Baydale
Well-Known Member
Noooo, I can't do alliteration any more, what's wrong with me?
Oh well, I think it's over-used and over the hill, a bit like me. Either that or they removed it when something else was removed recently. 
The Cheeky Boys and I enlisted the help of H, HGV driver and groom extraordinaire, for our Purston trip as I needed a helping hand. I'd done the entries ages ago before other things got in the way, so was damned if I was going to waste the entry (Yorkshire breeding does that to you).
Late start times are supposed to make things easier but nope, traffic made us late and then I turned up at dressage on Cal to be told I'd withdrawn. They slotted us in so he whose dressage isn't up to scratch at PN, never mind Novice, had a whole ten minutes to warm up - even TableDancer's schooling the day before hadn't turned him into Totilas. He did a curled up and dried up test, more or less doing everything but mincing a lot and generally being backward, except in the rein back which he was really forward in to get an 8.
Thankfully in the rush H didn't bring the camera, so no evidence of that for you. Whew.
A quick course walk and I'd forgotten how well-built and well-presented Purston is, a bit of everything and enough to do, so I was itching to go xc. First though I had Jupiter to dressage, "dressage" being used in the loosest sense of the word.
All was going ok-ish and I was riding a conservative test in the hope of keeping a lid on his personality, until the second canter that is. Yep, you can clearly see me ask for canter, then his surly "do I have to?" response followed by a buck, disunited canter, hysterical suggestions that I was about to beat him up, then his inability to get correct canter lead when we should be in medium canter and aaaaargh, need I go on?
Little beggar. See what you think:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oM6JcDCHU8
Oh well, I foresee some personality-squishing and dressage-drilling over the winter, as 36.5 for Cal and 38.5 for Jup ain't quite the competitive scores I'd like to be getting. To be fair, even with the wind in the right direction they'd have struggled to get better than that as Novice 111 is relentless, with no space for regrouping if something goes awry.
Then a looooong wait for our showjumping as we were the last section of the day. Ma Baydale's coffee cake helped bridge the gap and I was glad of the carb-fest by the time I got on Jup. Cal first though, keen as mustard and not always happy at his passenger's intervention.
He was getting more and more woo hoo as the round went on and then "stopping up" when I suggesting whoa-ing, hence me firing him at the first double - that's my excuse anyway. Best bit was the last two, a forward 5 strides, uphill, oxer to upright: Lionel (trainer) would have been proud of me adding one to get a neat 6 as hooning to fences is no longer an option. I'll live with the time penalty I got and guess who that is shrieking in the background (horse, not human)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvyBbXW4QY&
Jupiter next and, while Thistle and B were being sucked in by Cal's big-eared cuteness, Jup and I were making some shapes in the now busy warm-up. By the end I managed to clear an area of 12ft around the fences and the helpers were taking two steps back as soon as they saw me lock onto one. Purston showjumps are very colourful, but check out what he does at number 3 , and how big does he jump at 4? It seemed only fair, in the spirit of "what goes around, comes around", that I take his back teeth out at 7 when he semi-launched at it, oops. However I got some Lionel Brownie points for again making the forward 5 a fairly neat 6 to finish. Yay for clear rounds, we love them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzFv85YXAZI&
I thought the cross country would be challenging for them, if only because it's 5 weeks since they ran at Richmond and they've not been schooling nor particularly over-worked in the interim. Hmmm, fresh 5yo's, what joy. Cal set off, focused and up for it, a bit spooky but jumping well....up until the water when, despite my balanced right-hand turn, gear change to bouncy canter and positive-yet-not-chasing approach, he only bloomin' tried to run out to the right, then pinged to a stop when he realised She wasn't going to let him! Bum bum bum. That'll teach me, as sneaky beaky Cal does much more subtle naughty stuff than in-yer-face Jup and I should have just been a tad more aggressive - ho hum, wishy washy me was caught snoozing, and if you snooze, you lose. I went the straight route again and he jumped into the deep bit, floundered about a bit - I thought my PointTwo was going to become a flotation aid - then we were back on track and he jumped everything else beautifully, little tinker.
Talking of little tinkers, He with the attention span of a goldfish had been transfixed on the baby alpacas (alpacalettes?
) while he was stood waiting for me to finish on Cal, but at least that gave me a chance to get my battered body on him before the next round of Baydale v Jupiter. In actual fact it wasn't that bad, so I'm guessing endurance is my strength and not his, and if you hang in there long enough you eventually get some sense out of him. There were many attempts to start The Left/Right Game, very few straight strides but bless him, he pinged through the straight route at the water and even the trakehner followed by tyres/ditch/wooden thing (?) combo passed without incident. It would have been nice to have had four shoes beyond fence 3 but I'd hope there'll be other days with maybe a buck-free test and a fully functional rider when a rosette will be forthcoming.
Ma Baydale's coffee cake, Pa Baydale's leek and potato soup, or flowers - I have lots of those, but not edible ones, if you've made it this far.
Oh well, I think it's over-used and over the hill, a bit like me. Either that or they removed it when something else was removed recently. The Cheeky Boys and I enlisted the help of H, HGV driver and groom extraordinaire, for our Purston trip as I needed a helping hand. I'd done the entries ages ago before other things got in the way, so was damned if I was going to waste the entry (Yorkshire breeding does that to you).
Late start times are supposed to make things easier but nope, traffic made us late and then I turned up at dressage on Cal to be told I'd withdrawn.
They slotted us in so he whose dressage isn't up to scratch at PN, never mind Novice, had a whole ten minutes to warm up - even TableDancer's schooling the day before hadn't turned him into Totilas. He did a curled up and dried up test, more or less doing everything but mincing a lot and generally being backward, except in the rein back which he was really forward in to get an 8. Thankfully in the rush H didn't bring the camera, so no evidence of that for you. Whew.A quick course walk and I'd forgotten how well-built and well-presented Purston is, a bit of everything and enough to do, so I was itching to go xc. First though I had Jupiter to dressage, "dressage" being used in the loosest sense of the word.
All was going ok-ish and I was riding a conservative test in the hope of keeping a lid on his personality, until the second canter that is. Yep, you can clearly see me ask for canter, then his surly "do I have to?" response followed by a buck, disunited canter, hysterical suggestions that I was about to beat him up, then his inability to get correct canter lead when we should be in medium canter and aaaaargh, need I go on? Little beggar. See what you think:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oM6JcDCHU8
Oh well, I foresee some personality-squishing and dressage-drilling over the winter, as 36.5 for Cal and 38.5 for Jup ain't quite the competitive scores I'd like to be getting. To be fair, even with the wind in the right direction they'd have struggled to get better than that as Novice 111 is relentless, with no space for regrouping if something goes awry.
Then a looooong wait for our showjumping as we were the last section of the day. Ma Baydale's coffee cake helped bridge the gap and I was glad of the carb-fest by the time I got on Jup. Cal first though, keen as mustard and not always happy at his passenger's intervention.
He was getting more and more woo hoo as the round went on and then "stopping up" when I suggesting whoa-ing, hence me firing him at the first double - that's my excuse anyway. Best bit was the last two, a forward 5 strides, uphill, oxer to upright: Lionel (trainer) would have been proud of me adding one to get a neat 6 as hooning to fences is no longer an option. I'll live with the time penalty I got and guess who that is shrieking in the background (horse, not human)?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvyBbXW4QY&
Jupiter next and, while Thistle and B were being sucked in by Cal's big-eared cuteness, Jup and I were making some shapes in the now busy warm-up. By the end I managed to clear an area of 12ft around the fences and the helpers were taking two steps back as soon as they saw me lock onto one.
Purston showjumps are very colourful, but check out what he does at number 3 , and how big does he jump at 4? It seemed only fair, in the spirit of "what goes around, comes around", that I take his back teeth out at 7 when he semi-launched at it, oops. However I got some Lionel Brownie points for again making the forward 5 a fairly neat 6 to finish. Yay for clear rounds, we love them.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzFv85YXAZI&
I thought the cross country would be challenging for them, if only because it's 5 weeks since they ran at Richmond and they've not been schooling nor particularly over-worked in the interim. Hmmm, fresh 5yo's, what joy.
Cal set off, focused and up for it, a bit spooky but jumping well....up until the water when, despite my balanced right-hand turn, gear change to bouncy canter and positive-yet-not-chasing approach, he only bloomin' tried to run out to the right, then pinged to a stop when he realised She wasn't going to let him! Bum bum bum. That'll teach me, as sneaky beaky Cal does much more subtle naughty stuff than in-yer-face Jup and I should have just been a tad more aggressive - ho hum, wishy washy me was caught snoozing, and if you snooze, you lose. I went the straight route again and he jumped into the deep bit, floundered about a bit - I thought my PointTwo was going to become a flotation aid - then we were back on track and he jumped everything else beautifully, little tinker.Talking of little tinkers, He with the attention span of a goldfish had been transfixed on the baby alpacas (alpacalettes?
) while he was stood waiting for me to finish on Cal, but at least that gave me a chance to get my battered body on him before the next round of Baydale v Jupiter. In actual fact it wasn't that bad, so I'm guessing endurance is my strength and not his, and if you hang in there long enough you eventually get some sense out of him. There were many attempts to start The Left/Right Game, very few straight strides but bless him, he pinged through the straight route at the water and even the trakehner followed by tyres/ditch/wooden thing (?) combo passed without incident. It would have been nice to have had four shoes beyond fence 3 but I'd hope there'll be other days with maybe a buck-free test and a fully functional rider when a rosette will be forthcoming.Ma Baydale's coffee cake, Pa Baydale's leek and potato soup, or flowers - I have lots of those, but not edible ones
, if you've made it this far.
