BunnyDog
Well-Known Member
Hi Guys.
Another Friday another dose of Twilight Jumpers. As this is now our 3rd competition at 1.30 we're starting to get the hang of things. For example, I am getting used to walking the course when it's set for 1.10 and then I don't really worry about the height! I have learned not to school him too close to show days and even lesser still if we have to ship some distance.
So Cudo did what I would call a tough exercise for him, since it plays on his weaknesses, on Weds. We did a very simple Vertical 48' to an oxer 48' to another vertical. The idea being that you school it and work on making them add to do 4 and 4. Cudo is the horse that bounced a 22' combination in a lesson and who has cleared a 9' bounce as an oxer. Scope and power are his forte, but hind end pushing and waiting are his least favorite things. Not far off of my disdain for the humble lima bean. Blech!!!
So I have a clip of his last time through. I had started everything around 0.70 and eventually left the verticals at around 1m and the oxer stayed at 0.70m. I was really excited because we managed to get the right distance every time and it only took a few ugly moments and he improved every time. Here's the last time through. Don't mind my body flailing.....we will work on me one of these days!!!
So Thursday we did a 20 minute walk on the roads by the barn and up the slow incline hill 3 times. It was perfect and he never turned a hair even in the heat.
Yesterday we planned much better and got on the road in the morning and the drive only took 3 hours and we had him unloaded in a cool and large stall with a fan before 3pm, our class was starting at 8:30pm again.Then we played tourist and went shopping. Bought a new fly bonnet, which honestly is funny since I swear I am the last person who actually uses them only at home to work around the abundant supply of flies. It was even in our colors but I didn't bother showing with it since there were no flies. #notintofads Then we got some late lunch/early dinner and just walked around Middleburg. We stopped back by the facility after we gave Cudo his dinner. I walked my course and then by 7:15 we had the trailer hooked back up and shipped him the 3 miles to the show. We went 4th in the order again. I think it's odd, but hey it works. It was a solid course that asked good questions and there is a similarity from the course designer in what he builds. I liked the course a lot for having 3 in and outs in an 11 number obstacle class. This time I had ground help for the warm up (YAY) but again the first 3 riders claimed all 3 warmup fences so I didn't get to jump anything until the first rider left the warm up. Thankfully Cudo needs very little to warm up.
We got ready and went off. He was a little fired up overall before we went to the warmup, as a loose horse had run through the trailer are right before I got on and as such he was a total pain about mounting and not rearing, spinning and trying to do some damage. Literally we almost went onto the hood of a Toyota small car. While also diving under tree branches to get to it. My husband was VERY pale after watching that near miss. But we schooled him back and practiced mounting a handful of times until he got back to square one. So we are standing at the gate and then we go in. Lovely course, good crowd and under the lights. I really do love the atmosphere and fun of this show that only costs $100 (Plus gas money and a day off) and has a decent purse. I wanted to ride forward on the success of our last round there but I knew also that we're still learning. So we were a touch under powered at the first fence so I booted him up and got a better rhythm to second, turn for the first in and out at 3 and I know the time is tight so trying not to go a country mile to get there, but should have half halted on approach. Didn't. He took the front rail at 3A with a front hoof. Bummer, but that's life and they're are 10 more fences in front of us. He flies over the oxer at 4, good man and does a nice turn to 5AB. I have no idea what he saw but he was a tad backed off. And we got over A but he just tapped the rail on B and took it down too. No worries... still learning and that's fine. We got a nice jump at 6 a vertical plank and swung round to the outside line against the crowd of 7 to 8Ab. So interesting thing that hindsight allows. A month ago at his first twilight jumper experience we had an extra full minute walking around the ring and looking at the crowd because they were recalculating the scores and adjusting the time. This time we just went in and like normal the buzzer sounded. I didn't think anything of it UNTIL Cudo came to 7 along the fence lowered his head and was gawking, for lack of a better word, at the fences. I growled, spurred and tapped his shoulder and he went but it wasn't the most fluid line I have ever ridden in my life!!! But he kept the jumps up. So then we swung to fence 9, a big triple bar, that didn't bother him. And then another upright vertical, no worries there. And finally we swung to the last oxer off a slightly tighter turn and he sailed it. So then we pulled up and I praised him like crazy. He needed to know he was a champion even if 2 rails fell. Something bothered him and he got beyond it because I asked. And that will be crucial in our future so I wanted him to think of himself as a valiant steed in this moment. And we gave him copious amounts of a new bag of German Muffins back at the trailer. We had 2 time faults as well but honestly if we hadn't had 2 separate instances where he looked hard at the fences I think we would have just been under the time. I'm not worried.
So there ya go. Our 3rd 1.30 show in the books and we're still running well with a few rails. I am leaning at this point to not showing before Kentucky. I think it might be a good time to spend the $$$ on some lessons and to work on the little things so that we go into Kentucky stronger and more fit. I might toss in 1 show before but he's going to have to jump 1, maybe 2 classes a day for 5 days. I know that if we do throw one in, we definitely need a show with more than 1 class at the height. So preferably something with 2 1.30's back to back. We'll see.
So that's the update from here. I also heard from Julia in Germany today that "Kid," Cudo's full 9 yr old brother did his first 1.40 class today with only 1 rail down. I watched the video and they looked awesome. They're thrilled and so am I. Should be great fun watching them kick on from here. Maybe one day his older brother will clear a full 1.40 course too. Not sure but that would likely please the breeder a ton! LOL
Ok so here are the videos:
Em
Another Friday another dose of Twilight Jumpers. As this is now our 3rd competition at 1.30 we're starting to get the hang of things. For example, I am getting used to walking the course when it's set for 1.10 and then I don't really worry about the height! I have learned not to school him too close to show days and even lesser still if we have to ship some distance.
So Cudo did what I would call a tough exercise for him, since it plays on his weaknesses, on Weds. We did a very simple Vertical 48' to an oxer 48' to another vertical. The idea being that you school it and work on making them add to do 4 and 4. Cudo is the horse that bounced a 22' combination in a lesson and who has cleared a 9' bounce as an oxer. Scope and power are his forte, but hind end pushing and waiting are his least favorite things. Not far off of my disdain for the humble lima bean. Blech!!!
So I have a clip of his last time through. I had started everything around 0.70 and eventually left the verticals at around 1m and the oxer stayed at 0.70m. I was really excited because we managed to get the right distance every time and it only took a few ugly moments and he improved every time. Here's the last time through. Don't mind my body flailing.....we will work on me one of these days!!!
So Thursday we did a 20 minute walk on the roads by the barn and up the slow incline hill 3 times. It was perfect and he never turned a hair even in the heat.
Yesterday we planned much better and got on the road in the morning and the drive only took 3 hours and we had him unloaded in a cool and large stall with a fan before 3pm, our class was starting at 8:30pm again.Then we played tourist and went shopping. Bought a new fly bonnet, which honestly is funny since I swear I am the last person who actually uses them only at home to work around the abundant supply of flies. It was even in our colors but I didn't bother showing with it since there were no flies. #notintofads Then we got some late lunch/early dinner and just walked around Middleburg. We stopped back by the facility after we gave Cudo his dinner. I walked my course and then by 7:15 we had the trailer hooked back up and shipped him the 3 miles to the show. We went 4th in the order again. I think it's odd, but hey it works. It was a solid course that asked good questions and there is a similarity from the course designer in what he builds. I liked the course a lot for having 3 in and outs in an 11 number obstacle class. This time I had ground help for the warm up (YAY) but again the first 3 riders claimed all 3 warmup fences so I didn't get to jump anything until the first rider left the warm up. Thankfully Cudo needs very little to warm up.
We got ready and went off. He was a little fired up overall before we went to the warmup, as a loose horse had run through the trailer are right before I got on and as such he was a total pain about mounting and not rearing, spinning and trying to do some damage. Literally we almost went onto the hood of a Toyota small car. While also diving under tree branches to get to it. My husband was VERY pale after watching that near miss. But we schooled him back and practiced mounting a handful of times until he got back to square one. So we are standing at the gate and then we go in. Lovely course, good crowd and under the lights. I really do love the atmosphere and fun of this show that only costs $100 (Plus gas money and a day off) and has a decent purse. I wanted to ride forward on the success of our last round there but I knew also that we're still learning. So we were a touch under powered at the first fence so I booted him up and got a better rhythm to second, turn for the first in and out at 3 and I know the time is tight so trying not to go a country mile to get there, but should have half halted on approach. Didn't. He took the front rail at 3A with a front hoof. Bummer, but that's life and they're are 10 more fences in front of us. He flies over the oxer at 4, good man and does a nice turn to 5AB. I have no idea what he saw but he was a tad backed off. And we got over A but he just tapped the rail on B and took it down too. No worries... still learning and that's fine. We got a nice jump at 6 a vertical plank and swung round to the outside line against the crowd of 7 to 8Ab. So interesting thing that hindsight allows. A month ago at his first twilight jumper experience we had an extra full minute walking around the ring and looking at the crowd because they were recalculating the scores and adjusting the time. This time we just went in and like normal the buzzer sounded. I didn't think anything of it UNTIL Cudo came to 7 along the fence lowered his head and was gawking, for lack of a better word, at the fences. I growled, spurred and tapped his shoulder and he went but it wasn't the most fluid line I have ever ridden in my life!!! But he kept the jumps up. So then we swung to fence 9, a big triple bar, that didn't bother him. And then another upright vertical, no worries there. And finally we swung to the last oxer off a slightly tighter turn and he sailed it. So then we pulled up and I praised him like crazy. He needed to know he was a champion even if 2 rails fell. Something bothered him and he got beyond it because I asked. And that will be crucial in our future so I wanted him to think of himself as a valiant steed in this moment. And we gave him copious amounts of a new bag of German Muffins back at the trailer. We had 2 time faults as well but honestly if we hadn't had 2 separate instances where he looked hard at the fences I think we would have just been under the time. I'm not worried.
So there ya go. Our 3rd 1.30 show in the books and we're still running well with a few rails. I am leaning at this point to not showing before Kentucky. I think it might be a good time to spend the $$$ on some lessons and to work on the little things so that we go into Kentucky stronger and more fit. I might toss in 1 show before but he's going to have to jump 1, maybe 2 classes a day for 5 days. I know that if we do throw one in, we definitely need a show with more than 1 class at the height. So preferably something with 2 1.30's back to back. We'll see.
So that's the update from here. I also heard from Julia in Germany today that "Kid," Cudo's full 9 yr old brother did his first 1.40 class today with only 1 rail down. I watched the video and they looked awesome. They're thrilled and so am I. Should be great fun watching them kick on from here. Maybe one day his older brother will clear a full 1.40 course too. Not sure but that would likely please the breeder a ton! LOL
Ok so here are the videos:
Em
