Nickymac
Well-Known Member
Thankfully got off the wait list for the novice with OH's 6yr old hunter-turned-eventer, Fraser. So off we trundled, with about 7 waterproofs between us and a new bit of kit to jump him in - Fraser that is, not OH!
Boggy was not the word to describe the dressage arena, but bearing in mind Fraser is a bog pony, I didn't think it would make that much difference, particularly as he can't lengthen yet: at least in the mud I had a valid excuse! He was very soft and active, accurate, stuck his head up into canter once but otherwise was pretty good, much less plank-like than last time out. So how miffed was I when OH went to the scoreboard to find I'd got 41.4?! Last time out he got 28.6, the time before 31.4, both novice tests.
So, having calmed down off I went to showjump, and my new bit of kit worked a treat. Fraser likes jumping really high with his head up and will do whatever it takes to leave the fences up, apart from bending his knees and using his shoulder more.
So my new happy mouth American gag has showed him the light, and he jumped a lovely clear, feeling really powerful and round in his jump. It was indoors, which I thought might make it a bit of an eyeful for him, but he was cool as a cucumber.
The cross country was a bit of a bog, so much so that they'd taken a loop with a couple of fences out, but the rest was getting very cut up as the rain came down more and more. But he was a star, whizzed round in a good rhythm with much less "pondering" in front of the fences, and finished with two time penalties - not that that is much help, going quick when you've done a 41.4 dressage, particularly as the one in the lead was on 26.7. Oh well, I finished 17th and he got his first point on his third novice outing.
Think OH is getting a bit worried about whether he'll get his hunter back now....
Boggy was not the word to describe the dressage arena, but bearing in mind Fraser is a bog pony, I didn't think it would make that much difference, particularly as he can't lengthen yet: at least in the mud I had a valid excuse! He was very soft and active, accurate, stuck his head up into canter once but otherwise was pretty good, much less plank-like than last time out. So how miffed was I when OH went to the scoreboard to find I'd got 41.4?! Last time out he got 28.6, the time before 31.4, both novice tests.
So, having calmed down off I went to showjump, and my new bit of kit worked a treat. Fraser likes jumping really high with his head up and will do whatever it takes to leave the fences up, apart from bending his knees and using his shoulder more.
The cross country was a bit of a bog, so much so that they'd taken a loop with a couple of fences out, but the rest was getting very cut up as the rain came down more and more. But he was a star, whizzed round in a good rhythm with much less "pondering" in front of the fences, and finished with two time penalties - not that that is much help, going quick when you've done a 41.4 dressage, particularly as the one in the lead was on 26.7. Oh well, I finished 17th and he got his first point on his third novice outing.
Think OH is getting a bit worried about whether he'll get his hunter back now....
