New weekend plans!

[Wheels]

We didn't get wet thankfully, both landed up on the step.

If I can be certain he is ok we will go XC schooling next week somewhere that has lots of steps of different sizes to make sure confidence isn't knocked too much.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Hope you are ok wheels and Denbobs. Ouch.
Fab result Bvr - that's amazing!!
Great photo JFTD!

 

[Ambers Echo]

Well that was a bit of a manic weekend! Sunday was Eland ODE for the ponies in the 80 class.

First ODE for both of them. They had 1 schooling session on grass before the event and both came out with 40+ dressage! Not unexpected. Jenny jogged (as we new she would) but also scored some 7s. Dolly was very forward (as we knew she would be) and exited the arena during one canter and her 2nd 20m canter circle was more like 40m!

Lovely comments thought along the lines of sweet and enthusiastic ponies!

Then both ponies jumped lovely, controlled clears SJ within the time.

On XC, Dolly continued her run of no jumping faults in any competition (!) with a confident clear. She is just amazing for a 5 year old. The course is a full up BE80 track with most of the questions in the first 5 fences. A big brush at 2, drop fence at 4 and then the horse-ware island. Loads of horses were sticky over the first few and plenty either refused to get on or off the island! But little Dolly just pinged on and off and over everything else with no drama at all.

Jenny on the other hand was too intimidated by the course. She had not done much XC when we bought her and we soon discovered she was quite anxious over things she is not sure of like ditches, drops, water etc. But as she has been flying in training recently and she jumped clear at the same venue following Dolly in the pairs, we thought she might cope. But it's a different story when you have to leave your horsey pals and head out on your own over big fences!

Jenny was sticky over 1, refused then cat jumped 2, cat jumped 3 and threw in the towel at 4 not even getting within 20 feet of it! She is such an honest pony so in retrospect this was too big an ask for her. So we need to rebuild her confidence in a less pressured environment then drop down to 70 for her next outing. She's an out and out SJ pony really who we are turning into an all-rounder but we need to recognise that her jumping ability is only half the story - she also needs to feel positive about what she is doing, which she obviously didn't yesterday.

Pics of Jenny SJ and Dolly XC. Sorry for poor quality - I was a long way away!

 

[Wheels]

Brilliant write up Amber's echo

I went to get xrays this morning as my thumb was very painful overnight. No breaks thankfully but some ligament damage. Strapped up and off to work, have to go back in next Tuesday if I'm still having trouble.

So at the moment I cant grip anything which makes driving, writing, doing buckles up etc quite difficult. Hopefully will start to feel better in a few days

 

[Fiona]

Some great outings this week by the looks of things, Brill photos

We went XC schooling and had a very unfortunate fall coming up a step out of the water. M just got it a wee bit wrong, left a leg and over we both went! He seems ok although got a couple of deep grazes under is chin, bit of a face plant but I cant find any other areas of concern. I'm waiting for the physio to see if she can come to check him over for me but he's had worse falls out in the field.

I'm nursing a very sore thumb but otherwise fine. Need a new skull cap and lost my whip but feeling lucky right now!

Before that we were having a blast, he was totally in his element and jumped everything brilliantly.

Aww no, poor you...

Sounds much like our experience up the big step at Eric's before Xmas.

Hope you both are feeling better soon.

Fiona

 

[Fiona]

Brilliant write up Amber's echo

I went to get xrays this morning as my thumb was very painful overnight. No breaks thankfully but some ligament damage. Strapped up and off to work, have to go back in next Tuesday if I'm still having trouble.

So at the moment I cant grip anything which makes driving, writing, doing buckles up etc quite difficult. Hopefully will start to feel better in a few days

Ouch 😭😭😭

Lots more xc schooling maybe AE?

Dolly really is a wee star..

Fiona

 

[scats]

Sounds like a busy weekend AE!

 

[zaminda]

Bad luck Wheels! Such a shame after your fab outing!!
Love those ponies AE sure more xc schooling maybe independently after confidence has been restored would help.
So we had a very good weekend in Exmoor at Golden Horseshoe. We arrived on the Saturday to vet albeit a bit later than planned and vetted without issue. We stayed overnight about 10 miles away although it took us longer than we thought as the roads were so narrow and incredibly steep!
On to the ride, we started at 8.01 just behind the first person out and caught up with them. We were later joined by another lady and the three of us rode together all day. There was one other starter but her horse was difficult in company so she opted to ride alone. The going was tough from the get go with lots of steep climbs and equally steep down hill bits!! We had been told the first loop was easier than the second so we were trying to crack on a bit to make the time although the large number of gates didn't help!
We made it round the first loop and vetted all at the same time with us all passing. We then had our mid way break before setting out again.
As promised the second loop was tougher. We kept the pace up where we could and got them drinking as much as possible both when we saw our crew and out of every available stream. You wouldn't make it round horseshoe if you couldn't get through water! We did have a couple of problems getting into some of them as they were quite fast moving! We eventually made it to near the end and we were counting down the km's as we were all tired and really feeling it. Finally back to the venue with 30 minutes to present to the vet. We all presented together and all passed!! An amazing day helped so much by the company.
All three horses were mares and they really kept each other going plus it made doing the gates so much easier with more than one person! What was interesting was the different experience level and type of horse. We had an Arab who had previously done 160k two day rides and a Connemara who has done an 80k race ride and Winnie who has just upgraded to Advanced and it was her second 80k ride plus she is an ISH breed to jump!
Our crew were amazing. My OH isn't horsey but is learning fast and the other two sets of crew are very experienced. I'm learning so much about bringing heart rates down and keeping them going and recovering well. I would love to do the two day ride one day but there is much to learn first!!

 

[DressageCob]

Well that was a bit of a manic weekend! Sunday was Eland ODE for the ponies in the 80 class.

First ODE for both of them. They had 1 schooling session on grass before the event and both came out with 40+ dressage! Not unexpected. Jenny jogged (as we new she would) but also scored some 7s. Dolly was very forward (as we knew she would be) and exited the arena during one canter and her 2nd 20m canter circle was more like 40m!

Lovely comments thought along the lines of sweet and enthusiastic ponies!

Then both ponies jumped lovely, controlled clears SJ within the time.

On XC, Dolly continued her run of no jumping faults in any competition (!) with a confident clear. She is just amazing for a 5 year old. The course is a full up BE80 track with most of the questions in the first 5 fences. A big brush at 2, drop fence at 4 and then the horse-ware island. Loads of horses were sticky over the first few and plenty either refused to get on or off the island! But little Dolly just pinged on and off and over everything else with no drama at all.

Jenny on the other hand was too intimidated by the course. She had not done much XC when we bought her and we soon discovered she was quite anxious over things she is not sure of like ditches, drops, water etc. But as she has been flying in training recently and she jumped clear at the same venue following Dolly in the pairs, we thought she might cope. But it's a different story when you have to leave your horsey pals and head out on your own over big fences!

Jenny was sticky over 1, refused then cat jumped 2, cat jumped 3 and threw in the towel at 4 not even getting within 20 feet of it! She is such an honest pony so in retrospect this was too big an ask for her. So we need to rebuild her confidence in a less pressured environment then drop down to 70 for her next outing. She's an out and out SJ pony really who we are turning into an all-rounder but we need to recognise that her jumping ability is only half the story - she also needs to feel positive about what she is doing, which she obviously didn't yesterday.

Pics of Jenny SJ and Dolly XC. Sorry for poor quality - I was a long way away!

I watched Dolly go round. She was fabulous. So many horses refused to get on that island at all and she just pinged up and pinged back down again. It was lovely to watch.

I was doing the 70 with my lad. He was very tense in the dressage, due to his attention being focussed on the bouncing heads in the show jumping on the other side of the hedge 😄 My friend and I couldn't help but laugh at him because it was so awful. but a very generous judge gave us a passable 37.

The show jumping was the best he's ever jumped with me. We had a pole on the first jump due to a lazy toe not getting out of the way, but the rest he flew over, even going off the longer stride rather than chipping in a little one when we didn't quite get the approach right. This is much improved; last time we went out SJ we got 20 faults, and took those fences out at the roots.

Cross country was brilliant. It was our first proper attempt, and he loved it. He was clear and didn't hesitate on anything. But I realised that both of us need to be a bit fitter if we want to be eventers so we are coming up with a plan. I'm getting some PT sessions in three times a week and he is going to do more hacking and uphill work. I also need to do more fast work; I honestly thought we were motoring and was actually saying "slow down Toby" a lot of the way round, but when I watched the video we looked like we were out for a quiet pootle of a hack 😂

Here is a short taster and you'll see what I mean...of course it's partly because it got to fence 5 before I remembered I was supposed to be in light seat 😂
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Chippers1]

@DressageCob he looks fabulous! Flying that brush fence that Buzz absolutely hates 😅 I also did the same with the light seat when I did the hunter trial, after jumping the little house remembered I wasnt supposed to be sitting to his silly excited bouncy canter!

 

[Lexi_]

DressageCob, you both look fantastic! What lovely rhythmical jumping. Just need to go up a gear now 😄