Baydale
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the delay and no, I haven't been abducted by aliens - and they certainly wouldn't have put up with me for a whole 48 hours
- I've just been busy.
So NickyNoMates got up at another ungodly hour to go to Shelford with Marty The Naughty Fat Hunter, the only comfort being that a) it's not that far b) TableDancer would be there (shameless creeping there
) and c) Marty is normally v civilised to take on his own (unlike other ponies I could mention....ahem.....Arthur
). I got front row parking so am now officially a ringside expert on dressage
, and so many people sheltered from the wind in front of the Big Blue Baydale Bus that I was thinking of giving them seats inside and coffee for £5 a go - now there's a thought.
I power-walked the course before my stressage and thought it was ok, plenty to do for a green second-timer, but I'd already heard of problem fences, namely 4, drop to palisade, 6, corner and 11, hedge to triple brush. Decided I'd worry about them one at a time as I rode round, "seat of the (parachute) pants" stylie, just in case my tiny brain imploded with too much information.
Marty and I mooched around the dressage warm-up, gawping at the other fat and shiny ponies (one or two were shinier but his fatness was definitely rosette-worthy
), then did some very low-key stuff with the theme being "chilled". We soon got bored of that so rode round earwigging on someone's mother berating the dressage steward and reducing her to tears, very bad form I thought
, then went down to do our test. I was really pleased with him as although it wasn't sparkling and stunning,he didn't once threaten to take off in canter or take my front teeth out with his head; actually, he's on his forehand enough he's likely to take his own front teeth out by tripping over, but that didn't happen either
and I was just happy we were more together than at Keysoe.
Quick change and over to the showjumping: I managed to grab an unsuspecting passer-by to put fences up for me, but went in fairly quickly as Marty was on the look-out for aliens by then, with much left, right and upward head-swinging.
Even though the spaceship had landed it hadn't inflated fully, so the scariest thing - apart from our motorbiking round the corners on the wrong leg
- was the banner by fence 7 and then fence 7 itself. However, 17hh of big-striding Irish yob that's somehow forgotten how to do changes overnight doesn't make for the best of approaches, or not with his alien-searching head-swinging added to the mix, so I think we were lucky to only have the first part of the double down.
Mind you, I was pleased to hear I'd got 33.5 for our on-the-forehand stressage so I was fairly upbeat.
Another quick change and I got myself psyched up for cross country - I'm trying the JP technique where you mooch around lots, chatting to people, then out of the start box looking really casual yet purposeful.....however, my version was more panic-stricken as Marty was head-swinging checking for aliens two strides out from the practice fence, my steering wasn't overly good, anyone I tried to talk to looked at me like I was the village idiot, and even my chat with the starter as I left the box was cut short as casual turned into ultra-purposeful within about 10 metres as he clocked the monsters under the first fence.
He ballooned that and I fastened my seatbelt ready for a similar aerial take-off at the sheep feeder at 2 and then hedge at 3. He trotted off the step cutely at 4 and popped the palisade, then did another monster alert at 5 - it was bamboo poles with stones under (stones are not to be trusted
), v funny photo of that which I'll post the link to later, then on a big sweeping turn to the corner at 6. I'm sure they were trying to be helpful by putting a round bale to the left but ahead of it, but that combined with the orange shavings bales on the corner completely confused Marty.
Bless him, he stayed straight and was considering going over it one leg at a time in true bog pony fashion, but I stopped him, came round again and he jumped it really nicely. Onto the step up to the skinny house (fab), log pile and then hedge into a hollow under some trees to a triple brush skinny - I got a good spot to the hedge so him backing-off a touch didn't result in us wearing it (whew
), and he was soooo straight and genuine to the triple brush, so big pats there. Onto the keyhole, his first one, with a short approach and he was fab, triple bar with ground falling away after, again bold as brass, hedge, water in fine, water out we trotted (v cute photo there too), then tyres, big angled hedges which I swear he jumped best of all with them being bigger, then a log to finish. I was so pleased with him, even with the inattentive baby stop, as he was 100% better than at Keysoe and really rideable. He loved it too and just met everything on a good stride from a lovely rhythm, not much more you can ask for really.....oh, other than a 22 dressage, clear showjumping and no monster-concealing round bales or orange shavings bales.
If he improves that much again the next couple of times out I think I may have to plan a novice soon.
Tea and oat crunchies from our charity box for anyone who's not still stuffed from lunch. Credit for any alien references must go the marauding welsh contingent, TableDancer.
So NickyNoMates got up at another ungodly hour to go to Shelford with Marty The Naughty Fat Hunter, the only comfort being that a) it's not that far b) TableDancer would be there (shameless creeping there
I power-walked the course before my stressage and thought it was ok, plenty to do for a green second-timer, but I'd already heard of problem fences, namely 4, drop to palisade, 6, corner and 11, hedge to triple brush. Decided I'd worry about them one at a time as I rode round, "seat of the (parachute) pants" stylie, just in case my tiny brain imploded with too much information.
Marty and I mooched around the dressage warm-up, gawping at the other fat and shiny ponies (one or two were shinier but his fatness was definitely rosette-worthy
Quick change and over to the showjumping: I managed to grab an unsuspecting passer-by to put fences up for me, but went in fairly quickly as Marty was on the look-out for aliens by then, with much left, right and upward head-swinging.
Another quick change and I got myself psyched up for cross country - I'm trying the JP technique where you mooch around lots, chatting to people, then out of the start box looking really casual yet purposeful.....however, my version was more panic-stricken as Marty was head-swinging checking for aliens two strides out from the practice fence, my steering wasn't overly good, anyone I tried to talk to looked at me like I was the village idiot, and even my chat with the starter as I left the box was cut short as casual turned into ultra-purposeful within about 10 metres as he clocked the monsters under the first fence.
Tea and oat crunchies from our charity box for anyone who's not still stuffed from lunch. Credit for any alien references must go the marauding welsh contingent, TableDancer.
