Weekend plans.....

@rosiesowner which associated champs are you aiming for?
Thoroughbred or RoR-or both? Could I do both? Guess it depends when the classes are on over the few days. I have no clue, I'm such a rookie. Though I am glad the TB and RoR ones are at Vale View and not Bury Farm as it is a lot closer to me-2 and a bit hours rather than nigh on 4! :)
 
I did the TB champs last year (horse isn't eligible for RoR unfortunately) you can do both, a lot of people did. Not sure how it will work this year as they are amalgamating with some of the other ass. champs. It was our first stay away show as is 3-4 hrs away. I really enjoyed it, everyone was lovely. Hoping to go again this year but will depend on what day my classes are
 
It took until 8pm tonight, but my new to me carriage finally arrived!

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Its not quite as hideous as the advert photos made it look, but it definitely wont be staying that colour!

So I have a nice pony, well started and educated, a new yard with fancy new school being finished this week, a new to me carriage that fits the aforementioned nice pony, and a fancy new harness I got for pennies from someone on Ebay who didnt know what it was. I might not have much functioning vision at the moment, but who needs that anyway! I am good to go :D
 
If the weather is so nice in the UK now does that mean it will be hideous in April when I come to visit?! It looks stunning!

Well, we did dressage. Very chilled out horse got VERY tense when he saw the warm up. It's still so new to him though so we worked through it and he settled quickly. I was proud of both of us for getting on with it.

Our first test was a novice. Hes only been out to dressage twice previously so I wasn't sure how we would go but we both need a busier test to stay focused. He was very green but rideable and mostly did the right things in the right places to score a very respectable and fair 63%. Lots to work on but a very good place to start!

He was much more settled in the warm up for the second test but lost it a bit in the arena which was covered, a new experience! He still tried his best and did some reasonable work. I'm not sure what it scored though as we left before it was posted. I think it looked better than it felt.

Overall a very positive experience and a nice way to start the season. He such a good boy who works hard. He can be so grown up in most things but is still very much a baby with new things. IMG_6957.JPG
 
What a hilarious pic DC 😂😂

Well done AE, was it very hot?

I took my 7yo and his pony to a showing show, and they were second in the M&M first ridden😊😊

Daisy was a wee star ❤

They might even have got higher had they not struck off once on the wrong leg...

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Fiona
 
No report on "using my core" session as warming up, Rose put in a buck going into left lead canter and I catapulted over her head landing in a very undignified way. she got lunged before I got back on and she was really very very anxious. She went nicely after that but we didn't get round to putting the monitor on me. I've got my back person coming out just to check there's not a pain issues but I am pretty confident I gave her an overly strong aid into canter and almost certainly caught her with my spur. She is quite bright ATM, much fitter than she was and building up lots of muscle on her backend, which i wish she'd use to carry herself rather than to eject me! Hacked her out this morning and she was lovely, so hoping this is just a blip. I am bloody sore though, my old body doesn't bounce well!
 
DC - how fab! He's lovely!

NickiB- Probably not the feedback you were hoping for but what a gorgeous tail she has! Lovely mare and looks very interesting :)

Fiona- little and large I love it. Congrats to young 'un and Daisy.

Oldie48 - oh no how rubbish! Hope soreness doesn't last too long and glad Rose was back to herself today.
 
Gosh Oldie48, that sounds sore. Hopefully a wee blip that you can both put behind you.
Lovely photos everyone
I’m rather proud of my girl, she was good as gold. Away all day, ridden three times and didn’t put a foot wrong. We both loved the cavelletti clinic, great coach who got us confidently striding through.
 
We got some lovely photos that a friend took! The light in the warm up was perfect!
 

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I’ve tentatively starting looking for a replacement for Ellie. Saw two young horses I liked the look of but I wasn’t quick enough - the 5yo has been sold and I’m waiting to hear about the 4yo.

Off to my trainers yard on Thursday to try a slightly older one so 🤞🏻

On a side note, the weeping willow I ordered to mark where Ellie and Poppy are has arrived and been planted. I can’t wait for it to mature - it’s going to be beautiful.
 
Thoroughbred or RoR-or both? Could I do both? Guess it depends when the classes are on over the few days. I have no clue, I'm such a rookie. Though I am glad the TB and RoR ones are at Vale View and not Bury Farm as it is a lot closer to me-2 and a bit hours rather than nigh on 4! :)
We can have a HHO gathering. We have our qualifications in for the TB and ROR. I am the other way and wish it had been Bury Farm as prefer farm and it is a bit closer. We had to withdraw from the VW champs last year as horse had a nasty fly bite which had rubbed. Nearer the time we must set up a thread and liaise with anything relevant. Good luck with your horse.
 
No report on "using my core" session as warming up, Rose put in a buck going into left lead canter and I catapulted over her head landing in a very undignified way. she got lunged before I got back on and she was really very very anxious. She went nicely after that but we didn't get round to putting the monitor on me. I've got my back person coming out just to check there's not a pain issues but I am pretty confident I gave her an overly strong aid into canter and almost certainly caught her with my spur. She is quite bright ATM, much fitter than she was and building up lots of muscle on her backend, which i wish she'd use to carry herself rather than to eject me! Hacked her out this morning and she was lovely, so hoping this is just a blip. I am bloody sore though, my old body doesn't bounce well!
Sorry to hear that and hope you are both okay but interested if you do another core session at some point or if there is another one happening as we are in the same sort of area as you I think.
 
We can have a HHO gathering. We have our qualifications in for the TB and ROR. I am the other way and wish it had been Bury Farm as prefer farm and it is a bit closer. We had to withdraw from the VW champs last year as horse had a nasty fly bite which had rubbed. Nearer the time we must set up a thread and liaise with anything relevant. Good luck with your horse.

can those of us aiming at Bury farm share your thread when you do this, strength in numbers & all that :D I'm so delighted BD have changed the rules so those at the top levels can return to defend their title :D I thought VV ran the Natives really well the last 2 years but looking forward to a bigger shared show :)
 
We can have a HHO gathering. We have our qualifications in for the TB and ROR. I am the other way and wish it had been Bury Farm as prefer farm and it is a bit closer. We had to withdraw from the VW champs last year as horse had a nasty fly bite which had rubbed. Nearer the time we must set up a thread and liaise with anything relevant. Good luck with your horse.

Sounds good! If I get my scores (which hopefully I will!) I'll start a thread closer to the time. A gathering sounds like great fun, especially as I imagine I'll be a bit daunted as it'll be my first stay-away show if we make it there :)

Edited to add: Do I have to get two sets of qualifying scores, one for each section? So three for TB and three for RoR?
 
No you can use the same scores for both the ROR and the TB, you just need to do the two separate forms. I emailed mine off in two batches to hopefully avoid confusion. There is a nice pub within 10 minutes walk of Vale View - we went there last year (were up for the veteran championships) as whilst don't mind cooking in the lorry, do hate washing up.
 
No you can use the same scores for both the ROR and the TB, you just need to do the two separate forms. I emailed mine off in two batches to hopefully avoid confusion. There is a nice pub within 10 minutes walk of Vale View - we went there last year (were up for the veteran championships) as whilst don't mind cooking in the lorry, do hate washing up.
Yessss!! That's fantastic news, as I am on a budget and can only really afford one or two at a push classes a month as well as a lesson every month (which is my priority really as without my monthly lesson I feel stuck in the mud haha).
Pub sounds good, as I wouldn't be able to offer cooking out of the back of a trailer anyhow :p
 
Yessss!! That's fantastic news, as I am on a budget and can only really afford one or two at a push classes a month as well as a lesson every month (which is my priority really as without my monthly lesson I feel stuck in the mud haha).
Pub sounds good, as I wouldn't be able to offer cooking out of the back of a trailer anyhow :p

That could be a bit chilly in November - we don't have heating in our lorry so may have to wear a lot of clothes. I don't think there is much by way of accommodation around VW if you were thinking of a B & B rather than the trailer, there is one place just up the road but imagine they will be much in demand.
 
That could be a bit chilly in November - we don't have heating in our lorry so may have to wear a lot of clothes. I don't think there is much by way of accommodation around VW if you were thinking of a B & B rather than the trailer, there is one place just up the road but imagine they will be much in demand.
I was thinking that earlier tbh, if I manage to get another qualifying score next time we're out we'll only have one left to get so may book a room as soon as schedule is out :confused: and chance it depending on what their cancellation policy is.
 
Been home for a pony check up, which ended up being a tidy up. First year I’ve not clipped him fully before the moult but he doesn’t have the best skin so needed some airing space even if it gets cold again. Sooo much hair even getting in to start clipping was tricky! Thankfully tidiness doesn’t matter when you rarely leave your field ;).
All hell broke loose putting him back in the field, we had to go in and pull one out again or someone reallly was going to get bashed 🙄. They’ve never done that as usually hierarchy is pretty solid! But the mare put her head up his arse (usually much more sense!)
I mean nice to know he can still go backwards that fast while double barrelling but :p. All the neighbours came out to see what was going on too 😯.

He should be grateful that post ingrid I haven’t fashioned some cavaletti :p.

The before pic doesn’t show his mane but I’m sure you can imagine it in its wirey finery!


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Phew. Just back from the clinic with Hayley Watson Greaves. Well worth the effort and the skive off work (in fairness I'm owed quite a bit of toil from last week ;) )
I always find it a bit weird starting out with someone for a one-off lesson when you have regular training, it's less of an issue I think when you don't have a regular trainer but as we set of I was trying to think of what we should work on... I hate it if I'm teaching and the person says they don't know or don't mind, cos then YOU have to think up something when you don't really know them... but equally I feel like we have a clear way forward with some of the advanced "tricks" which just needs practice and I don't want to mess with it while it's not established.
Anyway. What came to me on the journey was that Kira finds learning the hard things easy, but the basics of staying forward and nice in the contact are always hanging by a thread, and it's those thing that make the difference between cruising round a test and it feeling very very hard indeed.

So I said all that to Hayley, and she seemed really happy to help us work on that. So the entire theme of the lesson was Stay In Front Of The Leg, Small Pink Horse :rolleyes::p

We did on and back in every guise imaginable. On the long sides, on circles, in collection, in extension, in straight lines, in lateral work, in piri canter, you name it. Kira is exhausted, we both got our bums kicked but it's exactly what we needed, no compromise, just make it happen. Good stuff :D

Too tired to open her eyes
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