almostthere
Well-Known Member
So I know it is not quite as grand as Badminton Grassroots (huge congrats by the way to all of those who made it there) but as some of you know I bought a baby pony last year and have him with a wonderful kind pro to produce (I have neither the time or the talent, frankly). He had been well started but was obviously quite weak when we got him so we have spent the Winter building him up slowly, and has had a couple of runs so far at Larkhill and Hambledon.
First stop dressage ...he is only rising 6, and can do an awesome impression of a giraffe at times so we weren't quite sure what to expect in dr....
For those of you who don't know the dressage was pretty close to the water complex on the xc so potentially very distracting. But thankfully after his initial "look how high my nose can go, dad...are my ears in your nose yet?" moment he warmed up beautifully and did a lovely test to my completely unbiased eye of course
).
Off to sj - which was causing chaos with poles flying everywhere. Now he does have a nice jump (Darco and Cavalier Royale are in there not too far back) but the surface was quite deep in the arena and I think this was causing issues for a lot of horses. We decided that if pro thought he was in any way losing confidence from the surface he would retire him. But no...my little pony trotted in ears pricked eyes shining and jumped a very confident clear round
)
Off to xc - again quite a strong xc with an owl hole (we don't think he has ever seen one) with a very scary photographer immediately after and quite big steps (his least favourite). I actually felt sick just watching them go through the start and then the commentator went quiet and my heart sank...but no..next thing she said was how my little horse (16hh max on his tip toes) was "flying around jumping everything out of his stride". I admit when I saw them coming towards the water complex at the end I did well up....so many horses have such bad starts in life but my little baby was flying around with a huge smile on his face as if this was all really rather good fun...
Anyway when I had stopped being an emotional old bat and stuffing him with polos..we went to check the scores...cue more blubbing..27 dr (!!!) and double clear inside the time to win his section...
Very self indulgent post I know especially as I cannot take the credit for him (except the hacking) but he is so clever he deserves a mention....I am so so proud of him and my rider. He gives my horse so much confidence without ever forcing him to do anything....
Thank you for reading this far and for allowing me to gush)
First stop dressage ...he is only rising 6, and can do an awesome impression of a giraffe at times so we weren't quite sure what to expect in dr....
For those of you who don't know the dressage was pretty close to the water complex on the xc so potentially very distracting. But thankfully after his initial "look how high my nose can go, dad...are my ears in your nose yet?" moment he warmed up beautifully and did a lovely test to my completely unbiased eye of course
).Off to sj - which was causing chaos with poles flying everywhere. Now he does have a nice jump (Darco and Cavalier Royale are in there not too far back) but the surface was quite deep in the arena and I think this was causing issues for a lot of horses. We decided that if pro thought he was in any way losing confidence from the surface he would retire him. But no...my little pony trotted in ears pricked eyes shining and jumped a very confident clear round
)Off to xc - again quite a strong xc with an owl hole (we don't think he has ever seen one) with a very scary photographer immediately after and quite big steps (his least favourite). I actually felt sick just watching them go through the start and then the commentator went quiet and my heart sank...but no..next thing she said was how my little horse (16hh max on his tip toes) was "flying around jumping everything out of his stride". I admit when I saw them coming towards the water complex at the end I did well up....so many horses have such bad starts in life but my little baby was flying around with a huge smile on his face as if this was all really rather good fun...
Anyway when I had stopped being an emotional old bat and stuffing him with polos..we went to check the scores...cue more blubbing..27 dr (!!!) and double clear inside the time to win his section...
Very self indulgent post I know especially as I cannot take the credit for him (except the hacking) but he is so clever he deserves a mention....I am so so proud of him and my rider. He gives my horse so much confidence without ever forcing him to do anything....
Thank you for reading this far and for allowing me to gush
)
