Fiona
Well-Known Member
Well perhaps not strictly true - I've done plenty for OH, but with him off games awaiting his MRI scan (bad hip), I thought I'd better pull my finger out and do a bit myself.
Although OH has taken Flo out for me, I've only jumped her (at home) about twice since she put me in hospital last October, so to say I was nervous yesterday/last night was something of an understatement.
We were entered in a local jumpcross event, with a SJ round in an outdoor arena, jumping out over the bank at the side of the arena to start the XC course.
Of course we got up this morning to find lovely rain, but it wasn't horrendously heavy and the course I knew was quite a lot on all weather and very well drained.
Walked the course and it was nice, tiny little fence in the stream to hop over, and then an open ditch which F isn't keen on, but the rest was lovely, and because I had only entered the baby class, I wasn't stressing about the height of the fences!!
Well madam's behavior in the warmup was horrendous!! Snorting, plunging, bucking into canter, and even a mini rear (bad temper) when I pulled her head up from her bucking (OH said I should have pushed her on though rather than stopping her though).
Eventually settled and got some nice practice jumps, though she was really overjumping which didn't help my nerves in the slightest.
We fortunately didn't have too long to wait, and once we went into the arena she was a little star. Didn't overjump anything even the bright fillers, and once we jumped out of the arena to start the XC she really motored on and was fantastic. Jumped the open ditch from a standstill, but the one slightly further on with a pole over she jumped out of her stride, and jumped quite a sizeable brush fence and a big tyre drop to finish.
I was so please with her and patting her so hard I forgot to go through the finish, but that wasn't really the object of the day.
It was really nice to be out playing with my pony again, and she seems much more grown up than last year (except for the loony tune warmup obviously), but at least it made her easy to jump as she was taking me into the fences so nicely.
The only downer came when we got home, and discovered that there is a plank starting to go in the lorry floor (thank goodness I check it regularly though, or dear knows what could have happened)!! Hopefully this will be fixed ASAP, and I can start planning our next outing.
This has turned onto a bit of an epic, but its a bit of a big thing for me to be out and about again, and to have been able to ride her reasonably competently despite my horrendous nerves!
No pics BTW - it was wet, OH's nerves were on edge watching me, and they probably wouldn't have turned out that great anyway - weather was a bit dreich!!
Fiona
Although OH has taken Flo out for me, I've only jumped her (at home) about twice since she put me in hospital last October, so to say I was nervous yesterday/last night was something of an understatement.
We were entered in a local jumpcross event, with a SJ round in an outdoor arena, jumping out over the bank at the side of the arena to start the XC course.
Of course we got up this morning to find lovely rain, but it wasn't horrendously heavy and the course I knew was quite a lot on all weather and very well drained.
Walked the course and it was nice, tiny little fence in the stream to hop over, and then an open ditch which F isn't keen on, but the rest was lovely, and because I had only entered the baby class, I wasn't stressing about the height of the fences!!
Well madam's behavior in the warmup was horrendous!! Snorting, plunging, bucking into canter, and even a mini rear (bad temper) when I pulled her head up from her bucking (OH said I should have pushed her on though rather than stopping her though).
Eventually settled and got some nice practice jumps, though she was really overjumping which didn't help my nerves in the slightest.
We fortunately didn't have too long to wait, and once we went into the arena she was a little star. Didn't overjump anything even the bright fillers, and once we jumped out of the arena to start the XC she really motored on and was fantastic. Jumped the open ditch from a standstill, but the one slightly further on with a pole over she jumped out of her stride, and jumped quite a sizeable brush fence and a big tyre drop to finish.
I was so please with her and patting her so hard I forgot to go through the finish, but that wasn't really the object of the day.
It was really nice to be out playing with my pony again, and she seems much more grown up than last year (except for the loony tune warmup obviously), but at least it made her easy to jump as she was taking me into the fences so nicely.
The only downer came when we got home, and discovered that there is a plank starting to go in the lorry floor (thank goodness I check it regularly though, or dear knows what could have happened)!! Hopefully this will be fixed ASAP, and I can start planning our next outing.
This has turned onto a bit of an epic, but its a bit of a big thing for me to be out and about again, and to have been able to ride her reasonably competently despite my horrendous nerves!
No pics BTW - it was wet, OH's nerves were on edge watching me, and they probably wouldn't have turned out that great anyway - weather was a bit dreich!!
Fiona
