to find our sheet with a RED frilly attached to it!
Hopalong was far more interested in the bag of treats that were also handed over. We ended up with 99/140 marks, pretty much straight 7s for the jumps (a 6 for fence 4 where my lower leg went back slightly due to the over-jump and the 8 for the last fence at 7b), 5 for the canter at start
(should have corrected that left canter!) and then 7,8,8,8,7 for the rider marks at the end. Comments were "Very good route and prep for turns, 1st canter very bad and overall a little fast. Lower leg excellent, couple of fences slipped back. Sometimes hand could go forward a little more." So plenty room for improvement before Aug but nice feedback all the same and I agree with it all. I'd been told by everyone "you have to go much faster than you think", hence maybe appearing to be too fast!
So for next time I can maybe afford to not be so fast and aim for a punchier, more powerful forward canter instead. We shall practice between now and Blair!So now I need to wrap her in cotton wool until the end of Aug?!? I am so excited at the thought of taking her to Blair (albeit I think she'd rather it was for the CCI*?!) and hope we get there with no further injury woes this summer... She is such a superstar, I'm so proud of her.
