Dressage report...

H

H-J

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Took Spider and new horse Cruz to do some unaff dressage yesterday as Cruz has never seen white boards! It was only her second competition.....just entered Prelim 10 as the other tests were on the surface and it is VERY deep going.

Cruz's test first and she was super didnt look at flowers or boards and did a lovely test but very wobbly!! But was very obedient and tried.

Spider was a bit lively as I had left her in 24hrs b4 so she wasnt fat/tired (even though everyone else thinks she is nice and slim I worry!!) she did a good test but has done better.

Went to check results and Cruz had come 6th with 62% and Spider was 2nd with 69% so was very pleased!
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Was great that Spidey got that result as she is now for sale
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she is just far to careful for the XC and is not going to do what I want her too, but she is so good at the dressage and SJing although very sad for me she will make someone a cracking dressage/SJ horse.

Off XC schooling again Sunday on Cruz before Little Mattingley 4yr old class - cant wait!!!
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She has been so well behaved and acts so grown up! She really loves to jump and loves going to parties!!
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Bought some lovely lovely pics of them that will arrive weds, so will pop them up in PG
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Ahhh well done!!!
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Thats brilliant
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shame about Spider being up for sale - hope you find her a lovely home
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Really good luck with Cruz at Little Mattingley - im sure you'll have a fab time
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Where did u go?

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It was a riding club show - 3mins from my yard - think its call oak farm in Hockley something like that!
 
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Well done, and what a shame spider will be sold, I thought she was a keeper!

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Me too - and will be really sad to see her go as I have produced her from nothing much really! She couldnt even canter on teh right leg when I bought her! But it isnt fair on her too puch her to do something she doesnt want to
 
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Ahhh well done!!!
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Thats brilliant
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shame about Spider being up for sale - hope you find her a lovely home
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Really good luck with Cruz at Little Mattingley - im sure you'll have a fab time
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Thank you
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Spider will only go to a fab home as she is such a super horse.
 
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aw, i didnt realise you were selling Spider
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Cruz sounds fab tho, im sure you will do really well with her. Good luck with the 4yo class.

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She is fab a real out an out jumper! but then she is Irish!

Will post pics of her when I get them she looks amazing! If I might say so myself!
 
She had yes but got a bad dressage mark stops and poles SJ and clear XC but they said she trotted most of it!

Her flatwork was appauling when I bought her really it was! And I think with the XC she started the year great just a bit shocked and went I think but now she knows what its all about and has got worse bless her, but still loves the dressage and SJing
 
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Bless her, sure she will make someone a lovely dressage/sjer
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She definitely will
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She always scores almost 70% or over every time out! And very raely has a pole
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Blimey, you are getting through them like salts this year: Mac, Connor, now Spider... I can appreciate you not wanting to invest too much time and money in the first two as they weren't yours, but surely you could have given Spider a chance to learn? Very few 5 yo's are perfect, the ones that are have usually had arguably too much work, or they go off the job later in life. She's a lovely type, and you could be looking for a long time for something as nice as her. Congrats on the dressage though, very good results!
 
Sorry to hear Spider is going - I've enjoyed reading about her ups and downs. Well done for the dressage results - excellent.
 
Mac and Connor werent mine I only ever had them to bring on anyway. Then decided I didnt want to do that anymore so bought my own which is where Cruz came in.

Have a look at Spiders record and see what you think I havent made this decision lightly I have studied MANY 5yr olds records only to see not one has even half as a bad a record XC. Her dressage and SJing is always good but she never enjoys her XC and I have done numerous schooling and competitions she is full warmblood and I think just does not want to XC
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Also am really not asking for he rto be perfect at all, just to complete XC would be nice a few stops is fine. I was actually eliminiates at no 1 XC at Tweseldown, which was extremely upsetting. She just didnt want to do so how many times do I waste time effort and money and keep knocking her confidence in riders by keep asking her to do it? I respect her too much to do that
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I totally understand how you feel Holly Jane, its not nice when they don't want to do the job and heart breaking when it keeps going wrong!
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Good Luck I'm sure you will find her a lovely home
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Super dressage marks well done!!

Why not get a pro rider to have Spider for a few months to do some events on to see how she goes it would also give you a second opinion on her? Then at least if she goes well then you'll be selling her for good money. Tigers_Eye is brilliant at getting horses jumping well am sure that she would be able to give you a v.honest opinion on her.

Honestly there are many good horses that just take time. Lucinda Green's Regal Realm took years to get going on XC and he won Badders.
 
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Super dressage marks well done!!

Why not get a pro rider to have Spider for a few months to do some events on to see how she goes it would also give you a second opinion on her? Then at least if she goes well then you'll be selling her for good money. Tigers_Eye is brilliant at getting horses jumping well am sure that she would be able to give you a v.honest opinion on her.

Honestly there are many good horses that just take time. Lucinda Green's Regal Realm took years to get going on XC and he won Badders.

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I agree- 5 is so young and if you know she's got scope and ability, it may be worth giving her more time. This time last year Moon was Spider's age and had only just started to learn how to jump. She has now caught up with the other 6 year olds but she was not a natural xc horse at all until this year after a bit of hunting focused her brain.
Why dont you keep her, work on getting her flatwork and sj really good, back off with the xc and hunt her this autumn then re-assess? Hunting has been the making of lots of very good horses!!
 
I totally understand how you feel. I have a horse who is Novice level at the minute but can sometimes take a disliking to water or coffins, fantastic at the accuracy but just not really brave enough so i have decided to focus abit on what he really enjoys, the showjumping, and then sell him. He is a good PN horse will take anyone round but novice he just isn't so keen and i wont him to be happy and comfortable at the level he is at.

Actually having second thoughts though becuase i love this horse to bits and reading what everyone else has said is making me think i should give him another chance. he is 7 but only really started work last year, first time he saw his first XC jump, but i know deep down that he is happier sj and would probly do that to a reasonable level ie 1.30, maybe even 1.40 with a showjumper.

I really dont know anymore.
 
I think at the end of the day it comes down to what you want to do as a rider. With William, who has a lot of emotional attachment for me, if he decides he would rather sj I would probably learn how to do it properly and keep him for that rather than sell him, whereas if Liberty went that way I would probably sell him...

All horses are so different, given a smidge of a chance Liberty would pull himself up whilst going xc and put his head down and eat the grass! Without hunting I firmly believe I never would have convinced this horse to leave a start box. William is relatively keen, but not nearly as much as others I've ridden, however I believe both do enjoy the job and will learn to do so more as they get older.

Best of luck with what you decide to do HJ, I just hope you're not letting a really good horse go - she looked very good at Mattingley.

And Forrest/DofftheDerby/whatever you're called atm! Blushes and thank you's from me for that comment
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Just to stick my unwanted oar in - I also have a very careful mare (I mean seriously careful as Ben&Jerry will testify). She's never had a pole BE or BSJA and if she ever has a pole anywhere it is an extremely rare occurence.

I have also struggled a bit with her xc as she backs off to look and then heaves herself over (thank god she's scopey) giving us both an uncomfortable ride. She is pretty genuine so at intro she's generally clear but at PN we had the odd stop (because I gave up a bit if I was scared too!!).

However, lots and lots of people told me that careful mares often start like that (as lots of people here are saying about Spider) so I have got a pro to ride her round a few PN to ride her more strongly than I do (not to beat her round, but just to stay very upright on her with a light seat but strong legs). She took her to Tweseldown and was second but didnt' have an easy ride xc. She then confirmed to me that she thinks the backing off stems from cautiousness and she needs to gain confidence.

I then did the IRF at Ascott and she went well for me [apart from falling on the flat :-( ]. The pro is entered for a couple more PN and I hope this will further build her confidence.

Sorry for the essay, but the point I'm badly making, is that there is no shame in needing a bit of help (no offence as I'm sure you ride very nicely - in fact I don't ride terribly I hope - but the girl riding my girl rides at advanced and did Jnr teams and rides professionally so is inevitably far better and more experienced than me) and like my girl, it sounds like if it all comes together on spider she'll be a cracker so perhaps worth perservering with a bit - better the devil you know.

Anyway, do what you think best, but as Tigers Eye says, she's a brilliant horse. Yes, she's lost her confidence a bit, but perhaps worth seeing if it can be restored before you move her on?
 
HJ if you want to sell her sell her, I don't blame you for wanting to, it's not nice sitting on a horse that isn't interested in the job. Spiders already spent time at a pros and they sold her on so don't feel bad about making the same decision.

At least she is sound and is very good at both dresasge and show jumping. Congrats on the fab result BTW
 
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HJ if you want to sell her sell her, I don't blame you for wanting to, it's not nice sitting on a horse that isn't interested in the job. Spiders already spent time at a pros and they sold her on so don't feel bad about making the same decision.

At least she is sound and is very good at both dresasge and show jumping. Congrats on the fab result BTW

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Thank you DD.

Your right she was sold on as she wasnt going to make an eventer/top eventer. She was actually selling her as a dressage horse at 1st but I swapped her for Fitz as he was unsellable!! And she wasnt so I didnt actually ever intend to keep her but she did well at Intro so thought I would try but she seems to have got worse and worse even stopping Intro. And to the lady who posted above it isnt the odd stop she was eliminated at no 1 at Tweseldown and I can ride very strongly abd I do ride her very strongly ive had to or I wouldnt have got round and I mean slaping her in to a good few fences which she surely cant enjoy.
 
took me and my horsey three years to go clear xc - although think that was largely down to the poor riding of the rider!!- now we have finished 1st and 2nd at pn level -
 
I have been placed PN many times with other horses and competed almost 3 seasons Novice so although I wouldnt say an amazing rider!! I can ride a horse well enough to get placed PN/Novice if it actually wants to event!! Which she doesnt! She has many eliminations XC her record XC is appauling yet dressage and SJing good so that is what she is being sold to do, hopefully then she will be happy rather then being pushed to XC - it has been a very hard decision though
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