No 'Badminton weekend' plans thread?

[j1ffy]

I've been looking for the usual 'weekend plans' thread and can't find one - was everyone too busy watching Badminton?! In case it's not just that I've missed one, here goes with my update...

Firstly - massive congratulations to @LEC for a top 10 finish in the Grassroots!! What an amazing achievement on a horse you've had from a 2yo

I started the weekend (if Friday counts...) in Spain. A week's holiday also became a chance to settle Chilli in as the stars sort-of aligned with him arriving there on Wednesday, while I was on my long-planned holiday there. While I wasn't in the same area when he arrived, a bit of juggling meant I managed to see him on Thursday and take him for an early ride on Friday. Poor boy's world has been turned upside down - he now has no grass and temporarily just chickens and goats for company! In the pre-dawn dimness I led him from his current home to my friend's riding holiday place through the forest, tied him up by some strange horses and tacked him up. He was very relaxed, I'm sure partly because he's tired and somewhat overwhelmed but I think relieved to know that at least part of his new life is familiar with tack and me there.


And yes - his hay is in a shopping trolley

We hacked out with the riding holiday guests, 10 horses in total, and he was an absolute dude. Jogged a bit to begin with but was soon blowing as we headed up a steep hill on the sand. I rode as far as the first canter, where I kept him steady at the back and he was a complete dude. One small question when I turned him away from the others to head home then ears pricked all the way back:


Sorry that the above is neither competing nor training but I as his whole ridden life has been documented here I thought I'd update on his journey and new career! No more circles for Chilli Bean.

I got back on Friday evening, did a quick 20 mins on Sammy to make sure I can still ride him then we headed to Hunters on Sunday for our second AM test. I was hoping to get more of our changes right this time and we succeeded! We fluffed the first one but nailed the other four, even getting 7.5 for our last two changes . We had some errors elsewhere that pulled the score down to 66.58% but it's another Areas sheet in the bag. My lovely trainer was there supporting a friend so she stuck around to warm us up and also got some gorgeous photos!



Back to work today, which has been fun...

 

[humblepie]

Chilli looks happy and lovey dressage photos.

 

[Cloball]

I had a lesson Saturday D was spicy hot and trying to leap into canter out of every corner so we channel the joie de Vivre into practising shoulder in, travers and walk piris. Very good chilled egg by the end I've never ridden a pony quite like her before.

Sunday we marched up to the old church only 8km but over 300m of climbing. Nice and shady in the woods though. I don't know if it's just here but the dry hot weather is making the tarmac like glass I hopped off on the roadwork on the way down because I hate sliding about.

 

[LEC]

It's been a terrific week for me. A good bit of luck and a very good xc horse.
Just uploading the vlog for tomorrow. Photos now solved.

 

[Red-1]

Same old for us. Loads of hacking and some riding in the field. We even went on the arena for 20 minutes.

Today, we boxed to a country park. Last week I had a health scare and H didn't do much and is the size of a house. It is too hard for gadding about too fast, so I thought hills was the answer.

We have a jump lesson booked for Thursday but generally, I have no interest in competition, just hacking.

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7503522978081148182

I bless the fact that I'm retired, I have a wonderful horse and a fab little van. I can just throw him in and go.

 

[millitiger]

Fab photos @j1ffy!

Around ALL of the hours of Badminton viewing, we snuck out for beautiful ride across 12 miles of stunning countryside. Very lucky to have this on our doorstep!



We're starting to get back into our groove with schoolwork and thinking of some competitions to enter.
Our changes are *nearly* good enough to show but not quite.
Although also hoping to have some fun eventing if it ever rains again as he's feeling great

 

[Kunoichi73]

Booked a last minute hack on Friday evening. It was glorious sunshine but loads of flies. Also had a lesson on Sunday morning. Did no stirrup work. Felt more stable, think that might be the mechanical horse lessons paying off. My legs hate me though!

 

[humblepie]

Ventured out for a bit of showing and secured a regional final qualification. He is behind in his coat at present but a nice day out in the sun.

 

[Titchy Pony]

Lovely competition photos @j1ffy and @LEC, I think they should be printed and framed.

A bit of an update on Enormosaurus as I've not been posting about her lately. The spring grass is steadily turning her into a whale, so some serious hacking is in the plans. Last weekend we did our 2nd 95cm show jumping round with a pole down like the first 95cm we did. We did however still win the class as there was only two participants and the other competitor got 8 faults on Wonky Nose. Enormosaurus' owner was there and was very happy with her round and her behaviour in general, he couldn't quite believe how relaxed she was tied to the lorry - just stood there dozing, head against the side and wobbly bottom lip. I'm just really pleased with her, we had one buck on the round, but she was in season so rather reactive to legs, but I feel safe riding her towards larger (for me!) jumps, I'm not worried she'll stop, run out or crash through. I'm tentatively hoping we can keep going higher with some more practice and she might just be the horse to take me to the heady heights of 1m10 one day.

 

[AppyLover1996]

My weekend was pretty chilled - took Rabbit out for an in hand hack around the roads but at a slightly busier time so that there was more for him to see and think about. Of course, the baby T-Rex was a golden child as per usual and didn't give two hoots about anything which is awesome as we have to hack down a busy-ish road to get to our bridleways. Most people are respectful and slow down for us, but you always get the odd few people who don't bother slowing down and fly past at a speed that would rival any motorbike racers in the MotoGP!

Some of the stuff that we came across included a 4x4 towing a horse trailer, several motorbikes in convoy going past and revving before realising we were there (the riders pulled over further up the road and were extremely apologetic which I thought was really kind of them!) , two loose dogs who decided to chase us down the road, traffic queuing up behind us, stopping safely on the side of the road to let said queued up traffic pass us and me fumbling with my long lead rope when my friend thought it funny to go past in her car and toot her horn and scaring the crap outta me in the process - yes I did give my friend polite hell when she met me for lunch later on in the day, especially as she has horses of her own so should know better!

We also went out in hand hacking with a friend and her horse, which was a new experience for Rabbit as he's only ever been out on his own beforehand. He was the perfect gentleman and didn't barge past, try to start a play fight or put a single hoof out of line - which is especially fab considering that my friend's mare was in season and shoving her butt near Rabbit any chance she could get We lead for a bit, stayed behind for a bit and walked side by side for a bit too

Overall he was such a fab dude and he hadn't been out on the roads for a few weeks due to my personal life, so I was even more impressed with his behaviour - I'm really excited for the future with him!

Baggs had a pamper session to get the last of his winter coat out which he thoroughly appreciated and I did some trick training with him too. He's not done any trick training for a long time, but he still remembers everything I taught him - one thing that did make me get a bit teary was when he trotted over to the mounting block, parked himself next to it and then looked at me as if to say "Where are we going Mom?!" all of his own accord I made the choice to retire him due to his arthritis, as he's the type of pony to do anything for you even if it hurts him, and I do miss our riding adventures we used to go on - but whenever I feel sad that our riding journey has come to an end, I remind myself that he is still with me, enjoying retirement and we're on another journey but from the ground instead

 

[smolmaus]

The venue we planned to hire again had an event on so quiet one for us, the girls finally got out to their summer paddocks and it was very hot (for us) so a couple of short early morning hacks and an everything-but-the-tail-and-feathers bath was enough! If Thursday counts as the pre-weekend we did have a lovely lesson re-teaching me how to ask for lateral steps without getting everybody flustered and off balance and Sadie said "no problem, easy peasy when you're not like a sack of loose spuds up there"

 

[SEL]

It's been a terrific week for me. A good bit of luck and a very good xc horse.
Just uploading the vlog for tomorrow. Photos now solved.

Stunning photos - I agree on getting them framed. Very special occasions deserve very special photos.

 

[southerncomfort]

Jiffy - you must have thought long and hard about what to do with Chilli, and it looks like his new career will suit him very well. Im imagining its very bittersweet for you though.

Red - hope everything is ok after your health scare. x

LEC - im so looking forward to your vlog. I bet you're still pinching yourself after your fantastic result!

I worked Saturday, lovely long hack in the sunshine on Sunday. Had a long overdue trip to the tack shop yesterday to replace my tatty old hi viz waistcoat! Also, treated myself to some nice thin leather gloves for the summer.

Bo and I had a lesson (shared with a friend and her pony) early doors this morning with a new instructor. I've never enjoyed lessons, I find them very draining and usually come away feeling completely useless.

I have to say, that surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this lesson. She is completely non judgemental and kind, and definitely didn't make me feel useless. In fact, it was fun!

We are very much going back to basics to get rid of some bad habits, which I'm very happy to do.

Bo was a dude. Quite lazy to begin with, but his trot was much more forward by the end. Lots to work on for me, for some reason I can't fathom, as soon as anyone is watching me ride, I completely lose my trot diagonals. I think it's just a bit of brain overload, but it's embarrassing

 

[TheHairyOne]

Huge congrat LEC. I did laugh at your picure names...XC Bad etc, nope, looks excellent to me.

I had a very short but enjoyable lesson on my 4 year old at his backing yard. He was really super and am very pleased by my decision to send him off.

Pic of us chiling on a long rein at the end of the ride which says it all about how relaxed we both were. Lovely to have the confidence to do that with him.

 

[McGrools]

It's been a terrific week for me. A good bit of luck and a very good xc horse.
Just uploading the vlog for tomorrow. Photos now solved.

Yay! I was waiting for the vlog

 

[LEC]

Yeah had some issues with it as I am crap at editing and running two tracks of video. I am much better at my day job luckily. Equireel has finally arrived at least but vlog is far too long as it is so will do something with it another day. I have done a behind the scenes but pulling that together will be mad as hours of footage to get down to 30-40 mins . It will all get done at some point.