only_me
Well-Known Member
The day did not start well!
At yard for 6am (I got up at 5.45am live right beside yard
) and it was pelting it down
Im looking after yard at the mo as YO is at pc champs with daughter, so fed horses only to find that one ponys rug had soaked right through and the blue dye had stained him (hes grey)
and the polo pony (who is incredibly poor not an ounce of fat on her
she has put on weight since shes been here, but still is soo poor
)was miserable, so I brought her in and poor thing was shivering terribly
but sorted her out and got mine ready so left at 7am.
This event is our most northernly one, a long 2hours on the coast. Rained the whole way up, I was surprised to find it still running rang instructor at 7am to find he was at the event already!
Dressage nothing special, have been working on getting him more engaged, and he was, but unfortunately it was still bucketing and grass very slippy, so I didnt push on much in the medium trot/canter (test 111) as didnt want him to loose confidence, so happy with a score of 38, apparently judge is very harsh! Got told that rode well, my head never moved in the whole test can anyone explain this? Not really understanding that
also judges comments are what ive been working on so happy enough.
Decided to put bigger studs in behind for the showjumping, as I use very small studs in general as I dont think a horse should be reliant on them. We warmed up very lazily, and went into the ring and something clicked and he went wohay, this is easy stuff!!
he was literally pinging over the fences and jumping somewhere around his ears
it got quite embarrassing when he squealed over the 1.15 parrallel to the extent that people warming up for the dressage beside us looked over in surprise
jumped a super clear
at least I know hes feeling well!!
Long wait to the xc, walked it and thought it was actually rather strong for a novice! Merlin had his usual xc preparation, ie. Sleeping!
Jumped the first (a chair) nicely, popped the 2nd fence sweetly (parallel) and turned sharp corner to a trakehner hidden behind bushes, he didnt even notice the ditch underneath it, then he really started to gallop, flew the skinny arrowhead type fence, steadied him up going down hill and popped over the log with ditch infront, gallop to the electric corner which had an alternative, but decided to go straight over corner (which is probably the narrowest corner weve done) left hand turn to the skinny white tyre bounce (which caused a fair few problems!)
galloped to the dog house on top of hill, then to the water jump, log in where didnt see water till the last stride, popped it without a second thought, through the water and over the fence on way out. This fence also caused a lot of problems!
Then over the organ pipes, long gallop to the viaduct wall which he didnt even notice the huge gaping ditch under it
then over the table, foot perfect through the devils dyke/coffin.
Jumped the castle, the road crossing fence which was up very steep hill, then up the steps to a skinny on an angle. Long gallop, but he was getting tired by this stage!
Then onto the most difficult fence of the course, an upright skinny log rails, 1 stride to roller, 1 short stride to drop and then 2 long strides to another larger drop. This caused a lot of problems, course was held up 3 times here! We popped sweetly in, he suddenly landed left but checked him and he then obliged and jumped the roller well, no problems over the rest of it. Im not sure he understood the roller bit, as he is very honest and straight as a die, but once I corrected him he was fine. A lot of people ran out at the roller, so there was something about it!
Flew the last, very happy, 8 time penalties but he isnt fully fit yet and time is always tight at this event, and I wasnt really pushing for time since our last event we went tits up on the flat xc
So very happy to finish on a double clear, first event for over month and a half, and horse that just keeps getting better xc! Even better we finished 8th!
Met claireL and SportsmanB
can offer you some pizza and ice-cream for getting this far
At yard for 6am (I got up at 5.45am live right beside yard
This event is our most northernly one, a long 2hours on the coast. Rained the whole way up, I was surprised to find it still running rang instructor at 7am to find he was at the event already!
Dressage nothing special, have been working on getting him more engaged, and he was, but unfortunately it was still bucketing and grass very slippy, so I didnt push on much in the medium trot/canter (test 111) as didnt want him to loose confidence, so happy with a score of 38, apparently judge is very harsh! Got told that rode well, my head never moved in the whole test can anyone explain this? Not really understanding that
Decided to put bigger studs in behind for the showjumping, as I use very small studs in general as I dont think a horse should be reliant on them. We warmed up very lazily, and went into the ring and something clicked and he went wohay, this is easy stuff!!
Long wait to the xc, walked it and thought it was actually rather strong for a novice! Merlin had his usual xc preparation, ie. Sleeping!
Jumped the first (a chair) nicely, popped the 2nd fence sweetly (parallel) and turned sharp corner to a trakehner hidden behind bushes, he didnt even notice the ditch underneath it, then he really started to gallop, flew the skinny arrowhead type fence, steadied him up going down hill and popped over the log with ditch infront, gallop to the electric corner which had an alternative, but decided to go straight over corner (which is probably the narrowest corner weve done) left hand turn to the skinny white tyre bounce (which caused a fair few problems!)
galloped to the dog house on top of hill, then to the water jump, log in where didnt see water till the last stride, popped it without a second thought, through the water and over the fence on way out. This fence also caused a lot of problems!
Then over the organ pipes, long gallop to the viaduct wall which he didnt even notice the huge gaping ditch under it
Jumped the castle, the road crossing fence which was up very steep hill, then up the steps to a skinny on an angle. Long gallop, but he was getting tired by this stage!
Then onto the most difficult fence of the course, an upright skinny log rails, 1 stride to roller, 1 short stride to drop and then 2 long strides to another larger drop. This caused a lot of problems, course was held up 3 times here! We popped sweetly in, he suddenly landed left but checked him and he then obliged and jumped the roller well, no problems over the rest of it. Im not sure he understood the roller bit, as he is very honest and straight as a die, but once I corrected him he was fine. A lot of people ran out at the roller, so there was something about it!
Flew the last, very happy, 8 time penalties but he isnt fully fit yet and time is always tight at this event, and I wasnt really pushing for time since our last event we went tits up on the flat xc
So very happy to finish on a double clear, first event for over month and a half, and horse that just keeps getting better xc! Even better we finished 8th!
Met claireL and SportsmanB
