blood_magik
Well-Known Member
Thought I'd do a little report since it's been kinda quiet in here.
Had a bit of a disaster giving Beau a jump the day before we went to Morris for the Hogmanay show (he stopped twice and I ended up sliding down his leg onto the floor) so I wasn't feeling too optimistic. Despite having jumped my first Newcomers (and not making too much of a fool out of myself), I had decided that I would drop back down a class at the Hogmanay show as the 1.10m class had been slightly ridiculous the year before.
I don't like the warmup at that show centre and had avoided it all year so the plan was to arrive early and go towards the beginning of the class. Of course, that didn't happen - I was re-walking the course when the bell went to clear the ring for the first horse so it was a case of waiting until the end instead.
I thought Beau warmed up nicely although he was a bit of an idiot when it came to our turn to head into the tunnel. Thankfully SuperGroom was around to persuade the big muppet that leaving his new best friend behind in the arena wasn't the end of the world and he eventually stood nicely.
We had a quick look at the champagne bottle fence before getting started but despite my intentions of getting a nice forwards canter, we were a little quiet along the first distance and then got a smidge close to number three. No worries, though, because they stayed up.
Had a word with myself coming round to number four and kicked on around the corner. The bigger canter meant four, five and six felt nice but then Beau left a leg over the first part of seven and we had it down. So, that was that...
I did get a nice picture, though, so it wasn't a completely wasted journey.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
[video=youtube;al_RnoledKU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al_RnoledKU[/video]
On the Saturday, we were back for the Mini Six Bar Challenge. I figured I'd better have a go before Beau was out of the class and we were forced to do the big one (which started at 1.20m and had went up to 1.80m the year before) and promptly booked myself in for a couple of lessons.
Lesson one was interesting but we survived and got up to 1.30m, which isn't much by some people's standards but I hadn't jumped that big in about four years and never with Big B. Lesson two... well, I may have told my trainer that I didn't like him anymore as I came down my line of fences to the 1.40m vertical.
We rattled it so I figured that we should do it again, but when I asked my trainer, he told me: "If you want. But we're not finished."
My friend, who I was sharing with, went first and got over 1.50m so of course I had to do it, too.
Then it went up again.
It's far from perfect (I'm so tense coming into some of the bigger fences) but I'm pleased that we had a go. I think I spent a week walking around with this big cheesy grin on my face.
[video=youtube;ELfe9tM8ftU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfe9tM8ftU[/video]
On the night of the actual six bar, we were drawn fourth to go. The course was builder was out doing his final checks when I was in the arena checking the distances and he told me that they were going to pull the fences out slightly as the height increased - when we had practiced the distances had stayed the same, so in theory, it should have made things easier for us.
Round one actually looked tiny (last fence was 90cm) and I think I got a little carried away shortening Beau up as I came to the first fence, which was separate from the rest of the line. We didn't have enough canter so we got three in every two stride distances - it was actually pretty embarrassing. I have no idea how we left everything up because we *really* should have had a pole.
So, we were through to round two by the seat of our pants. Out of twenty-seven starters, twenty-four went through with us and the fences were raised so that the last fence was 1.10m.
This time, I kept Beau together until we were over the first fence and then kicked on around the corner. What a difference - we got two strides instead of three
and popped through the line like we were out for a Sunday morning stroll.
I think we only lost one person going into round three. The last fence was up to 1.20m now and the line was taken from five fences down to four with the option of missing out the 'warm-up' fence. I took a bit of a chance by kicking on when I saw my stride coming into the line, but again, it felt easy and we made it through without incident.
By round four, we were down to 10 riders and the last fence went up to 1.35 (first in the line was 1.25). Standing at the gate, I got a bit of a shock at the height of the fences. The last time I came into a 1.25m fence without a pole or related fence was probably 2010 so I am extremely rusty but I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and just went for it. I got over the warm-up fence without any issue but then made the mistake of letting Beau go for it when he took a bit of a pull. We ended up half a stride out so he stopped and I went out the side door.
But never mind... at least we had a go.
My friend also went out in round four. The other rider from our yard won it - three went through to round five and she was the only one who didn't have a stop, so well done to her.
[video=youtube;MPzDvJ0jSnk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPzDvJ0jSnk[/video]
Links to the Pro pics I purchased:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...518079541.1073741838.223002495&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...518079541.1073741838.223002495&type=3&theater
We haven't really had a chance to jump since then so I've been working on the boys' flatwork. Beau has finally accepted that he doesn't have to go around looking like an upside-down banana (!) but we have quite a lot of work to do to get him to carry himself, so that was the focus of our lesson with Luis Lucio, who is the selector for the Spanish dressage team for Rio.
He had me get Beau working nicely and then I was to ask him to shorten the steps he was taking. Once he did that, I was to give away my contact to see what he did - if he kept the same pace, he got rewarded and if he didn't, I was to shorten and ask him again. The idea was that Beau needed to realise that my hand not being there wasn't a bad thing and that he was expected to ask what I wanted of him - did I want him to stop, keep going, speed up...?
To start with, he lost the self-carriage and tensed but after a few minutes, he started to relax and carry himself in the right canter. The left isn't quite as good yet - he keeps trying to run away when I push my hands forwards but on the plus side, he's not hollowing through his back as much as he was.
My next lesson was on Mr. Honduraz. The last time I saw Luis, we worked on getting Raz to take smaller steps, which he's now doing. However, my canter has started to suffer and is now more four beat than three.
Today, we started off trying to get Raz to relax and not rush off when I gave with my hands. We did something similar to what we did with Beau - ask smaller and then give. Eventually, I was giving with both reins in one hand and Raz was staying in a lovely relaxed trot.
The next step was getting him used to me carrying a schooling stick. We repeated the exercise until he realised that me giving away my contact whilst holding a whip didn't mean he was about to die. It took a while, but eventually he relaxed and I was able to hold my reins in one hand again without him charging off.
We didn't really get as far as working on the canter but again, Raz was lovely and relaxed, even though the canter was four beat instead of three. The plan is to get him used to his rider carrying a stick before Luis comes back and then we can work on getting him to step a little quicker behind.
So, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get Lenny out again soon (I have a bit on trial but haven't been able to jump him due to lessons, arena hires and maintenance
) and then everyone will be back up and running for the new season.
Thanks for reading.
Had a bit of a disaster giving Beau a jump the day before we went to Morris for the Hogmanay show (he stopped twice and I ended up sliding down his leg onto the floor) so I wasn't feeling too optimistic. Despite having jumped my first Newcomers (and not making too much of a fool out of myself), I had decided that I would drop back down a class at the Hogmanay show as the 1.10m class had been slightly ridiculous the year before.
I don't like the warmup at that show centre and had avoided it all year so the plan was to arrive early and go towards the beginning of the class. Of course, that didn't happen - I was re-walking the course when the bell went to clear the ring for the first horse so it was a case of waiting until the end instead.
I thought Beau warmed up nicely although he was a bit of an idiot when it came to our turn to head into the tunnel. Thankfully SuperGroom was around to persuade the big muppet that leaving his new best friend behind in the arena wasn't the end of the world and he eventually stood nicely.
We had a quick look at the champagne bottle fence before getting started but despite my intentions of getting a nice forwards canter, we were a little quiet along the first distance and then got a smidge close to number three. No worries, though, because they stayed up.
Had a word with myself coming round to number four and kicked on around the corner. The bigger canter meant four, five and six felt nice but then Beau left a leg over the first part of seven and we had it down. So, that was that...
I did get a nice picture, though, so it wasn't a completely wasted journey.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
[video=youtube;al_RnoledKU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al_RnoledKU[/video]
On the Saturday, we were back for the Mini Six Bar Challenge. I figured I'd better have a go before Beau was out of the class and we were forced to do the big one (which started at 1.20m and had went up to 1.80m the year before) and promptly booked myself in for a couple of lessons.
Lesson one was interesting but we survived and got up to 1.30m, which isn't much by some people's standards but I hadn't jumped that big in about four years and never with Big B. Lesson two... well, I may have told my trainer that I didn't like him anymore as I came down my line of fences to the 1.40m vertical.
We rattled it so I figured that we should do it again, but when I asked my trainer, he told me: "If you want. But we're not finished."
My friend, who I was sharing with, went first and got over 1.50m so of course I had to do it, too.
Then it went up again.
It's far from perfect (I'm so tense coming into some of the bigger fences) but I'm pleased that we had a go. I think I spent a week walking around with this big cheesy grin on my face.
[video=youtube;ELfe9tM8ftU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfe9tM8ftU[/video]
On the night of the actual six bar, we were drawn fourth to go. The course was builder was out doing his final checks when I was in the arena checking the distances and he told me that they were going to pull the fences out slightly as the height increased - when we had practiced the distances had stayed the same, so in theory, it should have made things easier for us.
Round one actually looked tiny (last fence was 90cm) and I think I got a little carried away shortening Beau up as I came to the first fence, which was separate from the rest of the line. We didn't have enough canter so we got three in every two stride distances - it was actually pretty embarrassing. I have no idea how we left everything up because we *really* should have had a pole.
So, we were through to round two by the seat of our pants. Out of twenty-seven starters, twenty-four went through with us and the fences were raised so that the last fence was 1.10m.
This time, I kept Beau together until we were over the first fence and then kicked on around the corner. What a difference - we got two strides instead of three
and popped through the line like we were out for a Sunday morning stroll. I think we only lost one person going into round three. The last fence was up to 1.20m now and the line was taken from five fences down to four with the option of missing out the 'warm-up' fence. I took a bit of a chance by kicking on when I saw my stride coming into the line, but again, it felt easy and we made it through without incident.
By round four, we were down to 10 riders and the last fence went up to 1.35 (first in the line was 1.25). Standing at the gate, I got a bit of a shock at the height of the fences.
The last time I came into a 1.25m fence without a pole or related fence was probably 2010 so I am extremely rusty but I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and just went for it. I got over the warm-up fence without any issue but then made the mistake of letting Beau go for it when he took a bit of a pull. We ended up half a stride out so he stopped and I went out the side door. But never mind... at least we had a go.
My friend also went out in round four. The other rider from our yard won it - three went through to round five and she was the only one who didn't have a stop, so well done to her.
[video=youtube;MPzDvJ0jSnk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPzDvJ0jSnk[/video]
Links to the Pro pics I purchased:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...518079541.1073741838.223002495&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...518079541.1073741838.223002495&type=3&theater
We haven't really had a chance to jump since then so I've been working on the boys' flatwork. Beau has finally accepted that he doesn't have to go around looking like an upside-down banana (!) but we have quite a lot of work to do to get him to carry himself, so that was the focus of our lesson with Luis Lucio, who is the selector for the Spanish dressage team for Rio.
He had me get Beau working nicely and then I was to ask him to shorten the steps he was taking. Once he did that, I was to give away my contact to see what he did - if he kept the same pace, he got rewarded and if he didn't, I was to shorten and ask him again. The idea was that Beau needed to realise that my hand not being there wasn't a bad thing and that he was expected to ask what I wanted of him - did I want him to stop, keep going, speed up...?
To start with, he lost the self-carriage and tensed but after a few minutes, he started to relax and carry himself in the right canter. The left isn't quite as good yet - he keeps trying to run away when I push my hands forwards but on the plus side, he's not hollowing through his back as much as he was.
My next lesson was on Mr. Honduraz. The last time I saw Luis, we worked on getting Raz to take smaller steps, which he's now doing. However, my canter has started to suffer and is now more four beat than three.
Today, we started off trying to get Raz to relax and not rush off when I gave with my hands. We did something similar to what we did with Beau - ask smaller and then give. Eventually, I was giving with both reins in one hand and Raz was staying in a lovely relaxed trot.
The next step was getting him used to me carrying a schooling stick. We repeated the exercise until he realised that me giving away my contact whilst holding a whip didn't mean he was about to die. It took a while, but eventually he relaxed and I was able to hold my reins in one hand again without him charging off.
We didn't really get as far as working on the canter but again, Raz was lovely and relaxed, even though the canter was four beat instead of three. The plan is to get him used to his rider carrying a stick before Luis comes back and then we can work on getting him to step a little quicker behind.
So, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get Lenny out again soon (I have a bit on trial but haven't been able to jump him due to lessons, arena hires and maintenance
) and then everyone will be back up and running for the new season. Thanks for reading.
