HufflyPuffly
Well-Known Member
After our eventing exploits it was time to get our head back in the game with regionals only two weeks away 
. However this is what greeted me in the morning:
A LOT of shampoo later and we had an improvement
So off we popped to a new venue for us to see what she could do with the regional test. The warm up was pretty terrifying, being indoor and had horse eating poop scoopers lying around in suspicious corners. However with a bit of pony club style insisting that she had to move forward off my leg, we had improvement as long as we did not go near the scary bits . Into the test and we came face to face with something much akin to Topaz's arch nemesis... a caravan looking object over the fence *shudder* , however Topaz let me pat her, kick her on and say ignore it it's fine I promise! Unbelievably chuffed with how grown up she was for a new place! I left the trot work a bit under-powered to try and preserve the softness which I was pleased with. We need to work on the speed of movements coming up as the half 20m, to half 10m circles, to leg yields need to be much smoother for regionals. Also managed a wrong lead in the walk canter transition, doh, she was peering out of the ring and muddled the transition and then popped onto the wrong lead , so stronger insisting on my part of total focus on the rider, not the external distractions is needed . This caused a bit of tension in the canter so not our best work, and the simple changes were a bit abrupt but overall I was quite pleased with her 
.
Video if you can see it on the facebook blog:
[video]https://www.facebook.com/jill.hyde.961/videos/10154409650924274/[/video]
Ended up with 64% which is a bit of a meh score for an inconsistent test, but it has given me lots to focus on and we have another ride through planned next weekend so a worthwhile outing! Also managed 2nd place in my section (yes the mega silver section) .
Back out for a bash at M69, this time the warm up was a bit manic so we boiled over a bit, but never mind it's all good experiences! The test was seriously wobbly, we seemed a touch rusty at this half pass idea, which I think was just because of residual tension from the warm up. The canter was just hard work in general bless her, but she did opt to listen and not add the flying changes into our counter canter . Walk pirouettes were also a bit dodge , so massively pleased with 63% and another second placing, (this time beating the silver scores ), lots to gain in confidence in the movements before the area festival season starts!
[video]https://www.facebook.com/jill.hyde.961/videos/10154410058804274/[/video]
So tired after all this poncing!
Clever Topaz
So canter bootcamp is on again, lets see if we can polish ourselves up a bit for next week and then regionals! Also wore my new mega bargain Konig boots which I won for £60 on Ebay , and very pleased with them but they need to drop faster no pain no gain right .
. However this is what greeted me in the morning:
A LOT of shampoo later and we had an improvement
So off we popped to a new venue for us to see what she could do with the regional test. The warm up was pretty terrifying, being indoor and had horse eating poop scoopers lying around in suspicious corners
. However with a bit of pony club style insisting that she had to move forward off my leg, we had improvement as long as we did not go near the scary bits . Into the test and we came face to face with something much akin to Topaz's arch nemesis... a caravan looking object over the fence *shudder* , however Topaz let me pat her, kick her on and say ignore it it's fine I promise! Unbelievably chuffed with how grown up she was for a new place! I left the trot work a bit under-powered to try and preserve the softness which I was pleased with. We need to work on the speed of movements coming up as the half 20m, to half 10m circles, to leg yields need to be much smoother for regionals. Also managed a wrong lead in the walk canter transition, doh, she was peering out of the ring and muddled the transition and then popped onto the wrong lead , so stronger insisting on my part of total focus on the rider, not the external distractions is needed . This caused a bit of tension in the canter so not our best work, and the simple changes were a bit abrupt but overall I was quite pleased with her .Video if you can see it on the facebook blog:
[video]https://www.facebook.com/jill.hyde.961/videos/10154409650924274/[/video]
Ended up with 64% which is a bit of a meh score for an inconsistent test, but it has given me lots to focus on and we have another ride through planned next weekend so a worthwhile outing! Also managed 2nd place in my section (yes the mega silver section
) .Back out for a bash at M69, this time the warm up was a bit manic so we boiled over a bit, but never mind it's all good experiences! The test was seriously wobbly
, we seemed a touch rusty at this half pass idea, which I think was just because of residual tension from the warm up. The canter was just hard work in general bless her, but she did opt to listen and not add the flying changes into our counter canter . Walk pirouettes were also a bit dodge , so massively pleased with 63% and another second placing, (this time beating the silver scores ), lots to gain in confidence in the movements before the area festival season starts![video]https://www.facebook.com/jill.hyde.961/videos/10154410058804274/[/video]
So tired after all this poncing!
Clever Topaz
So canter bootcamp is on again, lets see if we can polish ourselves up a bit
for next week and then regionals! Also wore my new mega bargain Konig boots which I won for £60 on Ebay , and very pleased with them but they need to drop faster no pain no gain right .
.
