PickledOnions
Well-Known Member
Well we went to Shelford Manor today for the S.Notts PC ODE with a very early start, was up at 5(!) to be at the yard for 6 thanks to a nice early dressage at 8.44. We half plaited the night before and so that took us no time at all to get him cleaned up and ready for the Dressage.
Toddled off to warm up and Dougal felt lovely, I ws expecting fireworks since he has been a little monster all week! Any way he was really stretching forwards and off we went to do our test, first off all I nearly fudged up the centre line to go in as they had moved the arenas 5m to the right of where the BE had been so I being a bit blind went to go down that and suddenly realised and had to swerve back onto the correct line! Oops
Anyway got ourselves sorted and Dougal had tensed a little, mainly because I had got myself in a bit of a flap, but he felt ok, up until the first canter He threw a minor buck and was on the wrong leg, so I tensed and paniced and he was zooming underneath me as I tried to bring him back to change his leg, so we were back onto the right leg and did a nice transition back to the trot but it had all gone pear shaped then and the rest of the test was horrible and tense, but alot better than normal as we normally get bucking, and shying all over the place as well as giraffe impressions. We finished our test and I was reasonably please with how it went.
So we toddled back to the lorry to see his owner and put boots on etc for the showjumping, now we have a bit of a tendency to speed round the SJ at lightening speed with a few 'Lets take a stride or two out mum!' jumps to get a few down so I was aiming to get a slow(ish) clear, warmed him up and In we went, I was not expecting what he did! The bell went and Dougal thought 'That's the bell mum Let's go!!' and zoomed towards the first fence he saw so I half sat there like a lemon until I realised he really was going to jump it, and pulled him up to get re-grouped, anyway we managed to hit the second fence (the wavy planks) really very hard but it stayed up que lots of :O :O from me! However we then flew round the rest of the course Clear, so I was VERY pleased with Dougal and my dad took this picture which just about sums it up:
One very Happy Lotti and Dougal!
So then it was back to the lorry for a quick change and then we tootled off for the fun bit, XC, quick warm up then the little g*t decided he wasn't going to leave the collecting ring, so I had to be led out, que a very Embarrased Lotti! anyway kept him moving whilst the Starter counted us down and a sharp smack leaving the start and we were off, lots of kicks into the first as quite a few had been stopping into this, flew over and off and flying over the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, with a little growl at the 4th (chase fence), then down to splash into the water and pop out over the telegraph pole, gallop onto the 6th que a hug jump from Dougal leaving me with no reins to quickly grab back to prevent us jumping over the 11th fence backwards! Through the passage way in the trees to the hollow, trot down into it and big jump over the brush at the top, turn back to the hedgehog jump back into the tree, down the step and Dougal spotted the PreNov Fence up the hill and locked onto it, quickly pulled him out, then back out into the sunshine to fly the pig arc, and the fence in the tree line, turn back to the telegraph pole with brush underneath and the skinny ish log after, long gallop down and slow up for the step up. Last 3 fences he flew without any problems que huge smiles from me and Dougal and the rest of my 'team' ( ) My first double clear and Dougal made it seem so easy, was very very pleased!
Some XC Pics:
Serious Face in the warm up..
3rd Fence:
Random Ones:
So it was back to the lorry to sort the clever pony out and a quick break to change and have a bite to eat and drink before going back to see the dressage score. Now I know it's all relevant to the judge and everything but at out last ODE we got a 46.4 and he behaved a lot worse, and was a giraffe pretty much the whole time, so I was VERY disappointed to see I had got a 50.7 dressage the worst in our section, I was so pleased with how the day had gone until I got this mark and suddenly I was very disheartened. I have askd for my sheet to be sent to me, so hopefully I can see what the judge thought then but I thought it was a little unfair since most of the other scores ranged from 29 ish to early 40s with a couple up near me.
However although the Dr was disappointing I am very happy with the SJ and XC so not a bad day really!
Will post links to pro photos when they go up
CC welcome on me only please!
Thanks for reading, sorry its so long
Toddled off to warm up and Dougal felt lovely, I ws expecting fireworks since he has been a little monster all week! Any way he was really stretching forwards and off we went to do our test, first off all I nearly fudged up the centre line to go in as they had moved the arenas 5m to the right of where the BE had been so I being a bit blind went to go down that and suddenly realised and had to swerve back onto the correct line! Oops
Anyway got ourselves sorted and Dougal had tensed a little, mainly because I had got myself in a bit of a flap, but he felt ok, up until the first canter He threw a minor buck and was on the wrong leg, so I tensed and paniced and he was zooming underneath me as I tried to bring him back to change his leg, so we were back onto the right leg and did a nice transition back to the trot but it had all gone pear shaped then and the rest of the test was horrible and tense, but alot better than normal as we normally get bucking, and shying all over the place as well as giraffe impressions. We finished our test and I was reasonably please with how it went. So we toddled back to the lorry to see his owner and put boots on etc for the showjumping, now we have a bit of a tendency to speed round the SJ at lightening speed with a few 'Lets take a stride or two out mum!' jumps to get a few down so I was aiming to get a slow(ish) clear, warmed him up and In we went, I was not expecting what he did! The bell went and Dougal thought 'That's the bell mum Let's go!!' and zoomed towards the first fence he saw so I half sat there like a lemon until I realised he really was going to jump it, and pulled him up to get re-grouped, anyway we managed to hit the second fence (the wavy planks) really very hard but it stayed up que lots of :O :O from me! However we then flew round the rest of the course Clear, so I was VERY pleased with Dougal and my dad took this picture which just about sums it up:
One very Happy Lotti and Dougal!
So then it was back to the lorry for a quick change and then we tootled off for the fun bit, XC, quick warm up then the little g*t decided he wasn't going to leave the collecting ring, so I had to be led out, que a very Embarrased Lotti! anyway kept him moving whilst the Starter counted us down and a sharp smack leaving the start and we were off, lots of kicks into the first as quite a few had been stopping into this, flew over and off and flying over the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, with a little growl at the 4th (chase fence), then down to splash into the water and pop out over the telegraph pole, gallop onto the 6th que a hug jump from Dougal leaving me with no reins to quickly grab back to prevent us jumping over the 11th fence backwards! Through the passage way in the trees to the hollow, trot down into it and big jump over the brush at the top, turn back to the hedgehog jump back into the tree, down the step and Dougal spotted the PreNov Fence up the hill and locked onto it, quickly pulled him out, then back out into the sunshine to fly the pig arc, and the fence in the tree line, turn back to the telegraph pole with brush underneath and the skinny ish log after, long gallop down and slow up for the step up. Last 3 fences he flew without any problems que huge smiles from me and Dougal and the rest of my 'team' (
) My first double clear and Dougal made it seem so easy, was very very pleased!Some XC Pics:
Serious Face in the warm up..
3rd Fence:
Random Ones:
So it was back to the lorry to sort the clever pony out and a quick break to change and have a bite to eat and drink before going back to see the dressage score. Now I know it's all relevant to the judge and everything but at out last ODE we got a 46.4 and he behaved a lot worse, and was a giraffe pretty much the whole time, so I was VERY disappointed to see I had got a 50.7 dressage
the worst in our section, I was so pleased with how the day had gone until I got this mark and suddenly I was very disheartened. I have askd for my sheet to be sent to me, so hopefully I can see what the judge thought then but I thought it was a little unfair since most of the other scores ranged from 29 ish to early 40s with a couple up near me. However although the Dr was disappointing I am very happy with the SJ and XC so not a bad day really!
Will post links to pro photos when they go up
CC welcome on me only please!
Thanks for reading, sorry its so long
