Jenni_
Well-Known Member
If you'd told me a year ago I'd own my own horse, and that just over a month of starting our competitive career, she would take me out to have a bash at my first ever Elementary, I wouldn't believe you - but it happened! This rusty old showjumper, with her lack of confidence and inability to sit up, actually left her comfort zone of intro and prelim (that wasn't even that comfortable anyway) to have a crack at a Novice and Elementary on Sunday.
Things have been all go here. Mixture of Dressage, hill work, and some jumping. Just having a play with everything, keeping her brain engaged, and getting out and about. We went showjumping to SNEC for the schooling night. Consensus is I need to ride more but less. Don't ask what I mean by that- but it was a bit of a destruction derby but I here is a couple of the nicer stills. We jumped up to the 85cm class, which I would never of done on any horse a year ago, my confidence was in such tatters. But I'm pleased to say that even when it wasn't going well, my confidence wasn't the problem, and I was still happily riding forward to those fences. Now, I dare say, 85cm looks tiny to me!
Lots to work on in the jumping, she needs to judge fences more and I need to ride her less, but you cannot deny that she loves to jump!
So back onto dressage. My instructor and sponsor is now nigh on living on the yard, as I'm seeing her 2-3 times a week. It is really helping me stay focused and ensuring that my riding sessions are as productive as possible, but also keeping me grounded in regards to making sure I'm not bowling on and asking for too much.
For comparison, this is us from the 7th April -31st May, I think its all going in the right direction
Some Schooling Shots;
And us after one of our lessons beside Malibu who is 15:3hh, Skye looking every inch of her height here!
So we went along to do Novice 34 and Elementary 44 (very easy as Elementarys come... but a red sheet all the same
)
The plan was that the novice was the throwaway, the warm up - we'd been focusing on the elementary in lessons. Just as well I was prepared for that plan as something really got to her in the warmup before the Novice, and I nearly landed on the deck and she exploded, from which I really didn't get her back, so the Novice was ridden very tactfully for a 59.58%, which I was happy with for our performance. On a normal day, it would have been a 65% test, but I just focused on getting her forward and round the test, and I ignored the swinging bum, the over shot turns, and irregular contact in case of tantrum. Made all the turns as square as possible, as squares are her happy place.
First novice test completed
Took her back into the warm up before the Elementary and literally spent 20 minutes singing to her as we trotted round in squares and square serpentines, just getting her as settled as possible. Didn't do any canter there, tactic was to get as good trot and walk work as possible, and then just deal with what she gave me in the canter part. She came into this test more settled, but I didn't ask for any more than I was happy she would give me, which is a pity because right the way through that sheet is the theme of needing 'more' - more consistency, more accuracy, more balance, more medium- which on any other day we would have had. Still... I was not horrified with 58.2%! We landed all the canter leads which deserted us in the warm up, and she was slightly more relaxed. And I rode my first ever Elementary ( it was hers too).
Judge took 5 minutes with me when I collected my sheet and talked me through it, and agreed that I'd made the right decision to ride on the careful side if she'd been bugged by something. 4th and 2nd by default, and some shiny points from the Riding Club for being the Highest Placed Member in both Classes
Only have stills from a video so I'm sorry for any strained eyes:
Back Home with her fancy receipts
I am so proud of her. She goes out like a pro, behaves, and no matter how tense she feels she never misbehaves. The fall apart in the warm up was just a tension thing, but its a learning curve. The beauty of unaffiliated is that I can dip in and out the levels as I please / see fit for her, depending on the tests available. We probably wouldn't do any more than Ele 42/44 at the minute, but she does fair better in a busier test rather than a low prelim. This weekend we are going out for a run to do a couple of prelims, with the focus being to stay relaxed in the warm up. Then next time have a bash at a novice again. I'd like to get back into some long arenas too.
Hoping to get out showing in the next few weeks too for a totally no pressure outing - looking pretty is something that comes rather naturally to her But she loves going out. Every time she hears a box or trailer on the yard she lights up and goes wild. Its a lovely feeling, even as she's jumping over you to get up the ramp.
We have decided to mostly focus on dressage for the year coming. I am in no rush to get her out jumping all the time, although she loves it and we will do a wee bit, working on the dressage now is only going to strengthen us in everything going forward. And (don't tell anyone) I am actually starting to enjoy the circles....
Things have been all go here. Mixture of Dressage, hill work, and some jumping. Just having a play with everything, keeping her brain engaged, and getting out and about. We went showjumping to SNEC for the schooling night. Consensus is I need to ride more but less. Don't ask what I mean by that- but it was a bit of a destruction derby but I here is a couple of the nicer stills. We jumped up to the 85cm class, which I would never of done on any horse a year ago, my confidence was in such tatters. But I'm pleased to say that even when it wasn't going well, my confidence wasn't the problem, and I was still happily riding forward to those fences. Now, I dare say, 85cm looks tiny to me!
Lots to work on in the jumping, she needs to judge fences more and I need to ride her less, but you cannot deny that she loves to jump!
So back onto dressage. My instructor and sponsor is now nigh on living on the yard, as I'm seeing her 2-3 times a week. It is really helping me stay focused and ensuring that my riding sessions are as productive as possible, but also keeping me grounded in regards to making sure I'm not bowling on and asking for too much.
For comparison, this is us from the 7th April -31st May, I think its all going in the right direction
Some Schooling Shots;
And us after one of our lessons beside Malibu who is 15:3hh, Skye looking every inch of her height here!
So we went along to do Novice 34 and Elementary 44 (very easy as Elementarys come... but a red sheet all the same
)The plan was that the novice was the throwaway, the warm up - we'd been focusing on the elementary in lessons. Just as well I was prepared for that plan as something really got to her in the warmup before the Novice, and I nearly landed on the deck and she exploded, from which I really didn't get her back, so the Novice was ridden very tactfully for a 59.58%, which I was happy with for our performance. On a normal day, it would have been a 65% test, but I just focused on getting her forward and round the test, and I ignored the swinging bum, the over shot turns, and irregular contact in case of tantrum. Made all the turns as square as possible, as squares are her happy place.
First novice test completed
Took her back into the warm up before the Elementary and literally spent 20 minutes singing to her as we trotted round in squares and square serpentines, just getting her as settled as possible. Didn't do any canter there, tactic was to get as good trot and walk work as possible, and then just deal with what she gave me in the canter part. She came into this test more settled, but I didn't ask for any more than I was happy she would give me, which is a pity because right the way through that sheet is the theme of needing 'more' - more consistency, more accuracy, more balance, more medium- which on any other day we would have had. Still... I was not horrified with 58.2%! We landed all the canter leads which deserted us in the warm up, and she was slightly more relaxed. And I rode my first ever Elementary ( it was hers too).
Judge took 5 minutes with me when I collected my sheet and talked me through it, and agreed that I'd made the right decision to ride on the careful side if she'd been bugged by something. 4th and 2nd by default, and some shiny points from the Riding Club for being the Highest Placed Member in both Classes
Only have stills from a video so I'm sorry for any strained eyes:
Back Home with her fancy receipts
I am so proud of her. She goes out like a pro, behaves, and no matter how tense she feels she never misbehaves. The fall apart in the warm up was just a tension thing, but its a learning curve. The beauty of unaffiliated is that I can dip in and out the levels as I please / see fit for her, depending on the tests available. We probably wouldn't do any more than Ele 42/44 at the minute, but she does fair better in a busier test rather than a low prelim. This weekend we are going out for a run to do a couple of prelims, with the focus being to stay relaxed in the warm up. Then next time have a bash at a novice again. I'd like to get back into some long arenas too.
Hoping to get out showing in the next few weeks too for a totally no pressure outing - looking pretty is something that comes rather naturally to her
But she loves going out. Every time she hears a box or trailer on the yard she lights up and goes wild. Its a lovely feeling, even as she's jumping over you to get up the ramp.We have decided to mostly focus on dressage for the year coming. I am in no rush to get her out jumping all the time, although she loves it and we will do a wee bit, working on the dressage now is only going to strengthen us in everything going forward. And (don't tell anyone) I am actually starting to enjoy the circles....
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