becca1305
Well-Known Member
Hello again *waves*,
I first posted about my new girl back a few weeks after I bought her in February, and thought those that kindly posted then might be interested in an update since we've been cracking on now I've finished my Uni finals.
Unfortunately *BOO!* theres no new pictures/videos, since all taken have been professional ones so I can't post on here.
A quick recap back to February - thread here : http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=596284
video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN8Y-7NpYaE&feature=youtu.be
New mare has now taken on the oh so original
nickname of Big Mare, which did firstly come about on here when posting to help differentiate between my two (other one is of course referred to as Little Mare ).
I had quite a quiet start on Big Mare back when I got her in February thanks to Uni work dominating my life. I rather struggled with the Dressage with her when I first got her as Little mare is so compact and built on the bit which was quite a contrast to my new lanky beast! And so we started the season off at an Unaffiliated in May at ALW where I quite fairly got a 42 Dressage, but she jumped a fab DC with me with just a few time XC and felt amazing .
Next up was Draycott House BE 100 - our first BE. Our dressage was starting to come together a little more by this point and we managed an improvement from Aston to get a 39.5 at Draycott. I managed to make a stupid mistake in the showjumping and my poor honest girl jumped me off sorting it out, I hopped back on to finish the rest clear. XC was a horrid sticky round where we just couldn't get into our flow and I focussed on getting round without 20 penalties - achieved but with plenty of time faults!
We then pootled off to Milton Keynes BE100 after some more intensive Dressage lessons, XC schooling after sticky Draycott round, and a few more showjumping lessons too since the sack the jockey moment at Draycott. I decided to forget most of my dressage training in the ring but still improved slightly for a 39. The rain was horizontal and torrential for both jumping phases, I was nervous for the SJ and rode a bit forward but she still managed a DC with 3.6 time XC -mainly due to taking a few checks when not being able to see where I was going! Tweed jacket rung out we headed home happy feeling back on track .
Today she did Buckminster Park BE100 and finally I managed to ride not quite so much like a muppet in the DR for a 35.5, which I was really happy with as I know I forgot my first canter circle rein give and retake and where I made a couple of other errors in my riding, it will be interesting to see if feedback on DR sheet matches my thoughts on my mistakes. She then jumped another SJ clear round which felt a lot more balanced and smoother than at MK, and another fab XC clear feeling really up for it despite the heat, though with 9.6 time as I had a sat nav fail on course and had to pull up and do a massive circle to get back on track - sack the jockey again! . I am really happy however that we seem to be making progress in the right direction . On a side note I was really impressed with the ground today they had made a lot of effort on the XC course .
Next up is Stafford where we are entered in the BE100Plus, and I am now feeling much happier about tackling it then I did when entering! Wondering what weather I will be getting for that after the extremes of torrential rain at Milton Keynes to the boiling hot day today at Buckminster! In an ideal world I would love to manage to get a new saddle before that as although it fits Big Mare well, it doesn't seem to fit me so well, see thread: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=622702
Thanks for reading and apologies for lack of pictures particularly given the length of my post! (I have tried to cut it down!). I have been dragging my poor long suffering mum along with me to events and didn't feel I could ask her to video in the pouring rain at MK, or today as she was hobbling round thanks to some nasty blisters. Wishing everyone else out competing the best of luck .
I first posted about my new girl back a few weeks after I bought her in February, and thought those that kindly posted then might be interested in an update since we've been cracking on now I've finished my Uni finals.
Unfortunately *BOO!* theres no new pictures/videos, since all taken have been professional ones so I can't post on here.
A quick recap back to February - thread here : http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=596284
video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN8Y-7NpYaE&feature=youtu.be
New mare has now taken on the oh so original
nickname of Big Mare, which did firstly come about on here when posting to help differentiate between my two (other one is of course referred to as Little Mare ). I had quite a quiet start on Big Mare back when I got her in February thanks to Uni work dominating my life. I rather struggled with the Dressage with her when I first got her as Little mare is so compact and built on the bit which was quite a contrast to my new lanky beast! And so we started the season off at an Unaffiliated in May at ALW where I quite fairly
got a 42 Dressage, but she jumped a fab DC with me with just a few time XC and felt amazing . Next up was Draycott House BE 100 - our first BE. Our dressage was starting to come together a little more by this point and we managed an improvement from Aston to get a 39.5 at Draycott. I managed to make a stupid mistake in the showjumping and my poor honest girl jumped me off sorting it out, I hopped back on to finish the rest clear. XC was a horrid sticky round where we just couldn't get into our flow and I focussed on getting round without 20 penalties - achieved
but with plenty of time faults! We then pootled off to Milton Keynes BE100 after some more intensive Dressage lessons, XC schooling after sticky Draycott round, and a few more showjumping lessons too since the sack the jockey moment at Draycott
. I decided to forget most of my dressage training in the ring but still improved slightly for a 39. The rain was horizontal and torrential for both jumping phases, I was nervous for the SJ and rode a bit forward but she still managed a DC with 3.6 time XC -mainly due to taking a few checks when not being able to see where I was going! Tweed jacket rung out we headed home happy feeling back on track .Today she did Buckminster Park BE100 and finally I managed to ride not quite so much like a muppet
in the DR for a 35.5, which I was really happy with as I know I forgot my first canter circle rein give and retake and where I made a couple of other errors in my riding, it will be interesting to see if feedback on DR sheet matches my thoughts on my mistakes. She then jumped another SJ clear round which felt a lot more balanced and smoother than at MK, and another fab XC clear feeling really up for it despite the heat, though with 9.6 time as I had a sat nav fail on course and had to pull up and do a massive circle to get back on track - sack the jockey again! . I am really happy however that we seem to be making progress in the right direction . On a side note I was really impressed with the ground today they had made a lot of effort on the XC course .Next up is Stafford where we are entered in the BE100Plus, and I am now feeling much happier about tackling it then I did when entering! Wondering what weather I will be getting for that after the extremes of torrential rain at Milton Keynes to the boiling hot day today at Buckminster! In an ideal world I would love to manage to get a new saddle before that as although it fits Big Mare well, it doesn't seem to fit me so well, see thread: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=622702
Thanks for reading and apologies for lack of pictures particularly given the length of my post! (I have tried to cut it down!). I have been dragging my poor long suffering mum along with me to events and didn't feel I could ask her to video in the pouring rain at MK, or today as she was hobbling round thanks to some nasty blisters
. Wishing everyone else out competing the best of luck .
