kirstyhen
Well-Known Member
'Kirsty Jumping With Style' was the note written on my Mum's calender to remind her about today, so no pressure from the start to live up to that statement! 
I wasn't sure we would get to go competing at all this weekend! After the snow we've had this week, it was only yesterday that Vale View confirmed they were definitely running. Then Mally spent the day climbing the earth pile left after our new barn was built with her cousin Archie (who broke my 6 year fall-free streak last week
) in a desperate attempt to pull a shoe off, something only Archie succeeded in
So this morning, in the summery minus 8 conditions
we trekked off to Vale View for the BE90 and BE100 JAS. We were down a driver as Mummy Hendry got a new knee on Friday, so Papa Hendry took over chauffeuring duties and I recruited my best little jockey from the riding school to act as a pony holder She came with me when I was 6th at Oasby, so I had high hopes for her being my lucky charm
It was my first outing for my new XC colours, bought to keep the Parents happy, as they often struggle to spot Moot in a sea of bay horses after having Henry who stood out more than a bit!
Arrived with not an awful lot of time to spare, to find that it didn't hugely matter as times had gone out the window with a lot of people withdrawing or simply not getting there! Jumped up and got trotting straight away, was using the BE90 as my warm up really, so didn't spend to long jumping the practise fence.
Unfortunately I have a real issue with remembering courses at the moment, not something I have ever struggled with, but getting Eliminated at Stafford seems to have made an issue! So I rode around the course without being 100% confident I was making the right turns, resulting in what felt like a sticky round. We had two fences down, finishing with a style mark of 14, 8 faults and 4 TPs, leaving us out of the placings, but I was happy with how she felt.
I hopped off, rugged her up and left her munching some hay whilst I attempted to get warm in the cafe with some hot chocolate! I bought a lovely long Anky coat for teaching in the other day, and it is SO warm! Honestly cannot recommend it enough to anyone who has to stand around in the cold for hours! Mine will be making appearances at the OHs rugby matches!
Onto the BE100 and Moot seemed to up her game, she felt much more eager to get to the jumps and as I was confident of where to go, our rhythm felt much better. She jumped much better, although she is very economical with her jump, so if I don't get her just right, she taps fences left right and centre! I also saw a ridiculous flyer to one fence, god knows how it stayed up, then made up for it by having zero stride at all the the first XC fence! We had one fence down this time, it was the road closed double which was a very short one stride, so I tried to get her back on her hocks, but she fought and had it down. Mally is very short striding anyway, so I think if I had left her alone she would have done it lovely
Note to self: let the horse do her ruddy job!
We finished on a score of 12 Style, 4 Faults and 2 TPs, so 18 overall. The comments on both sheets noted my shoulders being in front of the movement, something I'm aware of, however they said it was most obvious on landing, which isn't something I've ever been told about before. In fact in my lessons, I'm often told to stop sitting up so early and keep my shoulders forwards for longer to counteract my lower leg shooting forwards. So who knows!
Here is a video of the BE100...
http://youtu.be/MiXruntA86Q
So obviously I was super chuffed with Mally, but also super freezing! So I left before the placings went up, however my friend was there and text me to say I had come 5th!! So she picked up my rosette and prize money (Mally's first ever!!) for me, and it looks like we are off to Addington for the final, mainly because Gamebird told me I have to be her drinking buddy!! 
Not bad for a pony broken in by a numpty precisely one year and four days ago God I love her!
I wasn't sure we would get to go competing at all this weekend! After the snow we've had this week, it was only yesterday that Vale View confirmed they were definitely running. Then Mally spent the day climbing the earth pile left after our new barn was built with her cousin Archie (who broke my 6 year fall-free streak last week
) in a desperate attempt to pull a shoe off, something only Archie succeeded in So this morning, in the summery minus 8 conditions
we trekked off to Vale View for the BE90 and BE100 JAS. We were down a driver as Mummy Hendry got a new knee on Friday, so Papa Hendry took over chauffeuring duties and I recruited my best little jockey from the riding school to act as a pony holder She came with me when I was 6th at Oasby, so I had high hopes for her being my lucky charm It was my first outing for my new XC colours, bought to keep the Parents happy, as they often struggle to spot Moot in a sea of bay horses after having Henry who stood out more than a bit!
Arrived with not an awful lot of time to spare, to find that it didn't hugely matter as times had gone out the window with a lot of people withdrawing or simply not getting there! Jumped up and got trotting straight away, was using the BE90 as my warm up really, so didn't spend to long jumping the practise fence.
Unfortunately I have a real issue with remembering courses at the moment, not something I have ever struggled with, but getting Eliminated at Stafford seems to have made an issue! So I rode around the course without being 100% confident I was making the right turns, resulting in what felt like a sticky round. We had two fences down, finishing with a style mark of 14, 8 faults and 4 TPs, leaving us out of the placings, but I was happy with how she felt.
I hopped off, rugged her up and left her munching some hay whilst I attempted to get warm in the cafe with some hot chocolate!
I bought a lovely long Anky coat for teaching in the other day, and it is SO warm! Honestly cannot recommend it enough to anyone who has to stand around in the cold for hours! Mine will be making appearances at the OHs rugby matches!Onto the BE100 and Moot seemed to up her game, she felt much more eager to get to the jumps and as I was confident of where to go, our rhythm felt much better. She jumped much better, although she is very economical with her jump, so if I don't get her just right, she taps fences left right and centre! I also saw a ridiculous flyer to one fence, god knows how it stayed up, then made up for it by having zero stride at all the the first XC fence! We had one fence down this time, it was the road closed double which was a very short one stride, so I tried to get her back on her hocks, but she fought and had it down. Mally is very short striding anyway, so I think if I had left her alone she would have done it lovely
Note to self: let the horse do her ruddy job! We finished on a score of 12 Style, 4 Faults and 2 TPs, so 18 overall. The comments on both sheets noted my shoulders being in front of the movement, something I'm aware of, however they said it was most obvious on landing, which isn't something I've ever been told about before. In fact in my lessons, I'm often told to stop sitting up so early and keep my shoulders forwards for longer to counteract my lower leg shooting forwards. So who knows!
Here is a video of the BE100...
http://youtu.be/MiXruntA86Q
So obviously I was super chuffed with Mally, but also super freezing! So I left before the placings went up, however my friend was there and text me to say I had come 5th!!
So she picked up my rosette and prize money (Mally's first ever!!) for me, and it looks like we are off to Addington for the final, mainly because Gamebird told me I have to be her drinking buddy!! Not bad for a pony broken in by a numpty precisely one year and four days ago
God I love her! 
