HufflyPuffly
Well-Known Member
So what else would I want to do on bank holiday weekend than go on a road trip down to Hartpury for a two day show 
. We've only done one stay away show before so we were going for some more championship experience, but I was hopeful we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too much 
.
Thankfully Topaz seems to be ok staying in strange stables these days but does still carry a bit of internal stress, so hopefully the more we stay away the more confident she will get.
Up early for our first test M69, and we warmed up well, keeping things simple and just working on rhythm and suppleness. Into the test and erm well yeah... lots of changes and spooking happened. Topaz was a little bit worried about life, the entrance, the judge, the trade stands, the photographer, etc :lol: and when a Topaz is worried and also in canter what else can she do but pop a change in, I think it must sooth her . Came out had a giggle, bless her cotten socks, and popped her away until the afternoon. There is no evidence of this test thankfully but whilst perusing the pro pictures there is a suspicious looking canter picture which looks very flying changy :lol:.
Back out for E53 and this time in the less scary arena not near the trade stands! So I was feeling quite confident maybe for this one. However this time the audience were out to get her , which meant I had to work quite hard to keep her attention and the tense head wobble made an appearance in the canter (contact/tension issue we're working on and it's mostly gone until we get very tense). Topaz also managed to sneak another attempt at a change after our first medium canter, which I did feel was fairly unnecessary! Video of this one, please try not to be too critical I am definitely not perfect and know there is lots to work on .
[video=youtube_share;WrUsMQFlYGE]https://youtu.be/WrUsMQFlYGE[/video]
Managed a not too shabby 66%, which I thought was a fairly fair score
.
Gave her a bath and let her have a mooch about for some sneaky grass.
Even found some jumps to stare at :lol:
Watched the evening music classes which was fab, especially little Corstan Rouge Trader! Then discovered that I had been wrong in my smug expectation that all my classes were outside and that my next elementary class was in the big, scary, frighteningly fancy looking indoor, my friend countered this new found discovery by providing lots of pimms . So another super early morning for the arena walk.
Having a little ride round in the dark in the warm-up indoor to check this wasn't too scary either:
Made her pretty and decided blinding with bling would be our only hope now
.
Then onto our next medium, the not at all tricky M75.... Warmed up tried to cement our counter canter back in, which worked until a another horse got a little close so I gave her a pat and she changed , I mean when has a pat ever signified a flying change! However into the test and I felt parts were quite nice if a little fragile to start, but then we got a change in the first counter canter which was my fault for the positioning on the circle. Next counter canter I felt was a touch more Topaz than me , she seemed to be having a chat with the horse in the arena next door, who I feel must have been egging her on . So we got change, I said woah, Topaz said noooo, I said no really, so Topaz stuck her head in the air trying to turn round to glare at the horsey who had clearly told her this would be a good move, I said no come on forward and back into canter, Topaz ran backwards a little to try and get the other horses attention, then gave up and accepted forwards into counter canter . What was that about not being embarrassing . Video to give you all a laugh, poor Topaz she was enjoying her changes whilst trying to put up with me .
[video=youtube_share;qXHJGT0WrJg]https://youtu.be/qXHJGT0WrJg[/video]
Managed to get into the 60's with this medium for a 64%, which for a championship show I'm still chuffed with!
So onto the final test, by this point all hope of placings and prizes a far distant thought, our only aim now was a test which contained NO FLYING CHANGES! It was also roasting, warm-up was a little varied from good work, flat work (too hot for Topaz's) to tense, so I was not feeling much hope! Into the holding ring, and we couldn't even do a full lap as everything ate Topaz's apparently , so gave up agreed to go before my time, kicked on and trotted our socks off into the arena. Tried to keep holding her hand and give her confidence and maybe because it did feel a little cooler in the big arena, Topaz felt the most relaxed she had for the whole weekend . Maybe she was by this point knackered and couldn't be bothered spooking anymore but I'm going with she was finally starting to relax :lol:. Head wobble was still in attendance, but no, not even a sniff of one, flying changes happened . The judge must have thought I was crazy for grinning on the VIG line with a head wobbly Topaz and a varying canter rhythm, but little did she know that our only aim was not to have a flying change . Video in two parts as my phone had a wobbly moment of its own .
[video=youtube_share;MMnsvnMC74g]https://youtu.be/MMnsvnMC74g[/video]
. We've only done one stay away show before so we were going for some more championship experience, but I was hopeful we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too much .Thankfully Topaz seems to be ok staying in strange stables these days but does still carry a bit of internal stress, so hopefully the more we stay away the more confident she will get.
Up early for our first test M69, and we warmed up well, keeping things simple and just working on rhythm and suppleness. Into the test and erm well yeah... lots of changes and spooking happened
. Topaz was a little bit worried about life, the entrance, the judge, the trade stands, the photographer, etc :lol: and when a Topaz is worried and also in canter what else can she do but pop a change in, I think it must sooth her . Came out had a giggle, bless her cotten socks, and popped her away until the afternoon. There is no evidence of this test thankfully but whilst perusing the pro pictures there is a suspicious looking canter picture which looks very flying changy :lol:. Back out for E53 and this time in the less scary arena not near the trade stands! So I was feeling quite confident maybe for this one
. However this time the audience were out to get her , which meant I had to work quite hard to keep her attention and the tense head wobble made an appearance in the canter (contact/tension issue we're working on and it's mostly gone until we get very tense). Topaz also managed to sneak another attempt at a change after our first medium canter, which I did feel was fairly unnecessary! Video of this one, please try not to be too critical I am definitely not perfect and know there is lots to work on .[video=youtube_share;WrUsMQFlYGE]https://youtu.be/WrUsMQFlYGE[/video]
Managed a not too shabby 66%, which I thought was a fairly fair score
.Gave her a bath and let her have a mooch about for some sneaky grass.
Even found some jumps to stare at :lol:
Watched the evening music classes which was fab, especially little Corstan Rouge Trader! Then discovered that I had been wrong in my smug expectation that all my classes were outside and that my next elementary class was in the big, scary, frighteningly fancy looking indoor
, my friend countered this new found discovery by providing lots of pimms . So another super early morning for the arena walk.
Having a little ride round in the dark in the warm-up indoor to check this wasn't too scary either:
Made her pretty and decided blinding with bling would be our only hope now
.
Then onto our next medium, the not at all tricky M75...
. Warmed up tried to cement our counter canter back in, which worked until a another horse got a little close so I gave her a pat and she changed , I mean when has a pat ever signified a flying change! However into the test and I felt parts were quite nice if a little fragile to start, but then we got a change in the first counter canter which was my fault for the positioning on the circle. Next counter canter I felt was a touch more Topaz than me , she seemed to be having a chat with the horse in the arena next door, who I feel must have been egging her on . So we got change, I said woah, Topaz said noooo, I said no really, so Topaz stuck her head in the air trying to turn round to glare at the horsey who had clearly told her this would be a good move, I said no come on forward and back into canter, Topaz ran backwards a little to try and get the other horses attention, then gave up and accepted forwards into counter canter . What was that about not being embarrassing . Video to give you all a laugh, poor Topaz she was enjoying her changes whilst trying to put up with me .[video=youtube_share;qXHJGT0WrJg]https://youtu.be/qXHJGT0WrJg[/video]
Managed to get into the 60's with this medium for a 64%, which for a championship show I'm still chuffed with!
So onto the final test, by this point all hope of placings and prizes a far distant thought
, our only aim now was a test which contained NO FLYING CHANGES! It was also roasting, warm-up was a little varied from good work, flat work (too hot for Topaz's) to tense, so I was not feeling much hope! Into the holding ring, and we couldn't even do a full lap as everything ate Topaz's apparently , so gave up agreed to go before my time, kicked on and trotted our socks off into the arena. Tried to keep holding her hand and give her confidence and maybe because it did feel a little cooler in the big arena, Topaz felt the most relaxed she had for the whole weekend . Maybe she was by this point knackered and couldn't be bothered spooking anymore but I'm going with she was finally starting to relax :lol:. Head wobble was still in attendance, but no, not even a sniff of one, flying changes happened . The judge must have thought I was crazy for grinning on the VIG line with a head wobbly Topaz and a varying canter rhythm, but little did she know that our only aim was not to have a flying change . Video in two parts as my phone had a wobbly moment of its own .[video=youtube_share;MMnsvnMC74g]https://youtu.be/MMnsvnMC74g[/video]
, sad people can't read the rules or be happy with the championship routes they already have and do well in, but hey ho we went for character building reasons 
