Charmin
Well-Known Member
Since going to uni last September, I only came home to ride every 3 weeks and hence lost my feel and mojo for it a bit. This culminated in some unfortunate blips over Easter with some refusals at arena eventing, a consequent meltdown and then a self kick up the bum. Booked some lessons with a new trainer as had been drifting around like a fart in a trance when our old one relocated back to the USA.
There was lots of hacking and a new scheme of work with the buzzword being variation. No two days were allowed to be the same. Mixed it up, did a lot of gridwork to get my eye back in, off strides that Ruby was able to commit to and pushed ourselves that little bit further, lots of hacking. Flatwork has been almost revolutionised and I was told off for babying her around and that at 6 she was a big girl and could sort herself out. So pushed her to work into a higher frame while remaining soft and through, also experimented a lot more with the canter and compressing it on 10m circles and pushing it bigger, whilst remaining elastic.
Tried this out XC schooling and whilst it helped with approaches she was still taking the pee the other side of jumps, so popped her into a Dr Bristol and had a very willing and obedient pony. The week before we hacked, went XC schooling, went SJ schooling with the new bit and went up the gallops. She was feeling very well and I was determined not to repeat the mistakes of last year.
Few video stills from SJ training:
So we pottered off to walk the course (Bold Heath) on Saturday, thought it was very fair for a BE80. First potential problem was a simple post and rail in the fence line but with an opening to the left, so would be easy for her to run past it, especially as rail was narrow-ish. Then at number 8 there was the 'new bank' which was a log on top of an embankment, room for one stride at the top and then one stride the other side before coming down. The log was simple enough, but I was slightly worried she may flop at the top as she can be known to back off inclines of any sort and we'd have to keep the momentum up. Everything else seemed fine and very do-able, so was very relieved.
Got up at the civilised time of 6am, caught her in and she heaved sighs all the way in and dragged her toes whilst peering mournfully over her shoulder. Getting Ruby ready is more a game of how many times can you throw the grenade before it explodes. The new routine is feed her, and whilst she's eating quick flick off, shove boots and tail bandage on and then roll up plaits when you get there. So off we trundled, in the rain, which was relentless and got heavier and heavier as we drove.
We arrived with plenty of time, so I ran (well, ambled) off to the the SJ whereupon in became apparent that a snorkel may be required. There was a lot of standing water on the arena, huuuge Ruby-eating puddles, some on take offs and landings. The actual course was fine - lots of fillers for her to snap her feet up at. The rain was now horizontal so with a bit of a squeeze managed to tack up in the trailer, just whipped her off to stud up but was immediately soaked through. She warmed up well considering the weather conditions, but did keep trying to swing her bum to the wind so required some tactical riding at times.
The test itself was okay, she lacked a bit of the usual Ruby sparkle she's had recently but this was mainly down to her being hunched up from the rain and wind. Mainly we just bustled through and did the right things in the right places as best we could, but the free walk was a bit exciting with the XC tannoy starting and Ruby twigging the more exciting bit was coming up later. As she powered down the center line for the final time I was overcome with the terrible sensation that I'd wet myself, had to do a discrete check as I saluted, to discover that my bowel control was under control but I was soaked through to my knickers rain. We both squelched off and huddled in the trailer, wafted my gloves about on the end of the whip in an attempt to dry them and spoke of The Plan should Ruby take an exception to the standing water and have a meltdown and hissy fit. CharminMum's peptalk can be summed up as thus: just kick on.
She warmed up sweetly enough, a few dodgy shots to an oxer causing her to balloon it and I had to politely ask someone to stop circling on the landing side of the fences (read: shouted at as I approached for the third time having had to bail twice) but the warm up was coping better than the actual ring.
Deep breath to calm the butterflies and then we powered in with CharminMum gripping the fence. I made sure to splash her through as many puddles as I could before the bell but could feel her hesitation, resulting in me reverting to good old fashioned hunting position and hence we got a lovely shot to the first. The approach to the second almost ground to a halt in front, her eyes bugging as she peered at the puddle on take off and almost refused to give up her reputation as a fair weather pony. However a well timed (for once) slap down the shoulder and she heaved herself over, flicked her tail, and ramped it up. The rest of the course passed in a but of a blur, she was going a little too fast but I was loath to over check her as she wasn't liking the ground at all. Splashed through the final puddle, bustled over the last for a nice clear.
Trotted back to the trailer with Ruby swinging her bum to the wind all the way back - embarassingly once into the path of Oli T but just flashed my best smile (as dignified as you can get on a 14.2hh fart machine) and threw her back on the trailer and tried to wring out my gloves. Had some sustinence (capri sun and an apple Ruby quickly claimed) then tacked up and studded for XC, only to hear that they were expecting a half hour delay as some landings and take offs were gritted. So unstudded, back on the trailer and one very bemused pony. At this point a friend turned up and congratulated me on the dressage score - I couldn't stand the suspence so asked to hear it. 32, which was a little better than I'd hoped for in the conditions, though I knew we could do a bit better.
The XC was restarted so we tootled off to the warm up and put our name down. The warm up was very full but CharminMum is an efficient whizz and pony club trained, so I was on and popped a few and was suddenly heading to the start box. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous; last year we got so far only to have a disaster of a round with 3 stops. But she was back as a 6 year old feeling better and fitter than ever.
Out the start box, I'd hedged my bets and gone for the snaffle over the Dr Bristol as I really wanted her to take me forwards. Got a dodgy shot to the first but she went very confidently, took the bit between her teeth and charged through the hedgeline to number 2, met it perfectly. She set herself up in a very forward stride, not peeking at the flowers or the hay at fence 4. Fence 5, the rail in the hedgeline, she didn't look at the opening to the left, steadied herself up and popped through neatly.
Accelerated to fence 5 - beejesus, she'd found her 5th gear after the trip to the gallops! No one had been inside the time yet, perhaps because of the conditions and them taking it slower. But Ruby was feeling very sure footed with her studs and I let her dictate the pace. Steadied for the combination at 6, she popped through neatly and over the next.
Steadied her for the bank but then kicked on for the last few strides, she met it on a long one and ballooned it, landing halfway down the bank the other side, but swished her tail and bounded on. Over the halfway point which was when I glanced over and saw the next competitor only 4 fences ahead, so put the brakes on a little. Jumped the next combination nicely, over the rolltop and white house. Popped the tyres, launched into the water and then I noticed the FJ's slightly frantic looks ahead. So brought her back to a gentle canter, popped a pheasant feeder at which point the guy in front finished and I could let her find her rhythm again. Slightly deep to the brush, but over the wall, splashed through the second water, and over the last to finish one of my best feeling XC rides ever!
TBC...
There was lots of hacking and a new scheme of work with the buzzword being variation. No two days were allowed to be the same. Mixed it up, did a lot of gridwork to get my eye back in, off strides that Ruby was able to commit to and pushed ourselves that little bit further, lots of hacking. Flatwork has been almost revolutionised and I was told off for babying her around and that at 6 she was a big girl and could sort herself out. So pushed her to work into a higher frame while remaining soft and through, also experimented a lot more with the canter and compressing it on 10m circles and pushing it bigger, whilst remaining elastic.
Tried this out XC schooling and whilst it helped with approaches she was still taking the pee the other side of jumps, so popped her into a Dr Bristol and had a very willing and obedient pony. The week before we hacked, went XC schooling, went SJ schooling with the new bit and went up the gallops. She was feeling very well and I was determined not to repeat the mistakes of last year.
Few video stills from SJ training:
So we pottered off to walk the course (Bold Heath) on Saturday, thought it was very fair for a BE80. First potential problem was a simple post and rail in the fence line but with an opening to the left, so would be easy for her to run past it, especially as rail was narrow-ish. Then at number 8 there was the 'new bank' which was a log on top of an embankment, room for one stride at the top and then one stride the other side before coming down. The log was simple enough, but I was slightly worried she may flop at the top as she can be known to back off inclines of any sort and we'd have to keep the momentum up. Everything else seemed fine and very do-able, so was very relieved.
Got up at the civilised time of 6am, caught her in and she heaved sighs all the way in and dragged her toes whilst peering mournfully over her shoulder. Getting Ruby ready is more a game of how many times can you throw the grenade before it explodes. The new routine is feed her, and whilst she's eating quick flick off, shove boots and tail bandage on and then roll up plaits when you get there. So off we trundled, in the rain, which was relentless and got heavier and heavier as we drove.
We arrived with plenty of time, so I ran (well, ambled) off to the the SJ whereupon in became apparent that a snorkel may be required. There was a lot of standing water on the arena, huuuge Ruby-eating puddles, some on take offs and landings. The actual course was fine - lots of fillers for her to snap her feet up at. The rain was now horizontal so with a bit of a squeeze managed to tack up in the trailer, just whipped her off to stud up but was immediately soaked through. She warmed up well considering the weather conditions, but did keep trying to swing her bum to the wind so required some tactical riding at times.
The test itself was okay, she lacked a bit of the usual Ruby sparkle she's had recently but this was mainly down to her being hunched up from the rain and wind. Mainly we just bustled through and did the right things in the right places as best we could, but the free walk was a bit exciting with the XC tannoy starting and Ruby twigging the more exciting bit was coming up later. As she powered down the center line for the final time I was overcome with the terrible sensation that I'd wet myself, had to do a discrete check as I saluted, to discover that my bowel control was under control but I was soaked through to my knickers rain. We both squelched off and huddled in the trailer, wafted my gloves about on the end of the whip in an attempt to dry them and spoke of The Plan should Ruby take an exception to the standing water and have a meltdown and hissy fit. CharminMum's peptalk can be summed up as thus: just kick on.
She warmed up sweetly enough, a few dodgy shots to an oxer causing her to balloon it and I had to politely ask someone to stop circling on the landing side of the fences (read: shouted at as I approached for the third time having had to bail twice) but the warm up was coping better than the actual ring.
Deep breath to calm the butterflies and then we powered in with CharminMum gripping the fence. I made sure to splash her through as many puddles as I could before the bell but could feel her hesitation, resulting in me reverting to good old fashioned hunting position and hence we got a lovely shot to the first. The approach to the second almost ground to a halt in front, her eyes bugging as she peered at the puddle on take off and almost refused to give up her reputation as a fair weather pony. However a well timed (for once) slap down the shoulder and she heaved herself over, flicked her tail, and ramped it up. The rest of the course passed in a but of a blur, she was going a little too fast but I was loath to over check her as she wasn't liking the ground at all. Splashed through the final puddle, bustled over the last for a nice clear.
Trotted back to the trailer with Ruby swinging her bum to the wind all the way back - embarassingly once into the path of Oli T but just flashed my best smile (as dignified as you can get on a 14.2hh fart machine) and threw her back on the trailer and tried to wring out my gloves. Had some sustinence (capri sun and an apple Ruby quickly claimed) then tacked up and studded for XC, only to hear that they were expecting a half hour delay as some landings and take offs were gritted. So unstudded, back on the trailer and one very bemused pony. At this point a friend turned up and congratulated me on the dressage score - I couldn't stand the suspence so asked to hear it. 32, which was a little better than I'd hoped for in the conditions, though I knew we could do a bit better.
The XC was restarted so we tootled off to the warm up and put our name down. The warm up was very full but CharminMum is an efficient whizz and pony club trained, so I was on and popped a few and was suddenly heading to the start box. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous; last year we got so far only to have a disaster of a round with 3 stops. But she was back as a 6 year old feeling better and fitter than ever.
Out the start box, I'd hedged my bets and gone for the snaffle over the Dr Bristol as I really wanted her to take me forwards. Got a dodgy shot to the first but she went very confidently, took the bit between her teeth and charged through the hedgeline to number 2, met it perfectly. She set herself up in a very forward stride, not peeking at the flowers or the hay at fence 4. Fence 5, the rail in the hedgeline, she didn't look at the opening to the left, steadied herself up and popped through neatly.
Accelerated to fence 5 - beejesus, she'd found her 5th gear after the trip to the gallops! No one had been inside the time yet, perhaps because of the conditions and them taking it slower. But Ruby was feeling very sure footed with her studs and I let her dictate the pace. Steadied for the combination at 6, she popped through neatly and over the next.
Steadied her for the bank but then kicked on for the last few strides, she met it on a long one and ballooned it, landing halfway down the bank the other side, but swished her tail and bounded on. Over the halfway point which was when I glanced over and saw the next competitor only 4 fences ahead, so put the brakes on a little. Jumped the next combination nicely, over the rolltop and white house. Popped the tyres, launched into the water and then I noticed the FJ's slightly frantic looks ahead. So brought her back to a gentle canter, popped a pheasant feeder at which point the guy in front finished and I could let her find her rhythm again. Slightly deep to the brush, but over the wall, splashed through the second water, and over the last to finish one of my best feeling XC rides ever!
TBC...
