MandyMoo
Well-Known Member
Pottered off down to Markfield Equestrian Centre for some BS today - bit of a breezy day to be in a horsebox on a motorway - eek! - but we managed to stay upright! So after a bit of a last minute and "rushy" morning (I decided to leave tack cleaning and Socks washing until this morning for some crazy reason, instead of the night before.....ROOKIE ERROR) we arrived in good time for me to enter my classes.
I decided to do the British Novice (as a nice warm up since Socks has never been to Markfield before and I thought he'd appreciate a look at the arena over small fences first!!), then I also entered the Discovery and.........wait for it..........1m05! - eek, first time he has competed at this height, and a long while since I have competed at this height!!! I was rather nervous...especially since I hadn't been to Markfield for about 4 years, and Socks had never been!
He warmed up nicely, albeit rather fresh, and went in to the arena for the British Novice. My goodness his eyes were on stalks and he was quivering in his boots! What a silly gingersnap. He isn't usually the spooky type at all but apparently Markfield is terrifying! So he wobbled and quivered his way around the British Novice and ended on 4 faults, hey ho it was a warm up class anyway, so off I went back to the warm up to wait for the Discovery - which he jumped much better in; much more relaxed, no more wobbles! Ended on a nice clear in the first round, but sadly we had 8 faults in the jump off due to numpty rider waiting when I should've pushed on towards a big up to height double....ah well, he was jumping lovely; pretty much jumping me out of the saddle today!! So lots of pats for the ginger beast regardless of faults.
On to the 1m05....well....it was an experience, I'll say that. Ended on 12 faults. Could've been worse I guess......OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, it wasn't that bad, most of the fences he jumped fabulously, and with plenty of room! My goodness, he definitely has the scope for bigger fences! BUUUUT, because the fences have gone up, and his technique has improved so much lately, I find when he jumps, as his middle comes up underneath me, I sometimes find myself thrown upwards into the air (not horrendously..you can't see it on camera or watching me ride, but I can feel it) and so I land a bit unbalanced, and almost leaning on his neck, not actually, but I am more forward than I'd like. Normally by the time I land I am sat up and ready for the next fence, whereas nowadays it takes me an extra second or two to sit up and re-balance him, which isn't ideal when there's another fence coming up pretty quick........so I reckon that's why I got the faults in the 1m05. We would land and I wouldn't be sat up and balanced, so Socks's would run on a bit and get on the forehand/I'd mess up my stride at the next fence a bit (and it didn't help that he was rather strong today too...haha nightmare). So I think I may need to put my stirrups a hole or two shorter to be honest...I'll have a play over the next week or so! See what works! And hopefully once he settles into the slightly bigger course (and I get used to it too) we will hopefully get some better results!
All in all a good day, rubbish on paper (I seem to be having "fault-itis" at the moment...haha, August-November last year we were consistently getting good double clears and placings at 90/1m, but the past couple of months has always been 4 or 8 faults....oh well!). Socks jumped well today and we had a crack at a bigger class - maybe not with the best results - but we had a go and had fun! Onwards and upwards! :biggrin3:
no photos of video, unfortunately!!! Hope you're all good (and your neds!). I have some lemon drizzle cake on offer for those who read this :biggrin3:
I decided to do the British Novice (as a nice warm up since Socks has never been to Markfield before and I thought he'd appreciate a look at the arena over small fences first!!), then I also entered the Discovery and.........wait for it..........1m05! - eek, first time he has competed at this height, and a long while since I have competed at this height!!! I was rather nervous...especially since I hadn't been to Markfield for about 4 years, and Socks had never been!
He warmed up nicely, albeit rather fresh, and went in to the arena for the British Novice. My goodness his eyes were on stalks and he was quivering in his boots! What a silly gingersnap. He isn't usually the spooky type at all but apparently Markfield is terrifying! So he wobbled and quivered his way around the British Novice and ended on 4 faults, hey ho it was a warm up class anyway, so off I went back to the warm up to wait for the Discovery - which he jumped much better in; much more relaxed, no more wobbles! Ended on a nice clear in the first round, but sadly we had 8 faults in the jump off due to numpty rider waiting when I should've pushed on towards a big up to height double....ah well, he was jumping lovely; pretty much jumping me out of the saddle today!! So lots of pats for the ginger beast regardless of faults.
On to the 1m05....well....it was an experience, I'll say that. Ended on 12 faults. Could've been worse I guess......OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, it wasn't that bad, most of the fences he jumped fabulously, and with plenty of room! My goodness, he definitely has the scope for bigger fences! BUUUUT, because the fences have gone up, and his technique has improved so much lately, I find when he jumps, as his middle comes up underneath me, I sometimes find myself thrown upwards into the air (not horrendously..you can't see it on camera or watching me ride, but I can feel it) and so I land a bit unbalanced, and almost leaning on his neck, not actually, but I am more forward than I'd like. Normally by the time I land I am sat up and ready for the next fence, whereas nowadays it takes me an extra second or two to sit up and re-balance him, which isn't ideal when there's another fence coming up pretty quick........so I reckon that's why I got the faults in the 1m05. We would land and I wouldn't be sat up and balanced, so Socks's would run on a bit and get on the forehand/I'd mess up my stride at the next fence a bit (and it didn't help that he was rather strong today too...haha nightmare). So I think I may need to put my stirrups a hole or two shorter to be honest...I'll have a play over the next week or so! See what works! And hopefully once he settles into the slightly bigger course (and I get used to it too) we will hopefully get some better results!
All in all a good day, rubbish on paper (I seem to be having "fault-itis" at the moment...haha, August-November last year we were consistently getting good double clears and placings at 90/1m, but the past couple of months has always been 4 or 8 faults....oh well!). Socks jumped well today and we had a crack at a bigger class - maybe not with the best results - but we had a go and had fun! Onwards and upwards! :biggrin3:
no photos of video, unfortunately!!! Hope you're all good (and your neds!). I have some lemon drizzle cake on offer for those who read this :biggrin3:
