Rainy weekend plans?

[little_critter]

2 days of showing done! GrayMo made his first appearance in the show ring for nearly 2 years and I have to say - he looked bloody amazing!!! Up first was Inhand Riding Horse and we marched into the ring! Our trot round was a full in extended Wu-hey! With me barely able to keep up! We were pulled in 2nd. He was a bit of a fidget standing in front of the judge but walked and trotted nicely again. We stayed 2nd! So he has now qualified for the Caledonian Championships which is what I really wanted. Next up was the Exracer class - or in Gray's case - I want to be a racehorse again class! So we walked round 3 sides of the ring and jogged sideways- full on sideways not just a wee bit squint sideways! Down the 4th side. All sense was lost. The trot was sideways. He stood in line but wouldn't stand for the judge and came flyong sideways back to her. So he was 4th of 4 and to be honest he didn't deserve a rosette 😂😂😂 When the judge handed us our rosette she did say she felt sorry for me as he was clearly a superior animal that is capable of winning anything but his brain wouldn't let him that day! He is a fud! But he is MY stunningly beautiful fud! To be honest I thought the classes were out in the grass arenas and he would have been perfectly fine there. I know he hates that particular indoor for some reason and if I knew before hand we were going to be in there I would never have taken him!

How not to impress a showing judge ... But Carl Hester - if you see this he is yours! A blank cheque will suffice!

Back out today with the Wee Coloured Job who did his usual explosion out of the trailer screaming his head off being Billy Big Balls. Goes for a walk past 4 lorries and back and shuts up 😂😂😂 he is all talk and no trousers 😂😂😂 we only did the Inhand Shetland class which he duly won and then he went Reserve Scottish Breeds Champion! Clever pony! We were only planning on being there for a short time as the other classes he could do were much later in the afternoon. But as is what always happens with those shows you end up with empty rings waiting for people. The section could have been finished for just after 10.30am instead it got done just before 12pm with. Hmm.

How utterly gorgeous is this wee guy!!?!?

I love how calm you stay in the video, just patiently going “noooo, that’s not how you do it, try again”
They both look gorgeous.

 

[Asha]

We had a fabulous time at the ID show, everyone was friendly and helpful. It was full of stunning horses , I could have taken quite a few home . No actual photos of me and Pip until I’ve bought some of the official ones , as I was on my own . We got lots wrong , stirrups /bit , not having a groom ( juge and photographer helped me 😂😂) etc etc . But we did learn lots , came away with a 4th in the inhand ID class, and 5th in the novice ridden , and last in the ridden Irish draught class. Pip was a bit 😱 when the judge got on , nothing naughty, just went a bit giraffe like at first . So need to get her used to larger men riding her . We also need to practice our gallop , cantering was good , but just didn’t get a decent gallop . She was an absolute superstar , and took it all in her stride . Really proud of her

 

[Fiona]

That pony is a total stunner EKW!

Sorry to hear you're still not feeling well fiona.

Just back from our 2nd lesson with new dressage trainer. Another great lesson, very enjoyable. We did a really great exercise - starting on the right rein in trot, 10m circle right at the start of the long side then leg yield to X, circle 10m left at X then leg yield back to the fence, circle right 10m then on 2nd time crossing the centre line circle left 10m, leg yield left to fence, circle right 10m then leg yield to centre line then a final 10m circle left.

We tried it in canter too but it was a bit beyond us at the moment and we lost the quality of the canter so we went back to some 20m circles and transitions to improve the way of going.

We finished with some free walk to medium walk transitions.

So homework is to improve the roundness in the canter. Another lesson in a couple of weeks

I've done a similar exercise with Yvette, but only in walk and trot.....

Well done EKW... Are coloured Shetland quite rare?


A large quantity of Harry Potter Lego has been purchased, and we had coffee with a friend of mine afterwards, but the coffee has made me feel sick...
Fiona

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

In the standard shetland pony world anything that isnt black is coloured. So chestnuts, bays, grey etc as well as piebald and skewbald. But yes pie/skew are rarer because judges don't like them. In standards you need to have an exceptional coloured to beat a black and a goos judge. Some judges still wont see past black. If it isnt black it had better be chestnut! If not then another solid colour lol! But that is slowly changing. Some judges judge the pony not the colour. He does better in mixed M&M classes. In minis pretty much any colour goes. Though at the moment there is quite a thing for roans! That's better than the palomino/cream/cremello phase they went through! There are better genes in the roans than the inbred pale things!

 

[Fiona]

Gracious me, I've never seen a palomino Shetland 😱😱, or a roan one..

How about grey, I'm sure I saw one in the show section of H&H a few weeks ago?

Fiona

 

[Wheels]

I have a grey shetland and a black one.

There are a family of chestnut roans who live close by various shades, one really dark red and he is a wee stunner.

The stud I bought my ponies from had an absolutely stunning bay dun stallion who won a fair bit locally at least, his mum was grulla, absolutely beautiful

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Gracious me, I've never seen a palomino Shetland 😱😱, or a roan one..

How about grey, I'm sure I saw one in the show section of H&H a few weeks ago?

Fiona

We used to have blue roans (as well as blacks and other whole colours) back in the 70s, they were all from one mare mother picked up at Reading sales in 73, she shelled out 5 cracking fillies and 2 colts all by the same cracking std black Stallion.
You are right about a grey doing well this year, it's a Briar pony.

 

[zaminda]

Day two of Cirencester was lovely. Tamba was a little star although he cantered in the first trot up and was wired for the first 10k. He had a really loose shoe but thankfully we crossed through the venue and the amazing farrier sorted that out. We flew round again to finish on 13k an hour even with our interlude with the farrier!! I'm going to upgrade him to open now and maybe step up in distance. He finished on a heart rate of 51, and will need to be clipped again soon! Love this little pony, although he currently wouldn't suit most children bless him, he has the heart of a lion.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

There is Briar Snowman who has been winning everything and he deserves to! He is awesome! He won at HOYS last year - or was 2nd I can't remember! I do remember seeing him at the Highland in the Open class as a stallion and he was an absolute bar steward! Chopping him was the best thing they every did! Another grey doing well is Sharptor Silver Skyline - she has qualified for HOYS & RIHS for the M&M Lead Rein. I have a grey - he is 29yo now and has won more than all of my other ponies put together over the years! Greys are rare though but if you get a good one they are magnificent!

The only colour shetlands do NOT come in is spotted.

 

[JFTDWS]

Well today was interesting. Nobody died, no major traumas or disorganised panics (which, with me organising anything, is a flippin' miracle), and I think everyone had fun. I've had requests for links to horsebows and stuff all evening, anyway!

We did a grading, which was a bit harsh on the first timers, but interesting for me. Single shots were rubbish. I got myself all worked up about life fairly early on (I'm a lot happier if I get on board and hooley around a bit before hanging about - I need to work on a few psych issues I seem to be breeding here!). Triple shots were pretty reasonable. I now have a grading score at the highest student level (not that I have that grade as, 1. I haven't sent it off, and 2. you need to do it more than once to get the grades above S1). I'm not sure what weird fluke this is, but I've checked the maths, and the website, so I'm now just confused.

Fergs and Dae also participated, with friends riding, which is nice for me. This isn't the best composition photo, but it does squeeze in a couple of highlands in the background

 

[Reacher]

Sorry you still feel rubbish Fiona and ouch re the head Scats. Well done everyone training , competing or just enjoying themselves.
Well our be80 wasn’t disastrous (!), stressage was a bit mediocre as expected, kicking out in the canter in the C - M corner so the judge had a closeup view! I didn’t use enough inside leg even though I knew I needed to , and he switched behind on the circle. So dressage score of 44.
He was very strong in the sj and we knocked one down, I slipped the reins when he did a big jump and took off with me a bit so I overshot a turn and got deducted another 4 faults I think for crossing tracks which I was a bit peeved by - as didn’t think I had crossed tracks.

Swapped bridle for Xc putting the magic kineton on and he was much more polite, so that I let him open up between fences and he still came back to me. No jumping penalties but 10 time penalties.
What we did learn from the outing is that Mr H likes raspberry sorbet!

 

[Chippers1]

Had an interesting hack yesterday, ended up getting held hostage by a family of swans on the canal, they would not let us past! IT's not my fault their nest is right next to the path....
We had to back track, go down a very steep bank and squeeze past the farmer's crops to get round (which were Buzz height!) poor Buzz was very good going off road, he can be quite wary but I think anything was preferable to death by swan

 

[milliepops]

nice family photo JFTD and sounds like a good day was had

Quiet weekend of pottering as promised here. K went hacking (which is worthy of a mention because she just doesn't DO hacking so it's great when she tootles around the lanes and tracks with a happy face on) and then we recapped the stuff we did in our lesson in the school. Trying to get some work into her before the temps rocket up again this week

Darcy did his loading practice, a little bit rusty but he will be fine if we just keep doing it for a while. No rush. He's starting to look a bit less scrappy in general I think, nearly 4 weeks in and his coat is starting to improve and the scabs and scars are filling in with bumfluff.

 

[BenvardenRach2]

Successful dressage outing for us
We did N30 & E44 - our first ever Elementary. I wasn't sure we were 100% ready for it but thought stuff it and entered anyway.

It was a new indoor venue with lots of things for Rocky to spook at, the Novice was fairly spooky so didn't go as well as planned, I also forgot where I was going half way though but we scored higher than we did last time we did N30! 64%
The elementary was more settled, we scored a 7 for our simple change, chuffed with that as he is still so green with them but this one wasn't too shabby! Unfortunately my accuracy let us down i fluffed up the 15m circles.. they were defo 20m's grr but we had 2 8's for our CL's.
We scored 66% I am SO happy with that for a first time at Ele level.
Lovely comments from the judge and she even came and spoke to me in the car park at the end of the day to say she really really liked him and he has a lot of potential at this level - yay

 

[Wheels]

That's fabulous! Well done

 

[BenvardenRach2]

That's fabulous! Well done

Thank you so much wheels xx

 

[Fiona]

Hey guys..... Well done everyone

EKW - it was the grey lead rein pony's pic I saw.

MP - he's gorgeous.... Best of luck with him x

Chippers - how scary for you Naughty swans.

Well done Reacher - I was waiting for your report....

Well done BR2, love the pics and the rosettes...


I think I can safely say that this weekend has been a washout for me and now as I'm feeling slightly better, I'm back at work today.... Three days work, then holidays, so no more pony fun for me until the middle of August

Fiona

 

[Accidental Eventer]

Our second lesson was awesome, we jumped my coaches version of fill and Henry was incredible even though he wasn't quite sure what was going on! So proud of him.

Sounds like some very successful weekends for everyone, and some great pictures!

 

[Reacher]

Thank you Fiona, at least we got round, even if it wasn’t that stylish!

Hope you are feeling better and enjoy your holiday x

Hey guys..... Well done everyone

EKW - it was the grey lead rein pony's pic I saw.

MP - he's gorgeous.... Best of luck with him x

Chippers - how scary for you Naughty swans.

Well done Reacher - I was waiting for your report....

Well done BR2, love the pics and the rosettes...


I think I can safely say that this weekend has been a washout for me and now as I'm feeling slightly better, I'm back at work today.... Three days work, then holidays, so no more pony fun for me until the middle of August

Fiona

 

[Fiona]

Thank you Fiona, at least we got round, even if it wasn’t that stylish!

Hope you are feeling better and enjoy your holiday x

I'm very envious of your eventing, I should have been doing our first EI 80 class last Saturday if I'd been feeling better

There aren't any more this season within reasonable driving distance

Fiona