lex2501
Well-Known Member
Murphy and I have been feeling more than ready for a new challenge 
Intermediate is out of bounds for the time being whilst I continue to try and get dear Billykins qualified for the grassroots next year so I entered the Intermediate Novice at Hambleden to see how we would get on with the step up in the dressage and show jumping.
049 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
The dressage used the CIC* B test which I rode (very badly
) at Rockingham a few weeks previously so I was determined to iron out the rider errors which were littered through Murphy's pretty smart test! Murphy's trot has been getting bigger and bigger as I have started to ride much more bravely. He can get quite onward board and strong in the hand which used to make me want to fight him and bottle him up. I'm not really sure when the lightbulb moment happened but I now encourage him to flow on instead of fighting him and the results are pretty impressive! He feels incredible to sit on and I am now finding myself really enjoying riding my tests, and I feel like I am showing off the most super horse! Unfortunately the walk has never been good, and I'm not quite there with the canterwork. We had a couple of big blips in the test including an incorrect canter strike off with a bit of a scramble to sort legs out, but on the whole I was pleased. Sadly no video or pics as I was on my own 
One of the downsides of doing an IN is the seriously long wait for the Show Jumping if you are early in the section. I had a wait of 6 hours but as I am only 40 mins from Mattingley I decided to drive him home and put him in the field for a couple of hours as I couldn't bear the thought of him standing on the lorry all day in the heat! It also allowed a nice opportunity for a back scratch with his best bud
046 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
We headed back a couple of hours later with my instructor and found that we had posted a dressage score of 30.2 which was pretty damn respectable and left us in 8th position in a huge section. Emily Baldwin had done the most beautiful test before me and was on a score of 29 so I was thrilled with Murphy Particularly as we had straight-talking had List 1 judges!
051 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
052 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
Murphy warmed up a little casually for the show jumping and my instructors observation was that he was looking a little "strung out". This phrase is cropping up a lot so I worked quite hard on keeping him much more together as I went into the ring. This resulted in me being totally backwards to fences 1-3 but Murphy sprouted wings and was very careful indeed despite being underpowered on deep spots. We then came round to fence 4 and the back rail caught us out and I knew I couldn't keep asking him to jump from the backwards canter so rode forwards again and he was beautifully careful over the next upright and tricky double of uprights and then related 4 to a white gate. Round to the biggest oxer on the course which he sailed easily. We were a bit deep to the planks but he jumped it cleanly then we turned the corner to the final treble. We had a lovely stride in but he dropped his legs on back rail and then jumped 2 uprights out cleanly.
8 faults... yet again! Well at least we are consistent
It's always behind and he just doesn't seem to finish his jump. Ho hum, it was our first crack at an IN course and plenty of others played skittles too so I can't be too disappointed.
The cross country seemed to be causing all sorts of problems as it was on the technical side with combination after combination, and very little in the way of let up fences. Hardly anyone was going near the time so I decided to give it a good crack as the ground was surprisingly good and Murphy really excels across the country. He rocketed around the course making mincemeat of the tricky lines and technical questions, getting plenty of pats as we galloped on. The final combination on the course was a step up with a bounce to a log on top, and then a slope down to an angled pallisade skinny which was on a bit of a yuk distance which walked as 3.5 strides if you went straight. I had really opened him up in the gallop up to the step and was pretty brave and waited as long as I could to bring him back. He bounded up the step and jumped very boldly over the log. He then surged away and I stupidly sat like a sack of spuds and Murphy didn't even register what the question was so when I tugged the right rein I was just given a slap in the face by the flag for my efforts 20 penalties. Ugh. He happily popped the alternative and finished 25 seconds over, which goes to show that we were well on track for finishing inside the time which would have left us in 6th place.
I am absolutely devastated to have put 20 penalties on my little hero's record as he absolutely did not deserve that. 100% a result of diabolical riding from yours truly However, I am absolutely determined to turn the whole experience into a positive, and we certainly weren't alone with more than 50% of my section having xc penalties. The blip has been a very long time coming and I have been well aware that I have been getting far too complacent across the country on Murphy and been very lazy in my riding because he has never really needed me to help him out. If I want to ride at intermediate level then I need to remember that we are a 2-man team and Murphy will need a bit of support every now and again! I really hope that this will just have been a much needed kick up the behind
The very lovely lady from John Britter Photography has given me full permission to share this lovely photo with you. It's the first of the 2 angled ducks on 3 strides which he jumped perfectly
050 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
So Babury next for the ON which will hopefully be our last run before Hartpury CCI* in August
Red velvet cupackes for all you hardcore report readers who have made it this far
Intermediate is out of bounds for the time being whilst I continue to try and get dear Billykins qualified for the grassroots next year so I entered the Intermediate Novice at Hambleden to see how we would get on with the step up in the dressage and show jumping. 049 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
The dressage used the CIC* B test which I rode (very badly
) at Rockingham a few weeks previously so I was determined to iron out the rider errors which were littered through Murphy's pretty smart test! Murphy's trot has been getting bigger and bigger as I have started to ride much more bravely. He can get quite onward board and strong in the hand which used to make me want to fight him and bottle him up. I'm not really sure when the lightbulb moment happened but I now encourage him to flow on instead of fighting him and the results are pretty impressive! He feels incredible to sit on and I am now finding myself really enjoying riding my tests, and I feel like I am showing off the most super horse! Unfortunately the walk has never been good, and I'm not quite there with the canterwork. We had a couple of big blips in the test including an incorrect canter strike off with a bit of a scramble to sort legs out, but on the whole I was pleased. Sadly no video or pics as I was on my own One of the downsides of doing an IN is the seriously long wait for the Show Jumping if you are early in the section. I had a wait of 6 hours but as I am only 40 mins from Mattingley I decided to drive him home and put him in the field for a couple of hours as I couldn't bear the thought of him standing on the lorry all day in the heat! It also allowed a nice opportunity for a back scratch with his best bud
046 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
We headed back a couple of hours later with my instructor and found that we had posted a dressage score of 30.2 which was pretty damn respectable
and left us in 8th position in a huge section. Emily Baldwin had done the most beautiful test before me and was on a score of 29 so I was thrilled with Murphy Particularly as we had straight-talking had List 1 judges!051 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
052 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
Murphy warmed up a little casually for the show jumping and my instructors observation was that he was looking a little "strung out". This phrase is cropping up a lot so I worked quite hard on keeping him much more together as I went into the ring. This resulted in me being totally backwards to fences 1-3 but Murphy sprouted wings and was very careful indeed despite being underpowered on deep spots. We then came round to fence 4 and the back rail caught us out and I knew I couldn't keep asking him to jump from the backwards canter so rode forwards again and he was beautifully careful over the next upright and tricky double of uprights and then related 4 to a white gate. Round to the biggest oxer on the course which he sailed easily. We were a bit deep to the planks but he jumped it cleanly then we turned the corner to the final treble. We had a lovely stride in but he dropped his legs on back rail and then jumped 2 uprights out cleanly.
8 faults... yet again! Well at least we are consistent
It's always behind and he just doesn't seem to finish his jump. Ho hum, it was our first crack at an IN course and plenty of others played skittles too so I can't be too disappointed.The cross country seemed to be causing all sorts of problems as it was on the technical side with combination after combination, and very little in the way of let up fences. Hardly anyone was going near the time so I decided to give it a good crack as the ground was surprisingly good and Murphy really excels across the country. He rocketed around the course making mincemeat of the tricky lines and technical questions, getting plenty of pats as we galloped on. The final combination on the course was a step up with a bounce to a log on top, and then a slope down to an angled pallisade skinny which was on a bit of a yuk distance which walked as 3.5 strides if you went straight. I had really opened him up in the gallop up to the step and was pretty brave and waited as long as I could to bring him back. He bounded up the step and jumped very boldly over the log. He then surged away and I stupidly sat like a sack of spuds and Murphy didn't even register what the question was so when I tugged the right rein I was just given a slap in the face by the flag for my efforts
20 penalties. Ugh. He happily popped the alternative and finished 25 seconds over, which goes to show that we were well on track for finishing inside the time which would have left us in 6th place.I am absolutely devastated to have put 20 penalties on my little hero's record as he absolutely did not deserve that. 100% a result of diabolical riding from yours truly
However, I am absolutely determined to turn the whole experience into a positive, and we certainly weren't alone with more than 50% of my section having xc penalties. The blip has been a very long time coming and I have been well aware that I have been getting far too complacent across the country on Murphy and been very lazy in my riding because he has never really needed me to help him out. If I want to ride at intermediate level then I need to remember that we are a 2-man team and Murphy will need a bit of support every now and again! I really hope that this will just have been a much needed kick up the behind The very lovely lady from John Britter Photography has given me full permission to share this lovely photo with you. It's the first of the 2 angled ducks on 3 strides which he jumped perfectly
050 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
So Babury next for the ON which will hopefully be our last run before Hartpury CCI* in August
Red velvet cupackes for all you hardcore report readers who have made it this far
Thanks for a lovely comment - very best of luck for the rest of your season too 