Skylla's Second Shot at Success!

HufflyPuffly

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In the efforts to keep our toes in and keep the dream alive that Skylla really is just a little love to take out, we went for our second attempt at BD'ing on Wednesday.

Our first time at a venue that Topaz has deemed scarier than a scary thing from scary city, dressed in scariness whilst eating at McScary. Skylla typically found Aintree fine. :lol:

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First up P17, the only tricky thing here is persuading Skylla to canter over X and then trot, she is a fan of the unbalanced flying change that Topaz was such a fan of :eek::o. Into the warm up and she was a good girl, no napping at all (dare I say we've had no napping for a while now :eek:), however she did get a little flustered by all the other horses. So something we can work on and increase her confidence with. Into the main arena and she instantly felt calmer, had a good nosy at everything going on, and into the test. We're still a work in progress about slow and steady, with head carriage (Friesian x Hackneys are meant for the giraffe pose!) and with keeping the rhythm. But everything was done in the right order and in the right pace, canter leads went well and we stayed in the boards for the who thing :lol:.

62% for 1st in our section and about 4th overall.

Quick break and then back in for P19, though Skylla was tired by now :o, and when Skylla gets tired she gets a little erm toddler like and says everything is too hard :o. She tried very hard though, despite wrong legging both ways (at least we are consistent and she was happy to be corrected), she scored just shy of 60% so I think we can say Skylla is a one test horse for the moment.

https://flic.kr/p/UcChnwhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/UcChe5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

I 'may' struggle to a. slow her down in canter, b. sit on my bum :o :lol:
https://flic.kr/p/SYNNLmhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/UcCh5Chttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/SYNNvGhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

Pose we revert to ;)
https://flic.kr/p/SYNNoNhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/UcCgBJhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/U2gwL9https://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/SYNN6Uhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/U2gwD5https://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/U2gwEshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/64237834@N03/

Clever baby carriage horse :)
 
Lovely pics. What is it with you and horses with cutesy ears?! She's looking nicely uphill and chunking up in front. Wasn't she bum high for a while? Those pics look like she's growing up lovely.
 
Great photos and great results! She's gorgeous, and looks very tall now :p. I remember you posting about saddle issues - what have you got on her at the moment? A friend has a Sec D x WB that's going to be broken in soon and she's got a similar back profile (very very flat) to Skylla.
 
she looks positively delighted with herself! what a brave baby ;)

:lol: She's always happy when fed polo's!

Lovely pics. What is it with you and horses with cutesy ears?! She's looking nicely uphill and chunking up in front. Wasn't she bum high for a while? Those pics look like she's growing up lovely.

:D, nah we've never been bum high makes for stealth growing ;), be nice when her bum does catch up though!

Great photos and great results! She's gorgeous, and looks very tall now :p. I remember you posting about saddle issues - what have you got on her at the moment? A friend has a Sec D x WB that's going to be broken in soon and she's got a similar back profile (very very flat) to Skylla.

Pfft she is 15.2hh dam it!!!!!

She's in the original Kent and Masters dressage saddle, suits her back profile with room for withers, but also has sloping panels as she isn't broad over her back yet (more roof shaped).
 
She looks great, out of interest, have you tried your stirrups up a hole at all to help with the sitting on your bottom?
 
Great report! Love skylla - she just looks oh so bold in that ring.

Dare I say it....maybe you're just really good at inadvertently getting them to chuck a change in.....maybe you are secretly a showjumper [scurries off quickly]
 
Well done. Aintree isn't the most inviting of places for the spookier horse, i know i've been there with one that sounds not dis-imilar to yours. And for what its worth i had a little look at the results, as i was planning to go but last minute had a change of plan, and was quite shocked at how low the marks were. The judge that was there for the first few test is known for being tight.
 
Love her, she's gorgeous!

Thank you, we fail on your standards of turnout, but at least she's pretty :D.

Well done, some things to work on (as you mention) but a very successful outing - she's got a lot of potential for more later on. Lovely girl :)

Lots to work on, Skylla still thinks hacking is way more fun than school work :lol:, but as you say lots of lovely potential :).

She looks great, out of interest, have you tried your stirrups up a hole at all to help with the sitting on your bottom?

Might try that, I don't struggle so much with Topaz so I think it's just the hugeness of Skylla's woohoo canter that is making me look and act like we're out for a gallop :o:lol:, my stirrups are already up 3 holes from Topaz's saddle but will try a couple more!

She's just lovely!!

Thank you :).

Great report! Love skylla - she just looks oh so bold in that ring.

Dare I say it....maybe you're just really good at inadvertently getting them to chuck a change in.....maybe you are secretly a showjumper [scurries off quickly]

She is super bold and no-nonsense about life I love her so much as Topaz is scared of everything! :lol:

I fear it is my habit of buying carriage bred horses who struggle to know what to do with their legs in canter :o rather than anything my end, well apart from adding to the unbalanced'ness :D. Skylla also finds the concept of jumping odd, why go over when you can round the obstacle :lol:.

Looking good (and tall :p)

:mad: nope not tall ;)

Well done. Aintree isn't the most inviting of places for the spookier horse, i know i've been there with one that sounds not dis-imilar to yours. And for what its worth i had a little look at the results, as i was planning to go but last minute had a change of plan, and was quite shocked at how low the marks were. The judge that was there for the first few test is known for being tight.

No I don't tend to take Topaz much as she finds it a bit much, though with the AF's being held there she does have to do some manning up! Skylla by contrast is so not spooky, it's lovely! Topaz has to be led into Aintree's arena, Skylla just mooched in on a long rein :clap: love her so much!

Ah the marks were totally fair for us honestly, we're too wobbly and inconsistent for anything higher! The second test would have been in the 60's without wrong legging it twice, so I'm really not too upset :).
 
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