Gamebird
Well-Known Member
It started raining here - and I mean raining - at 7am this morning so I plaited and spent a few hours glued to bdwp and DHB's text updates. It got to 11.30am with no news of cancellation so we loaded up and went. I had Supergroom with me again, plus every waterproof item that I own and a hipflask of whisky mac just in case of waterproof failure! 
After last week's debacle Fugly was like a lamb to tack and stud up so I had the novelty of arriving in the dressage warm-up mounted!
The hoof oil may have been a waste of time however as there wasn't a blade of grass to be seen and we slopped around in fetlock deep mud soup which actually didn't seem to bother him that much. Speaking as a veteran of Blair 2008 I think I am an authority on mud! I was quite chuffed with our test. It was BE102 and nice to have a change.
We walked the XC and whilst it was very wet and sloppy it wasn't overly deep or dangerous and I decided that I'd probably run, albeit steadily. Fugly has hunted a bit and he really doesn't mind too much what he jumps out of. It was probably safer for legs than some of the firm ground that we encountered earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile the rain kept falling.....
We turned up to walk the SJing and see whether we could sneak in early. As they changed the course to BE100 height an official came over to tell us that they were abandoning the event. The SJing is on a nice surface though so a local pro and I made a case for letting us at least SJ and, after checking that the doctor was still on site , they gave us the go ahead.
Fugly has been jumped several times this week after his laissez-faire attitude at Aske (2 down but hit most of the other 8
). We've been trying all sorts of exercises, related distances and grids. I particularly liked Clea Phillip's ideas from the BE magazine and the oxer with alternately sloping rails (like a Swedish oxer) was the most useful. We had the ends of the poles at 1.15 and 1.30 so he had to jump pretty big to make it but he hasn't touched a rail all week whether I've had him deep or stood him off so I had my fingers crossed. As always the jump's there but the canter isn't always good enough .
He jumped his best round of the season, giving every fence serious air. The last was a 2-stride double - oxer to upright - and he just jumped in too big over the oxer to make the two strides. I seriously thought we were going on one for a second but he got the two in and had the upright down. Not a worry as the rest of the round was fabulous 
.
My dressage was 29.5 and we got all 7s, barring two 8s - one for the right canter and give/retake and one for the final halt and one 6 for the FWLR which he doesn't do as well on the half circle compared to the long diagonal. Odd as theoretically it should be easier as you can stretch them down with the inside rein, but that's Fugly for you .
I then had a word with the organisers and persuaded them to run the section competitively as a combined training so we were 9th and got a rosette
. Not brilliant but good enough to finish the season on especially as I was so pleased with both phases.
So the final score is... 10 starts, 5 placings, worst place 16th (in a 5yo section), one retirement (when he was poorly at Beckwithshaw), no XC jumping or time penalties.
Time for a holiday, some R&R and training then roll on 2011!
After last week's debacle Fugly was like a lamb to tack and stud up so I had the novelty of arriving in the dressage warm-up mounted!
The hoof oil may have been a waste of time however as there wasn't a blade of grass to be seen and we slopped around in fetlock deep mud soup which actually didn't seem to bother him that much. Speaking as a veteran of Blair 2008 I think I am an authority on mud! I was quite chuffed with our test. It was BE102 and nice to have a change.We walked the XC and whilst it was very wet and sloppy it wasn't overly deep or dangerous and I decided that I'd probably run, albeit steadily. Fugly has hunted a bit and he really doesn't mind too much what he jumps out of. It was probably safer for legs than some of the firm ground that we encountered earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile the rain kept falling.....
We turned up to walk the SJing and see whether we could sneak in early. As they changed the course to BE100 height an official came over to tell us that they were abandoning the event
. The SJing is on a nice surface though so a local pro and I made a case for letting us at least SJ and, after checking that the doctor was still on site , they gave us the go ahead.Fugly has been jumped several times this week after his laissez-faire attitude at Aske (2 down but hit most of the other 8
). We've been trying all sorts of exercises, related distances and grids. I particularly liked Clea Phillip's ideas from the BE magazine and the oxer with alternately sloping rails (like a Swedish oxer) was the most useful. We had the ends of the poles at 1.15 and 1.30 so he had to jump pretty big to make it but he hasn't touched a rail all week whether I've had him deep or stood him off so I had my fingers crossed. As always the jump's there but the canter isn't always good enough .He jumped his best round of the season, giving every fence serious air. The last was a 2-stride double - oxer to upright - and he just jumped in too big over the oxer to make the two strides. I seriously thought we were going on one for a second
but he got the two in and had the upright down. Not a worry as the rest of the round was fabulous .My dressage was 29.5
and we got all 7s, barring two 8s - one for the right canter and give/retake and one for the final halt and one 6 for the FWLR which he doesn't do as well on the half circle compared to the long diagonal. Odd as theoretically it should be easier as you can stretch them down with the inside rein, but that's Fugly for you .I then had a word with the organisers and persuaded them to run the section competitively as a combined training so we were 9th and got a rosette
. Not brilliant but good enough to finish the season on especially as I was so pleased with both phases.So the final score is... 10 starts, 5 placings, worst place 16th (in a 5yo section), one retirement (when he was poorly at Beckwithshaw), no XC jumping or time penalties.
Time for a holiday, some R&R and training then roll on 2011!
(patent pending!! 