henryhorn
Well-Known Member
CCj took Jaques and Chocx to Winkleigh today our nearest BE course which was running a riding club ODE.
Nice day, not particularly sunny but that weather is better to compete than the heat.
Now last week J managed to ditch her prior to the dressage and we suspect it's the dressage saddle, so this time she used the GP, and he was fine. he did a nice dressage test for 31.7 and was lying in second place after a clear round show jumping. We were so pleased, he tackled a wall and fillers with enthusiasm, then went off round the XC. Only 2'6" but a few Intro fences, two waters, some skinnies, banks, steps etc so quite a challenge for his second attempt at XC.
he was really good, stopped at the water and sort of went sideways then jumped it, but incurred 46 time penalties. we were shocked until we saw every single horse had them, the winner had 4.2, and there were three other horses on the same score as us before the time penalties, so he ended up 6th! We were delighted, he stood quietly all day and behaved impeccably..
Next plan is Bath and West Intro. and get some Ht in beforehand.
Chocx did the 3' 3" and boy was the class tough.. The dressage was Novice 27 with counter canter loops, rein back etc, and he was the best dressage score of 36 even after C forgot one movement and got beeped at..
The SJ in comparison was small, just about 3' 3" and he couldn't really be bothered with that height, so rolled the smallest fence on the course..
What happened next was unfortunate, he set off strongly full of enthusiasm then at fence six he must have trod on his front shoe and ripped it off.. he had a refusal at a horrible bank with a wide ditch off then an impossible skinny (only two horses ex 40 went clear XC), did it next time with an enormous leap scaring himself.. he stopped at two more fences then came home with just 15 time penalties, ending up 9th. the horse that won had a stop, so you can see it was a hard course. Most of the fences were Novice BE ones.. To make matters worse when he did the huge leap C dropped her whip and had to use her reins cowboy style to keep him galloping as well as her legs..
He is very footsore tonight and was puffing after the XC, the first time he has ever done that , so he needs to be fitter, needs to go down a level in height to get his bravery back and find it fun again.
I doubt we can find anything before the event at Bricky, so we will take him XC schooling next week and play round some fences.
Not a bad day despite him, as Jacques went so well, and the dressage judge got out of her car to ask his age and breeding, she thought he was super..
Chocx didn't change legs in his canter loops so that's another milestone, so we are relatively happy this eveing if knackered..
And even better I think I have sold the three year old to the first person to view her.. and someone else is coming tomorrow to see the rest..
I'm looking forward to a peaceful Sunday morning with real coffee and the papers , we always seem to compete on Sundays...
Nice day, not particularly sunny but that weather is better to compete than the heat.
Now last week J managed to ditch her prior to the dressage and we suspect it's the dressage saddle, so this time she used the GP, and he was fine. he did a nice dressage test for 31.7 and was lying in second place after a clear round show jumping. We were so pleased, he tackled a wall and fillers with enthusiasm, then went off round the XC. Only 2'6" but a few Intro fences, two waters, some skinnies, banks, steps etc so quite a challenge for his second attempt at XC.
he was really good, stopped at the water and sort of went sideways then jumped it, but incurred 46 time penalties. we were shocked until we saw every single horse had them, the winner had 4.2, and there were three other horses on the same score as us before the time penalties, so he ended up 6th! We were delighted, he stood quietly all day and behaved impeccably..
Next plan is Bath and West Intro. and get some Ht in beforehand.
Chocx did the 3' 3" and boy was the class tough.. The dressage was Novice 27 with counter canter loops, rein back etc, and he was the best dressage score of 36 even after C forgot one movement and got beeped at..
The SJ in comparison was small, just about 3' 3" and he couldn't really be bothered with that height, so rolled the smallest fence on the course..
What happened next was unfortunate, he set off strongly full of enthusiasm then at fence six he must have trod on his front shoe and ripped it off.. he had a refusal at a horrible bank with a wide ditch off then an impossible skinny (only two horses ex 40 went clear XC), did it next time with an enormous leap scaring himself.. he stopped at two more fences then came home with just 15 time penalties, ending up 9th. the horse that won had a stop, so you can see it was a hard course. Most of the fences were Novice BE ones.. To make matters worse when he did the huge leap C dropped her whip and had to use her reins cowboy style to keep him galloping as well as her legs..
He is very footsore tonight and was puffing after the XC, the first time he has ever done that , so he needs to be fitter, needs to go down a level in height to get his bravery back and find it fun again.
I doubt we can find anything before the event at Bricky, so we will take him XC schooling next week and play round some fences.
Not a bad day despite him, as Jacques went so well, and the dressage judge got out of her car to ask his age and breeding, she thought he was super..
Chocx didn't change legs in his canter loops so that's another milestone, so we are relatively happy this eveing if knackered..
And even better I think I have sold the three year old to the first person to view her.. and someone else is coming tomorrow to see the rest..
I'm looking forward to a peaceful Sunday morning with real coffee and the papers , we always seem to compete on Sundays...
