Carefreegirl
Well-Known Member
Toddled off to MK last Sunday for the BE100. Luckily I was last to go in the Dressage so had the whole warm up to myself for a while and the heat had also started to drop. Still in shirt sleeves though. I did feel sorry for the Judges being sat in their cars all day. Test was ok, I forgot to use my legs and she drifted out through the shoulders a couple of times so gave myself a slap as I left the arena.
Show jumping seemed to be causing a few problems, mainly fence 3 an upright, 5 strides to fence 4 the double. We watched most people do 6 strides, 5 normal then they'd chip in a short one. One woman's horse bounced on the spot and we lost count at about 11 - very impressive. However she did get time faults lol. Well I'm not sure what happened but we only went clear with the perfect 5 strides from 3 to 4 ! our first ever clear at 100, up until now 8 faults was my normal. Came out with the biggest grin ever. When I went in they announced my Dressage score of 35, bit disappointed with myself as I know we can do better.
Anyhoo as it was near the end of the day they were desperate for people to go xc so gave her a quick break, tacked her back up and went over to the start. There wasn't anything on the course that overly concerned me but you never know with horses. Well she took me round like a pro. The only problem I had was getting my foot stuck in the stirrup over 4a and then having to jump another double and tight turn to 6 before I could release it eek.
If you listen to me going down the hill I keep repeating 'agricultural' I blame Nick for this - he said my half halts were useless and to be 'more agricultural' I also say 'hips under' a lot, again he told me to have my hips under me instead of having my butt sticking out a mile behind me. I sound like a nutter but it seems to work.
We went clear and were 5 seconds under the OT. Washed her off then as I was walking her round they announced the placings and we'd only come 6th. Super duper pony so we got a nice frilly and nice Dressage pad and a RF qualification.
Headcam here
http://youtu.be/IBQtTEY6XQs
Now onto the tragedy. My horse was in foal and although due 4th July clearly was not going to wait until then. I'd been on foal watch for the last 2 weeks, sleeping in the lorry. I keep her at the stud but I wanted to do as much as I could. The stud owner lives on site (about 50yds from where my lorry was parked) On Monday evening her waters broke cue excitement and nerves. However it soon became clear that she was in trouble and YO went in and found the foal was nose first. Vet was called and in the 10 minutes it took for him to get there I thought I'd lost them both. We had to get her back up and it took the vet, YO and her OH to pull the foal out. When i eventually looked (I'd been holding Tilly's head) I was so surprised to see the foal alive, I actually said 'oh my god it's alive' We rubbed the foal down whilst the vet gave tetanus and antibiotics and then he checked T over. Our euphoria was short lived when the vet checked the foal over and found that the bones in his knees were fused. Sadly there was nothing that could be done and at less than 5 minutes old little Stanley was pts with me holding him, stroking him and telling him I was sorry.
It's only thanks to my YO's experience that I still have Tilly who is doing remarkably well considering and my vets (Hampden vets in Aylesbury) especially Tim who did such a brilliant job. Due to his knees fusing he kept catching then on her pelvis which meant she couldn't push him out. It was very traumatic Especially for Tilly who has come out of with just a couple of tiny scrapes on her head, thank god for rubber matting.
RIP Stanley xxx
Show jumping seemed to be causing a few problems, mainly fence 3 an upright, 5 strides to fence 4 the double. We watched most people do 6 strides, 5 normal then they'd chip in a short one. One woman's horse bounced on the spot and we lost count at about 11 - very impressive. However she did get time faults lol. Well I'm not sure what happened but we only went clear with the perfect 5 strides from 3 to 4 ! our first ever clear at 100, up until now 8 faults was my normal. Came out with the biggest grin ever. When I went in they announced my Dressage score of 35, bit disappointed with myself as I know we can do better.
Anyhoo as it was near the end of the day they were desperate for people to go xc so gave her a quick break, tacked her back up and went over to the start. There wasn't anything on the course that overly concerned me but you never know with horses. Well she took me round like a pro. The only problem I had was getting my foot stuck in the stirrup over 4a and then having to jump another double and tight turn to 6 before I could release it eek.
If you listen to me going down the hill I keep repeating 'agricultural' I blame Nick for this - he said my half halts were useless and to be 'more agricultural' I also say 'hips under' a lot, again he told me to have my hips under me instead of having my butt sticking out a mile behind me. I sound like a nutter but it seems to work.
We went clear and were 5 seconds under the OT. Washed her off then as I was walking her round they announced the placings and we'd only come 6th. Super duper pony so we got a nice frilly and nice Dressage pad and a RF qualification.
Headcam here
http://youtu.be/IBQtTEY6XQs
Now onto the tragedy. My horse was in foal and although due 4th July clearly was not going to wait until then. I'd been on foal watch for the last 2 weeks, sleeping in the lorry. I keep her at the stud but I wanted to do as much as I could. The stud owner lives on site (about 50yds from where my lorry was parked) On Monday evening her waters broke cue excitement and nerves. However it soon became clear that she was in trouble and YO went in and found the foal was nose first. Vet was called and in the 10 minutes it took for him to get there I thought I'd lost them both. We had to get her back up and it took the vet, YO and her OH to pull the foal out. When i eventually looked (I'd been holding Tilly's head) I was so surprised to see the foal alive, I actually said 'oh my god it's alive' We rubbed the foal down whilst the vet gave tetanus and antibiotics and then he checked T over. Our euphoria was short lived when the vet checked the foal over and found that the bones in his knees were fused. Sadly there was nothing that could be done and at less than 5 minutes old little Stanley was pts with me holding him, stroking him and telling him I was sorry.
It's only thanks to my YO's experience that I still have Tilly who is doing remarkably well considering and my vets (Hampden vets in Aylesbury) especially Tim who did such a brilliant job. Due to his knees fusing he kept catching then on her pelvis which meant she couldn't push him out. It was very traumatic Especially for Tilly who has come out of with just a couple of tiny scrapes on her head, thank god for rubber matting.
RIP Stanley xxx
- very sad
