LeannePip
Well-Known Member
Very (Very!) early start yesterday morning for our 3rd ODE, unfortunately didn't manage to get an entry in before the cut off to ride for the teams so entered as an open rider in the 80section.
Alarm went off at 3.30am which was quite horrific, then rushing around at the yard to plait and pack the borrowed trailer as our lorry is in the body shop being fixed still and on the road by 5.05, unfortunately because the box was out of action this meant my poor old mum also had to be up at the crack of dawn to tow the trailer!
As i didn't fancy getting up any earlier i decided to test the waters and forgo our first warm up/ walk around, and almost immediately regretted this decision as soon as i got on! Warm up was a little fraught, all Ruby wanted to do was canter everywhere so i let her have one on each rein and then just trotted lots of shapes and circles, before walking over to the arenas which are quite a walk from the warm up. Once we got there she was begining to get tense again whilst working in over here so we went back to shapes and circles in trot and she settled really nicely, i was hopeful we could carry this on into the test as our last one at Bovington was quite tense. She was brilliant, really relaxed and ride able, it wasn't perfect the first canter transition was a bit exciting and the trot work after the canters wasn't so nice but she really kept it together for a brilliant 26, which put us in 3rd!
Test here;
https://video-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v...=3693bf1f8c3567aee1ffff76f64119e5&oe=5767CABD
Quick change and onto the Showjumping, didn't need much of a warm up as we were straight from dressage so popped a few fences which she jumped really confidently. I've been working on riding her much more forward than i think i should, because the canter i feel is right is acctually wrong and far too small and bouncy which means we get he big stag leaps. Its something i will have to work on because the correct canter acctually feels wildly fast and out of control! It went much better than last time and there were no stag leaps, i lacked some steering but remembered to ride forward so was really pleased with another clear round. Unfortunately they didn't seem to be timing the showjumping so i have no idea if this new canter saved us from getting time faults or not but according to mum it was much better - but i think mums have to say that don't they?
Another quick change and onto the cross country. The course didn't walk well for me it was very hilly with lots of long down hill stretches, i'm struggling to find a bitting combination which we are both happy with and the ground was pretty hard and rutted but did have a good grass coverage. It was an odd mixture of easy peasy little fences and :O oh my god huge bright scary fences so i had no idea how we'd get on, provided she didn't freak at the colours I felt confident that by the time the scary fences came up she'd be well in her stride and would be fine. Well she was just amazing for such a young and relatively inexperienced horse she gave me the best ride across country. For the first time she fired out of the start box and didn't look back, she felt really grown up and confident to all the fences towing me most of the way over some good questions, a bright blue hay cart, a green crocodile out of the water and right up until the penultimate fence was a bright yellow mock saw bench, the approach was over the brow of the hill so you didn't have too long to look at it, she gawped and slowed a bit, so i added some growling and we made it over well enough to stay on line for the B element which was just a log, last fence was just as big a question, a massive silver horseshoe with some brush behind, she didn't back off and towed me straight over and to the finish. I'm not sure who's was bigger hers or mine, i was so pleased for her, it chokes me a bit still thinking about it!
You may have read that our last couple of XC's had silly little mistakes (hesitation at a drop at Larkhill & a silly fall at a mound at Bovington) so i was just so extatic to get home double clear finally and to do it on such a brilliant dressage score i was over the moon and as was mum who cheered us both on through the finish.
I was a bit disapointed to hear we still had 11 time faults but on reflection i can see where they all came, i just have to spend a bit too long setting her up for some of the fences but i think this will improve with more work and finding a bit we are both happy with! We were still sitting in 3rd on 37 when we left but as there was still 2/3's of the class to go we decided to head home and have a nap!
I dont have anything else planned for now apart from a residential camp in July so i think we'll focus on some dressage and showjumping and then perhaps a couple more ODE's late August onwards, so if anyone knows of any unaff's in the south please let me know! Thanks for reading!
Alarm went off at 3.30am which was quite horrific, then rushing around at the yard to plait and pack the borrowed trailer as our lorry is in the body shop being fixed still and on the road by 5.05, unfortunately because the box was out of action this meant my poor old mum also had to be up at the crack of dawn to tow the trailer!
As i didn't fancy getting up any earlier i decided to test the waters and forgo our first warm up/ walk around, and almost immediately regretted this decision as soon as i got on! Warm up was a little fraught, all Ruby wanted to do was canter everywhere so i let her have one on each rein and then just trotted lots of shapes and circles, before walking over to the arenas which are quite a walk from the warm up. Once we got there she was begining to get tense again whilst working in over here so we went back to shapes and circles in trot and she settled really nicely, i was hopeful we could carry this on into the test as our last one at Bovington was quite tense. She was brilliant, really relaxed and ride able, it wasn't perfect the first canter transition was a bit exciting and the trot work after the canters wasn't so nice but she really kept it together for a brilliant 26, which put us in 3rd!
Test here;
https://video-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v...=3693bf1f8c3567aee1ffff76f64119e5&oe=5767CABD
Quick change and onto the Showjumping, didn't need much of a warm up as we were straight from dressage so popped a few fences which she jumped really confidently. I've been working on riding her much more forward than i think i should, because the canter i feel is right is acctually wrong and far too small and bouncy which means we get he big stag leaps. Its something i will have to work on because the correct canter acctually feels wildly fast and out of control! It went much better than last time and there were no stag leaps, i lacked some steering but remembered to ride forward so was really pleased with another clear round. Unfortunately they didn't seem to be timing the showjumping so i have no idea if this new canter saved us from getting time faults or not but according to mum it was much better - but i think mums have to say that don't they?
Another quick change and onto the cross country. The course didn't walk well for me it was very hilly with lots of long down hill stretches, i'm struggling to find a bitting combination which we are both happy with and the ground was pretty hard and rutted but did have a good grass coverage. It was an odd mixture of easy peasy little fences and :O oh my god huge bright scary fences so i had no idea how we'd get on, provided she didn't freak at the colours I felt confident that by the time the scary fences came up she'd be well in her stride and would be fine. Well she was just amazing for such a young and relatively inexperienced horse she gave me the best ride across country. For the first time she fired out of the start box and didn't look back, she felt really grown up and confident to all the fences towing me most of the way over some good questions, a bright blue hay cart, a green crocodile out of the water and right up until the penultimate fence was a bright yellow mock saw bench, the approach was over the brow of the hill so you didn't have too long to look at it, she gawped and slowed a bit, so i added some growling and we made it over well enough to stay on line for the B element which was just a log, last fence was just as big a question, a massive silver horseshoe with some brush behind, she didn't back off and towed me straight over and to the finish. I'm not sure who's was bigger hers or mine, i was so pleased for her, it chokes me a bit still thinking about it!
You may have read that our last couple of XC's had silly little mistakes (hesitation at a drop at Larkhill & a silly fall at a mound at Bovington) so i was just so extatic to get home double clear finally and to do it on such a brilliant dressage score i was over the moon and as was mum who cheered us both on through the finish.
I was a bit disapointed to hear we still had 11 time faults but on reflection i can see where they all came, i just have to spend a bit too long setting her up for some of the fences but i think this will improve with more work and finding a bit we are both happy with! We were still sitting in 3rd on 37 when we left but as there was still 2/3's of the class to go we decided to head home and have a nap!
I dont have anything else planned for now apart from a residential camp in July so i think we'll focus on some dressage and showjumping and then perhaps a couple more ODE's late August onwards, so if anyone knows of any unaff's in the south please let me know! Thanks for reading!
well jealous of your dressage score and the rest is just fab!
How is your young grey doing?
