LeannePip
Well-Known Member
A Year ago today Little Ruby joined the family, i cant believe a year has gone already since the wobbly little baby made the mammoth journey from Shropshire to the South Coast! Its not been the easiest of years but i definitely don't regret a second of it, every ounce of work and patience that has gone into this horse she has repaid ten fold and i feel very privileged to have her!
And yesterday we headed off to Larkhill for the BVRC ODE. Walking the course the night before i was a bit shocked for a 2ft3-2ft6 class the XC was pretty meaty with 5 of the fences having B elements and a lot being up to height and pretty solid! Decided to ride for the dressage and sj'ing and take each XC fence as it came, if she didn't feel confident i would pull up. We didn't have the best prep run a fortnight ago at a XC clear round when she went completely green on me in the beginning then just as we got running we had a silly slip on a corner which knocked me out . . .
We arrived nice and early and i hopped straight on for a pre-warm up just to gauge how much working in she'd need pre dressage, she was rideable straight away and not at all phased by the atmosphere so decided the walk over plus 10/15mins would do so we headed back to the lorry after chatting to some friends for a pep talk!
Re-walked the XC with a friend who convinced me it was all fine, nothing to worry about and that i'd jumped much bigger courses on a horse not meant for the job so it would be fine!
Wandered over to dressage which was running a few minutes behind had a little ride round, stood and watched for a bit then just practiced some canter transitions and we were good to go and headed to the arena . . . at which point it started raining right on cue! This unsettled her a bit and she was quite wobbly and unsettled for the first half of the test and then did a nice buck for the first canter transition and then she relaxed. Free walk was really good and loose but the halt was square but not straight as she turned her bum to the rain!
Quick change and over to the SJ'ing where she stood with my parents and friends taking in the atmosphere whilst i tried to learn the course, i don't have a great track record of remembering SJ'ing courses! She warmed up sweetly in a very busy warm up and only launched me skyward over one warm up fence so that was a success in its self!
Just as we started i heard we'd scored 31.2 for our dressage which i was over the moon with, i was thinking about 35/38 with the buck and wobbly first half, have even more confidence that with more practise she'll do a really smart test!
The course its self wasn't pretty but; she was rideable, not at all spooky, i had control (which has been a bit of an issue lately) AND it was clear!
Wondered back to the lorry, quick un tack, wash off, re-tack up and change of clothes and we headed down to XC - by this point i was feeling much better about the XC as she'd jumped so well earlier and sick that it might be asking too much, I just really wanted to give her a good ride and not knock her confidence!
After mum ran all the way back to the lorry for my medical armband (forgetting we weren't running to BE rules!) we were off, she thought about backing off the first but i remembered my pep talk and with Mark on my shoulder i thought about leg on, hands forward and determination. The first question i thought would be number 4 a straw house where you had to navigate the bigger houses and wiggle round before getting on your line, our fence was at a 90degree angle to the B part of the bigger class on the take off side so i was conscious she might spook out to the left looking at that, so put the stick down that shoulder and rode the line and we were over with barely a second glance! Next question was an angled step up to a narrow roll top which despite tripping up the step she stayed on my line and off she went. The rest of the course was pretty much the same, unfortunately we got a penalty at the step down into space, just too a little while for her to work out and i don't think i was forward enough quick enough as i didn't want to shock her, but we still managed to get over the skinny at the bottom after this i stepped up a gear a little and let her cruise on and she was perfect didn't look at anything and made nothing of the other questions and felt full of confidence. So we got home with the 20pens and a tonne of time penalties but for me it was more than i could have asked for, for such a young and in experienced horse she gave me such a confident feeling the whole way i can't wait to do it again!
She really is a super star
Following photos are all purchased for social media use via MudSports;
Just a little video through the water;
https://www.facebook.com/leanne.mccabe1?ref=bookmarks&qsefr=1
I've entered her for another 80 at Bovington in a fortnight, really looking forward to it and so excited for this horses future!
And yesterday we headed off to Larkhill for the BVRC ODE. Walking the course the night before i was a bit shocked for a 2ft3-2ft6 class the XC was pretty meaty with 5 of the fences having B elements and a lot being up to height and pretty solid! Decided to ride for the dressage and sj'ing and take each XC fence as it came, if she didn't feel confident i would pull up. We didn't have the best prep run a fortnight ago at a XC clear round when she went completely green on me in the beginning then just as we got running we had a silly slip on a corner which knocked me out . . .
We arrived nice and early and i hopped straight on for a pre-warm up just to gauge how much working in she'd need pre dressage, she was rideable straight away and not at all phased by the atmosphere so decided the walk over plus 10/15mins would do so we headed back to the lorry after chatting to some friends for a pep talk!
Re-walked the XC with a friend who convinced me it was all fine, nothing to worry about and that i'd jumped much bigger courses on a horse not meant for the job so it would be fine!
Wandered over to dressage which was running a few minutes behind had a little ride round, stood and watched for a bit then just practiced some canter transitions and we were good to go and headed to the arena . . . at which point it started raining right on cue! This unsettled her a bit and she was quite wobbly and unsettled for the first half of the test and then did a nice buck for the first canter transition and then she relaxed. Free walk was really good and loose but the halt was square but not straight as she turned her bum to the rain!
Quick change and over to the SJ'ing where she stood with my parents and friends taking in the atmosphere whilst i tried to learn the course, i don't have a great track record of remembering SJ'ing courses! She warmed up sweetly in a very busy warm up and only launched me skyward over one warm up fence so that was a success in its self!
Just as we started i heard we'd scored 31.2 for our dressage which i was over the moon with, i was thinking about 35/38 with the buck and wobbly first half, have even more confidence that with more practise she'll do a really smart test!
The course its self wasn't pretty but; she was rideable, not at all spooky, i had control (which has been a bit of an issue lately) AND it was clear!
Wondered back to the lorry, quick un tack, wash off, re-tack up and change of clothes and we headed down to XC - by this point i was feeling much better about the XC as she'd jumped so well earlier and sick that it might be asking too much, I just really wanted to give her a good ride and not knock her confidence!
After mum ran all the way back to the lorry for my medical armband (forgetting we weren't running to BE rules!) we were off, she thought about backing off the first but i remembered my pep talk and with Mark on my shoulder i thought about leg on, hands forward and determination. The first question i thought would be number 4 a straw house where you had to navigate the bigger houses and wiggle round before getting on your line, our fence was at a 90degree angle to the B part of the bigger class on the take off side so i was conscious she might spook out to the left looking at that, so put the stick down that shoulder and rode the line and we were over with barely a second glance! Next question was an angled step up to a narrow roll top which despite tripping up the step she stayed on my line and off she went. The rest of the course was pretty much the same, unfortunately we got a penalty at the step down into space, just too a little while for her to work out and i don't think i was forward enough quick enough as i didn't want to shock her, but we still managed to get over the skinny at the bottom after this i stepped up a gear a little and let her cruise on and she was perfect didn't look at anything and made nothing of the other questions and felt full of confidence. So we got home with the 20pens and a tonne of time penalties but for me it was more than i could have asked for, for such a young and in experienced horse she gave me such a confident feeling the whole way i can't wait to do it again!
She really is a super star
Following photos are all purchased for social media use via MudSports;
Just a little video through the water;
https://www.facebook.com/leanne.mccabe1?ref=bookmarks&qsefr=1
I've entered her for another 80 at Bovington in a fortnight, really looking forward to it and so excited for this horses future!
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