My first ever BE event coming up!

[LFD]

Thank you LFD - here goes. Not quite the result I hoped for today, but it is a start...

Dressage was very tense - big field and lots of horses, and suddenly he was all alone and it was terrifying! We got through though, and the walk was pretty good though, and we did do "right paces in right places" as my previous trainer said! Ended up on 46.5. That said, we got some fab help from the BE80 trainer, took full advantage and he basically gave us a mini lesson! Very useful

Show jumping was super weird - when we came into the arena he suddenly stopped and refused to go. I couldn't understand why - the people in the middle were maybe scary, but not that bad. And five seconds later, a whirlwind came into the arena and blew half the jumps over!!! So crazy!!! Cosmo obviously freaked out, got super scared and I had to be led towards the first jump. He made a faff but I rode really strongly, got him over all of them with only one stop and a pole down! The video is horrendous but we did do it. The poor pony was terrified!
On a good note, Karen Dixon had course walk and SJ warm up, and said Cosmo jumped "beautifully" which he did in the warm up

Then XC. Lovely warm up, only jumped three times because he felt so good! Set out from start box, super well behaved in the start box, first 7 jumps lovely, waterford bit worked well. Such a good feeling although he did pull a bit, but nothing I couldn't handle.

Then came the water. I really tried, really thought positively, rode him so strongly, but I didn't have a chance... I took a second to let him look, no luck. Tried again and rode so strongly I feel rather bad about it, used the whip more than I like to admit, but it was full stop. So that was it. Then the rider behind caught up, and the fence judges kindly let us ride in straight after her, and he followed, so that was good! But we had to stop after that obviously. Oh well.

So that was a rather disappointing result. But on the good side, he behaved really nicely on the ground - loading, tacking up, all that stuff. Had some really nice moments and the test looks much nicer on video than it felt! And the XC jumping we did do was good!

However, I think we've pushed it a bit too far, and it's time to take a step back and chill out for a bit. He needs time to get used to it all, especially the water. I don't want him to have too many bad experiences. So we've withdrawn from Skipton, and plan to go schooling there afterwards instead. Then spend some time just schooling, fun rides, maybe some dressage and jumping and show cross. We have time, I just need to remember it

Well done HannaST - you certainly are not the only one to have water issues. My friend has a lovely mare who also struggles with the water and has has been E there too. She has gone over it now by washing down her legs before she sets off as if she is wet already then she doesn't seem to mind going in. Not sure if it will help you but it's worth a try!

 

[HannaST]

Well done HannaST - you certainly are not the only one to have water issues. My friend has a lovely mare who also struggles with the water and has has been E there too. She has gone over it now by washing down her legs before she sets off as if she is wet already then she doesn't seem to mind going in. Not sure if it will help you but it's worth a try!

Thank you! Never thought about that before, no idea whether it will make a difference but definitely worth a try! I'm not sure it's the water itself though as he loves being hosed down - I think it's just that he's not brave enough to trust himself with what he can't see. I'll try it out though, doesn't cost anything!
Hopefully this autumn we're moving to a yard (in Norway!) where there is a river close by, plus a stream and a lake, so lots of opportunities for water practice.