Paint it Lucky
Well-Known Member
I took my young mare eventing for the first time yesterday and we both absolutely loved it! She made a few green errors, was very excitable, our dressage test got several 'explosive' in the comments, warming up for showjumping was a bit scary as she did fling herself around a lot, there were several bucks and a lot of charging off after fences although she was fortunately calmer when we actually got in the ring. Then cross country, which I had been worrying about particularly as she can be nappy and I wasn't sure how she'd take to leaving the other horses, however I need not have worried as she was awesome, she cantered round loving it, not napping at all. We had one green stop towards the end which was a shame but mainly my fault as I didn't ride onwards enough but I don't really care as she gave me a great feeling and I could feel her grow in confidence as we went around.
So obviously now I want to go again! I used to event on my other horse who is sadly now retired due to bad ringbone so it's been a few years since I've really been out competing much and yesterday made me realise how much I miss it. There are several one day events coming up near me I could do, there are about four over may and june, all about two weeks apart, I could do all of them but don't know if this is too much? My mare is reasonably fit, she's been hunting a few times over the winter and I won't be going for time to start with it's just more as a schooling exercise, to get her out seeing things and get her used to going away from the group (in the warm-up), etc. I say she's young, she's rising 8 but hasn't done a lot so a bit different from if she were a 4/5 year old. She's also fairly scopey, we did a BE80 level class yesterday, she can trot over that height if necessary and I'm sure once she's confident she'll find 90s and probably 100s fairly easy (I doubt I'll be braver to go much higher but it's nice to know she is capable). So just wondering how often other people event their horses, how long you give them off to recover in between comps etc. I don't want to overdo it.
So obviously now I want to go again! I used to event on my other horse who is sadly now retired due to bad ringbone so it's been a few years since I've really been out competing much and yesterday made me realise how much I miss it. There are several one day events coming up near me I could do, there are about four over may and june, all about two weeks apart, I could do all of them but don't know if this is too much? My mare is reasonably fit, she's been hunting a few times over the winter and I won't be going for time to start with it's just more as a schooling exercise, to get her out seeing things and get her used to going away from the group (in the warm-up), etc. I say she's young, she's rising 8 but hasn't done a lot so a bit different from if she were a 4/5 year old. She's also fairly scopey, we did a BE80 level class yesterday, she can trot over that height if necessary and I'm sure once she's confident she'll find 90s and probably 100s fairly easy (I doubt I'll be braver to go much higher but it's nice to know she is capable). So just wondering how often other people event their horses, how long you give them off to recover in between comps etc. I don't want to overdo it.