End of August weekend thread

SEL

SEL

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How has it got to the end of August???

Good luck to anyone at the BRC champs in Lincs. I felt a bit bad saying I wouldn't go, but it's a long way for an Intro test. Fortunately no one else in our club qualified at Intro so I wasn't unfairly stealing a place. As it happens I've got lorry issues.

Possibly dragging OH to Bury Farm tomorrow. He's underwhelmed but if lorry plays up I want company.

First time back to Bury since our shocking test at the end of July so this will see whether its was the saddle set-up or just him shutting down at bigger venues.

Got to clean the hooligan before going out because we've had rain!! Yay - although they've all rolled in the gateway which instantly went to mud.
 
SEL said:
First time back to Bury since our shocking test at the end of July so this will see whether its was the saddle set-up or just him shutting down at bigger venues.
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Would put money on him being a different pony this time!

I have got the go-ahead from instructor that Sadie is perfectly capable of going to our first little "show" show on Sunday. Entered the TGCA classes for in-hand solid coloured and ridden under 14.2 but tbh if she isn't so calm she's basically asleep I'm not doing the ridden one 😂 Her not being registered shouldn't be a problem, as if she places in either class with a chopped off mane, crap feather, pigeon toes and stifles that audibly click I would be raising complaints myself, but hopefully will be a cute fun day!!

I have to dig out a black hat silk as my only other one is orange, and borrow a black numnah as the brown one I nabbed from a donation bin has been declared "not fit to be seen" and clean all my tack again as the YO drilled holes in the wall for more saddle racks and got concrete dust on everything!
 
I've had a couple of really grand lessons recently. Finally getting towards an actually proper working trot without being scared of it 😂 Also done some pretty good sitting trot which I'm well proud of and had me thinking I'm not far off cantering lovely Mr ID.

But then progress is doing that thing where it's non linear, which you know and accept but still when it's on a bit of a down slope or static, or doing some weird loop the loop type trajectory, it still sucks a bit.

I had two lessons today. May regret that from a fatigue side of things but so far so good. First one with Mr ID. I got 'the fear' about trotting. I was too embarrassed to tell my instructor why, and in the end I concluded it didn't matter because the things bothering me were disproportionate to the fear anyway and if I could logic my way out of it that would have happened. So instead of recording my e-riders test we rode it in walk to keep my brain busy and practice adjusting plans to have the fear but make things manageable enough to keep riding and enjoy myself. It turned a potential panic to a positive which was good, even so kind of disappointed with myself. Just last week I had a little pang of fear and rode through it to do our nice bit of trot. This week I couldn't manage it.

Then onto other lesson. Mr ISH (a good hand or so smaller!) who I have only ridden four times now. Given the first lesson wasn't feeling great but got on and decided to at least try. It's a busier RS so more challenging for me, in a good way I think. They had jumps out so I kept myself busy riding loops and circles around them. We did a bit with some poles. I got 'brave' and asked to do a long side of trot. Did a little more and left it at that. Well chuffed. Given last lesson there I had the instructor walk round next to me for the entire half hour because of the fear, big progress.

TL;DR - progress not linear and brains are weird.
 
My only horsey plan for the week is already over - my boy and I did our very first park and 'ride' (walk in hand but still). He was exceedingly good, a little on edge to start with but soon settled, despite passing a lot of young pheasants whose lives' missions seemed to be trying to startle him. I got us a bit lost so we ended up doing a there-and-back route, not the nice circular route I had planned, but he was on his best behaviour even after the 180 turn. Even on the way back, he stayed in tune with me - trotting when I 'trotted', walking when I slowed down, without needing to use any pressure - which was a pleasant surprise, as, given the new environment, I was expecting him to do his old trick of getting anxious and fixated about heading home.

Hard to say if he enjoyed himself, as he's not the sort of horse who's particularly open about his emotions, but he seemed curious about the world whilst remaining chilled, so that's good enough. It was bittersweet for me though. On the one hand, I've always dreamt of boxing a horse of my own out for a hack somewhere new, so, in that sense, this was a major bucketlist item ticked off. On the other hand, it did make me wish he was rideable so we could have travelled further and explored more. There was one grassy stretch that would have made the loveliest canter... But I'm grateful to have a horse who was so good about the whole thing.

The only issue was that he got a little stressed travelling, which is understandable as horseboxes have usually meant a change of home. I deliberately picked a spot that was only a 15 minute drive from the yard, so he didn't have to stress for too long, and I think the benefit of being out and about trumps the con of causing him that travelling stress. I'm planning to start boxing him out for an adventure every few months, so hopefully he'll learn over time that travelling no longer means losing his herd. But if anyone has any ideas about how to make travelling less stressful for them, please let me know. (He's happy to load and stand on the box - just got a bit sweaty on the journey itself, and didn't eat much of his haynet, which isn't like him.)

smolmaus said:
I have got the go-ahead from instructor that Sadie is perfectly capable of going to our first little "show" show on Sunday. Entered the TGCA classes for in-hand solid coloured and ridden under 14.2 but tbh if she isn't so calm she's basically asleep I'm not doing the ridden one 😂 Her not being registered shouldn't be a problem, as if she places in either class with a chopped off mane, crap feather, pigeon toes and stifles that audibly click I would be raising complaints myself, but hopefully will be a cute fun day!!
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If we don't get an update including a photo of Sadie all dolled up, I'm suing. I'm sure she'd win a prettiest mare class, if not anything else.
 
stangs said:
My only horsey plan for the week is already over - my boy and I did our very first park and 'ride' (walk in hand but still). He was exceedingly good, a little on edge to start with but soon settled, despite passing a lot of young pheasants whose lives' missions seemed to be trying to startle him. I got us a bit lost so we ended up doing a there-and-back route, not the nice circular route I had planned, but he was on his best behaviour even after the 180 turn. Even on the way back, he stayed in tune with me - trotting when I 'trotted', walking when I slowed down, without needing to use any pressure - which was a pleasant surprise, as, given the new environment, I was expecting him to do his old trick of getting anxious and fixated about heading home.

Hard to say if he enjoyed himself, as he's not the sort of horse who's particularly open about his emotions, but he seemed curious about the world whilst remaining chilled, so that's good enough. It was bittersweet for me though. On the one hand, I've always dreamt of boxing a horse of my own out for a hack somewhere new, so, in that sense, this was a major bucketlist item ticked off. On the other hand, it did make me wish he was rideable so we could have travelled further and explored more. There was one grassy stretch that would have made the loveliest canter... But I'm grateful to have a horse who was so good about the whole thing.

The only issue was that he got a little stressed travelling, which is understandable as horseboxes have usually meant a change of home. I deliberately picked a spot that was only a 15 minute drive from the yard, so he didn't have to stress for too long, and I think the benefit of being out and about trumps the con of causing him that travelling stress. I'm planning to start boxing him out for an adventure every few months, so hopefully he'll learn over time that travelling no longer means losing his herd. But if anyone has any ideas about how to make travelling less stressful for them, please let me know. (He's happy to load and stand on the box - just got a bit sweaty on the journey itself, and didn't eat much of his haynet, which isn't like him.)


If we don't get an update including a photo of Sadie all dolled up, I'm suing. I'm sure she'd win a prettiest mare class, if not anything else.
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The day will probably just be about pretty pictures 😂 I just remembered I have a little orange WELL DONE rosette someone gave me once so I'm going to bring that and have her auntie pin it on her 😂

Little adventure walk is such a bucket list thing! Just because you don't ride doesn't mean he can't be an explorer pony 💕 the only thing I think you can do for travel stress is practise so you're just going to have to have more adventures!! I am absolutely going to take my oversized, hoofed labrador for forest walks when I finally get my trailer test.
 
My and my chap have an exciting first planned this weekend. We’re off to a local venue for unaffiliated dressage with a couple of others from my yard. It’s what I wanted to do when I got him and I’m really looking forward to it.

Preparation is at Olympic levels for our first time out, and the poor boy is being primped and preened to within an inch of his life. We’re hacking today, and then I need to tidy his mane and tail, and wash his white socks yet again so he looks nice and smart tomorrow. No matter what happens riding-wise, I want us to look the part, as well as having fun while doing it all. He’s looking fab at the moment, after lots of worries earlier in the year, so I want to show him off looking his best.
 
AthenesOwl said:
My and my chap have an exciting first planned this weekend. We’re off to a local venue for unaffiliated dressage with a couple of others from my yard. It’s what I wanted to do when I got him and I’m really looking forward to it.

Preparation is at Olympic levels for our first time out, and the poor boy is being primped and preened to within an inch of his life. We’re hacking today, and then I need to tidy his mane and tail, and wash his white socks yet again so he looks nice and smart tomorrow. No matter what happens riding-wise, I want us to look the part, as well as having fun while doing it all. He’s looking fab at the moment, after lots of worries earlier in the year, so I want to show him off looking his best.
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If you have the time, half the fun is the cleaning and scrubbing beforehand, however big or small the event is.
 
The wind and rain was so bad today I didn't get any of my prep done and the drive to the tack shop for last minute bits was actually traumatising 😂

Busy morning for me tomorrow! Needs feathers combed and trimmed, back legs washed again, was going to wash her tail but that will just have to have the worst of the poop brushed out now!
 
YourValentine said:
If you have the time, half the fun is the cleaning and scrubbing beforehand, however big or small the event is.
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Most definitely! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting him clean and tidy over the last week or so, and shopping for all the bits and bobs that suddenly seemed essential.

I washed his socks for the third time in a week tonight. Unfortunately, I then had to turn him out into a rainy field, so I suspect they’ll need another quick wash in the morning
 
Well we came dead last and the judge said I should swap her to the part bred for the ridden class but it took them 2 hours to get through as many classes as were between so we went home 😂 but she travelled for the first time in a year like a pro, straight on the box both ways, coped with high winds and flapping banners and other horses rearing and SHETLANDS and was offering kisses to everybody so I am still proud of my little spud 💕

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We had a fab time at our first dressage outing this afternoon. We didn’t completely disgrace ourselves, although the boy wasn’t very sure about the plastic plants and didn’t like the look of the judges box, and it was good fun all round.

I remembered the test, and we came away with our first rosette, albeit we were third in a class of three. However, I was chuffed with our score of 66.1 and the judge’s comments were very fair. Plenty to work on for the next time and I’m very happy with how it all went.
 

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I think all his enthusiasm went in the warm up - had to take him out and get my OH to dig out my neck strap! I hate Intro 4 because it doesn't flow but it was accurate if a bit flat. Got himself a frilly but then had a proper sulk at test #2 (thought he was going home) & put the handbrake on. Horrible test not helped by a huge spook when the horse about to go in the arena next door trotted past.

I was at the start of a class of around 40 so we went home afterwards and I was relieved to get a placing in the 20s and not be last 😅 In fact there were quite a lot of low scores so I obviously wasn't the only one having a bad day. But as my friend has just said - you've got to be in it to win it and this time last year i was trying not to get splatted in the warm up.

Going to try and get him out to combined training over winter. He's a talented hooligan but is underwhelmed by pure dressage 🙄 Windsor sponsored ride next weekend should cheer him up.
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Weather sucks. Managed a soggy 9k hack on Friday, then yesterday and today in the school. I don't ride in the park if the wind is over 35mph because large branches like to fall off trees. And sometimes entire trees fall over when the wind is over 40.

Managed a reverse-to-canter transition. We were both surprised that actually worked, and she did a massive buck, but cantered out of it nicely. The rollbacks are getting better. Lateral stuff needs me to ride better. We are developing some facility at doing circles in canter but remains a work in progress. She does a mean trot-halt-reverse-trot sequence, though.

Had a chat with my mother, who was asking, "Will you ever compete again?" And I was like, doubt it. Fin, who I've produced like a normal dressage pony, has a meltdown when you have to navigate him around the wee schooling shows the yard puts on, like to go on a hack or go to his field, so I can't imagine riding him in one, and I accidentally turned Hermosa into Western horse. I guess she could compete at endurance or working eq or TREC, but I don't give enough sh1ts to pursue it. I hate early starts. And the schooling shows our yard puts on are very traditional: dressage and SJ.

Fin had the weekend off because I can't be ar*sed riding two in rain and wind, and you have to keep one eye open for Cybermen umbrellas, or bad things happen.
 
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Early in the week, H did another hunt ride, his second this year. The ground was rock hard and they were going to push on, so we made it a very short one. H was brilliant though, was calm and co-operative even though a little horse was racing round in circles round him as the rider couldn't hold it.

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Also, in the week, H was fitted up with a western saddle so BF can ride him with a little more comfort for the gentleman parts 🤣

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He really isn't that bothered about riding but, if he is at least comfy, he will come out for the odd play.

This weekend was a non horse weekend. I was at Chatsworth for the country fair. The first day, I joined some other hardy wild swimmers in the River Derwent to watch the balloons take off. It was other worldly!

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7544989591812443414

It would, however, have been better if I hadn't dropped my phone in the river 😨. Got home last night and was madly trying to resurrect my old phone!
 
We went to the beach 😎

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Despite rude gallopy groups, people falling off, dogs not on leads chasing us… We had a great time and the weather was perfect. Well worth the 3.30am alarm! We put them in a day stable just down the rode and walked into Wells for lunch. It was a fab day!

I slept for 10 hours after a Chinese and watching the nations cup in Brussels 🤣
 
Away show at the Veteran Horse Society championships. Felt like Mr Benn with quick changes as whilst only doing a few classes they needed different outfits. Horse brilliant and looked gorgeous as ever. Nice collection of rosettes to bring home.
 
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