Skhosu
Well-Known Member
So trundled off with bob (17hh hunter..v. slow), alfie on his second ever outing, and little one on her old pony to a local ODE
so Bob did decent dessage, halfway down the class. Got 'positively ridden'. The spurs convincing him to move maybe? Bless, he has really showed his dressage side recently! CLEAR SJ, very impressed as some scary fillers, he didn't even notice them. Had one little grind to a halt xc, he just kind of ran out of petrol, then continue and jumped the open ditch, water etc. We had a teensy hiccup...he hit a pole (we're talking a ltelegraph pole/og..) and uh...it broke in two...oops! So ended up about 11th/12th out of 28. Not bad since I've only ridden him three or four times!
So little sister did alright, poor dressage, clear SJ and a couple of stops xc, but better than normal.
Then alfie. I had said to sister I would ride him if she wasn't confident. She insisted she would push him on. She has only ridden him at home over tyres/log, I've taken him xc schooling
. So, did a good dressage, he cantered in teh right places, broke once but was lazy rather than forward going which is not bad, this is his second time off our property btw. SJ, she was diabolical, very slow trot round and took him crooked into his (first) double so he ran out. Jumped it second time and had a pole down, did jump a v. scary yellow filler first time though and was honest (she was sitting back).
So I really revved her up for the xc as she admitted to being terrified (****** great on a baby horse..). She started well, then cantered past the second fence...acceptable ok. Jumped fine then came into view at fence 11 and ran out. She just didn't anticipate it at all, and just let him, didn't think of making him jump it, just let it happen (he didn't duck out, just ran past it without really realising).
Then the water. Here he got eliminated. He stopped, fine. Smack and round again, stop. So I told her to use her stick on his bum rather than his shoulder. So she turned away from the fence and hit him on the bum, he tried to go home, turned him round and rode him again, managed to trot, stopped again. At this point, eliminated. Now, if she had given him a slap across the backside just as he hesitated the second/third time I think he would have gone in. But she was scared of his reaction to being hit. Did go on to finish with no other problems, but I was so cross. HAving insisted she would use her legs and ride him positively, she needed him to take her round and he just wasn't ready. He has done water before, but it was a tiny drop (Think 1cm) and murky and he was the last horse out so no lead sadly. Not a good advertisement and she thinks it went qutie well...
Arrrgh! Going to get him to the beach this week hopefully until he's super confident with water. He is just a baby and he did jump everything she presented him at!
Edited to add: Bob in 2"6, other two in 2"3, so not too big! Suppose I should stop sulking with sister now....any tips for encouraging her to KICK, rather than sit there? She did say I helped her in the practise arena..but think she expected congrats for getting round.
so Bob did decent dessage, halfway down the class. Got 'positively ridden'. The spurs convincing him to move maybe? Bless, he has really showed his dressage side recently! CLEAR SJ, very impressed as some scary fillers, he didn't even notice them. Had one little grind to a halt xc, he just kind of ran out of petrol, then continue and jumped the open ditch, water etc. We had a teensy hiccup...he hit a pole (we're talking a ltelegraph pole/og..) and uh...it broke in two...oops! So ended up about 11th/12th out of 28. Not bad since I've only ridden him three or four times!
So little sister did alright, poor dressage, clear SJ and a couple of stops xc, but better than normal.
Then alfie. I had said to sister I would ride him if she wasn't confident. She insisted she would push him on. She has only ridden him at home over tyres/log, I've taken him xc schooling
So I really revved her up for the xc as she admitted to being terrified (****** great on a baby horse..). She started well, then cantered past the second fence...acceptable ok. Jumped fine then came into view at fence 11 and ran out. She just didn't anticipate it at all, and just let him, didn't think of making him jump it, just let it happen (he didn't duck out, just ran past it without really realising).
Then the water. Here he got eliminated. He stopped, fine. Smack and round again, stop. So I told her to use her stick on his bum rather than his shoulder. So she turned away from the fence and hit him on the bum, he tried to go home, turned him round and rode him again, managed to trot, stopped again. At this point, eliminated. Now, if she had given him a slap across the backside just as he hesitated the second/third time I think he would have gone in. But she was scared of his reaction to being hit. Did go on to finish with no other problems, but I was so cross. HAving insisted she would use her legs and ride him positively, she needed him to take her round and he just wasn't ready. He has done water before, but it was a tiny drop (Think 1cm) and murky and he was the last horse out so no lead sadly. Not a good advertisement and she thinks it went qutie well...
Arrrgh! Going to get him to the beach this week hopefully until he's super confident with water. He is just a baby and he did jump everything she presented him at!
Edited to add: Bob in 2"6, other two in 2"3, so not too big! Suppose I should stop sulking with sister now....any tips for encouraging her to KICK, rather than sit there? She did say I helped her in the practise arena..but think she expected congrats for getting round.
