How is it already June weekend plans

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millitiger

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Firstly thank you everyone for the rain dance, it worked!

We are eventing tomorrow, in the rain.
We haven't evented for 2 years, it will be our first event without shoes and I am a little nervous to be without studs.
We've had 1/2 a xc school last week and haven't done an SJ round since our last event...
However I have been prepping by riding on grass in the run up, including yesterday in the peeing rain.
Just hoping for a nice day out and a happy horse to take home.

Sunday going to see large ginger child at school. He has received a good report this week, apart from sometimes his attention wanders but he is a gelding so not unexpected 😅

Have fun all, whatever you are doing.
 
I'm getting back on Baggs and bringing him back into work slowly after the planned retirement has gone out the window.....I had this lovely plan to let him live out his years merrily stuffing grass and being loved on when Rabbit came down as I figured I wouldn't have time for 2 horses and Baggs has made all my wildest dreams and more come true so what better way to thank him - but it seems Baggs has other ideas and has been creating his own mischief by annoying the other horses in the field, terrorising poor Rabbit and occasionally jumping over a hedge to say hi to the mare next door before jumping back to where he should be again.....oh and he's apparently riddled with arthritis.....yet can clear a 1.25m gate......so yeah take that as you will :rolleyes:🤣🤣 His saddle arrived yesterday and fits like a dream, so just gotta be patient and wait for the decent weather on Sunday and then I'll be heading out :)

Rabbit is having some chilled time as he's gone bum high again so he's just been groomed and pampered and given lots of love, which he is very happy with. I must measure him again soon - pretty sure he's nearing 16 hands on the bum - which will make backing him interesting cause I'm only 5'1 😬🤣🤣
 
Enjoy your day of eventing militiger, i do miss our days out doing that.

I can actually contribute to this thread, its been a while. But im actually taking my 2yo out for his first inhand show. Ive had the bridle on him all week, and hes not been fussed at all. Did some walking around the yard in it as well. Hes quite a chunk for his age so it might be an interesting experience. But im hoping he retains his usual non plus chilled out demeanour , but heaven knows .
Im hoping he takes it in his stride as its a tester for the ID midlands show which is on 15mins around the corner from us this year.
 
Asha said:
I spoke to soon. They have cancelled the show . That’s pants !
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Is that because of the storms which may or may not be coming in?

Can't believe it is June already.

Jumping lesson yesterday and we'd booked the indoor with the idea that if it was just drizzle we'd head outdoors to their arena eventing set up. Well it hammered it down! I am beginning to get the hang of how to jump the turbo cob. If I take too strong a hold then he lands and bucks so I need to have a longer rein and let him travel. Fortunately over 50/60 cm we can work that out between us so hopefully if I can maintain my nerve and not try and hold him we'll get more confident. He makes a better shape jumping out of canter but there is often leg throwing in front of the fence and a woohoo I'm cantering moment where his little brain doesn't actually connect his legs have to lift up to go over the poles - so we're trotting in to make sure there is focus then allowing canter when he's worked out what his job is. Great instructor and she's really 'got him' in terms of that balance of allowing him to be enthusiastic without being rude (or bucking me off!!)

He's got a fun ride organised by the local hunt Sunday morning. Got the timing right with that given tomorrow's weather looks vile - but should soften the ground nicely.

Microcob needs some bodywork. She's got a 'tell' when her back isn't quite right in that she will cross her back legs over. There were skid marks in the field after a downpour plus I seem to have a large litter of fox cubs in the woods behind who have taken to playing in the field which the horses find terrifying :rolleyes: so hopefully she's just been playing around and tweaked herself.
 
SEL said:
Is that because of the storms which may or may not be coming in?

Can't believe it is June already.

Jumping lesson yesterday and we'd booked the indoor with the idea that if it was just drizzle we'd head outdoors to their arena eventing set up. Well it hammered it down! I am beginning to get the hang of how to jump the turbo cob. If I take too strong a hold then he lands and bucks so I need to have a longer rein and let him travel. Fortunately over 50/60 cm we can work that out between us so hopefully if I can maintain my nerve and not try and hold him we'll get more confident. He makes a better shape jumping out of canter but there is often leg throwing in front of the fence and a woohoo I'm cantering moment where his little brain doesn't actually connect his legs have to lift up to go over the poles - so we're trotting in to make sure there is focus then allowing canter when he's worked out what his job is. Great instructor and she's really 'got him' in terms of that balance of allowing him to be enthusiastic without being rude (or bucking me off!!)

He's got a fun ride organised by the local hunt Sunday morning. Got the timing right with that given tomorrow's weather looks vile - but should soften the ground nicely.

Microcob needs some bodywork. She's got a 'tell' when her back isn't quite right in that she will cross her back legs over. There were skid marks in the field after a downpour plus I seem to have a large litter of fox cubs in the woods behind who have taken to playing in the field which the horses find terrifying :rolleyes: so hopefully she's just been playing around and tweaked herself.
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No, apparently its due to lack of entries.

Hope your microcob is ok , we used to have a family of foxes in one of our fields, but havent seen them for a while now
 
Monday is a sort of bank holiday over here, so going to a stay away competition with Enormosaurus. It was supposed to be the regional championships but they have been cancelled so instead it's just two competitions on following days. It's Enormosaurus' first stay away competition and my instructor has negotiated an individual turn out paddock for her instead of a stable (she doesn't do stables - something we'll have to work on). We'll be doing two 85cm to keep well within her comfort zone for her first longer outing. She is also fat, so we don't want to add pressure to her joints by jumping bigger. I'm trying to get her weight down, but as I said, she doesn't do stables, has been escaping from her field every night to self supplement on the neighbour's growing wheat (we may have resolved that issue for now - but I'm sure she'll find another way out soon enough), so that just leaves exercise to keep her weight in check, and I'm struggling to do enough with her. She could do with a second rider, but I don't know where I'll find one capable and willing to ride her.
I'll be taking Liberty along, so first time camping with one of my dogs for me. Monster will be staying at my parents to limit the number of animals I'm responsible for while I'm away. I feel really guilty leaving him behind, but he's the easiest of the two to look after and dad gets on with him better than with Liberty.

I also seem to have become second rider in charge of Green TB, as against all expectations, my instructor likes her and thinks she can come good for the riding school. She is getting her teeth seen to next week which should help and in the meantime either my instructor or I ride her. I need to see if I can organise myself to ride her at least twice a week and get her working more as my instructor is struggling for time as well.
 
Faran and I are having our first go XC on Saturday 😁 I might be needing sticky vibes 🤣🤣

He loves jumping so I’m hoping that after an initial look at a few and maybe some lightbulb changing (he will balloon it if he’s unsure) he will just pop them quite happily.

Defo not looking forwards to ditches however I will be taking a lungline with me for first attempts at those as I honestly don’t want to undo all my good work with my spine by a fall. Once he’s not that bothered I’ll hop back on for riding over. 😁

Sunday might be me lying down in a dark room depending on Saturdays efforts 🤣🤣🤣
 
Oh heck, after saying it would be a non horsey weekend, I weakened!

This evening, big H went to another show. He actually won the 70cm class, very correct and organised, but BF sadly started the video then stopped it
🤣
after 4 seconds
🤣


Second class, I went for a silly tight turn and H knocked one down. I hadn't organised him, he was disunited... It wasn't my finest hour
🤣
but it was the only video I have so, here it is!

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7512914566049746198

I'm keeping low until we are sure we are both confident to push on in all circumstances. He does still have some green moments with weird fillers.


I seem to have entered H for a group silly- hunt ride on Sunday. Horses dashing all over in a large group. I blame the Dutch Courage from rum punch I brought back from the Carribean and opened tonight
🤣


Maybe I'll go. Maybe I'll think better about it in the morning
🤣


Oh heck... the morning. Much rum punch and we have to be up early for Parkrun
🤣
😂
🤣
😂
🤣
😂


Next week with HAVE to be non horse!!!
 
My chap is finally back in ridden work after 5 weeks off recovering from various ailments and then trying to get weight on him. He’s looking fab and I got back on earlier this week.

Tomorrow, I’m hoping to dodge the worst of the rain and do a bit of ridden work in the school, and then in hand pole work on Sunday.

I’m also going to be trying to decide if the riding boots that got delivered today are finally the ones I will be keeping. I appear to be incredibly fussy where boots are concerned, but I seem to be getting closer to the ideal boot. These are a little tight in the calf, but I’m hoping that they’ll stretch.
 
Fetched Mylo to grass livery nearer home. Where he promptly made friends with a local…. There are horses over the fence line and one of them will go in with him after a couple of days, then a 2nd, then he’ll go out with the herd.
6F96B4C5-E99E-40D6-B0B8-BC29F1776AC4.jpeg

Also had a lesson on Myka on Thursday and and riding her on my own in between lessons. Still need to take a deep breath whenever I get on but she’s only spooked once since camp, and that wasn’t overly dramatic anyway, so at the moment she’s feeling fairly accepting of the work.

0E7747D3-B1DF-4507-96B8-159F04FEDB09.jpeg
 
humblepie said:
Hope you’re alright.
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Thanks, I was at least hoping for an impressive bruise. I don’t seem to bruise easily even though I have a tender bum this morning.
Otherwise I’m ok.
To add insult to injury last night I couldn’t get my left boot off. Two of the teeth had gone squew whiff and I couldn’t get the zip past them. A friend poked them with a hoof pick until we could move the zip. Based on my sore calf in the evening I guess I did something weird with my leg in the fall, though I can’t understand how I can flex my lower leg in the mid calf area to pop zip teeth.
 
Quiet weekend planned, tomorrow I’m driving over to visit parents and stop overnight.

I was going to take mr H to the beach after work yesterday but was tired (and also the muck spreaders were flying up and down the road ) so decided to have a short school in the paddock. Put up some raised poles at one end, (to help his weaker off side hind) and a couple of poles 6 canter strides apart and had a little play. Did some shoulder in (in walk) and interspersed with cantering over the poles to get some energy (and trying to train my eye) then tried the shoulder in going into renvers exercise . He did it on the left “bend” which is the one we had practiced more, then I tried it on the right “bend” and he got that too! Told him he was a GOOD BOY and finished there so his little grey cells could talk to each other and agree how clever they were. We only rode for half an hour.

Hopefully the rain will hold off and I will take him to the beach this evening before tea when it will be quieter .

Hope everyone has a good weekend !
 
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I had a lovely ride this morning, and C didn’t put a hoof wrong, even when helicopters were flying nearby. I’m sticking with working him in walk while he gets his fitness back, and even with that, he looked tired when we finished. It was very warm and muggy though. He’s SUCH a good boy!

IMG_8748-compressed.jpeg
 
A pony appreciation post.
He hasn't evented or even jumped an SJ round for 2 years.
I can count the times he has jumped in the last 12 months on one hand.

He did a lovely, relaxed, sub-30 dressage.
The SJ steward was a little awkward and maybe woke up on the wrong side of bed so I warmed up in less than a minute, jumped 2 fences (no exaggeration!) and straight in.
Normally he can be a bit sluggy but he was a tank in the SJ, which took me by surprise, so just one early rolled pole and then jumped beautifully.
XC, not much to say! Very easy for me, I just steered and had minimal input and he cruised around very easily.
Most importantly, he had the BEST time, every photo his ears are pricked and he looks so happy. And felt completely comfortable and enthusiastic running barefoot for the first time, not a hesitation or slip anywhere which is a big sigh of relief!

20250607184238286~2.jpeg
 
millitiger said:
A pony appreciation post.
He hasn't evented or even jumped an SJ round for 2 years.
I can count the times he has jumped in the last 12 months on one hand.

He did a lovely, relaxed, sub-30 dressage.
The SJ steward was a little awkward and maybe woke up on the wrong side of bed so I warmed up in less than a minute, jumped 2 fences (no exaggeration!) and straight in.
Normally he can be a bit sluggy but he was a tank in the SJ, which took me by surprise, so just one early rolled pole and then jumped beautifully.
XC, not much to say! Very easy for me, I just steered and had minimal input and he cruised around very easily.
Most importantly, he had the BEST time, every photo his ears are pricked and he looks so happy. And felt completely comfortable and enthusiastic running barefoot for the first time, not a hesitation or slip anywhere which is a big sigh of relief!

View attachment 161302
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That sounds fantastic, and what a lovely photo!
 
millitiger said:
A pony appreciation post.
He hasn't evented or even jumped an SJ round for 2 years.
I can count the times he has jumped in the last 12 months on one hand.

He did a lovely, relaxed, sub-30 dressage.
The SJ steward was a little awkward and maybe woke up on the wrong side of bed so I warmed up in less than a minute, jumped 2 fences (no exaggeration!) and straight in.
Normally he can be a bit sluggy but he was a tank in the SJ, which took me by surprise, so just one early rolled pole and then jumped beautifully.
XC, not much to say! Very easy for me, I just steered and had minimal input and he cruised around very easily.
Most importantly, he had the BEST time, every photo his ears are pricked and he looks so happy. And felt completely comfortable and enthusiastic running barefoot for the first time, not a hesitation or slip anywhere which is a big sigh of relief!

View attachment 161302
Click to expand...
Fabulous write up and photo!
 
Well, we went to our little show and all went reasonably well. There were 8 lively contenders for the youngstock class and I was very happy that mine was pretty well behaved until right at the end when she exploded. Some other younger ones were also standing up, tanking off and reluctant to trot. The 3 year olds were more controlled. She loaded well and travelled calmly there and back so pretty pleased. 4th out of 8.
 

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Oh heck, I'm not doing very well at a non horse weekend 🤣

After sampling a lot of rum punch, I entered a ride organised by the hunt. It was a group ride with cantering and jumping.

I've done a lot of work to prep H for this but this was the tester.

You don't know what you're going to get until you put it to the test!

He was superb. A bit surprised at first, especially when, on the second canter, someone tried to use his backside as their braking system as they'd lost control. He was surprised at the thundering of many hooves and also by being overtaken.

But, by the third canter, he had it!

He simply got better and better. We ended up cantering on a relaxed rein, chatting and able to be independent of the others.

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7513624692624870678

Next weekend is defo non horse related tho!!!
 
I tore up my plans for pole work in the school, and stuck two fingers up at my nerves about hacking. I’ve not hacked since I had a bad fall back in January when his Lordship spooked at something and decided that he needed to be back home, right now, and I just couldn’t stay on.

Since then, we’ve moved yards to somewhere a lot quieter, and done lots of in hand work. Today, I woke up feeling inexplicably brave, and decided it was time to tackle my hacking demons. So we headed out in hand first, to make sure there was nothing scary on our route, and then I hopped on and we did the same hack with me on board. And it was totally fine. All in walk, because he’s coming back into work after a break, but he was very well behaved and I’m going to start hacking him once a week to help with his fitness.

All in all, it’s been a great weekend.
 
Having withdrawn from dressage the previous weekend, I did a late entry to a comp on Saturday in the hope of getting our final AM Areas sheet. After a tough week of work I really didn't feel like I had my head in the game but a lesson on Friday PM helped.

The test was a new one for me and I'd not been able to ride through it (too many jumps in our arena at home!) so the start was a bit nervy, but Sammy felt great. I was pretty sure we got all four changes but really didn't know how we would be marked. The judge asked how he was bred at the end though, and gave me a grin as she drove out of the venue!

Went to pick up my sheet and nearly fell over when I saw it - 71.03%, including an 8 for one of our changes!! Very very happy me and lots of treats for Sammy :D. Sadly no photos or vid as I was flying solo!
 
j1ffy said:
Having withdrawn from dressage the previous weekend, I did a late entry to a comp on Saturday in the hope of getting our final AM Areas sheet. After a tough week of work I really didn't feel like I had my head in the game but a lesson on Friday PM helped.

The test was a new one for me and I'd not been able to ride through it (too many jumps in our arena at home!) so the start was a bit nervy, but Sammy felt great. I was pretty sure we got all four changes but really didn't know how we would be marked. The judge asked how he was bred at the end though, and gave me a grin as she drove out of the venue!

Went to pick up my sheet and nearly fell over when I saw it - 71.03%, including an 8 for one of our changes!! Very very happy me and lots of treats for Sammy :D. Sadly no photos or vid as I was flying solo!
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Well done, great result!
 
Well done Jiffy - somehow it feels better when it's a surprise!

We didn't actually get as much rain as forecast on Sat and I'd rearranged things to avoid the storms which never showed up, so Sunday ended up a bit busy.

The hooligan enjoyed another good ride out with Chiltern Rides. Not so many attendees this time but I don't think it was advertised so heavily. The hills had obviously caught more of the rain so we came back plastered. He had to work his socks off to keep up with the eventing / team chase / hunting fit horses in our group but he's fit enough to have a crack! Dressed up for the photographer as usual 😜

Microcob also needed riding so my thighs are reminding me today I'm not young any more 🙄
 

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