LizzieJ
Well-Known Member
Well my camp actually started last Sunday when burtondog brought the lovely Tucker up all the way from London and we had planned lots of stuff to do with the horses. This didnt get off to a great start with me waiting for my horses leg to be scanned to check she could go and burtondogs lorry deciding that the trip down from London was quite enough thank you and refusing to start
Anyway, we went to the pub on Sunday night and just decided to see what happened!
On Monday, the lorry went to a garage and burtondog and I went for a little hack because my mare was on walk only until the scan.
Tuesday was the big day for me - I had physio in the morning to try and make sure my back was in the best state it could be and my mare had her leg scanned after. The vet came, scanned her leg and we got the all clear
The lorry didn't quite get the all clear but it got a can of easy start and that seemed to be a good temporary fix
So an altogether more positve Lizzie and burtondog went up to Exmoor to see Ravenwood and go for supper. We had a lovely evening although Ravenwood's food was not so good
Wednesday burtondog and I worked out the tide times, loaded the horses up and went to the beach
We had fantastic weather and a lovely time. The horses were both on their best behaviour and the beach was pretty quiet
We got back and realised we had caught the sun too
Thursday I took burtondog up onto the Quantocks. She doesn't have any hills near her and it was all a bit of a shock to the system and slightly scary for her but we had a great time and again her horse was a star and the weather was great
We had fish and chips that night and met a fellow camper who had also turned up to camp early.
Friday was the start of camp proper
We all settled the horses in, met the other hho'ers and went to the dining room for lunch
Sarah welcomed us before we settled down to lunch at 12:30. Some of us were riding at 1
After a rushed lunch and a quick tack up we were on board. I had showjumping first and because I had not confirmed my place until the Tuesday, I was in a group who were jumping 2'6ish. We warmed up and after a few bucking moments we settled down and did some little gridwork. My mare got a little bored with this and just stopped paying attention and got stronger and stronger! We were also starting to lose our steering. Hayley our instructor then built a course for us. We jumped over a green parallel and I had zero brakes and zero steering so we jumped the fence into the dressage arena
Fortunately there was nobody near us on the other side so we didn't cause any carnage but it was very embarrassing
We rejoined our group and Hayley put the jumps up at the end for us which made her concentrate enough to get round ok. I then got on a lovely bay who had decided he didn't want to jump and jumped him round - it was quite a relief to be on something that you had to kick
After sorting out the horse, I went to watch RLF jumping. Her brakes were about as good as mine although she did manage to stay in the right arena
She did however get sent out to the naughty corner to change her bit and joined the next group instead for a bit
By this time, burtondog had managed to bring us a mug of wine so we settled down in the sun to watch everyone else
She had been in my jumping lesson and Tucker had gone very well. Equestrian Fairy and Ravenwood had flat lessons in the afternoon, I mised Ravenwood but saw EF and her pony go very well
More wine, a lovely supper of cottage pie, a quiz and a shower later we all ended up in bed pretty early
Saturday dawned and I was quite worried about my brakes on the xc that afternoon. My mum kindly brought her gag bridle up and I managed to borrow a running martingale. I wasn't riding until 12 so Ravenwood and I went for a hack straight after our very good breakfast
Ravenwood's Lottie behaved perfectly and she jumped a couple of logs beautifully but mine was still pretty wound up
When we got back, EF was just going into her first lesson of the day so I quickly washed mine down to go and watch but by the time I had done that poor EF was out with a very lame pony
A vet and farrier later, they were on their way home
My flat lesson was great - Nicola the instructor really understands June and we were much improved by the end including being able to do some canter transitions without running
We also managed to break the cycle of her trying to take off with me and the big achievement was that we stayed in the arena
In the meantime, poor Ravenwood had had a terrible time in her sj lesson where Lottie had pretty much lost the plot and she had to take her out because she was becoming dangerous
RLF still had brake troubles although they were slightly improved and burtondogs horse was still going well.
After lunch, I had the by now dreaded xc
I was now complete with a gag and martingale so was a bit happier and it turned out to be not needed
I think June finds xc a lot less stressfull and was pretty chilled out
There were only three of us in the group and we were all at the same level so we had a great time and jumped some pretty big stuff later on in a day, it's just a shame the photographer had gone by then. If anything I had a bit too much control and she came back to me a bit too much when I asked so I did fluff a lot of the striding up to start with but my fab girlie still jumped everything and I was so pleased with her
burtondog had her first go at xc on Tucker and thoroughly enjoyed it and the other two had flatwork lessons which seemed to be a lot less excitable than the jumping
Before supper, we had a talk which was very good and a quick look at the photos. Supper was roast pork and was lovely and we opened a bottle of Champagne
Ravenwood and I the proceeded to drink most of RLF's Baileys
and managed to stay up until a much more normal time
Sunday was the last day and burtondog and Ravenwood both boxed up and left straight after breakfast while RLF and I had another sj lesson. I really enjoyed it and by the end, both of us could actually stop
and we finished up over a decent course
I can safely say that I was absolutely knackered by now and every part of me ached
so I hacked home and took the car back for a lovely lunch and to pick up my stuff which seemed to be incredibly heavy by then
I had a brilliant time both with the horse and socially and can't wait until the five day camp in September, although I will need to do some serious gym work before then! Everyone was lovely and it was great to meet a few hho'ers too.
The camp pics are in the PG and I'm sorry it's so long
On Monday, the lorry went to a garage and burtondog and I went for a little hack because my mare was on walk only until the scan.
Tuesday was the big day for me - I had physio in the morning to try and make sure my back was in the best state it could be and my mare had her leg scanned after. The vet came, scanned her leg and we got the all clear
Wednesday burtondog and I worked out the tide times, loaded the horses up and went to the beach
We got back and realised we had caught the sun too
Thursday I took burtondog up onto the Quantocks. She doesn't have any hills near her and it was all a bit of a shock to the system and slightly scary for her but we had a great time and again her horse was a star and the weather was great
We had fish and chips that night and met a fellow camper who had also turned up to camp early.
Friday was the start of camp proper
After a rushed lunch and a quick tack up we were on board. I had showjumping first and because I had not confirmed my place until the Tuesday, I was in a group who were jumping 2'6ish. We warmed up and after a few bucking moments we settled down and did some little gridwork. My mare got a little bored with this and just stopped paying attention and got stronger and stronger! We were also starting to lose our steering. Hayley our instructor then built a course for us. We jumped over a green parallel and I had zero brakes and zero steering so we jumped the fence into the dressage arena
After sorting out the horse, I went to watch RLF jumping. Her brakes were about as good as mine although she did manage to stay in the right arena
By this time, burtondog had managed to bring us a mug of wine so we settled down in the sun to watch everyone else
More wine, a lovely supper of cottage pie, a quiz and a shower later we all ended up in bed pretty early
Saturday dawned and I was quite worried about my brakes on the xc that afternoon. My mum kindly brought her gag bridle up and I managed to borrow a running martingale. I wasn't riding until 12 so Ravenwood and I went for a hack straight after our very good breakfast
When we got back, EF was just going into her first lesson of the day so I quickly washed mine down to go and watch but by the time I had done that poor EF was out with a very lame pony
My flat lesson was great - Nicola the instructor really understands June and we were much improved by the end including being able to do some canter transitions without running
In the meantime, poor Ravenwood had had a terrible time in her sj lesson where Lottie had pretty much lost the plot and she had to take her out because she was becoming dangerous
After lunch, I had the by now dreaded xc
burtondog had her first go at xc on Tucker and thoroughly enjoyed it and the other two had flatwork lessons which seemed to be a lot less excitable than the jumping
Before supper, we had a talk which was very good and a quick look at the photos. Supper was roast pork and was lovely and we opened a bottle of Champagne
Sunday was the last day and burtondog and Ravenwood both boxed up and left straight after breakfast while RLF and I had another sj lesson. I really enjoyed it and by the end, both of us could actually stop
I had a brilliant time both with the horse and socially and can't wait until the five day camp in September, although I will need to do some serious gym work before then! Everyone was lovely and it was great to meet a few hho'ers too.
The camp pics are in the PG and I'm sorry it's so long
