blood_magik
Well-Known Member
I have a few shows to report on so I'll try to keep them all relatively brief.
After coping relatively well at a team SJ show, I moved Lenny back up to Discovery. For once, the fences looked a nice height and I was pretty relaxed going in. He'd jumped nicely round a 95NAQ the day before but had a fence when I saw a rubbish stride so I was optimistic that we might finally get through to the second phase.
He started off really well - we hit every fence right where we needed to be but unfortunately he had an unlucky pole coming out of a one-stride double in the first phase. Bit disappointing because I thought it was the best round we've had so far.
[video=youtube;kCrCyYFHbrY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCrCyYFHbrY[/video]
The next weekend we were at SNEC.
Beau jumped a lovely double clear in the 90 open and third place, despite the numpty on board adding up along two of the related distances. The big guy saved my bacon when he (thankfully) managed to get two strides in a one stride double and left both fences standing.
Then we jumped our second 95cm class. We had an unlucky fence coming into the last double but I was really pleased with how he felt.
Lenny jumped the 95 as a warmup and we nearly had the same fence as Beau. He skipped round and managed a double clear but we weren't quick enough to place.
The 1m class was a bit of a disaster. We got round but he felt tired and while we cleared the fences, we didn't have enough energy to make the distances. We had a heart-in-mouth moment at one of the related distances but somehow he managed to leave the fences up. We then had an unlucky fences towards the end to finish on 4 faults.
We headed back to SNEC a fortnight later.
There wasn't a 95 class so I ended up jumping Beau round our first disco/1m open. I was bricking it and the warmup was chaotic, which set Beau off. I should have taken him out until it got a bit quieter but I figured I'd be better getting it over and done with.
The fences looked massive towards the end and part of me was hoping we would have an early fence so I wouldn't have to jump them. I'm sure you can guess what happened - the big guy jumped clear in the first phase so I had to man up and face those big scary fences. We jumped clear by the seat of our pants - I got it slightly wrong coming into the one stride double the first time and we got a bit close to the last fence but they stayed up and we ended up coming 5th in the open section.
[video=youtube;_j7ELfgUd-w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j7ELfgUd-w[/video]
Lenny and I then attempted our first 1.05m class. Unfortunately it was a table A9 so we were kind of thrown in at the deep end. Once again, we went up but not forwards so it was pretty sticky in places. The triple at number 5 was our downfall and I ended up retiring after it. I went back in HC but the second time wasn't much better. We got through the triple but had a stop at fence 12 and ended up getting eliminated there.
Lenny did his monthly showing show on Thursday and was consistent, as always. We won Tack and Turnout, and the Novice Show Horse, and then we were second in the Riding Club Horse and Equitation. He took Reserve in the championship.
I had planned on jumping him round the Discovery and the 1.05m today but he decided he didn't want to keep his shoes on last night and left one in the field.
I had Beau in the 1m open class. I wasn't particularly happy with one of the related distances coming off a corner but in the end, it didn't matter because we never got that far.
He started off really well until I saw a bit of a rubbish stride coming into the upright in the warmup. He stopped and off I came. No harm done though, so I jumped back on and popped him over a slightly smaller fence before continuing with our warmup.
We started off okay - came round to one and got a good stride into it. Rode him forwards along the dogleg to number two and got an okay stride only for him to slam on the brakes at the last second.
It's really not like him to stop - he will have a go even if we're on a duff stride - so I ended up retiring once I got him over that second fence. I reckon he's either gotten a fright when I came off (he's a sensitive soul) or he's trying to tell me its time to get his hocks medicated again. It's coming up to a year since he had them done so chances are it's time for a top up.
So, highs and lows... But that's horses for you.
Thanks for reading.
After coping relatively well at a team SJ show, I moved Lenny back up to Discovery. For once, the fences looked a nice height and I was pretty relaxed going in. He'd jumped nicely round a 95NAQ the day before but had a fence when I saw a rubbish stride so I was optimistic that we might finally get through to the second phase.
He started off really well - we hit every fence right where we needed to be but unfortunately he had an unlucky pole coming out of a one-stride double in the first phase. Bit disappointing because I thought it was the best round we've had so far.
[video=youtube;kCrCyYFHbrY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCrCyYFHbrY[/video]
The next weekend we were at SNEC.
Beau jumped a lovely double clear in the 90 open and third place, despite the numpty on board adding up along two of the related distances. The big guy saved my bacon when he (thankfully) managed to get two strides in a one stride double and left both fences standing.
Then we jumped our second 95cm class. We had an unlucky fence coming into the last double but I was really pleased with how he felt.
Lenny jumped the 95 as a warmup and we nearly had the same fence as Beau. He skipped round and managed a double clear but we weren't quick enough to place.
The 1m class was a bit of a disaster. We got round but he felt tired and while we cleared the fences, we didn't have enough energy to make the distances. We had a heart-in-mouth moment at one of the related distances but somehow he managed to leave the fences up. We then had an unlucky fences towards the end to finish on 4 faults.
We headed back to SNEC a fortnight later.
There wasn't a 95 class so I ended up jumping Beau round our first disco/1m open. I was bricking it and the warmup was chaotic, which set Beau off. I should have taken him out until it got a bit quieter but I figured I'd be better getting it over and done with.
The fences looked massive towards the end and part of me was hoping we would have an early fence so I wouldn't have to jump them. I'm sure you can guess what happened - the big guy jumped clear in the first phase so I had to man up and face those big scary fences. We jumped clear by the seat of our pants - I got it slightly wrong coming into the one stride double the first time and we got a bit close to the last fence but they stayed up and we ended up coming 5th in the open section.
[video=youtube;_j7ELfgUd-w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j7ELfgUd-w[/video]
Lenny and I then attempted our first 1.05m class. Unfortunately it was a table A9 so we were kind of thrown in at the deep end. Once again, we went up but not forwards so it was pretty sticky in places. The triple at number 5 was our downfall and I ended up retiring after it. I went back in HC but the second time wasn't much better. We got through the triple but had a stop at fence 12 and ended up getting eliminated there.
Lenny did his monthly showing show on Thursday and was consistent, as always. We won Tack and Turnout, and the Novice Show Horse, and then we were second in the Riding Club Horse and Equitation. He took Reserve in the championship.
I had planned on jumping him round the Discovery and the 1.05m today but he decided he didn't want to keep his shoes on last night and left one in the field.
I had Beau in the 1m open class. I wasn't particularly happy with one of the related distances coming off a corner but in the end, it didn't matter because we never got that far.
He started off really well until I saw a bit of a rubbish stride coming into the upright in the warmup. He stopped and off I came. No harm done though, so I jumped back on and popped him over a slightly smaller fence before continuing with our warmup.
We started off okay - came round to one and got a good stride into it. Rode him forwards along the dogleg to number two and got an okay stride only for him to slam on the brakes at the last second.
It's really not like him to stop - he will have a go even if we're on a duff stride - so I ended up retiring once I got him over that second fence. I reckon he's either gotten a fright when I came off (he's a sensitive soul) or he's trying to tell me its time to get his hocks medicated again. It's coming up to a year since he had them done so chances are it's time for a top up.
So, highs and lows... But that's horses for you.
Thanks for reading.
Sounds like both are going strong! 