Weekend plans for 22nd/23rd and either side

[HufflyPuffly]

Yes I've actually decided not to go to commercial camps anymore unless I know who's teaching. I've only had 2 instructors who have really annoyed me - but one was a PC instructor so the girls had her on camp every year. She threw things at ponies too and freaked poor Jenny out! That was exactly the same sort of situation - pony has a mild wobble and ends up in a total state just because they instantly resort to pressure not patience. Jenny was actually hyperventilating! And then the Eland instructor. Both older women. Both very strident bossy characters. I dont ride like that. I'm sure they have plenty of success with plenty of horses and riders but it's just not a good fit for me.

Probably a good shout, as an adult it’s easier to stand up and say no, but kids and ponies shouldn’t have to say to an adult don’t throw things at my very green scared horse ??‍.

Even on Skylla I’ve had to say stop a couple of times I need to give her a moment to calm down, when being pushed to push her through something, but I guess it comes with experience of knowing the instructor and feeling brave enough by your own convictions.

 

[Ambers Echo]

That's awful Chippers! It would be bad enough in any lesson but ridiculous when the lesson was specifically about confidence building.

Name began with a V.....

Eland is my favourite venue and John is very encouraging and supportive but hes also a get on with it person. Sometimes choosing NOT to do something is much more useful for both horse and rider in building confidence.

 

[Chippers1]

It was the log stack jump that was at the bottom of the hill so a proper up to height 80! I think her thinking might have been that she knew I could do it but was just nervous...yes I can do it but at this point I was at the proper shaking with fear stage (even though i love jumping!) and to be honest it didn't really help! I think we had a refusal at every jump because my confidence just wasn't there to give Buzz confidence. It was annoying as it wasn't a cheap course!

Yep I think it was the same woman!

 

[Baccara]

M and AM today, if we dont get blown away! Day off tomrrow and hacking, all being well on Sunday.

 

[Roxylola]

Oh my goodness, what's wrong with people. Dont put worried animals - humans included - in a position where they feel they need to say no, even more so when they dont know you. I keep fences etc tiddly if I'm dealing with green or worried, its money in the confidence account and money in the yes account. I've nothing to prove as an instructor and just because my clients can do bigger doesnt mean they should or need to right away, I'll push a bit but I'd never argue with an outright no from a jockey, although I've never put anyone in that situation

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

55cm showjumping and 50cm hunter trial Sunday! Only our second ever proper sj class and our very first ever hunter trial! I’m partly excited and partly terrified. But I’m not going to either to try and place, our aim for sj is to stay straight and forward and for hunter trial is to give everything a good go and have fun, treat it like a fun ride really! Hopefully she is as keen as she was when we went xc schooling there!

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[Ambers Echo]

It was the log stack jump that was at the bottom of the hill so a proper up to height 80! I think her thinking might have been that she knew I could do it but was just nervous...yes I can do it but at this point I was at the proper shaking with fear stage (even though i love jumping!) and to be honest it didn't really help! I think we had a refusal at every jump because my confidence just wasn't there to give Buzz confidence. It was annoying as it wasn't a cheap course!

Yep I think it was the same woman!

Ridiculous! Some people think giving people confidence is just all about peppeing them up and cheer-leading them. But it really isn't. Especially when fight and flight has been triggered like in your case. You gain so much from feeling good over a 50cm fence than feeling sick over an 80cm fence! An instructor to avoid in future.....

 

[Chippers1]

Exactly! There were three of us in a group and one poor woman didn't end up jumping anything as her youngster was scared and backing away from everything, the instructor didn't really help her either which was pretty bad. As far as i can remember I don't think the 50 course was built then but obviously some of the 70 fences are smaller than 70, I would have been happy with them!
I have a video from the day (Meadow productions were there) but I don't think i've watched it since (apart from the highlights video!) as it just makes me cringe, i rode terribly because of nerves

 

[Ambers Echo]

What a shame. And what a waste of money

 

[oldie48]

The weather has calmed down here now although it was quite windy earlier, hopefully it will stay nice for all of you who are out and about. At least now we have had some rain the ground is good, well it is here! My plans are mostly to try to keep Rose going as unfortunately whilst away last week for three days of dressage training, I was unwell so trainer did more riding than me, which was not the plan! Ended up in hospital eventually but now I know why I've not been feeling great recently and I'm hoping once the meds have settled down and I'm on the right dose I'll start feeling better. Pro is coming to school Rose later this morning and my arena has gratefully sucked up all the recent rain and should be nicer to ride on. Saturday I'll give Rose a day off and Sunday I am hoping to have a quiet hack, Monday I am off to AM Dressage and determined to ride at least half of the session. Dr who discharged me from hospital told me not to climb any ladders. I said I didn't climb ladders but I did ride a horse. After giving me a look of disbelief he admonished me to "not fall off". Yes, that's the general idea, isn't it? Have a great weekend and don't fall off!

 

[Northern]

We're forecast the Snowstorm of the Season here this weekend, and are wading through deep mud and puddles. Not riding weather! Hoping the weather will fine up a bit by next week so I can continue focusing on dressage. The school rides best when wet like this, so will take the opportunity when I can! No jumping, the ground is just too slippery :/ Did manage to take the youngster out for our longest walk to date. She behaved really nicely for the most part, and was still easy to keep in hand when she got a bit strong and distracted. Can't wait to back her! Need to be patient with myself, she's got a few more months out to grow up first.

Have a great (dry!) weekend all!

 

[TheMule]

I'm off to showjumping camp this weekend. Hoping it'll be useful- it's the BS area one so should be decent trainers, and will be very good to jump at this venue as plenty to look at for a spooky horse. Hopefully if she relaxes in their arenas she can do some winter BS there

 

[GinaGeo]

We've been out ambling again. If you could bottle joy, Mickey out exploring, would be it. The happiness oozes through him and it comes out his happy little ears. You can't not enjoy yourself when you're sat on him

That said I'm going to have to hand the ride on him back to mum at some point as I'll need him as a nanny for the youngster in a couple of weeks.

The youngster has had his staples out, so I got back on him this morning. Getting back on a youngster for the first time after a couple of weeks off in these gales possibly wasn't the most sensible thing to do, but he was as good as I hoped he would be and wandered out to the yard and down to the school we use without so much as flicking an ear. He knuckled down and did a chilled 15 mins. Very chuffed with him.

No competition plans just happy hacking really. Planning to get the Side Saddle out and pop it on Mickey and see what he reckons to Sideways jumping...

 

[racebuddy]

wheather forcast awful so jsut at home this weekend , will go out twice next weekend when its bank holiday

 

[milliepops]

wow it was absolutely WILD at Hartpury today.
Really impressed by most of the horses who turned up and did their job in alternate sunshine, sideways torrential rain and howling winds. back tomorrow for my last shift, it's been great and I've had some lovely judges but the days have been pretty long and I'm pooped!

 

[blood_magik]

We had an arena hire booked for this morning and just about managed to avoid the rain. Fleur felt amazing - unfortunately no videos as it decided to chuck it down just as the last few fences were put up.

looking like a pony next to her titanic-sized boyfriend (16.3 vs 18.3 ?)


after the hire I went to try out a mare at my trainer’s yard. She was sweet and didn’t put a foot wrong despite it blowing a gale and chucking it down so she’s definitely a possibility.

I’m viewing another horse tomorrow - a 7yo gelding by the same stallion as my big lad in the pic above ? so will make a decision once I’ve had a sit on him.

hope everyone has a good weekend

 

[scats]

Super days dressage doing P13. Millie was daft as anything in the warm up but pulled it out the bag in the test and did possibly her best test to date. Pity it was a judge who always marks us harshly and actually didn’t glance up once at us on the final centre line (I watched her the whole way from before I turned at A). She didn’t even look up at my salute but was just writing away. Makes me wonder how much of the test she actually watched!
Ah well, so proud of Millie. She was so bad outside in the wind that someone had to lead her in (it was one of those days!) and she had actually reared quite impressively trying to get into the warm up, so for her to knuckle down when she needed to was quite impressive!

 

[blood_magik]

I loved the gelding. Very rare that I’ll get on a strange horse and feel comfortable enough to jump round so I’m feeling relatively optimistic that he’s the one ??

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

A fab day at showjumping today! Even a few months ago a tiny tiny cross pole made me feel sick and today we happily jumped 55cm. She’s still a bit behind my leg but it’s all very new to both of us and I know we’ll get there.

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[milliepops]

Another good day writing at Hartpury today and the weather was a lot kinder Had a great judge for the Inter 1 who got me to write the collectives & judge comments as well, which was more work (!) but nice because you don't normally get to really hear what their summing up thoughts are. When I told him I was a rider rather than a judge (as lots of lower list judges write at champs) he started giving me more explanations of the marks he'd given. really useful as it was the I1 Bronze which really is my peers, very good class to watch.

Home to catch friend having a clinic lesson at yard, and then rode Kira who really has found her happy place again I am so grateful for new yard for putting us up, it's a fabulous privilege. Played about with the tempis today really concentrating on expression and straightness.

 

[Roxylola]

Lovely little pop on her, shes super.
Our training at somerford was super. I have a lot of respect for the instructor and she was super positive, told me to stop worrying about my fold and position over jumps as I'm generally in good balance, well placed not to interfere and shes never seen me interfere with him jumping. She also said every time she sees him he looks better stronger and is going better so I'm super pleased with that.
Supercob jumped very well, had a few poles show jumping but he does sometimes, its partly that I was riding for better distances and things so it's hard for him. Little xc machine though, wanted to work corners and ditches and he sailed over everything.
Had a brief issue with satnav which resulted in me calling him a dickbrain. He jumped a corner, first time and well, then was utterly convinced we should be jumping some rails on an angle to the left, not the brush 3 strides dead ahead. We didnt quite fall out over it, but the whole way in hes looking to these rails and I'm quietly going nope so he stayed straight and as we got there sort of went ooh theres a jump right here ?‍ so as we got to and over it I had everyone including myself laughing by saying "we are going over this one dickbrain" ?
Few imperfect moments but jumped everything first time, and everything well at least once.
We had a little play in the water just as a group came to it and she wanted me to ride in better so sent me off a second time - the group instructor checked what we were doing so she could work round us and again they all laughed at me for saying I have to do it again but better...

 

[little_critter]

A successful dressage outing for us. It all felt a bit flat but it was obedient and accurate so got 71% in the prelim and 67% in the novice.
Slight issue when I came to put our bridle numbers on; this is our first outing in a Micklem and the didn’t seem to fit very well. I had to put them on the cheek pieces and they ended up almost acting as blinkers. How do you put bridle numbers on a Micklem? Or do you use saddle cloth numbers instead?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Had a lovely pootle round xc course this morning, took a friend as foot soldier who hadn't seen B jump this year.
Tho I hopefully eyed up all the 80 fences, I stuck firmly to the 65 ones as we have a hunter trial there soon, and I wanted to work on rhythm and balance with B, as she tends to bugger off when she sees a fence as locks on bowl on a bit quickly and then control goes. Happily she was pretty sensible and picked up a very good canter between fences, only trying to hurdle one once. V happy with her. Friend impressed too with steadiness.
Happy hacking tomorrow, possibly with hacking chum.

 

[criso]

A successful dressage outing for us. It all felt a bit flat but it was obedient and accurate so got 71% in the prelim and 67% in the novice.
Slight issue when I came to put our bridle numbers on; this is our first outing in a Micklem and the didn’t seem to fit very well. I had to put them on the cheek pieces and they ended up almost acting as blinkers. How do you put bridle numbers on a Micklem? Or do you use saddle cloth numbers instead?

I went for saddle cloth numbers, on a Micklem they were too close to the eyes for me.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Fab day at Solihull BE for little Dolly with a double clear... sadly not with Katie riding though as she has tonsillitis. My best friend's daughter rode instead having sat on her for the first time yesterday! Proud of both of them.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Pis because- well just because!

 

[Roxylola]

She looks fab AE, what a super pony

 

[Ambers Echo]

She is truly awesome. Katie is now 5.7 and still growing. I am 5.6 - though much heavier than Katie. I am seriously considering nicking her for myself when Katie does outgrow! But assuming I ride Amber again I would be swapping back and forth between a 16.3 and a 14.2! Not sure how easy that would be. Or whether it is fair to make a pony carry an adult over big fences.

My perfect horse would be a bay 15.2 Dolly. She's gorgeous but she is also revolting!

Exhibit A: Poo pillows

Exhibit B: Dolly after enjoying her poo pillows

 

[Ambers Echo]

She has a big stable and a lovely big, clean bed! Looking at her you'd think I keep her living in squalor. But she just loves a good roll in her own poo.

 

[Roxylola]

She has a big stable and a lovely big, clean bed! Looking at her you'd think I keep her living in squalor. But she just loves a good roll in her own poo.

Charlie came in from the field with 3 poo stains not that long ago ? a whole field and he still lies in poo!
I'd say as long as shes fit and you dont suddenly expect her to go 2* with you you should be fine, technically even novice fences arent actually big fences (although I think they're massive).
As for swapping, having done it, ride pony first then horse - that feels ok, getting off horse on to pony certainly makes you keep your body back ?