blood_magik
Well-Known Member
For some reason, I can't upload pictures to any of my albums... is anyone else having problems or is it just me? I had loads of pictures to share as well... 
Okay so last time I think Timbi had just jumped his first British Novice since coming back from injury and Beau and I were getting really comfortable at 1.05m We've been pretty busy since then, doing something every weekend.
First was Grandslam Showing. It's a *big* show so my goal was just for the boys to behave themselves, especially for the judge ride.
I had Timbi entered in the novice workers, which was max. height 85cm. I had planned to get on him at 0845 - 15 minutes before the class started - and I actually managed to be on time for once. The warm-up was mobbed but thankfully, T's pretty laid back and doesn't bother with other horses. What I hadn't realised was that it was drawn order and I had a minor panic when the ring steward told me I was third to go - the first person was already in the ring and I hadn't jumped a thing.
Timbi jumped a lovely flowing clear round, which included his first skinny and his first chair filler, and was asked to stay for the go round.
I thought he went quite nicely in the flat section and we were told to come in in any order. T was stripped first (and trotted up without having to be encouraged so our practice paid off) and then the judge rode. Unfortunately she didn't quite get him forwards enough and he came above the bit a few times, which was a bit of a shame.
In the end, we ended up being pulled in 6th and got the most beautiful purple and tartan rosette.
Next up was supposed to be Raz but there was a bit of a communication failure and we ended up missing our class but they let me move my entry. Unfortunately that meant I would be off Lenny and straight onto Raz, which wasn't ideal.
So, Lenny went next instead but the judges didn't really like him
He was pulled in last while the heavier hunter types all went to the head of the line and then he was a little bit too enthusiastic when the judge rode him. Ah well.. it was a good experience for him.
Finally, it was Raz's turn. He went beautifully in the go-round but the judge didn't like him and we got pulled in last. The first few the judge rode didn't go so well - spooked, struck off on the wrong leg etc - but Raz was pretty much foot perfect and trotted up nicely for the confirmation judge when he was stripped. The line-up pretty much did a complete 180, with the horses that had been pulled in last being placed. Raz ended up with a 6th in a strong class that included horse/rider combinations that had been to HOYs so I was over the moon with my little spookster.
pictures of T and then Raz:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
Then on the Sunday, Lenny had his prize giving for the Grassroots series we've been doing all year. Well, he only went and won it! It was lovely being able to be a part of the evening performances and a nice note to end on. He's now having a well-deserved break for a few weeks.
picture here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
The next weekend we had two lessons booked with visiting dressage trainer Luis Lucio. I really enjoyed and I learned so much... We worked on getting Raz to shorten his frame and take smaller steps, and then moved on to starting some counter canter towards the end of the our second lesson - that was really enlightening for me because I'd been struggling to keep it through the first turn. It wasn't perfect, but it's getting better. Hopefully I'll have it cracked by the time Luis comes back.
After our lesson, we braved wandering around the yard by ourselves and successfully navigated our first nap attack - I won, and he didn't bother trying again. Clever boy.
A friend videoed the second lesson so if you're interested, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10RcQpbzpPo
It's quite long though... Raz's best go at the forward-back exercise he had us do starts at the 9 minute mark so if you don't want to sit through the whole thing, that's probably the best bit to watch.
Finally, there was jumping on at home today. Originally I was just going to jump T but they replaced the indoor surfaces this week and I didn't get a chance to jump outside because it was too busy so I decided to do something with Beau as well. I find that my eye goes out really quickly if I don't jump so the plan was to jump T as normal and then pop Beau round something small-ish.
My heart sank when I saw who the course builder was - he tends to build quite big and technical - but I was pleasantly surprised when I walked the course. It was on the smaller side considering it was a BN/90 open and there wasn't a triple in sight (!). Just one slightly scary white filler that the boys have both seen (and jumped) before.
So, in we went and I got T moving forwards along the long side before I came to the first fence. He felt fab so I thought I'd take a few shortcuts where I could - how successful they were varied but he left every fence up so I'm not going to be too harsh on myself. We picked up the pace a little in the second phase - we were so lucky that the pole we rattled didn't fall - and just went for it, which was fine until we jumped over number twelve and I promptly forgot where I was going. I found it eventually but I think we got something like 7 time faults for my Satnav failure.
Timbi jumped clear, though... (Sorry, Timbi).
Video of Timbi's round (minus me trotting around like an idiot trying to find the last fence):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pieRyy_tmaM
With Beau, I just wanted to jump round something to keep my eye in so I put him in the 1m open. He was a lot less stressy in the warm-up, which was great and so much less stressful for me - possibly because there wasn't any pressure to try to win?
Also, we appear to have our warm up routine cracked now. If I'm at home, I go outside and WTC, then take him in, walk him on a long rein, have another canter and then start jumping when there's about six people left to go before me. I have also discovered that if I trot into the ring, Beau doesn't try to nap - it took us about six attempts to get him to go through the gates last time.
He jumped so well. I think the canter was a little on the small side - actually, I *know* it was because we got into trouble along the six stride distance and had to add up, which then put us too close to the second fence. One day I will jump a round where I don't bury my poor horse in a fence.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. It felt relaxed, which isn't something I'm used to and, most importantly, it felt super comfortable. We ended up coming 6th but as it was an open class and there weren't many in it (15-ish I think), they only placed to 3rd so no rosette this time.
Video of Beau's round:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tDhcRHn6c8
*Now* I'm definitely having some time off.
Thanks for reading.
Okay so last time I think Timbi had just jumped his first British Novice since coming back from injury and Beau and I were getting really comfortable at 1.05m We've been pretty busy since then, doing something every weekend.
First was Grandslam Showing. It's a *big* show so my goal was just for the boys to behave themselves, especially for the judge ride.
I had Timbi entered in the novice workers, which was max. height 85cm. I had planned to get on him at 0845 - 15 minutes before the class started - and I actually managed to be on time for once. The warm-up was mobbed but thankfully, T's pretty laid back and doesn't bother with other horses. What I hadn't realised was that it was drawn order and I had a minor panic when the ring steward told me I was third to go - the first person was already in the ring and I hadn't jumped a thing.
Timbi jumped a lovely flowing clear round, which included his first skinny and his first chair filler, and was asked to stay for the go round.
I thought he went quite nicely in the flat section and we were told to come in in any order. T was stripped first (and trotted up without having to be encouraged so our practice paid off) and then the judge rode. Unfortunately she didn't quite get him forwards enough and he came above the bit a few times, which was a bit of a shame.
In the end, we ended up being pulled in 6th and got the most beautiful purple and tartan rosette.
Next up was supposed to be Raz but there was a bit of a communication failure and we ended up missing our class but they let me move my entry. Unfortunately that meant I would be off Lenny and straight onto Raz, which wasn't ideal.
So, Lenny went next instead but the judges didn't really like him
He was pulled in last while the heavier hunter types all went to the head of the line and then he was a little bit too enthusiastic when the judge rode him. Ah well.. it was a good experience for him.Finally, it was Raz's turn. He went beautifully in the go-round but the judge didn't like him and we got pulled in last. The first few the judge rode didn't go so well - spooked, struck off on the wrong leg etc - but Raz was pretty much foot perfect and trotted up nicely for the confirmation judge when he was stripped. The line-up pretty much did a complete 180, with the horses that had been pulled in last being placed. Raz ended up with a 6th in a strong class that included horse/rider combinations that had been to HOYs so I was over the moon with my little spookster.
pictures of T and then Raz:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
Then on the Sunday, Lenny had his prize giving for the Grassroots series we've been doing all year. Well, he only went and won it! It was lovely being able to be a part of the evening performances and a nice note to end on. He's now having a well-deserved break for a few weeks.
picture here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...994204951.1073741835.223002495&type=3&theater
The next weekend we had two lessons booked with visiting dressage trainer Luis Lucio. I really enjoyed and I learned so much... We worked on getting Raz to shorten his frame and take smaller steps, and then moved on to starting some counter canter towards the end of the our second lesson - that was really enlightening for me because I'd been struggling to keep it through the first turn. It wasn't perfect, but it's getting better. Hopefully I'll have it cracked by the time Luis comes back.
After our lesson, we braved wandering around the yard by ourselves and successfully navigated our first nap attack - I won, and he didn't bother trying again. Clever boy.
A friend videoed the second lesson so if you're interested, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10RcQpbzpPo
It's quite long though... Raz's best go at the forward-back exercise he had us do starts at the 9 minute mark so if you don't want to sit through the whole thing, that's probably the best bit to watch.
Finally, there was jumping on at home today. Originally I was just going to jump T but they replaced the indoor surfaces this week and I didn't get a chance to jump outside because it was too busy so I decided to do something with Beau as well. I find that my eye goes out really quickly if I don't jump so the plan was to jump T as normal and then pop Beau round something small-ish.
My heart sank when I saw who the course builder was - he tends to build quite big and technical - but I was pleasantly surprised when I walked the course. It was on the smaller side considering it was a BN/90 open and there wasn't a triple in sight (!). Just one slightly scary white filler that the boys have both seen (and jumped) before.
So, in we went and I got T moving forwards along the long side before I came to the first fence. He felt fab so I thought I'd take a few shortcuts where I could - how successful they were varied but he left every fence up so I'm not going to be too harsh on myself. We picked up the pace a little in the second phase - we were so lucky that the pole we rattled didn't fall - and just went for it, which was fine until we jumped over number twelve and I promptly forgot where I was going. I found it eventually but I think we got something like 7 time faults for my Satnav failure.
Timbi jumped clear, though... (Sorry, Timbi).
Video of Timbi's round (minus me trotting around like an idiot trying to find the last fence):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pieRyy_tmaM
With Beau, I just wanted to jump round something to keep my eye in so I put him in the 1m open. He was a lot less stressy in the warm-up, which was great and so much less stressful for me - possibly because there wasn't any pressure to try to win?
Also, we appear to have our warm up routine cracked now. If I'm at home, I go outside and WTC, then take him in, walk him on a long rein, have another canter and then start jumping when there's about six people left to go before me. I have also discovered that if I trot into the ring, Beau doesn't try to nap - it took us about six attempts to get him to go through the gates last time.
He jumped so well. I think the canter was a little on the small side - actually, I *know* it was because we got into trouble along the six stride distance and had to add up, which then put us too close to the second fence. One day I will jump a round where I don't bury my poor horse in a fence.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. It felt relaxed, which isn't something I'm used to and, most importantly, it felt super comfortable.
We ended up coming 6th but as it was an open class and there weren't many in it (15-ish I think), they only placed to 3rd so no rosette this time.Video of Beau's round:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tDhcRHn6c8
*Now* I'm definitely having some time off.
Thanks for reading.
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