Mid June Weekend Thread

[mavandkaz]

Just going to sneak this in here...took Shambles to riding club dressage last night
Had put my brave pants on and entered our first ever medium. Was surprisingly nervous - due to his physical issues I only school once a week so felt rather under prepared having not really ridden through the entire test. And everything came up much quicker then I thought it would.
Super pleased to have done it, and did pretty much all the moves as required (some spooking resulted in an interesting left shoulder in and I forgot where to turn up the final centre line)
So came away with 62.5% with some places we can easily improve on. Not yet read through the test sheet as pretty much know what I need to work on, but will have a look through with instructor. Will be able to ride the exact same test again next month as a PYO class with same judge, so a great way to track progress

 

[nikicb]

Some lovely photos from everyone's outings! j1ffy, I am sure your outing was a little bittersweet, but you will have learnt so much from your time with Danny, and you in turn have set him up for a very successful future - something you should be proud of.

Just so that I post a balanced account, on Monday I had a really wobbly ride on Maddie. I have no idea why, but it was just one of those rides where we weren't on the same page. She didn't really do anything wrong, but was a bit jumpy, and when she's like that, she tends to tuck behind the vertical a bit and I feel I have no horse in front of me, and I am still not quite brave enough to send her forwards into the contact, even though I know that's what I need to do. It may have had something to do with the fact that we had some fencing work done earlier in the day, but she seemed totally nonplussed at that, and didn't even do her trademark Welshie snort at the new gate, so ?‍ . Thankfully yesterday we were back 'together' again as we had a test riding clinic which counts as a qualifier for the South and West Inter County Champs in the Autumn. It's only the second test we have had judged, and we scored a smidge under 71% which I was pretty pleased about, especially as our stretchy trot doesn't seem to exist at the moment and because of that we ended up on a 6 for our final two movements (stretchy trot circle, followed by final c/line and halt in which she popped up above the bit). Definitely something to work on!! Then today we had our second in-hand session with Diane Thurman-Baker. Diane was pleased with how much more free Maddie is becoming in her shoulders with the Spanish walk work - I am beginning to contemplate investing in some knee protection for me as she really does lift up and wave those front legs! We also played around with the rein back. At the moment Maddie has a bit of a 4 beat R/B as she is late with her fronts, so we worked on making her go back a bit faster to get the rhythm, and then immediately forward again to keep her thinking actively. A quiet day planned for tomorrow which I think we both need!!

 

[Bernster]

I like how the weekend thread rolls into the week, until the next weekend one!

I’ll share our first blip (hopefully just a blip) in new horse ownership. B has been very good but last night‘s lesson didn’t go to plan. I think it’s rookie error on my part - less turnout, less exercise, too much food. He did good walk and trot work, the left canter was a bit unbalanced and fast but ok, right canter was not good! Way too fast, unbalanced motorbike. It seemed to unsettle him so ins tried him and he did the same. So we popped him on the lunge and he span himself round and round - trot, canter, trot…If that’s how he’s feeling, I’m amazed he’s behaved so well under saddle. He does move well though, I’ll give him that.

Anyway, message received (and obv I feel really bad as it’s such a basic error) - I need to sort out his routine and help him settle, then see how he goes. Lunge work, ground work, hacking, no schooling for a little while, diet chaff only and more turnout. Super fit competition horse needs to adjust (hopefully he will be my comp horse in time).

 

[j1ffy]

Bernster - sounds like a useful 'getting to know him' experience!

I'm also sneaking in a mid-week lesson update.

Chilli and I had our first lesson last night! Since Easter we've done a little bit of hacking, but not consistently with one thing and another, and been in the little school at our yard twice - just so I could check our steering and brakes for hacking. As he's my first 4yo I'm keen to have plenty of guidance for schooling to make sure we get things right from the start.

I was probably expecting a lot as yesterday was his first day in the stable since November, and even worse he had to stay in while everyone else went out! Other than being very slightly agitated and making sure all rugs in his reach were on the floor, he coped incredibly well. Stood beautifully for me to get on in the big arena (again, a big ask as he's not been in there since November).

He was tense to begin with and had a couple of half-hearted attempts at napping, but settled and did some lovely work. I have some videos but uploading is a faff! Here's a cheesy grin photo instead - he spotted another horse hacking and did some neighs and some very cute, ridiculous little noises that had me and the trainer giggling away, hence my expression!



He also surprised me with a very balanced canter!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

We took 2 ponies to the Highland Showcase today. Pippa was 11th of 13 and I expected her to be no higher as I knew the judge didn't like her (not quite sure why we took her and not one of the others but hey ho!).

Dum Dum however excelled himself. He loaded into the trailer for the first time in his life no bother, travelled quiet as a mouse, got off the other end like an absolute rocket and proceeded to screech the place down ??? we had quite a while to wait as his was the last class of the section so he toothed about, dragged me about, aye some grass, screamed his head off, LOVED the Highlands and realised today that he is indeed a boy! And what do all little boys do? Drop their pants and wave their Willie's at every opportunity! Dum Dum is no different ?? In his class he walked out nicely, trotted out well and stood OK for the most part. A wee bit of fidgeting but he is a yearling colt after all! He then managed to pull off a 3rd place! Flanked either side by 2 fillies. So I am super super happy with him! And then he loaded to come home again not a bother! Such a clever little baby Dum Dum!