Prince33Sp4rkle
Well-Known Member
firstly, would like to send out HUGE congrats to Helen, Jane and Em for their team results at Vale over the weekend, and to my client and her ex racer who were 6th in the novice on sat, at their first ever Area Festivals....i am SO pleased for you all :hugestproudestgrinever:
and now to CS......we deliberated long and hard over how to handle today, sat was insanely busy, ran on in to darkness and only had one warm up arena open......had i had to handle that i think i would have had to go back to snuff.......however today was warmer, less busy, and with both warm ups open by the time i was on, it was overall a much more relaxed atmosphere....sooooooo......i opted for NO snuff, but rode him at home in the morning for 20mins. He came out very relxed, but forward, with only 2 miniscule hurrumphs, so popped him out in the field for a few hours and went off to be terrifed by myself for a bit.
at this point i would like to say thank you to everyone who commented on my other post-i felt a HUGE amount of pressure today, but i proved to myself that i could work through it, so in a weird way, horrid as that thread was, it taught me a lot about how to draw on my internal confidence and put every other bugger to the back of my mind.
he was very relaxed from the word go in the warm up, one minor leap when a lorry rattled past on the road, but nothing else, and after about 20mins i said to NMT that i didnt care how the rest of the day went as he was just so on the aids and trying so hard to stay with me and stay focused, and that in its self is a huge deal for a sharp 6yo
if nothing else i would have won the prize for most groupies as LOADS of friends and clients turned up to cheer us on-thank you so much guys, it means the world to me.....
onward to the test-just as we walked in the tannoy started up and poor CS looped off down the arena, it really rattled him (throwback to the racetrack?)....BUT as soon as she shut up, he relaxed and came back to me and off we went,and that wouldnt have happened 6months ago, so another big gold star for him............it was quite easily the nicest test he has done all year, he stayed 100% on the aids for the entire test, and was so supple and rideable and forward without bubbling over in to tension.
the first trot HP went a bit green, but other than that he did everything to the best of his ability at this point, and never once sucked back or dropped behind the leg. He felt super grown up and like i could have done anything on him. he ignored the music, the banners and the judges cars-all things that set him off at the Hargate area festival last year.
i came out the arena and promptly burst in to tears, followed closely by my good friend and livery, so lots of team hugs and team snot! even NMT *nearly* cried and she doesnt cry for anyfink!!!!!
we all stood around and cried and pony patted for a bit, until someone came hurtling back to report that we were 5th!!! out of 18, with 64.26%, at which point there was more tears and snot and patting. judges marks were very close, less than 1% between sheets which is good, and as both are quite tough, i was really pleased with that mark, no really super duper over the moon pleased as a pleased thing!
now, i had entered Adv100 as well,with the idea that we would do it if we both felt on form, and if we didnt, we would withdraw as you simply cant go on a wish and a prayer at that level,esp on a young horse.
so feeling on form, we decided to go for it and have a beetle round A100 too.......by this point i was shaking with terrification (team word for sheer rabbit in headlights fear!!!) but CS marched in, perhaps a bit lacking in petrol by now, but still very much on the button and ready to go.....................he was AMAZING.......right to left change went tense, but all the lateral work felt lovely and the mediums to change were spot on.....and the canter serpentine felt much better than i anticipated,and the lovely thing was that it felt easy, tons of time to set up, tons of time to really think and ride, not rushed, not OHMYGODWHATNEXT.
he jogged a bit in the medium walk, but stayed sharp and forward in the walk P's and id rather have it that way round TBH.
comedy moment at final halt....CS halted square,but rested a leg, i nudged him to stand up, he ignored me, i nudged, he yawned, i nudged, he flicked an ear.....by this time entire team were in hysterics, i gave up and saluted!!!!!
there were only two of us in that, but we only went and WON it with 64.36%, so thats my group 3 status nailed in time for PSG next year.
I could not have asked for any more from him today, he gave it his all but my god it felt easy and im already excited for 2012
on a roll, and perhaps blinded by delight, i decided to take him in to the prizegiving for the petplan class......he was a moderate knob, as we knew he would be, but a lot better than he could have been, and id like to say massive thanks to Rubysmum who dived out a doorway and grabbed him in perfect time for me to throw myself off before being ejected!!!!!!
so, final show of 2011 will be the ROR finals in a couple of weeks and id like to think that E53 will be a walk in the park for him, but lets not tempt fate!
am on cloud nine,and probably will be for some time.................
and now to CS......we deliberated long and hard over how to handle today, sat was insanely busy, ran on in to darkness and only had one warm up arena open......had i had to handle that i think i would have had to go back to snuff.......however today was warmer, less busy, and with both warm ups open by the time i was on, it was overall a much more relaxed atmosphere....sooooooo......i opted for NO snuff, but rode him at home in the morning for 20mins. He came out very relxed, but forward, with only 2 miniscule hurrumphs, so popped him out in the field for a few hours and went off to be terrifed by myself for a bit.
at this point i would like to say thank you to everyone who commented on my other post-i felt a HUGE amount of pressure today, but i proved to myself that i could work through it, so in a weird way, horrid as that thread was, it taught me a lot about how to draw on my internal confidence and put every other bugger to the back of my mind.
he was very relaxed from the word go in the warm up, one minor leap when a lorry rattled past on the road, but nothing else, and after about 20mins i said to NMT that i didnt care how the rest of the day went as he was just so on the aids and trying so hard to stay with me and stay focused, and that in its self is a huge deal for a sharp 6yo
if nothing else i would have won the prize for most groupies as LOADS of friends and clients turned up to cheer us on-thank you so much guys, it means the world to me.....
onward to the test-just as we walked in the tannoy started up and poor CS looped off down the arena, it really rattled him (throwback to the racetrack?)....BUT as soon as she shut up, he relaxed and came back to me and off we went,and that wouldnt have happened 6months ago, so another big gold star for him............it was quite easily the nicest test he has done all year, he stayed 100% on the aids for the entire test, and was so supple and rideable and forward without bubbling over in to tension.
the first trot HP went a bit green, but other than that he did everything to the best of his ability at this point, and never once sucked back or dropped behind the leg. He felt super grown up and like i could have done anything on him. he ignored the music, the banners and the judges cars-all things that set him off at the Hargate area festival last year.
i came out the arena and promptly burst in to tears, followed closely by my good friend and livery, so lots of team hugs and team snot! even NMT *nearly* cried and she doesnt cry for anyfink!!!!!
we all stood around and cried and pony patted for a bit, until someone came hurtling back to report that we were 5th!!! out of 18, with 64.26%, at which point there was more tears and snot and patting. judges marks were very close, less than 1% between sheets which is good, and as both are quite tough, i was really pleased with that mark, no really super duper over the moon pleased as a pleased thing!
now, i had entered Adv100 as well,with the idea that we would do it if we both felt on form, and if we didnt, we would withdraw as you simply cant go on a wish and a prayer at that level,esp on a young horse.
so feeling on form, we decided to go for it and have a beetle round A100 too.......by this point i was shaking with terrification (team word for sheer rabbit in headlights fear!!!) but CS marched in, perhaps a bit lacking in petrol by now, but still very much on the button and ready to go.....................he was AMAZING.......right to left change went tense, but all the lateral work felt lovely and the mediums to change were spot on.....and the canter serpentine felt much better than i anticipated,and the lovely thing was that it felt easy, tons of time to set up, tons of time to really think and ride, not rushed, not OHMYGODWHATNEXT.
he jogged a bit in the medium walk, but stayed sharp and forward in the walk P's and id rather have it that way round TBH.
comedy moment at final halt....CS halted square,but rested a leg, i nudged him to stand up, he ignored me, i nudged, he yawned, i nudged, he flicked an ear.....by this time entire team were in hysterics, i gave up and saluted!!!!!
there were only two of us in that, but we only went and WON it with 64.36%, so thats my group 3 status nailed in time for PSG next year.
I could not have asked for any more from him today, he gave it his all but my god it felt easy and im already excited for 2012
on a roll, and perhaps blinded by delight, i decided to take him in to the prizegiving for the petplan class......he was a moderate knob, as we knew he would be, but a lot better than he could have been, and id like to say massive thanks to Rubysmum who dived out a doorway and grabbed him in perfect time for me to throw myself off before being ejected!!!!!!
so, final show of 2011 will be the ROR finals in a couple of weeks and id like to think that E53 will be a walk in the park for him, but lets not tempt fate!
am on cloud nine,and probably will be for some time.................
