miskettie
Well-Known Member
As it is snowing outside and I have the luxury of being at home...and it just so happens to be exactly two years today since Enys was dropped off at our place - I thought I would write about it!
Well actually it was two years three days ago since we 'picked him up' as some of you may remember (stretching your memory back reaaallllyyy far) Enys was in a horsebox accident moments after we bought him. He was quickly dubbed Enys the Menace and now he is known by everyone just as The Menace.
Three days later (exactly 2 years ago now) he was dropped back at ours with only cuts and bruises (phew!).
(obviously taken before I realised he bit)
Unfortunately he was not the sweet and cuddly pony I had first met and we had huge difficulty with his behavior as he bit and kicked and was generally a menace! I almost gave up many times and tried everything - horsemanship people, a horse communicator, a reiki lady, herbal soloutions...nothing worked but in January 2012 I sent him to Jason Webb for a couple of weeks and things have been improving since! He still isn't cuddly but he knows who is the boss now (me!).
Anyway back to spring 2011....We left off jumping for a bit and started with flatwork:
Although he has great movement, he isn't the brightest horse and I am not the best teacher so we progressed slowly. However at our first dressage in September 2011 we looked like this:
And won our class! We have since progressed to prelim (with several wins) and we are going to do novice very soon! He really struggles with canter transitions, so although we do well in trot work, our canter looses us quite a few marks.
So then we braved jumping. The first time I jumped him out in the field and he launched over a pole I had a mini-breakdown. I discovered he had a rather large 'pop' on him.
Our first clear round jumping:
However slowly over time we have improved and although I haven't jumped him big (only done 2ft3 at shows) we are getting there. He is a little bit nervie which I think is my fault as I am too. Here are a few pictures from 2011:
Video of us jumping 1ft6 - 1ft9, which we won!
Then in 2012 we discovered XC jumping
We still at times balloon over fences (thank you to LRG photography for this great picture):
Then we did our first ever ODE (2ft3) and came 7th! With 39 dressage, and double clear (though with TF). So was chuffed to bits with that!
Then because his behaviour was better we braved showing (biting the judge had been a bit of a worry before). Although we have only done novice showing...he has done really well winning red frillies every time out....aim is to get him going in a double for hunter classes this year and go onto non-novice WH classes.
Hunter class with judge riding :
WH:
Having a hug...me with black eyes because he had broken my nose the week before! (we have a dislike of drains...enough said)
Then unfortunately my own competition season was cut a little short when at a September XC clinic I fell off a broke my ankle (we dislike logs too...though not when we are jumping them).
So with eight weeks of no riding I decided to get my RI to jump him. Well I can safety say my pony can jump:
Giving a 3ft6 jump some room........
(i've blacked out my RI's face just in case he would rather not have a photo of him on the web)
Then I thought why not ask RI to compete him. They did two shows. The first they came 6th in an 75cm class out of about 50 entries! Enys having only ever done 2ft3 competitions!
Then the next show they did the 80cm and the 90cm....and they won the 80cm out of 40 entries!!!!!
Video of them winning at 80cm
Then a pic of Enys looking all grown up with his red rossie:
So now the aim for 2013 is for getting me to jump at that height...as my pony can obviously do it! Watching my RI though has really given me confidence so come march I start jumping again (my mum has stopped me jumping, as off to NZ next month and she wants me to stay in one piece). Menace has sooooo much potential!
Sooooooo I have survived two years with the Menace...although one broken nose and one broken ankle and numerous bite scars later - but I think we're in for the long haul
Finally a picture taken this morning in the snow....
(well I think anyone who has made it this far really deserves some mulled wine and some lindt chocolate! Oh and finally finally if you are really bored because of the snow here is a sweet video of Enys with the love of his life.....himself (Click here)
Well actually it was two years three days ago since we 'picked him up' as some of you may remember (stretching your memory back reaaallllyyy far) Enys was in a horsebox accident moments after we bought him. He was quickly dubbed Enys the Menace and now he is known by everyone just as The Menace.
Three days later (exactly 2 years ago now) he was dropped back at ours with only cuts and bruises (phew!).
(obviously taken before I realised he bit)
Unfortunately he was not the sweet and cuddly pony I had first met and we had huge difficulty with his behavior as he bit and kicked and was generally a menace! I almost gave up many times and tried everything - horsemanship people, a horse communicator, a reiki lady, herbal soloutions...nothing worked but in January 2012 I sent him to Jason Webb for a couple of weeks and things have been improving since! He still isn't cuddly but he knows who is the boss now (me!).
Anyway back to spring 2011....We left off jumping for a bit and started with flatwork:
Although he has great movement, he isn't the brightest horse and I am not the best teacher so we progressed slowly. However at our first dressage in September 2011 we looked like this:
And won our class! We have since progressed to prelim (with several wins) and we are going to do novice very soon! He really struggles with canter transitions, so although we do well in trot work, our canter looses us quite a few marks.
So then we braved jumping. The first time I jumped him out in the field and he launched over a pole I had a mini-breakdown. I discovered he had a rather large 'pop' on him.
Our first clear round jumping:
However slowly over time we have improved and although I haven't jumped him big (only done 2ft3 at shows) we are getting there. He is a little bit nervie which I think is my fault as I am too. Here are a few pictures from 2011:
Video of us jumping 1ft6 - 1ft9, which we won!
Then in 2012 we discovered XC jumping
We still at times balloon over fences (thank you to LRG photography for this great picture):
Then we did our first ever ODE (2ft3) and came 7th! With 39 dressage, and double clear (though with TF). So was chuffed to bits with that!
Then because his behaviour was better we braved showing (biting the judge had been a bit of a worry before). Although we have only done novice showing...he has done really well winning red frillies every time out....aim is to get him going in a double for hunter classes this year and go onto non-novice WH classes.
Hunter class with judge riding :
WH:
Having a hug...me with black eyes because he had broken my nose the week before! (we have a dislike of drains...enough said)
Then unfortunately my own competition season was cut a little short when at a September XC clinic I fell off a broke my ankle (we dislike logs too...though not when we are jumping them).
So with eight weeks of no riding I decided to get my RI to jump him. Well I can safety say my pony can jump:
Giving a 3ft6 jump some room........
(i've blacked out my RI's face just in case he would rather not have a photo of him on the web)
Then I thought why not ask RI to compete him. They did two shows. The first they came 6th in an 75cm class out of about 50 entries! Enys having only ever done 2ft3 competitions!
Then the next show they did the 80cm and the 90cm....and they won the 80cm out of 40 entries!!!!!
Video of them winning at 80cm
Then a pic of Enys looking all grown up with his red rossie:
So now the aim for 2013 is for getting me to jump at that height...as my pony can obviously do it! Watching my RI though has really given me confidence so come march I start jumping again (my mum has stopped me jumping, as off to NZ next month and she wants me to stay in one piece). Menace has sooooo much potential!
Sooooooo I have survived two years with the Menace...although one broken nose and one broken ankle and numerous bite scars later - but I think we're in for the long haul
Finally a picture taken this morning in the snow....
(well I think anyone who has made it this far really deserves some mulled wine and some lindt chocolate! Oh and finally finally if you are really bored because of the snow here is a sweet video of Enys with the love of his life.....himself (Click here)
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