End of summer weekend plans

I took Tammy back to the saddle fitter today for the fitting of her new Fairfax VSD Classic saddle. I’d trialled the demo dressage version at the previous visit, and had ordered the VSD on the strength of that.

Wasn’t sure how it would pan out today, as all three neds came in this morning completely wired. The normally steady Tammy was prancey and snorty, but she did load in the trailer first time. She was still prancey and snorty when I unloaded her the other end. Not ideal for a saddle fitting session when the rider is a wimp, but hey ho. She steadied herself once in the indoor school and managed to remember her manners, phew, I had wondered if today would be the day I found her eject button :oops:.

The new saddle is lovely. It accomodates Tammy’s long shoulder and wide backbone, and I feel that I am sitting in behind her, not on top of her, and the 17.5” is plenty big enough for me (her old Ideal event is an 18”). She went beautifully in it. I will get the first fit check in 6 weeks as we need to keep on top of it with Tammy’s wonkiness, and will keep in touch with the saddle fitter in the meantime in case I need to twiddle with the girthing arrangement - it’s currently in positions 1 and 4.

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(Note neck strap and air jacket clip - neither was needed but it was reassuring to have them :D)
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I've booked to do an ODE on Tamba in two weeks so xc schooling on Sunday. Will be a nice change for both of us as we haven't jumped much in ages! I have been fiddling about with his bit as he seems to have gone off what he was wearing, and the new myler type snaffle which Winnie usually wears seems to be a hit so far! It was originally for him, but he didn't like it then. Strange pony!
 
Well that was a disaster. 70cm went okay but there was some pilot error to fence 12 resulting in a pole down. 80cm she was flying until the fillers appeared that hadn’t been there the round before. Refused the first but jumped it second time, next one she tried to jump from a standstill but completely demolished it and scared herself. Jumped one more fence then withdrew ☹️ Oh well
 
L the Haflinger had a saddle fitter out yesterday. Unfortunately my interim dressage has to go, but rode in a lovely new dressage saddle she went super in. Also fitted me so much better, I could actually sit properly! Needless to say we're getting a new saddle :) It's an English saddle so coming over from your neck of the woods :D Can't wait for it to come and we can crack on. And the best news was that her jumping saddle I bought on a whim in Germany fits her super well, just needs to be reflocked and we're good to go jumping as well!

E's leg wound is healing super well so I hopped on her for a wander around yesterday. She was super well behaved after 5 weeks off, good thing too because I don't have a saddle for her at the moment so hopped on bareback o_O she's a good egg for a young TB :cool:

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Not doing much riding this weekend because my saddles are in flux, but that's ok, its the end of winter so I have plenty of weeding to do before spring proper anyway. Have a great weekend all :D
 
On a happier note, I am delivering Max to his new home on Sunday. I have found him a long term companion loan home. A 14 year old who loves ponies but isn't fussed about riding them! Just likes grooming, mucking out, taking ponies for walks and in hand work. She has had a loan pony before and she has a stable on a yard and he will have year round turn out in company. Her parents are fully on board. So he seems to have landed on his feet.
 
Ambers Echo said:
On a happier note, I am delivering Max to his new home on Sunday. I have found him a long term companion loan home. A 14 year old who loves ponies but isn't fussed about riding them! Just likes grooming, mucking out, taking ponies for walks and in hand work. She has had a loan pony before and she has a stable on a yard and he will have year round turn out in company. Her parents are fully on board. So he seems to have landed on his feet.
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Scrap that. Fallen through before it even started. Parents changed their minds.
 
milliepops said:
oh bugger!
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Yes bugger indeed... I am running out of time before they have to come in for winter. And I don't have a stable for him! 2 more months, tick tock, tick, tock. Where can I advertise a companion? Max is the perfect companion as he is young and healthy and has no special care needs. And is easy to handle and friendly with no vices at all.
 
Viewing a horse tomorrow!!

Harry has tweaked his shoulder in the field so has missed PC regionals at bicton this weekend ☹️ Gutted for my little sister she’s worked really hard aiming him for this and he was looking mega 😭
 
I had a very cute lesson with my 5yo this morning, she was impeccable and we stepped over our first little cross pole :D She is just so adorable. And no I don't have a clue why my leg looks so far up her neck in the canter picture :oops: I swear it doesn't look that bad in the video. A very long way to go with her but my instructor and I prefer small correct progress than leaps forward before she's physically ready.
 

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Good day today, despite the fact that Millie came off the wagon like a wild banshee because of the wind and proceeded to be a spooky, fidgety, screamy idiot most of the day. Amazingly, in the test she really knuckled down and only gave me one semi-hairy moment when she locked her neck in left canter and I thought we might well be leaving the arena at considerable speed! Fortunately I managed to get control of her shoulder and actually conceal it pretty impressively to the judge, who merely commented that the left canter was ‘tense’, which was somewhat of an understatement from where I was sitting!

Came 2nd with 68.79% and won the Reserve Prelim champion for the year, so not a bad day.

Warm up picture and rosette picture attached!
 

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I was supposed to be at Sapey today with the big lad, but he has pulled a muscle in his back/bum. I rode him on Friday and he just wasn't as active in the hind leg as he normally is, so we popped him on the lunge. He was just falling short of tracking up with the left hind. I took him to the vets since we were supposed to be out this weekend. His first trot up looked like he had pooped himself but it improved with each trot. The same with the lunging; it all looked better the more he did. The vet then ran his hand over Toby's back/bum on the right side, and he grunted and moved away. Diagnosis given! So he's a weekend of quiet mooching around the field, Sports-vibe rug and rest. Then we can do quiet lunging for a week or so before reintroducing work when he feels better.

The little cob isn't quite right. We put him in normal shoes (because he kept losing the heart bars and taking most of his foot with it) and he was fine for a couple of weeks but he's looking a bit sore and is back to landing outside first. So he's having his support shoes put back on tomorrow.

since I have two ponies and neither are ridable, I've had a lovely weekend playing with the school horses. I rode a lovely young black cob yesterday, who looks like a mini mare version of Toby. Today I rode an ISH mare who has evented to BE100 so I felt very spoilt 😁

I now have 2 weeks off work, so I'm sure I will play with more school ponies until mine are fit and ready to go 😊
 
This year we have had 5 events cancel due to the weather and today’s ODE didn’t go to plan either . The paramedics had an accident on the way to the venue , so they cancelled the first class ( they had already done the dressage and jumping ) as they couldn’t run XC without them . But they expected another crew to come in time for daughters class . Unfortunately no one came , so they just ran the dressage and jumping for the rest of day . I believe no one was hurt , which is the main thing . We did have a lovely day though . Weather was fab and Wallace had a lovely day out with us . He hasn’t been out with us for ages , but as he’s doing well on his meds he wanted to come. Photo of him having a snooze after munching on a sausage from the burger van 🤪😂FD44BE28-C86C-4B54-AD31-0A34244DBCAD.jpeg
 
I had a lovely outing xc schooling with Tamba. He started off a bit tense and jumped in an odd fashion over a few, which wasn't entirely surprising as we haven't jumped much over the summer. He soon seemed to get back in the swing of it though jumping most of the 90 stuff and giving some of them a fair amount of room! We need to do a bit more jumping, I might try and go schooling next week too.
 

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Asha said:
This year we have had 5 events cancel due to the weather and today’s ODE didn’t go to plan either . The paramedics had an accident on the way to the venue , so they cancelled the first class ( they had already done the dressage and jumping ) as they couldn’t run XC without them . But they expected another crew to come in time for daughters class . Unfortunately no one came , so they just ran the dressage and jumping for the rest of day . I believe no one was hurt , which is the main thing . We did have a lovely day though . Weather was fab and Wallace had a lovely day out with us . He hasn’t been out with us for ages , but as he’s doing well on his meds he wanted to come. Photo of him having a snooze after munching on a sausage from the burger van 🤪😂View attachment 36160
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Ahh is this a riding club ODE in Cheshire? Otherwise two events were unlucky enough to lose their medics to a crash en route. Such a shame for all concerned
 
Asha said:
Yes , the Delamere forest riding club one . Did you go as well ? Such a shame for the organisers
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No, some of my friends did. I was thinking about it but entered Sapey BE instead. I felt so sorry for everyone; the organisers, the competitors and the photographer. This season has been plagued with cancellations and abandonments, they had a lovely weekend for it so it should have been perfect and then this happens. Such a shame.
 
We were at Smallwood too, I have to say I was not very impressed with the organisers attitude to me on the day, I think only booking the paramedics for the start of the XC is a bit naughty, my worst falls have all been SJ...

However, Skylla thought she was amazing, so onwards and upwards!

Also, does anyone know who the photographers were?
 
AlexHyde said:
We were at Smallwood too, I have to say I was not very impressed with the organisers attitude to me on the day, I think only booking the paramedics for the start of the XC is a bit naughty, my worst falls have all been SJ...

However, Skylla thought she was amazing, so onwards and upwards!

Also, does anyone know who the photographers were?
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I saw on Facebook Martha Lily photography was there
https://www.marthalilyphotography.co.uk/…/delamere-forest-o…

Good point on the timing of the paramedics. You can get injured badly in any phase, if you try hard enough!!
 
DressageCob said:
I saw on Facebook Martha Lily photography was there
https://www.marthalilyphotography.co.uk/…/delamere-forest-o…

Good point on the timing of the paramedics. You can get injured badly in any phase, if you try hard enough!!
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Exactly, even dressage has it's moments lol, but they're being decent enough to offer partial refunds and hopefully they'll have some contingency plans for next time.

Ah amazing thank you! Might have to buy a couple for FB, though still sad we didn't get to do the xc as it was the only reason getting up at 5am, after a weekend celebrating my 30th, seemed a good idea!
 
Our trailer practice was a success! I think when I picked him up, it was the first time he had ever been in a trailer, even though he followed me on without hesitation, he looked slightly traumatised when we arrived at his new home! Thurs last week, I just practiced loading a few times as well as walking straight through. On Sat, we went for a 25min journey up the road and back. He was much calmer when we got back home, although had sweated up a bit, so hopefully he will get better with more practice and with the realisation that he will come home each time.
 
Had flatwork lesson in Saturday, did some pole work on a circle, trying to improve his weaker (right) side (though working evenly both reins)
Did some more lengthening of stride in trot along the long side. In working trot i counted 13 strides. First go at lengthening got 10 then 9! Told to bring him back to walk after the lengthening and he sat on his bum for the transition and was so surprised he tripped over his back feet 🤣
Was entered in RC hunter trials on Sunday (about 75-80 cm). Was a bit worried about the ground due to heavy rain but it wasn’t bad, he managed ok on the downhill bits that I was a bit worried about slipping. Had a couple of stops, think it was my fault for not being prepared for him to stop at a funny looking jump.
Anyway we got around so I was happy with that. He still had plenty of go in him too. My legs and bum ache today.
Tomorrow am having saddle fitter and am trying a few saddles to see if his canter is more free (freeer?) on a circle. Think she is brings a Smart solution to try though I really don’t want to spend £££ on a new one so I’ve been browsing 2nd hand online.
 
Finally back in normal land from our show over the weekend....

This is how it went.

What a weekend we've had... Started off on Friday with usual stress re packing everything and cleaning two grey ponies, and the horrendous weather 😭

We arrived to find beautiful freshly painted stables ready for us, and the ponies settled in as if they were seasoned professionals.

We had to go and ready the back of the lorry for sleeping, which included fun games such as 'locate the drip' and 'position the bucket' as 50mm of rain fell in 12 hours..

Good crack was had with the neighbours Lorraine and Lisa, while the kiddies played wrestling in the indoor school, necessitating a hairwash for Fergus using a jug and a bucket at 10pm at night 😂😂

After a collapsing air bed, I was glad we hadn't an early start in the morning, which involved a flat class first for Fergus and I, and we both managed to pick up a 3rd each in M&M First Ridden and Novice Ridden Connie.

Then it was WH ❤❤
First Fergus in the Cradle stakes NIF qualifier, and he only managed to get 1st in a big class 😱😱
Then straight on to the 122cm M&M NIF qualifier, and another lovely clear over a bigger course. Little Miss Cheekychops however gave a massive buck in her individual show/gallop (because F got a bit over enthusiastic and kicked her in the ribs 😱) so they were very pleased with second to a much more experienced combination.

Next were Fionn and I, and he jumped a lovely clear in the Novice M&M WH to win the class.

A nervewracking wait until the 143cm M&M NIF qualifier and the fences looked huge, but apart from a knock on a light plastic pole, Fionn was fantastic, and he stood much better to place 4th AND QUALIFY FOR CAVAN ❤❤❤

The evening performance was fantastic, and so special.... and both ponies were great, Daisy particularly stood like a rock 😍

Then at 8pm, we finally got some food and some GIN 🥂🥂

On to Sunday fun day 😍

There was dressage and more showing, but we decided to do a derby class each, and Greenacres have a gorgeous set of spooky Jump for Joy jumps and fillers..

Fergus and Daisy first and they jumped the first clear over a course that seemed to cause carnage in the small ponies. He was eventually overtaken by 1 and 3 seconds to place 3rd.

They would have been more than capable of the next class or even the one after that, but after a tiring weekend, I think we made the right decision and ended on a great note 😍

Next Fionn, and we jumped an amazing forward speedy round (except for my sat nav failure 😭) to get 5th... Sack the pilot 😂😂😂

We were lucky enough to be packed up and able to leave by 2.30, and travelled home uneventfully with one coffee stop. The ponies were delighted Daisy rolled and rolled and rolled, and Fionn and Sophie exchanged kisses and little nickers ❤❤❤

Fish and chips for dinner, plus baths, and we are all ready for school and work tomorrow,....

What a wonderful event, with super helpful and encouraging judges... We will definitely be back in 2020 ❤

I'll put pics in soon.

Fiona
 
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