Weekend plans - clocks go back ?

JulesRules

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I managed to sneak in an extra lesson with an instructor I've done a couple of clinics with on Friday. Sometimes a different pair of eyes helps. Shared lesson with Smudge and her sharer on Saturday. Sharer is really enjoying the lessons and doing well with Smudge and Rory went really well in our Saturday lesson as probably the Friday lesson helped.
My pair are both in over night now the clocks have changed so got to get back into the mucking out routine ?.

My lorry MOT runs out next Saturday too, so hopefully it's not going to cost me a fortune to sort out ?

Oh yes, I took Smudge out for a hack too, with another girl off the yard. I've not hacked her for ages as I'm normally riding Rors so I really enjoyed it and we had some fun canters.
 

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dorsetladette

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Wow - where did the weekend go. Looks like people had some brilliant (if a little soggy) weekends.

I got soggy twice. Rode a friends mare saturday. Its not my favourite thing to do, I feel very much like a passenger, only sat there suggesting speed and direction. She really is very opinionated. not my kind of ride at all. Then Sunday I thought I had dodged the showers and set off on B1 only to have he heavens open. In the 45 mins we were out we had every kind of weather - even hale stones (they really hurt my face)

I now have a few people along the back lane I can call on for a hacking buddy at the weekends. One lives right opposite my place. I knew she had ponies, but thought she had just had them home for the summer and that they had gone back to livery now the ground is softer as I hadn't seen them for a while. I'm going for a coffee with her later to chat about maybe hers coming over and having one of my paddocks during the day. She has stables so this could work well, but will very much be a trial and error sort of arrangement.
 

Asha

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Well done to everyone out and about , the weather was on the interesting side for sure .
We had a fab day Saturday at a new venue . The lady who taught me at dressage camp was there and offered to help . Which was brilliant.
I was disappointed with my scores in the prelim , it didn’t feel as good as the week before but thought it was better than 62%. But everyone was saying the same so at least she was tight across the board . The novice felt so much better , as I was determined to go for it . Tried a pair of soft spurs and it really helped with transitions . So got a slightly better score than the prelim . Couldn’t believe it when we went to collect the score sheets and we actually came away with a rosette ! It’s our first ever red one ??
 

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Sprat

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Sounds like everyone has had good albeit soggy weekends. I began the process of bringing Bean back into work, all going well so far. She is good as gold on the long reins, and even after 3 days of it I can see the suppleness improving a little bit more each time which bodes well for when I get back on top.

Took her for a little hack up the lanes on the long reins and she was storming out, she really does enjoy having a job to do.

A slight mishap on Saturday pm when the lady I buddy up with was bringing her in - leadrope snapped and she had a whale of a time cavorting around one of the other liveries fields at top speed. A bit disconcerting really as she is still supposed to be in walk work, but luckily no injuries aside from a small overreach cut.

Will be introducing polework shortly so hopefully I can build a bit more topline up.
 

nikkimariet

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Fig is looking phenomenal. Look at that muscle! And the extension. You must be chuffed with how he's doing.

Yes very pleased! He’s so super happy. He’s a lot lot lot trimmer than he used to be. But long term it’s beneficial. Better re lami too. Such a shame when he used to be a chunk but I’d rather have him slim than not have him at all!
 

Roxylola

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Ugh, I've had broken sleep for the few past couple of nights with the clocks changing. I like the light mornings but felt like midnight leaving the yard last night at 7
 

Dyllymoo

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Started rehab on Saturday. First 2 days were hacks around the block with our friends, and this morning we went on our own. He is so not forward up the hill out of the yard but does seem to get going after that. 20 mins each day this week in walk, I'm tracking it using Equilab and writing down notes for each day (if he stumbles, how he feels, any tell tail tiredness (neck stretching etc.)).

1 session in the school this week working on walk/ halt transitions for 15 mins (off the track, CL, 3/4 line etc.) That will be when the weather is at its worst I think.

Then re-assess with the physio each week.

He is such a sweetheart, he does really try. I just have a sinking feeling I'm never going to get him quite right and I cant shake it....

J Hack 26.10.2020.jpg
 

oldie48

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We've gone from all trot being turbo trot, complete with motorbiking round corners, to a nice, steady, forward trot that involves actually going into the corner without falling into walk. The next target is to do this while Blue looks cheerful, rather than her current, "I hate schooling and I hate you and I hate my life," expression.

We've got another lesson on Wednesday. Seeing as one lesson with this instructor has led to really noticeable improvements, I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Careful, the dark side is calling!!
 

racebuddy

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hope everyone had good weekend , i had cross country school at the weekend , clipped also , feeling rather fresh in the week but was spot on at the weekend , loved every minute , did the course a few times and then did some technical lines and popped over few of the meter fences , he was so happy , long reined yesterday and lunge this am before work , massager and legs clayed to loosen off .
 

Jenni_

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A weekend of two halves for me....

Affiliated P13 & P19 on Saturday (P19 in front of a List 1 judge too) - howling gales, sideways rain.... and a very uncooperative mare. Spent most of her time on her back legs with her head in the air. A disgraceful 56% in both tests, and last in both classes. Oh the shame. I was gutted.

Unaffiliated at a friends yard on Sunday, which is in the village I live in. Morning from hell presided, woke up to my phone haven given up the ghost for no reason, a green keeper opened the shutter on the indoor school whilst Skye was in there whilst I mucked out, let her out, got onto the road, brought herself back to the yard (not before running through a bunch of hill walkers) and took herself back to her field. Retrieved horse, all fine. Had 3/4 clipped her the night before, just lines and face to tidy. Clippers died on me. Then went to get stuff out car, car keys lost (but later found).

I just almost didn't go.... but a friend said I had to drive home and back either way so I might as well do it with the horse, and if it wasn't going well in the warm up, I could just go for a hack and box home. Great idea.

So glad I went for P2 and Novice 24. It was still blowing a gale, but she went the best she has away from home in years. Still not the best with canter transitions, but she was utterly rideable and just lovely. Scoring was firm to harsh lets just say, but after the Saturday I was just happy to have a nice time with her and friends.

Some pictures from Sunday - there is a good reason this jacket only has three buttons by the way, I usually wear it with my sash and I had to take the button off as the sash kept catching. Hopefully I'll be back in my navy jacket soon, and next time, no matter how bad a day I've had, I'll put my stock and white gloves on ;)

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Alibear

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Amber was awesome, well behaved to bathe, not bothered by the solarium although that also meant she kept swinging out from under it so not sure how much of a drying effect it managed. As we were there a concrete mixer turned up right next to us to fill up with some water. She wasn't bothered just interesting in watching the proceedings.
Settled happily in on her own whilst I got everything loaded and then loaded just fine, a little pause or two on the ramp but on first time :)
Travelled like a pro, a little hesitant to come off but settled in her temporary stable OK as there was 1 horse already there for company. She had tucked up quite a bit on the journey but seemed fine. Balked a bit being lead up to the arena at the spooky potato boxes that they all seem to balk at, so then had a much taller Amber to lead up to the arena and quite a lot going on. So I let trainer hop on for first 15 mins and she was fine, hopped on and just did a little suppling work and a quick walk jog lope and called it a day and put her back in her temporary stable where see seemed quite happy.
Clinic morning she was quite het up by the time our turn came round as her stable buddy had been in group one so she'd been on her own for an hour, but once we were in arena she settled and I hopped on. Worked well just a little tense in one corner, contained it but mean we has to cut the corner for a few go rounds whilst we settled. Worked on a horsemanship pattern and we started OK, then got to good and then got tired and bit random but she stayed with me and tried. Happy to be back in her box for lunch and came out for trail in the afternoon, much more settled but tired so clipped a lot of poles. Had a shoot to jog into and then back out of in an L shape and it was right up against the fence in the spooky corner , got her in it on the 2nd attempt but backed out faster than we went in :D But a few more quiet goes and we got it OK. Really pleased with her as the wind and rain had really set in by then and was coming in through the open sides of the arena and lots of stuff going on outside. She settled back over night just fine and seemed relaxed on show morning, it was just a fun show for those who had been on the clinic so we could adhere to social distancing, no numbers etc. She was very good in the Ranch conformation class but I stood her up a little wide in front so need to work on that next time, only 2 in the class but we won. Then in order to not leave her alone in the temporary stables we took part in the pleasure class. She's not a pleasure horse so we did some over taking but not as much as I'd expected and came in middle of the pack 6/12 I think :) Then onto the horsemanship class and she was really good but for some reason I decided to ride a squircle , so she did a squircle, nothing if not compliant! We scored the same as the winner but came in 2nd as I was not turned out as nicely as the other lady. The other lady is a good friend, looked great and was having her first show with her new 4 year old too, they really deserved to win, they looked awesome going round and they did do a circle! Then onto the class I really went for Ranch Riding and she was really good but tired. I got a shock when I asked for extended jog and she went sorry haven't got it too tired! Which I totally deserved having asked so much of her. We worked on a semi extended jog instead, thankfully I'd been very careful on the other maneuvers this time so we still managed to win, with 2 marks more than the previous time we did that pattern :)
Packed up, loaded up, more hesitant this time but still 1 attempt, and headed home, got on to the A47 , stopped by a police car in front and stuck for an hour whilst they recovered a lorry load of fish fingers! Not a peep out of Amber even when I went back into the trailer to open more windows as it was heating up in there. Got home 3 hours after we left and a very tired Amber bounced off the ramp gate on her way down and seemed pleased to be home. I can't believe how awesome she has been but she is now quite tucked up, so we're working on that, and will up her feed for next time as although she's very good and appears calm it obviously does all get to her. She's having today off as well as yesterday, she's earned it and for some reason sweated up when she came in last night. Put a mesh rug on and walked in hand and she cooled down and seemed fine but we'll see how she goes over the next few days before doing any more work.
I can get over how good she was all weekend, dealt with the warmups like she'd been in there many times before, happy with me hopping on an off from a low step, where as so far its been proper high mounting blocks, strange stables and horses no bother. She's an awesome little horse.
 

Pippity

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I had another fabulous lesson this evening. It's so nice to have finally found an instructor I really click with, and who has a similar approach. Previous instructors have all been about shortening my rein and taking up a firm contact, but L. prefers to concentrate on getting Blue forward and responsive to the leg before we worry about the contact, and Blue's definitely thriving on it. She isn't tossing her head around, she's starting to bend nicely, and she's a lot more relaxed in the school, with the result that her naturally good movement isn't being lost to tension.

And this instructor can remember she's a mare, which is nice. (I know it's an absurdly petty thing, but a previous instructor KEPT ON calling her 'him', and it grated on me.)
 
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