Weekend plans :)

[Reacher]

Well I fell off Toby! I was riding bareback to improve my seat, and without reins as I over rely on them and I want him to be able to move up and down the gaits without reins. Indoor school - limited space, staying in walk. What could go wrong?

Well he was doing quite well with starting and stopping so I started focusing on steering - I tried to get him to circle round a pole on the ground. He was not listening to my outside leg as I was trying to turn his shoulder so I gave him a sharper kick which happened to exactly co-incide with a massive crashing noise as something was blown against the outside of the large metal wall of the indoor by the wind. I think he thought the noise was part of the cue as he SHOT sideways at speed away from my leg and I hit the deck. Landing right on my bum (Are we allowed to say bum??) Oh dear. The disadvantage of practicing homework on a 5 year old.

Going to the cinema tonight so might need to sit on an ice-pack.... I think my jumping lesson tomorow will be predominantly in light seat

No you are not allowed to say bum ?

Hope you aren’t too sore

 

[Reacher]

Well we had a case of four-fault-itis! Knocked pole down off first jump in the 80cm and 2nd jump in the 90cm. The warm up is very small and busy and I didn’t feel I had him bouncy before we went in. I can’t remember when he last had a pole down. We came 6th in the 80 (I didn’t hang around to hear the results of the 90).
I’m fretting a bit as he didn’t feel his usual cheerful self so am giving him the rest of the week off and will think about whether needs a holiday or a change of scene.
Some friends came along with their kids to cheer us along - I’m now in trouble as both kids want to learn to ride ?




ETA Well he was cheerful at one point ?

 

[Jenni_]

Retrospective, but we went to a local UA dressage competition. 2nd in the Prelim on 67.36%, and won the Novice on 67.70% - which is a PB at novice! What was really frustrating though is that 3/4 of the way through the test, just as I was about to pick up for the left canter movement, two Icelandics hacking past over the hedge decided it was a perfect time to pick up the pace and scurry past, so she had a mini meltdown and we finished the test with a mixture of 5.0s and 7s. Sad as it had the potential to be my first ever 70% test the way it was going! But either way I was so pleased with how relaxed she was. Its definitely something she struggles with we both get tense and it spirals from there. But it feels a long long way from our days of scoring 54% at prelim, just entering each test with the aim to damage control our way round.

Affiliated this weekend - two prelims

 

[j1ffy]

Well done! Excellent scores. He looks super shiny too.

The yard is even more amazing in person. It's also immaculate. I need to win the lottery and build a place like that!

A friend and I were wondering whether to hire the arena and rock up with muddy ponies and our scruffiest clothes - would we be kicked out?

I actually gave Danny a bath on Saturday ahead of the comp. I loathe bathing horses but he's being clipped today so I figured I should get rid of some of the grease! He looked lovely so maybe I'll do it more often...

 

[Season’s Bleatings]

I’m a photographers dream... Not because I am photogenic but because I am a sucker who will buy a pro photo at every outing ???

how handsome is this big horse ?

 

[Dyllymoo]

Soooooo jealous of everyone's super weekends! The photos are all fab.

J had his new shoes on. Im feeling pretty low about it all and just things in general but I guess I just need to plod on.

 

[milliepops]

Soooooo jealous of everyone's super weekends! The photos are all fab.

J had his new shoes on. Im feeling pretty low about it all and just things in general but I guess I just need to plod on.

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hope they help him x

 

[DressageCob]

Soooooo jealous of everyone's super weekends! The photos are all fab.

J had his new shoes on. Im feeling pretty low about it all and just things in general but I guess I just need to plod on.

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I love the "insoles". My little chap has been in them for a couple of years and they have really helped. I hope they do the same for your lad.

 

[Bernster]

New loan horse has the same for thin soles - gel and pads.

 

[BronsonNutter]

So, area dressage was cancelled... (the combined training got to go ahead, think they must have had too many people on site with the number of entries...)

Instead Giant Baby Ex-racer and I trundled off to arena hire to attempt some jumping. I've only jumped her once although her racing trainer clearly did put a fair amount of work into her. She was fab, no stressing, no looking at anything, straight as a die, no rushing before/after, however isn't quite sure of where her feet are yet in relation to the poles so we knocked a fair few over. She's still really weak and gangly so I'm hoping everything will improve with time as she gets stronger.

 

[Dyllymoo]

Thanks all, sorry to put a dampner on things. I hope he doesn't have to have them for years they are currently costing £250 a shoeing, and if his backs need doing will be around £320 (every 5 weeks)

 

[Bernster]

Ouch. Spoke to my farrier about this and he said not awlays, sometimes more in the summer when the ground is hard. But some do have poor hoof confo which may require them longer term.

 

[GinaGeo]

It looks like plenty of good weekends were had.

This weekend one of my silly, little childhood dreams came true.

Me and my flying Connemara went out Sideways with the Bloodhound Pack. He jumped everything with great gusto and enthusiasm and a marvellous time was had. It wasn't always quite as elegant as I'd imagined, he was entirely too game for that - but what fun.

But really it was just lovely to have him back out again after last year's trauma of trying to rehab a pony with EMS and Respiratory issues from a Check Ligament injury when all the ailments contradicted each other's management. But it was worth it to have him smiley, fit and pinging again!

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

It looks like plenty of good weekends were had.

This weekend one of my silly, little childhood dreams came true.

Me and my flying Connemara went out Sideways with the Bloodhound Pack. He jumped everything with great gusto and enthusiasm and a marvellous time was had. It wasn't always quite as elegant as I'd imagined, he was entirely too game for that - but what fun.

But really it was just lovely to have him back out again after last year's trauma of trying to rehab a pony with EMS and Respiratory issues from a Check Ligament injury when all the ailments contradicted each other's management. But it was worth it to have him smiley, fit and pinging again!

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What a fabulous photo!

 

[Roxylola]

Fabulous sideways Gina, looks elegant to me! We hacked in between showers today - managed to get some nice canter work in and play with some lateral work as the nature trail was empty. And gratuitous muddy spaniel pic as well - had a bath yesterday black again today

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Sneaking happy new boot day in here! I struggle so much to find boots that fit, so properly chuffed with these just need some heel risers till they drop!

 

[Bernster]

Lovely sideways pic.

HP those are super smart. I hope they have zips or they’d take forever to do up!

2nd flat work lesson today on new horse Penny. She was a trooper. Came in on her own from the field (they are still overnight), schooled in the dark and rain on her own, and held it together amazingly well as we were both a bit on edge to start. She’s a gangly big moving giraffe so it will take a while for us to click and for her to build muscle in the right places, but she moves beautifully. I can’t sit to the canter yet or keep it going for a whole circuit but instructor assures me it will come in time!

 

[milliepops]

had a good few days in dressage land some fab lessons to watch and I had 2 myself. First one was a bit hit and miss, bit of an odd day, I just didn't feel that we really set Kira up to give her best and so felt a bit flat about it all. Today was brilliant though, really good lightbulb in the difficult right piri and had some fun developing the 1 tempis.

I was a bit more clear-headed about preparing her better in my warm up today, she ALWAYS naps at the start of a session indoors and you just have to quietly work through it by giving her tasks to do that she will try hard at and then she decides she doesn't feel like napping. yesterday I didn't really have an opportunity to get to that point before we started working on *Things* as the school was so busy and she was quite anxious about it, so she was still nappy in the proper work. Anyway, I learnt from that and she was a good egg today so it's all good

Cobtastic today

 

[Roxylola]

Well, apart from this we had a fab session at somerford. This was right at the end, it's a tough question although it's a small fence, he was a bit tired and just said no. He doesnt often (ever) just nope and after a couple of tries we just popped a double and wrote that off as something to work on for me

 

[milliepops]

whoops. it's hard when they are tired isn't it, because sometimes they need to learn to dig deeper, and sometimes you need to back off. it's hard to work out which is the right thing some days.

 

[Roxylola]

Yeah, it's a shame, with hindsight I should have sat the those last 4 fences out - hes still got energy for easy questions but that was hard for him on the mound, I think the same fence on the flat would have been fine, and equally a narrower one there but it was too big a question for him then. He gets flat in canter as he tires and then it's hard for both of us to get up and back to jump ? we survived, and I did recover my seat ?