Gamebird
Well-Known Member
Gosh - after the virtual kick up the backside last week the forum's gone report mad! Hopefully you'll manage to trawl through this behemoth; otherwise just look at the pictures and smile - I am! 
We had a rather large party setting off in a borrowed wagon (Big Bertha the Beast) early on Saturday morning: Fugly, P!key, Stanley the slow racehorse, Stanley's owner, a friend who came for the ride out and me in the position of Chief Trucker. Big Bertha did her best but she could only manage 60 mph downhill on the M1 and her uphill speed was more like 35
. Still, she got us there and back (albeit £140 in diesel lighter ) and after I stopped her napping to the left a bit we got on famously.
Fugs was in the Saturday BE100. We did all the usual preparations but I was rather irked to find that it takes 3 people nearly twice as long to walk the course as when I'm solo and that P!key had removed most of Fugs' plaits on the journey down
. All of which resulted in time for a 6 minute dressage warm-up (and that was only possible by sacrificing the quarter marks!). Fugs did his usual Mr. Reliable test, although I'd say he wasn't mad keen on the firm ground, and I was mildly disappointed to get 38 and be in the bottom half 
. I'd have thought 35-36 would have been about right but I consoled myself with the thought that he was one of only 5 5yos in all of the BE100 sections and he isn't quite physically mature enough to work properly from behind. Some judges notice, some don't 
He jumped nicely SJing for 1 down (an improvement!) and posted his usual reliable clear XC. Again, the foot was firmly OFF the accelerator and we were more than 20 secs inside the time.
He finished in 12th, less than a mark off the placings and I was rather pleased (though not quite as pleased as I would have been were we 10th!
). He's had 4 starts BE, 2 placings and his lowest position was 14th on the occasion that I left a SJ out.
So Fugly washed off, P!key and Stanley exercised and we went to walk the BE90 course which looked fine except for a VERY square, upright skinny box with a fir tree on either side to help keep you in, but not really close enough to act as wings. The bank with a step/ditch off was also a cause for concern but I'd jumped the 'off' bit with Fugs earlier and was fairly sure that the horses couldn't see the ditch until after they'd taken off.
The mistake we made was to then walk the BE90 SJing. Dear god, when did BE90 get so big? And scary? and wide? and filler-y?. Back at our stabling we lit the BBQ and tried very, very hard to drink enough wine to banish thoughts of the enormous fences and horrible fillers - especially the rainbow one - although, as I was fairly sure that P!key wouldn't get over the 3rd SJ I didn't let the rainbow at no. 8 bother me quite so much!
Soooooooo Sunday - an uncharacteristically tense and wiggly P!key was a little naughty in the dressage warm-up - nothing major, just enough that I couldn't really put my leg on. The test was an exercise in containment, which was a shame as dressage is the bit we're good at! I thought 40, the judge thought 39.5. So rare to be in agreement.
A swift gulp of sloe gin and I joined the considerable queue for the SJing. One of my clients rang as I was waiting which helped take my mind off the job a bit. I hadn't even got my XC stuff out as I was so sure we wouldn't get round the Sjing!
The short of it is: the boy can jump!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got against my hand a bit going to an upright at 4 and had that down but otherwise was foot perfect. I have taken him SJing twice - once to do a CR and 75cm, once to do a 75cm and 85cm so you can see why I was a little worried!
Fence 3:
Fence 6 (saw a lot stop here!):
Fence 7 with the sheep fillers - check those knees out!
And Stanley jumping the rainbows - he's 16.2 so you can see how big and scary it was:
Thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We set off XC in the same vein - brave and confident. The photographer was at fence 3 where they had made full use of the 20cm brush rule. It was a palisade with a birch brush behind it and a small ditch on landing. I bought a pic of this with us 18" above the brush and our knees (better make that P!key's knees) touching our chin, which I will post when it arrives. Onto and off the bank - he saw the ditch mid-air and jumped so big off that I hurt my back. Further round was the horrid skinny/wide/tall box and sadly he just didn't understand it. He wasn't being naughty - he just didn't get it. So we had to walk home. I was gutted as there was nothing else on the course that he would have questioned and he was giving me the most amazing ride.
I am so unbelievably thrilled with this pony at his first event. Not good on paper, which is a total bummer as he's for sale (damn, I'll just have to do another one), but I can honestly say that I have never owned a funner, easier, more willing horse and some PC teenager will have a dream come true when (if!) they buy him.
So all's well that end's well. Stanley the slow racehorse (and part-time dressage diva) was joint leader after the dressage and clear SJing but dropped to 5th with a few XC TF's (I did say he was slow!) so he got some lovely prizes on his debut. Big Bertha the Beast got us home safe and sound, albeit rather slowly, and I am full of enthusiasm and can't wait to get the boys out again.
Apologies for the length - I am never known for my brevity. There's half a box of Sauv Blanc left and some strawberries and cream if you're quick.
We had a rather large party setting off in a borrowed wagon (Big Bertha the Beast) early on Saturday morning: Fugly, P!key, Stanley the slow racehorse, Stanley's owner, a friend who came for the ride out and me in the position of Chief Trucker. Big Bertha did her best but she could only manage 60 mph downhill on the M1 and her uphill speed was more like 35
. Still, she got us there and back (albeit £140 in diesel lighter ) and after I stopped her napping to the left a bit we got on famously.Fugs was in the Saturday BE100. We did all the usual preparations but I was rather irked to find that it takes 3 people nearly twice as long to walk the course as when I'm solo and that P!key had removed most of Fugs' plaits on the journey down
. All of which resulted in time for a 6 minute dressage warm-up (and that was only possible by sacrificing the quarter marks!). Fugs did his usual Mr. Reliable test, although I'd say he wasn't mad keen on the firm ground, and I was mildly disappointed to get 38 and be in the bottom half . I'd have thought 35-36 would have been about right but I consoled myself with the thought that he was one of only 5 5yos in all of the BE100 sections and he isn't quite physically mature enough to work properly from behind. Some judges notice, some don't
He jumped nicely SJing for 1 down (an improvement!) and posted his usual reliable clear XC. Again, the foot was firmly OFF the accelerator and we were more than 20 secs inside the time
.He finished in 12th, less than a mark off the placings and I was rather pleased (though not quite as pleased as I would have been were we 10th!
). He's had 4 starts BE, 2 placings and his lowest position was 14th on the occasion that I left a SJ out.So Fugly washed off, P!key and Stanley exercised and we went to walk the BE90 course which looked fine except for a VERY square, upright skinny box with a fir tree on either side to help keep you in, but not really close enough to act as wings. The bank with a step/ditch off was also a cause for concern but I'd jumped the 'off' bit with Fugs earlier and was fairly sure that the horses couldn't see the ditch until after they'd taken off.
The mistake we made was to then walk the BE90 SJing. Dear god, when did BE90 get so big? And scary? and wide? and filler-y?
. Back at our stabling we lit the BBQ and tried very, very hard to drink enough wine to banish thoughts of the enormous fences and horrible fillers - especially the rainbow one - although, as I was fairly sure that P!key wouldn't get over the 3rd SJ I didn't let the rainbow at no. 8 bother me quite so much!Soooooooo Sunday - an uncharacteristically tense and wiggly P!key was a little naughty in the dressage warm-up - nothing major, just enough that I couldn't really put my leg on. The test was an exercise in containment, which was a shame as dressage is the bit we're good at! I thought 40, the judge thought 39.5. So rare to be in agreement
.
A swift gulp of sloe gin and I joined the considerable queue for the SJing. One of my clients rang as I was waiting which helped take my mind off the job a bit. I hadn't even got my XC stuff out as I was so sure we wouldn't get round the Sjing!
The short of it is: the boy can jump!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got against my hand a bit going to an upright at 4 and had that down but otherwise was foot perfect. I have taken him SJing twice - once to do a CR and 75cm, once to do a 75cm and 85cm so you can see why I was a little worried!
Fence 3:
Fence 6 (saw a lot stop here!):
Fence 7 with the sheep fillers - check those knees out!
And Stanley jumping the rainbows - he's 16.2 so you can see how big and scary it was:
Thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We set off XC in the same vein - brave and confident. The photographer was at fence 3 where they had made full use of the 20cm brush rule. It was a palisade with a birch brush behind it and a small ditch on landing. I bought a pic of this with us 18" above the brush and our knees (better make that P!key's knees) touching our chin, which I will post when it arrives. Onto and off the bank - he saw the ditch mid-air and jumped so big off that I hurt my back. Further round was the horrid skinny/wide/tall box and sadly he just didn't understand it. He wasn't being naughty - he just didn't get it. So we had to walk home
. I was gutted as there was nothing else on the course that he would have questioned and he was giving me the most amazing ride. I am so unbelievably thrilled with this pony at his first event. Not good on paper, which is a total bummer as he's for sale (damn, I'll just have to do another one
), but I can honestly say that I have never owned a funner, easier, more willing horse and some PC teenager will have a dream come true when (if!) they buy him.So all's well that end's well. Stanley the slow racehorse (and part-time dressage diva) was joint leader after the dressage and clear SJing but dropped to 5th with a few XC TF's (I did say he was slow!) so he got some lovely prizes on his debut. Big Bertha the Beast got us home safe and sound, albeit rather slowly, and I am full of enthusiasm and can't wait to get the boys out again
.Apologies for the length - I am never known for my brevity. There's half a box of Sauv Blanc left and some strawberries and cream if you're quick.
Last edited:
). He sounds like such a fun little horse 
. I bought it on Friday and it's almost gone. 6 weeks?????? 
