Ronnie's first "proper" show report LONG!

[BeckyD]

Well after yesterday very nearly not happening as my OH had to work, so it meant me going alone to my first show in 14 years (and Ronnie's first show). Having spent lots of time acclimatising him to the trailer I was looking forward to a trouble-free day in that department, but he was tricky to load to get there, but went in eventually.

Got to the show and he was pretty calm (for him) - might have been the Rescue Remedy! I went and did my entry for the 1'9" class (start small and safe

) and came back and tacked up, he stood tied to trailer munching hay (big shock I thought he'd be a nightmare). He let me get on without too much fuss! Then had a ride round the ground, which was sooo busy. He had a moment of bronco (unfortunately in a busy area which cleared it pretty quickly) and I got sworn at

but I apologised profusely. He was napping quite badly in the warm-up area and we nearly took out a girl who kept coming too close (I asked her twice to give me more room - eventually Ronnie just napped sideways and collided with her!). He was tense and uptight and wouldn't relax so I popped him over a couple of biggish warm-up fences and he started to relax. I've realised he settles once he has a job to do - maybe that's the racehorse in him?

Went up to my ring and got a clear in the 1 foot 9 class, he napped a bit and tanked off at one part but was clear, it was an optimum time class and we came 5th

.

So I entered the 2'3". There were lots of scary plastic fillers, planks, and a water tray! He refused the first filler (fence 3) but jumped it from a walk upon re-presenting him, then he napped really badly between fences 4 (double) and 5 - back to the side of the ring. Managed to get back to 5 without crossing tracks but on a very accute angle, jumped nicely then was the water tray. Brought him to a steady trot and encouraged him but had a stop, jumped again from walk 2nd time, then flew round the rest of the course including fillers and planks (with a bit of growling from me and lots of pats and "good boy"s!). Sooooooo proud of him!!

Then he wouldn't load at all to come home and in the end my kind friend offered to take him home with her horse in her trailer, and he went in there after a little edible persuasion. Gutted.

So all in all a good show - his attitude is so much better than the clinics I've been too. Extremely tense still but improving. Jumping I was pleased with. First time he's seen plastic fillers like that and he got braver as the course went on. Shame about the trailer, more work evidently needed. Think I'm going to bite the bullet and get full-width bars and take the partition out...

M&S Millionaire Shortbread to anyone who made it this far.

 

[Grumbledor]

Well done, got to start somewhere and looks like there were alot of positives to focus on! Its onwards and upwards from here, you were very brave taking him on your own

xxx

 

[BigBird146]

Back to the drawing board with the loading eh? Me too!!
I took Josh on a 16 mile 'pleasure ride' yesterday. After loads of practice loading at home and a couple of sucessful trips out on our own I was reasonably confident that he was getting used to the whole trailer thing and that I could get him to load OK. He faffed about a bit home but went in after a few minutes. We had a fab ride and he never put a foot wrong. Got back to the trailer, and would he go in the bloody thing?! He even developed a new 'evasion' technique of rearing full up, which on slippy tarmac was alarming to say the least. In a moment of weakness and self doubt (I was knackered, and hungry) I agreed to accept the helps of lunge lines behind him, which just made him worse (couldn't get him anywhere near the trailer after that and he tried to boot the people holding them). So in the end I moved the trailer over to next to a fence (easy as I was one of the only ones left by then!) and politley thanked the people for their help but I would like to try him on my own again. A couple more protests and he eventually caved in and calmly walked in!! 1 1/2 hours later! I fell like I've spent the night in traction, not to mention all the cuts and bruises on my hands and arms.
Why do we do this to ourselves?!

 

[BeckyD]

Thank you! Must admit I didn't really sleep Saturday night as I was so worried about going alone, especially as I had such a bad fall from him 2 weeks ago at his first outing. There were other people from my stables at the show but they were all doing their own classes, but it was nice to have a friendly face about when fear set in. And especially at the end of the day when he wouldn't load.

 

[Grumbledor]

Yeah is always nice to have people around, and its so frustrating when they won't load. Norm dithers a bit but generally ok but we have a mare who just takes forever to load and just plants herself with her front feet on the ramp, so frustrating!

 

[BeckyD]

Oh god what a nightmare - you and I aren't having much luck with our trailers are we? You've got the Bateson haven't you? Funnily enough it was one of those with the barn doors that Ronnie WOULD load into yesterday in the end. Grrr. Thank god your horse went on in the end. It's my worst fear being left when they won't load and it taking hours.

Where do we go from here? I really thought Ronnie was sorted in the trailer, he travelled and loaded beautifully on Saturday. And sounds like you thought you were sorted too. What do we do next?!

Hope your arms recover quickly xx

 

[Hullabaloo]

You were really brave going it alone to your first show. I'm glad it went well - took me an hour to get my horse to jump a water tray first time he saw one, so I'm really impressed.
Maybe he picked up on your worry when you were loading him - I'm sure with practice and patience it'll all come together and you'll have some great outings.

He is very handsome by the way

 

[BeckyD]

Thank you! Two different people came up to me yesterday and said what a lovely looking horse he is

Thankfully he has no idea that he's handsome.

Hmmm I do wonder if I was giving off nervous vibes, and maybe I was rushing him a bit with the trailer too trying to load to get to the show. I'll try again tonight.

An hour - you're very patient! Ronnie's generally persuadable (sp?) over scary things. If I can re-present him carefully and calmly and encourage him with my voice he'll normally believe me that it's not going to get him (this time...). Next time we're normally back to square one though

 

[Hullabaloo]

No, I'm not patient, just bloody minded! If Boo ever gets his own way at anything he will remember it for all eternity and keep trying it on so whatever happens I have to win if I can!

These horses do like to keep us on our toes.

Good luck with your loading practice.

 

[BigBird146]

Yes, it is the Bateson with the barn doors (+ extra windows and a nice mirror to look at himself, but does any of it make a blind bit of difference

?!)
I'm going to have to let my arms recover a bit but have already put the trailer back down the field where I can practice without too much hassle (moving it in and out of parking space on my yard needs vehicle or assistance and I end up not bothering!)
I am borrowing a friends dually headcollar to see if that makes any difference but other than that I'm stumped, I think its' a case of going back to basics and keep practicing.
We finished this ride at about 1.30 yesterday and there was me and another woman left in the car park trying to load our horses. One of the organisers came up and said, 'well the car park barrier goes down at 4pm and there's nothing we can do about it'. Talk about pressure! I was seriously thinking I might have to ride him home (another 5 miles after a 17 mile ride, not what you want!

)
I'm feeling very deflated but detmined he's not going to get the better of me! I think Josh and Ronnie may have been seperated at birth!!