Weekend plans

What kind of saddle is it DF. Looks lovely.

I spent an hour last night and two hours today teaching my horse to lunge for the purpose of making a video to send to saddler to ascertain why saddle doesn't fit. Less said about that the better. :(

Also took my young D out galloping in the woods (did the same yesterday too) looking for logs and ditches as I decided to enter her in a hunter trial in 2 weeks.

I can't help but feel she is too much horse for me but time will tell.

Haven't found a way to make her tired as yet...
 
My dressage has gone tits up, as I have zero motivation for improving my horse these days. It takes energy. So we slog on with our usual routine. On the other hand, the saddle fitter was out on Thursday and said Gypsum looked good, so obviously SOP is good enough but still has the feeling of intransigence.

Today I psyched myself up to go to the barn, school, and make those canter transitions less pants. As I'd got the saddle readjusted on Thursday, I reckoned there was no reason why I could not fix those bloody canter transitions with a bit of focused schooling. Except by the time I had tacked up, the owner of the mini-shetland was in the arena, all less-than-20x35 of it, with aforesaid mini-shetland, running around with tiny shetland on the lead. Gypsum thinks the mini-shetland is a monstrosity of nature (it is) and gets unpleasantly spooky when she sees the thing, and it's awkward avoiding a person trotting a horse of any size in-hand under the best of circumstances, our arena being ridiculously small. &&*(k it, I said. And I went on a hack.

The canter transitions can wait another day. Or not.
 
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So chuffed with my orange boy today. First go at Advanced Medium 98 and he won it on 66.3% which is a personal best by a fair way at this level and 98 is the hardest test at this level! Also had a first go at 96 which is just as hard and got 63.5%. That's one area festival qualification sorted and just 2 points off Regionals qualification in one outing. Nice one Monts!
 
I hope the photos from the sponsored ride come out well, AC, and that you can share some here :).

It all sounds like a very positive XC schooling outing for you JB. Learning to cope with the tantrums is always a good thing and gives you more tools in your arsenal for when it happens again!

Saddle is a Ryder Virage (http://rydersaddles.com/saddles/virage) FW. Not cheap but it's one flat price regardless of what options you choose (massive selection of leathers, leather colour, piping colour, they'll position the flap how you want, stirrup bars where you want, monoflap or dual, etc.) and price includes the visit to have the horse measured up; which involved the fitter driving an 8 hour round trip to us! Mine is calfskin throughout. On our tour round the factory the owner showed us some new leather types they're using, including crocodile.

I hope your saddle issues are resolved soon, it really sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of riding when you've got that little niggle that the saddle isn't 100% right :(. Is it a slipping problem with yours or something else? I also really hope you keep that D as she's such a star. Horses don't have ambitions like we do, she'll be perfectly happy doing what you want to do. Mine has more talent than I know what to do with but we're taking it slowly :).

Maybe your mojo will come back as the weather starts picking up CI? There's no shame in having a cba day/week/month/year; will your horse be really bothered if he/she doesn't have perfect canter transitions? Mini-shettie owner sounds like a PITA though, and I agree with Gypsum thinking they're a monstrosity of nature ;).

Well done to you and Monty Star :). What a brilliant score for a first attempt at that level!

Gratuitous and blurry photo of new saddle in action:
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No, it's a total disaster 2000 quid it's making my horse suffer and no person seems to care, kind of issue. :(.

Really glad yours has worked out so well. It looks really smart.

It's more the D is a bit much to handle. Which is unfair to say actually as she isn't doing anything wrong at all. She is just a lot of very forward and very athletic horse for someone like me, who these days likes a cob! My main issue is she is really lean so I was trying to feed her up but frankly she is just getting hotter and hotter and not any fatter. She looks like a well muscled race horse. I turned her out onto my lambing field today in the hope that a bite of green might sort her out. She won't eat hay or hard feed once on grass tho and there is only a sniff of growth. It has warmed up last two days and you can see it greening up so hopefully it will stay growing weather. Jumping lesson on Wed with her as main girl obviously can't go!
 
I care, FW. I'm so angry on your behalf, and I really hope the company sort this out properly. Because it really won't be good publicity for them otherwise!

I think you're fine with P. I think you're just a bit stressed out by all the other stuff going on, and it's making it seem worse than it is. I often find myself feeling that way when other stuff is going wrong!
 
I care too, FW. Would trading standards be any help to you? I think I can guess what company it is. If you do end up with your money back my saddle from Ryder was £2200. They've only got one fitter covering the whole country and she was very very good.

Fingers crossed the grass sorts your D out. Have you ruled out ulcers with her? Mine presented quite oddly with them and it took us a while to get a diagnosis.

Pictures of the lesson JFTD? How was it?
 
I know you guys care :o

Don't think she has ulcers she just loses condition when she's in hardish work and because she's barefoot and highly strung she's not easy to feed. I can't feed Haylage as only she could eat it. They are out 24/7 as well and this has been a hard winter due to it being so blinking wet. Even well rugged they spent a lot of time sheltering instead of eating.
 
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
 
JennBags said:
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
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Oh *******s :( I'm sorry you've had a rubbish day. I don't know what to say, but it really sucks when you have days like that.
 
No pics yet (will post when they're available - if they are good that is), but super duper pony had a great weekend. Solo hack on Saturday, he's great, I'm not that keen on hacking especially on our own, but we had a nice ride out. Then was awesome in the sj clinic on Sunday. We've got some new xc/rustic fences so we did a tiny skinny house and a narrow bridge thing, plus fillers and a fairly meaty (for me) oxer). Didn't bat an eyelid and took them all on.

When I started jumping him last year, we'd demolish most fences if we weren't 100% in the approach, and he'd get his legs all in a dither. Only had one pole in the whole session yesterday, which is a fantastic improvement. Hoping to take him to MKEC on Friday for some xc practice. V excited.
 
JennBags said:
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
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Missed this thread as too busy at the end of the week to look at HHO :eek3:

JB is it worth trying to get your instructor to come along to a show with you? maybe some informed and helpful eyes on the ground would be useful to help get over the hump?
 
JennBags said:
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
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:( I know this feeling so well, one of our biggest turning points has been finding the right instructor and also changing discipline (not saying you have to go that far mind!). Could you go down a level for a confidence boosting outing? Would definitely agree with Milliepops that getting eyes on the ground at a comp can be super helpful. Chin up things do improve :).
 
JennBags said:
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
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Nightmare - how does he normally behave?
 
JennBags said:
Great pics and write up JFTD.

Well done star, that's a fab result.

I've had a totally rubbish day. G blew up for the dressage so we got our worst score ever, around 42%. Even managed to get a 1 and a 2. Decided to then give him a calmer (should have done that first thing) and headed off to sj. He stopped at fence 1 then twice at fence 2 so that was elimination. Flew over fence 2 after that point though.

Not quite sure what more I can do, I have been out to so many clinics, had lots of lessons at home, thought I was completely prepared. Do I get someone else to take him out and compete him a few times? I don't want to give up but just feel like the whole thing is pointless.
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This sounds like D all over. Things that seem to help us (though we still have issues!) are being out competing regularly and having regular lessons working at least one level above what we're competing at. I suspect with D I will eventually give up and change disciplines but this seems to be the best formula so far.
 
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