Weekend plans?

IMG_20220625_112911.jpgi did it! I made the mistake of being onboard when entering the arena and we both had panic attacks at the sight of the polar bear etc! Once I got off my leader and the instructor took her around all the obstacles and once she had satisfied herself that all the leaves were plastic and the tennis balls were not apples I managed to get on and completed the trail!
 
Super pleased with Jack today - he had a little wobble when we first went into the warm up but pulled up socks once we went in to do our test. It was his first dressage test and our first show together so the aim was simply to get through but he pulled it out of the bag to finish 3rd out of 7 on 66.97% despite making a few mistakes.

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Raz, on the other hand, decided he was in charge during our test. ?
We started off getting 8’s and 7.5’s and finished with a couple of 5.5’s and a 3 and our first ever 1! ?

I was expecting to come dead last but somehow we managed to scrape the 60% we needed to get our second area festival qualification. Hopefully he’ll be in a slightly more obliging mood for AM98 tomorrow.

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I’m very excited to have the saddler coming tomorrow so I can crack on with riding! Physio saw horse for a reassessment yesterday after doing some work to remedy damage from previous saddle and said he was like a different horse ?
 
Went a quick hack to the beach as the sea was out. Apparently the wee Italian isn’t used to the wind yet ? we had a few spooky jumps but she was lovely as always and got a good canter on the beach. 5482F582-93D8-4C09-9C11-0789D01794BB.jpeg
some hero has cut a track in the long grass! I want to buy them some chocolate ?
 
Have had a bit of a rough week - along with my horse-related woes, our wee dog isn’t very well either ? his kidneys aren’t great, poor pup.
Butttt I did have a wee spin on my friend’s mare again last night. It was v windy so she was super jolly - and so it was v v fun ? lovely escapism!!
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Big horse goes to the vet hospital at UCD tomorrow night, op on Wednesday, home on Sunday. Going to be very very weird being horseless for almost a week.. gives me more time to worry about the dog I suppose ?
 
ihatework said:
Well I ache in places I never knew existed!! Having not done any proper dressage in over 6 years, not ridden consistently for the last 3 years and not sat on a horse for 3 months, why on earth I thought 2 lessons a day was a good idea, god only knows ??

But what a super way to have a holiday. I was started off on an older but still very lovely chap, then had 2 lessons on a small grey fella who knew how to do everything but really tested you and highlighted your imperfections ? But worked my way up to sequence changes and a very collected trot/almost passage, in addition to the sideways stuff.

Then I finished off being allowed on a Ferrari and was beaming. Sequence changes up the centre line. In and out of piaffe. Such a forwards and sensitive horse yet so kind and generous.

Definitely going back next year!

Cheeky grey fella ?

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Virtuoso?
 
Not posted on here for a while been super busy with work ect , older boy went for work up last month as became neurological got neck arthritis which has been treated with steroids , he went back again last week for repeat steroids along with the arthamid injections too , at the same time by new one came down with a viral infection and a temp of 40 thankfully after a week of vets tests and a month off hes got the all clear to come back into work , I’ve left my dad sorting them all out while have few days in the sun ☀️ back home later
 

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Urgh bit bummed. I know Bengrove worked so hard watering the ground but it was reading as still hard with limited grass coverage. Decided given I’d been at a wedding the night before so it would always have been a painful shart, plus around £100 in diesel to potentially withdraw, not to go. Plus his third run in a week so feels a big ask if the ground isn’t spot on.

So have that fear of missing out feeling now ?
 
Ahh dressage. Where to start. The judge asked me if I knew what a circle was ? I was just being a total numpty. I didn’t ride to the corners last time and that’s all I was thinking about and forgot the marks where I ‘should’ be hitting. Lots of really good feed back though, Tali was awesome (I was a fool) and the judge called her ‘a wee monster’ which was cute. An improvement on my score from last time and only 3 weeks until the next one so will definitely practice. Oh and didn’t come last somehow ??‍♀️
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rocking that grass stains ??

sending big hugs to the sick notes. So sorry and hoping for speedy recoveries
 
Michen said:
Urgh bit bummed. I know Bengrove worked so hard watering the ground but it was reading as still hard with limited grass coverage. Decided given I’d been at a wedding the night before so it would always have been a painful shart, plus around £100 in diesel to potentially withdraw, not to go. Plus his third run in a week so feels a big ask if the ground isn’t spot on.

So have that fear of missing out feeling now ?
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What on earth did they serve for the meal? :oops:


Well my car shopping means I have a German bred arriving shortly :D
 
Michen said:
Urgh bit bummed. I know Bengrove worked so hard watering the ground but it was reading as still hard with limited grass coverage. Decided given I’d been at a wedding the night before so it would always have been a painful shart, plus around £100 in diesel to potentially withdraw, not to go. Plus his third run in a week so feels a big ask if the ground isn’t spot on.

So have that fear of missing out feeling now ?
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Out of interest was it just heresay re the ground or were there official readings like some of the other events had? And if so where did you find them?
 
My trainer like Bon, very complimentary about him and thinks there's lots to come from him. He's a real genuine sweet dude, from a jumping point of view I'd love him a bit bolder - he's got scope but lacks faith in himself if that makes sense. But for dressage he's just so rideable. Pic of him posing ahead of his lesson Screenshot_20220625-171104_Gallery.jpg
And Charlie had this afternoon on Somerford grassroots with his owner's 11 year old daughter showing her what cross country is all about
 
Squeak said:
Out of interest was it just heresay re the ground or were there official readings like some of the other events had? And if so where did you find them?
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It was hearsay, snd I know they worked super hard watering every night but I think the grass coverage just wasn’t quite there.

I’d have probably gone regardless but given it’s his third run in a week I decided not
 
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Job done for the junior ginger one this weekend - 3x novice BD tests to qualify for the area festivals before the deadline next week. 65.5% in 37A on Saturday, 65.6% in 23 today after a 3 minute warm up due to a tack locker malfunction, and finally 67% and a win in 37A this afternoon to complete. Hopefully he strengthens up some more before the Field House area festival in mid-August which will be his next pure dressage outing in between the eventing training.
 
no real plans for us but I had a nice weekend anyway :) we had a lesson on Thursday which i was really tempted to cancel after a super crappy week previously, but i knew i'd feel like a pillock if i did so cracked on and tried to pull myself together. Trainer was very complementary about the progress we had made since the last one and i really really needed to hear that as i'd got in quite a negative place in my head, not the horse's fault, but just a combination of his quirkiness and the cumulative effect of weeks and weeks of personal life dross, and my unswerving ability to catastrophise ?

So he had the day off on Friday and then back to school this weekend. it has been really windy here which makes him quite anxious but both days this weekend he's tried really hard to follow instructions, and I've managed to do Proper Riding ? Think we're turning a corner together at last, he's starting to make me laugh which always helps. Really nice feel on both days, pulling into the contact, staying forward, becoming more supple despite him starting out quite edgy. On the up again ☺️

A little millie photobomb ⬇️

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Michen said:
It was hearsay, snd I know they worked super hard watering every night but I think the grass coverage just wasn’t quite there.

I’d have probably gone regardless but given it’s his third run in a week I decided not
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I was really hoping there were more ground reports somewhere, like the one from Cirencester park, that I just didn’t know about yet.

I really wish they would do them for all events.
 
Squeak said:
I was really hoping there were more ground reports somewhere, like the one from Cirencester park, that I just didn’t know about yet.

I really wish they would do them for all events.
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So do I but I think Mark is the only person in the country who does then!
 
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