Is Everyone Staying at Home

I got an email from the carriage driving asking if I would help again this year. A complete and utter firm NO! I was bored witless last year the 2 days I did and would never go back.

I have the stallion out again this weekend showing then he is off out with the mares for a few months so he won't be seen in the ring again until August at the earliest. Not sure what other shows I am doing as very few have put judges up yet.

Obviously horses for courses. Love doing/watching carriage driving. Would rather watch paint dry than showing!
 
Had a short schooling session today, it feels like the trot has really turned a corner - he came out relaxed and seeking the contact forwards and down. Canter is still a work in progress but we did both reins with no napping and returned to a sensible trot so I’m very pleased.

The local pony club had their junior show in a field at the yard today, so I led him down there afterwards so he could see a lorry park, multiple rings, tannoy..and Shetlands in fancy dress ?. He was very interested and keen to explore, not at all bothered by any of it but I was glad I decided to lead instead of ride!

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Jesus, I love this pony. He was honestly so good today, jumping everything I pointed him at (except a very tiny 70 log!). We jumped all of the 80s with a couple of 90s too, which I am so pleased with. A real no pressure day out as I doubt I will compete him for a long, long time (if ever again). FCED4A1C-E1E3-4F2B-8DA9-1CC6B73A34EF.jpeg
 
I rode early as I was supposed to go open water swimming, but I mixed up the booking and ended up not going. However, it meant more time at home, so I rode Rigs.

I'm not sure he should feature in competing and training section of HHO, but he was ace anyway. I collected a bridle I had loaned out locally and then the postman caught me, so he ended up a proper pack pony. He then had a bath!

The rest of the day I was searching for bunting. Goodness only knows where I have hidden my flags. I have put some out in the back garden, on the arena fence. It is extremely noisy, crackly plastic! Should liven up dressage training tomorrow anyway ?

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Jesus, I love this pony. He was honestly so good today, jumping everything I pointed him at (except a very tiny 70 log!). We jumped all of the 80s with a couple of 90s too, which I am so pleased with. A real no pressure day out as I doubt I will compete him for a long, long time (if ever again). View attachment 93352


We're all waiting to hear why ........
 
Staying at home but busy nonetheless. Millie went to the yard today to help Frank out with his concerns about loading. Lorry is pending some upgrades (e.g. partition pads) and in the meantime it's a bit rattley which he found a bit scary. Parked Millie on board with a haynet so he could practice getting on and off and being reassured about the rattles. I feel like i've driven the lorry more than the car this week with Kira's 2 trips to horspital and now this, wherever the lorry is I have needed it somewhere else! but at least we are mobile again.

Probably do same again tomorrow just to cement the lesson. We were all a bit tired after all that but i think it was very worthwhile.

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Am very excited to be taking my little coblet out for the first time since may last year. He has breathing issues and weirdly April may seems to be his best time of year. So started bringing him back into work on 19 th may , had dressage booked tomorrow for my other pony who is now lame so quick change of plan and super coblet steps up to the plate. Even quickly cobbled together some music for him after one quick video run through.
we will probably come firmly last but don’t care a jot, just love taking him out and riding him makes my heart sing, he is so lovely. clipped out on Friday and bathed today, he will look smashing whatever.might be our one outing this year so need to enjoy it !
 
Bertie and I ventured out for our 2nd dressage test. We got 65% and 3rd place again but this time I rode more accurately and the canter trot transitions (our nemesis atm) although a bit unbalanced were on the marker with minimal bogging off afterwards ? so I was pleased with the progress.

Tried a different tactic to deal with his tension and arrived early so he had time to chill off the lorry eating his hay. He’s so much quieter to handle than Finn, who I have to keep on the lorry cos he’s such a fidget. B was nice and settled in the lorry park and we stuck to our timings and warm up. He softened nicely warming up but we couldn’t maintain it in the arena so lost a few marks throughout due to some tension. I need to work on non wobbly centre lines, and trying to get that softness, but a really enjoyable day out.

Two friends came to help me and we had a big picnic at the yard when we got back ?

SJ course hire next weekend so he’ll get to be a pingy pony, which he much prefers!
 

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Show jumping today was good. It was raining when we drove over but it didn’t actually rain when we were there. Ground wasn’t slippy but the grass was pretty long.

Tali was awesome. We did 2 full rounds and 2 jump offs and only knocked one pole down. She tried so hard and was so much fun to ride. I’m just so so chuffed with her.

We got a 3rd in the poles and Xpoles and 4th in the 45 class. But was first RC member so got a cup for each class which is exciting. First cups I’ve won ?
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she was scared of the rosettes last time I was handed them but today we wore them and she didn’t care about them flapping in the wind.
this pony makes me so happy ❤️
 
Show jumping today was good. It was raining when we drove over but it didn’t actually rain when we were there. Ground wasn’t slippy but the grass was pretty long.

Tali was awesome. We did 2 full rounds and 2 jump offs and only knocked one pole down. She tried so hard and was so much fun to ride. I’m just so so chuffed with her.

We got a 3rd in the poles and Xpoles and 4th in the 45 class. But was first RC member so got a cup for each class which is exciting. First cups I’ve won ?
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she was scared of the rosettes last time I was handed them but today we wore them and she didn’t care about them flapping in the wind.
this pony makes me so happy ❤️
great stuff! and another excellent hair shot there <3
 
Only hacking, but I was very proud of baby horse today.

I put our jubilee bunting up last night: flappy flags alongside the driveway and school. The village organisers then got a cherry picker out and the whole village is now under a canopy of flags, mainly the plastic flappy ones.

Well, we did see some yesterday so we set off to go have a look. He was interested but not at all alarmed, even at the ones at head height whilst I mounted. The canopy ones were really noisy, strung from every lamppost and telegraph pole and he... strolled under like a pro.

Super horse!

We did our quick walk/trot/canter on each rein in our own arena when we got back, again flags at eye height and he totally ignored them.

Other than that, Mr Red and I did some normal stuff. Gardening, washing, hoovering and shopping! Oh, and Bunday Sunday at the garden centre???
 
Not the best photo, but home with a first and second. 1st in the home produced youngstock class which we're really happy with. Didn't have my membership details on me in the ring (email on my phone) it was in OH pocket ring side so they wouldn't let me have my qualification card, but pleased with how Robin behaved. He took all the noise and zoomy ponies in his stride.
 

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Fun ride was a real success, although he was a tiny bit sticky to load- but a trailer rather than a van or a lorry, which is what I've travelled him in before. Other than that he was very good, no spooking, minimal silly jogging, jumped a few small things, and bar one blip when we'd lost the route and had to be let back on to it via a gateway, it was a very successful day out.

Really pleased I went, and possibly some nice pro pics to follow!
 
Lovely weekend up at Hopetoun. 450 miles each way! Managed our first FEI win and that’s good points on the selection league. Great dressage especially considering the weather, ‘safe’ marathon which was too safe really but moved back up 2 places after a very fast cones round. Only 5 in the class and we were all very close so
We were lucky really!
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We had a lovely time at Western Dressage on Saturday. It was a friendly show with extra helpful stewards, and everyone was very relaxed. Amber was easy to load, chilled on arrival, happy to stand on and off the trailer, tack up, etc. My instructor was competing, and our friends were there to support us, so it was great to have a little group to help calm my nerves and call my second test. Unfortunately, just as I got on, the rain hit and everyone came back from the arenas as the "normal" classes had finished, so it was just our small western group, and I was first up. So she got a bit worried and went very green on me. I went straight into the arena as I'd hoped to walk around it a bit, but Amber's nerves got the better of her so that we couldn't get to the AK corner. The horn beeped, and we made it down the centre line, with some hesitation about the turn left towards the scary corner, so we negotiated for the shoulder in on the 3/4 line instead, and she grew in confidence.
The judge was great, spot on with comments, and kind and generous with the marks, so we got 63.1% in the intro and 65.7% in the basic; we even managed a couple of 8s :) I'm looking forwards to the next one.
On Sunday, we hacked out with our friends and went through the village looking very similar to Red-1s, with the same reaction to the flags and bunting. Interesting but not scary. I think we're finally getting over the joys of spring :)
 
I spent the whole weekend helping out at a two day show at our trainer's yard, so feeling pretty shattered now! We also competed yesterday morning and broke the 70% barrier for the first time in a competition which I am super pleased about, as we have been training pretty hard recently. It was a positive test and everything happened in the right place. We got several 8s, and there are a few things we can work on to get even higher scores in the future. We won our section and came 6th out of 15 overall, so happy with that as well, as there were some very nice horses in the class. We also did our first novice test together. There were a few costly mistakes in the right canter, leading to some 4s, mainly due to tiredness on both our parts, but there were lots of good parts too, and we have our first AF qualifying score at this level.

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