claracanter
Well-Known Member
Spurred on by an earlier thread, here goes:
I have had my boy two years, the first year was rather a right off with a sore back, lameness and then a nasty field injury. So the re training has been slow to say the least.
Anyway, thanks to encouragement from some HHO's after my boy fried his brains at his first XC clinic, I decided I would try and do an ODE this year.
I took him to his first HT in October. He was very tense and strong and jumping overly big. Brakes and steering were an issue. We only did the baby class and we would have been clear if it wasn't for being blinded by the low sun appearing from the clouds and reflecting off the next jump. Neither of us could see a thing.
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Dressage has been steadily improving. His canter has got much more manageable and he's working from behind much better. We have improved our scores over 10% this year. The last test we did we got 65% ( Maybe doesn't sound that great to you, but for us, it's tremendous) I've been having some fantastic lessons.
Showjumping is very much a work in progress. He's an ex hurdler and so he's not too good at snapping up in front yet. He likes to go on a long one and charge off afterwards with his head in his chest. We have done some show jumping rounds this year but not jumped a clear yet. We've done a few clinics and lesson but I really want to concentrate on this through the winter.
So onto the ODE. The weather was atrocious and we did our dressage test in driving rain. I didn't think he went as well as he could because of the weather. It was raining so hard I didn't bother to get our score. 3 hour wait for SJ and when I tacked him up he was buzzing. Jumped a few practise jumps and he was jumping huge and bouncing sideways, so decided to just go in. Tricky round with very excited boy. Had 4 faults as I had to turn a circle because he had got so bouncy I coudn't get him to go forward enough. Really pleased he jumped clear but felt a bit anxious about XC on such a fizzed up horse. Changed and then just took him for a quiet canter round and round to get the bucks out of him. Was first to go in my section, so headed off very steadily. Had a stop at the coffin. Jumped in ok then slammed on the brakes and wouldn't even go near it. Fence judge had to lead me passed it. Rest of the round was a blast. Felt amazing even if we were eliminated. Went to check dressage score and we got 31. We were 4th after dressage!!! What a star.
Anyway after a few quiet weeks, I decided to try another hunter trial. My warm up consisted of just cantering around the large warm up and getting him to settle. I didn't bother jumping. There was another coffin fence on the course and I knew we'd probably get eliminated there but I was trying another bit and wanting to just go for the experience.
When we set off, he felt very calm. I could get him back before the fences and he wasn't pulling me. Unfortunately we did get eliminated at the coffin fence. He jumped the first part ok and then slammed on the brakes( would have been easier to just jump it) He then refused to go anywhere near it and again the fence judge had to lead me passed it. Rest of the course was brilliant, he felt so good, not fighting, just taking it all in his stride.
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( please excuse jaunty angle of his browband. Symptom of going to HT all on my own)
Really looking forward to next season with my lovely boy.
Any tips on jumping coffins would be greatly appreciated?
I have had my boy two years, the first year was rather a right off with a sore back, lameness and then a nasty field injury. So the re training has been slow to say the least.
Anyway, thanks to encouragement from some HHO's after my boy fried his brains at his first XC clinic, I decided I would try and do an ODE this year.
I took him to his first HT in October. He was very tense and strong and jumping overly big. Brakes and steering were an issue. We only did the baby class and we would have been clear if it wasn't for being blinded by the low sun appearing from the clouds and reflecting off the next jump. Neither of us could see a thing.
[Content removed]
Dressage has been steadily improving. His canter has got much more manageable and he's working from behind much better. We have improved our scores over 10% this year. The last test we did we got 65% ( Maybe doesn't sound that great to you, but for us, it's tremendous) I've been having some fantastic lessons.
Showjumping is very much a work in progress. He's an ex hurdler and so he's not too good at snapping up in front yet. He likes to go on a long one and charge off afterwards with his head in his chest. We have done some show jumping rounds this year but not jumped a clear yet. We've done a few clinics and lesson but I really want to concentrate on this through the winter.
So onto the ODE. The weather was atrocious and we did our dressage test in driving rain. I didn't think he went as well as he could because of the weather. It was raining so hard I didn't bother to get our score. 3 hour wait for SJ and when I tacked him up he was buzzing. Jumped a few practise jumps and he was jumping huge and bouncing sideways, so decided to just go in. Tricky round with very excited boy. Had 4 faults as I had to turn a circle because he had got so bouncy I coudn't get him to go forward enough. Really pleased he jumped clear but felt a bit anxious about XC on such a fizzed up horse. Changed and then just took him for a quiet canter round and round to get the bucks out of him. Was first to go in my section, so headed off very steadily. Had a stop at the coffin. Jumped in ok then slammed on the brakes and wouldn't even go near it. Fence judge had to lead me passed it. Rest of the round was a blast. Felt amazing even if we were eliminated. Went to check dressage score and we got 31. We were 4th after dressage!!! What a star.
Anyway after a few quiet weeks, I decided to try another hunter trial. My warm up consisted of just cantering around the large warm up and getting him to settle. I didn't bother jumping. There was another coffin fence on the course and I knew we'd probably get eliminated there but I was trying another bit and wanting to just go for the experience.
When we set off, he felt very calm. I could get him back before the fences and he wasn't pulling me. Unfortunately we did get eliminated at the coffin fence. He jumped the first part ok and then slammed on the brakes( would have been easier to just jump it) He then refused to go anywhere near it and again the fence judge had to lead me passed it. Rest of the course was brilliant, he felt so good, not fighting, just taking it all in his stride.
( please excuse jaunty angle of his browband. Symptom of going to HT all on my own)
Really looking forward to next season with my lovely boy.
Any tips on jumping coffins would be greatly appreciated?
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for coffins I would say lots of schooling! Start with just jumping the ditch, may have to do on 45 degree angle to begin with to tuck in behind first fence. Only once jumping ditch confidently introduce jump in front. Start small and build up, jumping lots of different ditches will help to. Can practice with showjump and water tray in school too if not able to get out on XC at this time of year. Have fun
