Easter weekend plans?

FF - sending vibes your way. I hope it clears up soon.

RO - fantastic news about Chilli! And who is the cute bay?

Rollin - good luck with the Shagyas! I'd love to see a report.

We had fun jumping this morning. As P and I are due to do the 80cm and Calmsden unaffiliated next weekend and I'm a complete chicken, I asked if we can practice jumping some bigger single fences. We ended up at around 95cm and it felt easy when I rode it well, which was about 1 time in 10 ;) I definitely won't be quitting the day job! P was loving it though, albeit a little opinionated!

Oxer: https://www.facebook.com/annette.scottc/videos/10156150947264043/
Telling me off after I sat up too quickly on the second upright and made him knock it down :D : https://www.facebook.com/annette.scottc/videos/10156150947269043/

My lesson on Indio was cancelled due to the rain, so YO and I did some ringing around and booked an indoor instead. It was soooo nice not to be schooling in the rain! Indio was a good boy, although he had a couple of tantrums about not leaning on the inside rein. It was interesting schooling in a small 20x40 too, it certainly exposed some of our weaknesses!!
 
Thanks all for the compliments on Mr Traps. jiffy, he's my mother's 2017 Christmas present! Absolute legend of a horse, so good to clip and a real sweetie in almost every way. He's not that sociable with other horses unless they're all out in the field playing together. He can't be perfect :p

The links aren't working :( But all sounds good!
 
the early start yesterday turned out to be worth it as Henry skipped round to finish 3rd at our first show together. Time to put my big girl pants on and put the fences up now that we’ve gotten the first time nerves over and done with.

Raz has a fab lesson yesterday afternoon. We worked on one of my tests for next week so I’m quietly confident that we won’t make a hash of it even if things don’t go our way on the day.

Then today we had our first RC show. Raz warmed up beautifully and we finally had an outing with zero spooks! He felt a little tired towards the end of the test so was pleased with our score of 66.43 considering. We ended up coming joint 5th in the teams and 6th individually in a class of 15 so I can’t really complain.

Next week is the big week - hopefully we manage to pull it out of the bag on the day or it will be a long drive home ;)
 
rosiesowner said:
Thanks all for the compliments on Mr Traps. jiffy, he's my mother's 2017 Christmas present! Absolute legend of a horse, so good to clip and a real sweetie in almost every way. He's not that sociable with other horses unless they're all out in the field playing together. He can't be perfect :p

The links aren't working :( But all sounds good!
Click to expand...

Darn FB! This should work: https://youtu.be/GXhvq4Uce8E
 
The biggest chunk of our weekend plans are done already! We had our second event of the season, and it was awesome. Each phase had huge improvement and I'm so proud of us. Can't wait for the next one! If only dressage wasn't so tricky, but jumping more than makes up for it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend, and not eating too much chocolate.

29597292_10214351111504453_2748606836560734845_n.jpg
 
milliepops said:
Today is taking FAAARRRR too long to pass by! Anyway, thursday afternoon at last, what are we all up to? Is there going to be another sodding beast from the east?!

We actually have not a lot planned over the weekend, some arena hire on Saturday probably, as our school is being taken over for a polework clinic so the whole place will be a flipping lorry park :rolleyes3:

I feel like I've failed by having 4 days off and not planning an actual outing but I don't think Salty is really ready for a bank holiday weekend show just yet so we will just do some hacking instead.

Then on Tuesday Kira will go and attempt our PSG debut :p Had a lesson yesterday and we agreed we should just go and have a bash, if nothing else it will throw up more clues about things that still need working on etc. And after all the stop-start with Millie I also don't believe in waiting for the "perfect" moment. eeek!

Have fun all, hope it's not a complete washout for everyone :)
Click to expand...
Was doing a sponsored ride Monday But it has been pushed back due to weather, so nothing much, hacking out and mucking out. Oh yes and hubby given me his cold
 
Nice vid jiffy, can see you at last, just about anyway - in the gloom :D Sounds like a good session.

Sooooo jealous of sunny pics AE. Riding in shirtsleeves is a distant memory :rolleyes:

We had a productive day of arena hire yesterday, Kira went first so we could run through the PSG test as had only ridden through it once before. Well worth doing, it's so full on :o there is nowhere to hide but I feel excited rather than daunted now - if we're both on our game it will be fun :D

Salty went over in the afternoon, she's been down in the dumps for a couple of weeks and I was really scratching my head but I think we've got to the bottom of it - she was cheerful and keen yesterday which was a relief :) just need to channel that energy into useful stuff rather than giraffe-gawping :D

Pics of the oranges
29572523_1895404283804406_4022862885839986069_n.jpg


29792679_1895647520446749_8638021482784020969_n.jpg
 
Well M seems to be working well and his hamster cheeks have gone down to a reasonable size.

I decided not to go XC schooling as the weather looks pretty grim so I'll be going to the local indoor tomorrow where there is a showjumping Ireland course set up from today. Looking forward to some SJ schooling in a great arena, good surface and most importantly dry!!
 
Lovely pics and updates everyone.
I’m feeling rather lucky to have managed to get out yesterday, the snow didn’t start until we’d finished our second test. Delighted with my girl, won both classes, and that was with her getting a bit distracted.
Was rather glad to be working today as the weather is just foul.
 
DabDab said:
You have a really lovely jumping style! He looks like he's loving it
Click to expand...

Lol, I certainly don't feel like I do! I wish I could see a stride (as does Pocholo...). We were working on keeping his shoulders up and his bum down, so I started to visualise riding like Ben Maher - if only!! :D

We had lots of fun at Wellington arena hire today. It was supposed to be prep for Calmsden UA 80 next weekend but that's now been postponed to a weekend I can't do :(

Vid of Wellington: https://youtu.be/8uVO8YiVekg
 
AE - that looks lovely...I want summer!! Well done on a successful outing. Also well done b_m! The new one sounds like a star. And MP good luck tomorrow! Sounds like you're as prepared as can be :D Congrats McFluff and sorry you missed your xc schooling Wheels :(
 
Sir Sicknote the clydesdale missed our first show of the season on Saturday because of a foot abcess. In the middle of the week, I was so despondent that we were looking at PTS because it looked like the pedal bone had been infected but he seems to have turned a corner this morning.

We had 4 shows entered for April, I reckon he saw his engagement diary and decided against it!

Glad everyone else is having more success...
 
I took both of mine to one of our big national shows - my lease horse had to go just to get the qualifying points to upgrade to 1m at his next show. Hoshi went because we had entered last minute so might as well. Hilarious, given we were eliminated at a small local show last Wednesday in his first 90cm and were jumping 90cm at this upcoming national show :D He quite suddenly started taking exception to fillers and would run out at everything from planks to barrels.

Anyway, I jumped him probably 3-4 times in the lead up to the show over that week (far more than I would usually) and was having a small meltdown as our lesson was a bit disastrous on the Tuesday and ended up with my instructor having to get on. Hacked him over to my friend's place on Wednesday to jump some different stuff and got a bit tough on him so we had only one run out.

Instructor jumped him in the first class at the show just to make sure he was going, and he jumped everything and went clear. I then jumped the second class and he had another lovely clear. Neither of us opted to do the jump off so no placings in a class of 60-odd riders, but I am more than happy with him going round. We only got back to the yard after 7pm, which is insane really as the venue is only 15 minutes away and the first class was early...Went back the following day for the third and he didn't stop or run out but was tired so took a lot of poles, and was also possibly a bit too forward. He looked at the first jump in the warm up so I chased him down to it a little and over compensated a bit. He's huge so the distances come up short anyway but when he's rushing even more so, thus we met a lot of fences on a bit of a weird half-distance. Unfortunately he doesn't really have the ability yet to be able to sit up and shorten in front of the fence, especially when he's a bit looky and thinking about not going - so we sacrificed style and neatness for just getting over everything.

Decided to skip the fourth class on Sunday..Hoshi was tired and my other horse doesn't need the experience at that level. He won his first class, had a pole in the jump off in the second class when I turned a bit too tight and possibly didn't keep my leg on enough, and then 4 faults in the speed class on the Saturday.

Successful weekend really given that I was anxious about even getting round the course!

29597529_10160148333025133_7341657960872665700_n.jpg


29749529_10160137628830133_2331107076452414665_o.jpg


29665509_10160148059405133_4671057760142137821_o.jpg
 
Good work JustMe! I think sometimes shows are all about working through an issue rather than the result and it sounds like you did that. There'll be no stopping you now!
 
j1ffy said:
Good work JustMe! I think sometimes shows are all about working through an issue rather than the result and it sounds like you did that. There'll be no stopping you now!
Click to expand...

We definitely went for the learning experience more than anything else! I think he has definitely grown in maturity and learnt a lot from the show, so I'm very chuffed. Lots of practice over fillers at home now to keep the bravery going :)
 
Gosh, is the weekend over already? :( 4 days off just flew by. Sorry to not reply to anyone but this will be long..!

Our experience as demo riders for the judges seminar at Merrist Wood was... well... an experience! :lol: I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I just assumed it would be a couple of judges watching us ride, making some notes and then giving us some feedback. That was basically it, but it was actually 83 judges sitting up in the stands, with FEI List 1 Judge David Trott hosting :O

Just me and one other as the Prelim/Novice riders. B was HOT HOT HOT. He was totally chilled on the journey but the moment we got into the arena he just lost his head. They were running early so I didn't have a chance to warm up outside. David was using a mic, so every time his voice came through the speakers, B would hump his back, shake his head and basically just throw his toys out the pram. At one point all 4 legs left the ground as he performed what I can only describe as a violent Capriole... managed to stay on, some gasps coming from the spectators..! Short reins and trotting. Lots and lots of transitions and shapes, reassurance and praise whenever he showed signs of relaxing.

I can't really remember many of the comments as I was so busy trying to keep B from totally boiling over, but it's fair to say we wouldn't score much for our walk at first! Trot was better and improved quickly after some braver riding from me. Canter was best, David himself was 'pleasantly surprised' by B's canter and B eventually started to relax and stopped reacting to the speakers. Overall a terrifying but very useful experience for both of us! Thankfully it was pointed out how much better our walk was at the very end, so not all hope lost :D

David and the other judges were very kind and we got some very good insight into how/why they would score us. The main thing keeping us from higher marks is lack of impulsion. B is relatively obedient and he is adjustable but needs to be quicker to react to me and needs to keep the energy created (sadly he is naturally very energy efficient, it is already better than it was but more improvement needed!). Our contact is good but we need more swing through the back and better control of the outside shoulder, which we have already been working on in our lessons.

At the end I quickly hopped off, glad I did as some of the spectators made their way down from the stands and B was back on high alert! How dare they move! Carefully led him back to the trailer where he promptly forgot the whole thing and stuffed his face with hay... Horses!!

Next day we did course hire at East Bysshe, B was on his best behaviour. Friend rode him so we put the jumps way up. He was awesome, he really loves his jumping. Now having discussions of friend doing a few BE90s this season with the aim of getting him to a BE100 at some point. All whilst I event him at lower heights, too. B is going to have a busy summer :D
 
Great report Embo. Sounds like a very full on day in the arena but great spook busting (inducing?!) practice. Have fun eventing :)
 
Wheels said:
Well M seems to be working well and his hamster cheeks have gone down to a reasonable size.

I decided not to go XC schooling as the weather looks pretty grim so I'll be going to the local indoor tomorrow where there is a showjumping Ireland course set up from today. Looking forward to some SJ schooling in a great arena, good surface and most importantly dry!!
Click to expand...

That's good news wheels 😁😁

We did arena hire too yesterday 😁😁 It was too wet for anything else.....

PC camp Wed to Fri for us..... Praying for dry weather...

Fiona
 
Great report Embo and JustMe and lovely pics.

SJ practise went very well - when I got there the jumps were humongous so 10 mins spent putting them down to a more reasonable height for a 5yr old pony and his rather nervous jumping companion.

Had one silly run out at the planks but apart from that M was great and we had good fun :)



Even though hubby was there for support I still didn't manage to get any pics lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top