early August Weekend Plans!

[nikkimariet]

Busiest month ever for me and Rooni Tunes!!!

Weds we did Ele Silver at Keysoe summer regionals. Hilariously my boots broke just as I was getting on so I was quite literally holding it all together for my test lol. He was a good egg just a few moments of baby tension and greeness for 66.51% and 11/30. He didn’t look at a single thing and was so well behaved.



No rest for the wicked, we’ve just got back from Onley summer AF and I’m soooo over the moon to have won the medium silver with 68.08% out of 15! A couple of areas that had a touch of tension but he tried mega hard. He waited until the prize giving to nearly car park me as he exploded into canter because everyone was leaving him! Can’t blame him he just got a bit worried!



Tomorrow we are all having a lazy day and I’m lunching. Can’t wait for a quiet one!

 

[southerncomfort]

Sitting chewing my nails waiting for a week to see if Deza passes the vet...... Don't want to jinx it by giving any more detail but this is going to be a very special partnership if everything goes through.
.

Intriguing!

Keeping everything crossed. ?

 

[scats]

So relieved that our farm ride was rained off. Weather is awful but my back isn’t in great shape either.

 

[Accidental Eventer]

I lunged a horse! First time in weeks, it’s been too wet then I was too pregnant and it was still too wet, then I had a new born and it was too wet, but this weekend it was drier and the newborn got one on one daddy time so the stars aligned!

He was an absolute feral, but I’m glad he’s feeling well. He now has a vet leg from his antics but I don’t think it’s anything serious. Ridiculous creature.

Herny just got brushed and fed. He’s being treated for ulcers because of course the relaxed pony life = ulcers. He will wait until his treatment is finished before I try and start building his muscle before I get back on.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

After yesterday had a little problem solving session in one of the stubble fields opposite the yard. Not quite the same as an XC field with another horse, and obviously no jumps to test with, but still an open space with many opportunities for sideways-ness (which he did attempt but did kpt.

Tweaked a few things: changed to a Waterford universal so he can’t grab the bit and run when I put my leg on, be VERY strict with myself that when he starts falling out I cannot use my inside rein (he needs outside leg and outside rein), if he starts pulling me to one side too much he swiftly has to do a small circle in that direction before going back to the way we are meant to be going. Hopefully the stronger bit is temporary, but he actually seemed to quite like it and meant I could be very light with my hand rather than pulling his mouth (which he hates)… We’ll see how it goes, planning to go back in 2 weeks with said tweaks in mind and see how it goes.

I think it was just a lot for him, him getting very green on me, but also him testing boundaries of what he can get away with. He needs to gain confidence, and I need to work out the best way to ride him to give it to him without upsetting him.

But super pleased with both boys today, both impeccably behaved to hack out despite the wind ?

 

[TheMule]

Super weekend enjoying perfect ground on the stubble fields, jumped the dramatic ginger yesterday and she was good and then had a great lesson on baby Nova today who was a total ️ popping all the skinnies/ corner with no fuss

 

[Xmasha]

Glad to hear Rose is on the mend oldie .
Those rosettes / sash look fabulous Nikkim . Well done ?
TM : your youngster is just fabulous, love your updates

We’ve had a fab weekend , my daughter had a great run at the arena eventing , just had a refusal at the same fence as last time . So some practice over that type of fence is clearly needed . Other than that they where both fab , with a much improved round .
Then I did my first dressage test since last year . I hadn’t even been in the arena to practice, and have basically hacked / farm rides etc for months . We didn’t get placed but we did get our best score to date 68.86% . Which considering our canter transitions in the warm up where horrendous and Pip clearly thought we where on the farm ride as I had no brakes for the downward transitions, I’m pretty chuffed ( also surprised at the score ). It’s given us a kick up the backside now . We really need some lessons before we go to the breed show in a couple of weeks .

 

[Michen]

Very fun weekend at camp. Putting a tent up in the pouring rain at 1am was a character building experience ? Bog was great, jumped really well and very good flatwork too!

I have just had two seperate autumn hunting meet cards through so now have the battle of do I do some light autumn hunting with him or not…. It’s a crime to keep him off the hunting field and he’s 1.5 years post injury BUT, argh!

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Very fun weekend at camp. Putting a tent up in the pouring rain at 1am was a character building experience ? Bog was great, jumped really well and very good flatwork too!

I have just had two seperate autumn hunting meet cards through so now have the battle of do I do some light autumn hunting with him or not…. It’s a crime to keep him off the hunting field and he’s 1.5 years post injury BUT, argh!
View attachment 77351

Glad you had a good weekend! If he’s holding up to eventing, don’t see any reason not to do the odd meet with him! It’s not like you’ll be hammering him. I’m sure you’d both have a blast ?

 

[Michen]

Glad you had a good weekend! If he’s holding up to eventing, don’t see any reason not to do the odd meet with him! It’s not like you’ll be hammering him. I’m sure you’d both have a blast ?

He would be sooooooo happy! He’s the best hunter on earth. Not that I’m biased ?

 

[GinaGeo]

We went to camp. Pod was brilliant ?

I’ll do a proper report in the five year olds thread when I get chance. But here’s the happy little camper ?

 

[racebuddy]

Early am hacking in the torrential rain and bought another horse ? so excited Team greys to event Top one my
Main man x second one new one Xx

 

[J_sarahd]

Our weekend was actually quite good. The hack on Saturday was great and just what we needed to blow away the cobwebs. The ponies we went with are very chilled out compared to my boy so even when things were scary for him - like walking through a farmer’s field with a barn full of cows - he behaved very well.

However, we did have a bit of a situation. We were just plodding along the road, all 3 boys behaving impeccably, when we heard a very noisy car coming along. All of us riders were preparing for it to come speeding round the corner and not slow down. But it did slow down, just behind my boy who was at the back. I think I said something like “oh he’s being nice” about the driver but literally once we was almost in line with my boy’s tail (he didn’t give us a very wise berth tbf), he revved about 5 times and raced off laughing to himself and the girl in the car. Thankfully, the ponies only scooted forward a stride or two and then settled whilst us riders shouted absolute profanities at the driver.

It just really angered me because it could’ve ended very badly and it’s one thing to not slow down, but to purposely rev and speed past horses is another. Just very, very grateful that the ponies were incredible.

 

[j1ffy]

J_sarahd - that's awful. There's just no need for someone to behave like that!

We had a good hack too. Chilli was hoof-perfect on his first trip off the yard and it was lovely to have my three Spanish boys together!



We even did a water feature - he had a moment of hesitation then confidently strode through. Pocholo looks a bit fed up at having to be nanny again ?

 

[Alibear]

What awesome weekends most people have had, really well-done everyone. Commiserations for those who have more challenging weekends.

Unfortunately, the surface in the new indoor hasn't quite settled as they wanted, so some more work is required before it opens. I was a bit slow off the mark on Saturday morning so didn't ride as it was Mum 70th birthday, it was nice to catch up with family and we dodged the showers for a BBQ. Sunday we managed to avoid the showers but braved strong winds for a hack out in company. It was a new route and one section of the road appeared to have a cycle sportive on it but everyone was very nice and we can now tick bikes off the training list I'm hoping the rain stays away for this evenings lesson but the forecast isn't looking great.

 

[Roxylola]

I believe there was a request for more photos...
I'm laughing at him in the last one because he's spooking at something- silly horse ?

 

[TheMule]

I believe there was a request for more photos...
I'm laughing at him in the last one because he's spooking at something- silly horse ?View attachment 77424View attachment 77425View attachment 77426

Smart boy!

 

[nikicb]

Lovely photos- well done!

Looks fantastic nikicb - well done!

Thank you both!! Still very happy with our achievement. Also pleased that she is now beginning to 'sit' a bit more in the trot, as evidenced by the second picture. She's had the weekend off, and today we went to the water treadmill. Lesson tomorrow with our regular trainer and starting to think about getting out at Novice at some point.

 

[nikicb]

No time for resting on our laurels!! Back to work with a lesson with our regular trainer. Much of our focus today was riding different exercises within a 15m square marked out by cones. First we trotted a circle within the cones - a couple of circles straight, then a couple a little shoulder fore, then straight again, then a little travers, then straight again. All the time we were doing this I needed to focus on keeping her upright, with consistent bend and thinking about where her hind footfalls were in relation to her front ones. We then tried the circle in canter, without the shoulder fore/travers, but continuing to keep her upright, but moving forwards. This was harder on the right but definitely an exercise that will help us improve the canter without it getting too flat and onward bound.

 

[milliepops]

Skidding in to the back end of this week as we had another lesson, tweaked our approach towards the passagey steps and hit another teeny milestone with her acceptance of the aid, resulted in a much more fluid forward upward step without any tendency to get too ponderous... she put up a minor objection and then got back on board immediately which was another fab response, because if we can teeter towards the edge of what's acceptable without triggering a full on meltdown then I feel like we can stretch the boundaries instead of being afraid to try.

Still a huge amount to do but it's feeling achievable instead of an insurmountable problem

 

[Michen]

Ahhh Roxylola you guys look so smart!!!

 

[humblepie]

Well done those all those who were out and about or at home. Some fab pictures. Keysoe looks very posh now. Well done on the qualifications and NC fab result for you. Our weekend was a Monday show and clever horse qualified for a showing championship at Your Horse Live.