seabiscuit
Well-Known Member
Boy wasn't it absolutely sweltering!! I thought I was going to collapse, never mind the poor horses!
Well our dressage was pretty dreadfull and the very nice and happy judge gave us a v.underserved 37 ! I suppose that we managed to do everything in the right places this time and stayed in the arena... it was such a shame because I had him working absolutely beautifully for about 15 mins, his trot was beginning to be absolutely awesome. Then it was as though he suddenly decided; Right thats it, I've had enough!! I'm going to go charging off everywhere!! So that is what he tried to do. I actually had to sock him in the mouth a few times which I hate doing. Tried everything to make him calm down and relax again- leg yield, shoulder in, half pass, counter canter, a nice long walk on a relaxed rein, patting him, talking to him...it was no good, he just got crosser and crosser...
Showjumping, I had one of my old trainers helping me with the warm up, she hasnt really seen much of W before,and she promptly declared that W was absolutely dreadfull and couldnt canter and couldnt jump and that we shouldnt be there! I do know that she is absolutely right about his canter, but...this was only a little intro. So we were made to jump everything from trot in the warm up. I suppose it did help doing it like that. We went in and were both absolutely dreadfull, but it was an absolute miracle- a clear round. Somehow we got round.
The cross country was an absolutely gorgeous track, really long, bold and galloping, plenty of questions, little combinations, banks, drops, ditches etc. W set of quite nicely, and did as he was told, up until the water, where he simply refused to walk into it. It was a very inviting water, there was no excuse really. He simply refused to go near it and spent ages standing there shuffling his feet. I was absolutely convinced that we had been eliminated about three times over, but again the gods were looking down on us, and we only picked up two refusals...so on we went round the rest of the course, and he did it all fairly nicely, although he wasn't particularly enthusiastic. He does find it reallly difficult to just jump out of his stride, as his canter is not engaged, so jumping like that is simply not giving him confidence. Its still all a bit of an eye opener for him I guess.
He is entered for West Wilts next week, I will do that one, then call it a day with the eventing for this year I think. Then we will spend the next year learning how to canter, then I suppose we will try the eventing again next June if I feel like it, don't know why but I feel totally fed up by the whole thing and have just had enough of horses because I never improve them much and they never even go the blindest bit nicely at all
My BE results are shockingly embarassing so why on earth do I carry on. Its so hard because to be a top event rider has been my one and only dream and the only thing that I have lived for. I think that Trevor who took me round a few intermediates gave me a completely false sense of my own ability, when in reality it was never me being a good rider it was him being an absolutely amazingly clever and intelligent horse. Now I cant even do a poxy Intro and I do have a jolly good horse ( even if it cant canter.) Oh well. I am sure that I will bounce back again and be mad keen again in another couple of weeks!!
Well our dressage was pretty dreadfull and the very nice and happy judge gave us a v.underserved 37 ! I suppose that we managed to do everything in the right places this time and stayed in the arena... it was such a shame because I had him working absolutely beautifully for about 15 mins, his trot was beginning to be absolutely awesome. Then it was as though he suddenly decided; Right thats it, I've had enough!! I'm going to go charging off everywhere!! So that is what he tried to do. I actually had to sock him in the mouth a few times which I hate doing. Tried everything to make him calm down and relax again- leg yield, shoulder in, half pass, counter canter, a nice long walk on a relaxed rein, patting him, talking to him...it was no good, he just got crosser and crosser...
Showjumping, I had one of my old trainers helping me with the warm up, she hasnt really seen much of W before,and she promptly declared that W was absolutely dreadfull and couldnt canter and couldnt jump and that we shouldnt be there! I do know that she is absolutely right about his canter, but...this was only a little intro. So we were made to jump everything from trot in the warm up. I suppose it did help doing it like that. We went in and were both absolutely dreadfull, but it was an absolute miracle- a clear round. Somehow we got round.
The cross country was an absolutely gorgeous track, really long, bold and galloping, plenty of questions, little combinations, banks, drops, ditches etc. W set of quite nicely, and did as he was told, up until the water, where he simply refused to walk into it. It was a very inviting water, there was no excuse really. He simply refused to go near it and spent ages standing there shuffling his feet. I was absolutely convinced that we had been eliminated about three times over, but again the gods were looking down on us, and we only picked up two refusals...so on we went round the rest of the course, and he did it all fairly nicely, although he wasn't particularly enthusiastic. He does find it reallly difficult to just jump out of his stride, as his canter is not engaged, so jumping like that is simply not giving him confidence. Its still all a bit of an eye opener for him I guess.
He is entered for West Wilts next week, I will do that one, then call it a day with the eventing for this year I think. Then we will spend the next year learning how to canter, then I suppose we will try the eventing again next June if I feel like it, don't know why but I feel totally fed up by the whole thing and have just had enough of horses because I never improve them much and they never even go the blindest bit nicely at all
