poggio
Well-Known Member
Had the most crappest preparation for this due to one reason or another (lack of time, twisted shoe, lost shoes, work getting in the way, stupid unaff SJ not running 85cms + classes due to huge entries!! etc) which meant the last time he SJd was over a 2'6 course indoors, the last time he xc'd was at his last event about 2months ago also being his first ever time over a course...and similarly with the dressage!
I had all the right plans and ideas in the run up to it but not one worked out properly, ho hum...so needless to say wasn't feeling the most confident and a bit irresponsible as it would be the biggest and trickiest he'd tackled to date on no preparation wotsoeva!
Obviously was still going to give it a crack and take each phase as it comes.
Got there a bit tight with time so was a quick tack up and go, he is SUCH an angel to have out at parties, so incredibly chilled and easy, a real pleasure.
Warmed up ok for the first 5 mins then that was enough and he'd had enough of boring flatwork. Became quite opinionated after that, went in for the test and it was bloody awful! We had every kind of evasion I think possible, including leaping and bunny hopping in trot and canter work, very imaginative Miles! On the video it doesn't look anywhere near as bad as it felt. He jogged out of the arena after his test, then reared and bounced before bolting through the warm-up!! So if anyone was there and saw a big bay careering through it was me!! Got the little sh*t back and gave him a good workout until he submissed a bit more! Anyway, we ended on 44.7 !! Horrendous mark but he didnt deserve less than 50 imo!
Onto SJ, course was nice, not overly big but a bit poley!
Warmed up really lovely. We've been working hard on his jumping canter at home and I can feel him just starting to make little adjustments and he's starting to look for his own distances now etc....but we're still not quite there!!
Clear over first 2, no. 3 were white planks, broke to trot on the turn as he is quite inclined to do at the moment so canter wasn't quite there to the fence, got a deep one which he still finds really hard to jump from and just didnt get his legs up in time so took it out. Same happened at fence 5. I know he can't make those deeper ones yet and need to ride a lot more forward to get him jumping off what he finds easy, rider error as usual!! Got the spots we needed to the rest including the last line of related to one stride double which he jumped spot on. 2 down but a MASSIVE improvement otherwise, really quite pleased with that.
After walking the course I wasn't feeling overly confident! We had a corner which was lovely but looked big to me and he has never ever jumped anything like it, a trakehener, again never seen one of those! No.13 combination of wide roll top with two strides to a very skinny brush fence which was also quite large, nearly up to my shoulders anyway! Next fence was a hanging log on the brow of a steep bank, down the other side LH tight turn to part B. It was a lovely course but I couldn't help but think it was a bit much for him. Again decided we'd take each fence as it came and just pull up if I wasn't happy.
So off we went....out of the start box and oh you want me to trot? no ok you want me to canter? Oh right...that kind of canter, yep think I can just about manage that! Over the first no problems, no.2 quite a biggish picnic table, flew it without looking. no3 Step up onto bank and step down the other side, no problems. No.4 small rails onto a bank, down the other side LH turn to another set of rails. He wanted to stop at the top to walk down the bank then picked up trot and popped the rails, happy with that! 5 was an oxer, lovely jump took it in his stride. 6/7 double of pheasant feeders, jumped the first lovely but drifted right inbetween which meant we got 2 and a bit strides but he was clear and clever enough to get his legs out. Then no. 8 was the corner. Decided Id keep as left as possible so that I was coming slightly uphill to it rather than coming down towards the point and just asking for a run out to the left. Got a super canter and super stride to it and he stayed dead straight and just jumped - think I am quite gobsmacked at this point. Over the hunt jump fab and over the table at 10. 11 was the trakehener, I was ready for him but not even a 2nd look. Clear over the house at 12 and then onto the combination at 13. He got a bit cocky here and took a hold into the roll top meaning we got a bit of a hairy jump over the first but he was locked onto the skinny and took it on, fab! 14 was the hanging log, had a super jump over this but he jumped huuuuuge then bowled on down the bank the other side and was off...in totally the wrong direction and missed the b element!! Had to bring him back turn around and get back to the B part which he jumped but by the time we'd done that Id easily wasted 40 odd seconds and was kicking myself for being so blase about coming down the bank!! Jumped 15 and 16 super and really bowling on, then to the water...canter through and popped over the log out, onto the last, steeplechase fence, saw a super chase stride to that and he was home !!! Absolutely over the moon, he was awesome!!! Better than I'd ever expected and made it all feel incredibly easy.
Looked at the scores later and they've given us 20 at fence 14 because we would have quite easily crossed our tracks, so thats quite annoying because it looks like a stop and he doesn't deserve it but never mind! Also got a huge amount of time penalties which was expected with our slight detour and I did take him quite steady in places. But wow, never thought Id get that kind of feeling from him at this stage, he really was super and I am soooo excited about doing it all again!!
sorry its so long, big choc chip cookies if you got this far!!
I had all the right plans and ideas in the run up to it but not one worked out properly, ho hum...so needless to say wasn't feeling the most confident and a bit irresponsible as it would be the biggest and trickiest he'd tackled to date on no preparation wotsoeva!
Obviously was still going to give it a crack and take each phase as it comes.
Got there a bit tight with time so was a quick tack up and go, he is SUCH an angel to have out at parties, so incredibly chilled and easy, a real pleasure.
Warmed up ok for the first 5 mins then that was enough and he'd had enough of boring flatwork. Became quite opinionated after that, went in for the test and it was bloody awful! We had every kind of evasion I think possible, including leaping and bunny hopping in trot and canter work, very imaginative Miles! On the video it doesn't look anywhere near as bad as it felt. He jogged out of the arena after his test, then reared and bounced before bolting through the warm-up!! So if anyone was there and saw a big bay careering through it was me!! Got the little sh*t back and gave him a good workout until he submissed a bit more! Anyway, we ended on 44.7 !! Horrendous mark but he didnt deserve less than 50 imo!
Onto SJ, course was nice, not overly big but a bit poley!
Warmed up really lovely. We've been working hard on his jumping canter at home and I can feel him just starting to make little adjustments and he's starting to look for his own distances now etc....but we're still not quite there!!
Clear over first 2, no. 3 were white planks, broke to trot on the turn as he is quite inclined to do at the moment so canter wasn't quite there to the fence, got a deep one which he still finds really hard to jump from and just didnt get his legs up in time so took it out. Same happened at fence 5. I know he can't make those deeper ones yet and need to ride a lot more forward to get him jumping off what he finds easy, rider error as usual!! Got the spots we needed to the rest including the last line of related to one stride double which he jumped spot on. 2 down but a MASSIVE improvement otherwise, really quite pleased with that.
After walking the course I wasn't feeling overly confident! We had a corner which was lovely but looked big to me and he has never ever jumped anything like it, a trakehener, again never seen one of those! No.13 combination of wide roll top with two strides to a very skinny brush fence which was also quite large, nearly up to my shoulders anyway! Next fence was a hanging log on the brow of a steep bank, down the other side LH tight turn to part B. It was a lovely course but I couldn't help but think it was a bit much for him. Again decided we'd take each fence as it came and just pull up if I wasn't happy.
So off we went....out of the start box and oh you want me to trot? no ok you want me to canter? Oh right...that kind of canter, yep think I can just about manage that! Over the first no problems, no.2 quite a biggish picnic table, flew it without looking. no3 Step up onto bank and step down the other side, no problems. No.4 small rails onto a bank, down the other side LH turn to another set of rails. He wanted to stop at the top to walk down the bank then picked up trot and popped the rails, happy with that! 5 was an oxer, lovely jump took it in his stride. 6/7 double of pheasant feeders, jumped the first lovely but drifted right inbetween which meant we got 2 and a bit strides but he was clear and clever enough to get his legs out. Then no. 8 was the corner. Decided Id keep as left as possible so that I was coming slightly uphill to it rather than coming down towards the point and just asking for a run out to the left. Got a super canter and super stride to it and he stayed dead straight and just jumped - think I am quite gobsmacked at this point. Over the hunt jump fab and over the table at 10. 11 was the trakehener, I was ready for him but not even a 2nd look. Clear over the house at 12 and then onto the combination at 13. He got a bit cocky here and took a hold into the roll top meaning we got a bit of a hairy jump over the first but he was locked onto the skinny and took it on, fab! 14 was the hanging log, had a super jump over this but he jumped huuuuuge then bowled on down the bank the other side and was off...in totally the wrong direction and missed the b element!! Had to bring him back turn around and get back to the B part which he jumped but by the time we'd done that Id easily wasted 40 odd seconds and was kicking myself for being so blase about coming down the bank!! Jumped 15 and 16 super and really bowling on, then to the water...canter through and popped over the log out, onto the last, steeplechase fence, saw a super chase stride to that and he was home !!! Absolutely over the moon, he was awesome!!! Better than I'd ever expected and made it all feel incredibly easy.
Looked at the scores later and they've given us 20 at fence 14 because we would have quite easily crossed our tracks, so thats quite annoying because it looks like a stop and he doesn't deserve it but never mind! Also got a huge amount of time penalties which was expected with our slight detour and I did take him quite steady in places. But wow, never thought Id get that kind of feeling from him at this stage, he really was super and I am soooo excited about doing it all again!!
sorry its so long, big choc chip cookies if you got this far!!
