Well, we made it to our first intro, but it was a disaster

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lucym

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for those that dont want the waffle, basically we got eliminated xc
Dr-39
SJ-8
XC-big fat E

For those that want the waffle here we go...
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I was so excited this morning, could wait to get going for our first intro, something i have waited years do, got there in plenty of time, walked the course, and it was BIG (was bickenhall btw) I tried not to let it worry me, but I was sort of scared by the beefie-ness of it
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i have never been to a BE event before, so i couldnt tell you whether it was big in comparison, but for me it was big and had technical elements
Anyway, Wills warmed up really nicely for Dr, calm and concentrated, just lost abit of purpose in the test itself, and did a lacklustre 39, which wasnt great

On to SJ, he wamed up dreadfully, he hasnt touched a pole for weeks, and hey presto he seemed to be hitting everything, he was anxsty and not happy, launching over things and then landing very steep on the other side
anyway I was confident about the SJ as it was small enough to fiddle over, so off we went, had 2 down, one my fault, one his fault, but he didnt jump too badly on the whole

quick change on to the xc, where i was trying to be positive!!
he warmed up dreadfully again, tbh if i had been more experienced I would have W/D and realised things werent right, but when your're there things are differnt and hind sight is a great thing! He wouldnt go forwards at all over the practise fences, and was so reluctant to jump, anyway i thought i would go for it, and thought he would perk up as he can be lazy
so off we went, first and second were ok, he was still launching over them and landing steeply, third fence was a big hay rack which he looked at in dismay and stoppped, then jumped second time
he was great ver number 4, combination of largeish wood piles, then number5 a sort of straight forward log, he flatly refused to jump. he wasnt scared he wasnt shying away from it, he just did not want to jump

i have had him since a 3yo and never has he stopped 3 times, EVER, he always has been genuine, so im scratching my head to know whats wrong, either
>it was too big and ive overfaced him, and he just felt he couldnt do it
>he now has a touch of heat in near fore, fetlock and hoof, abcess maybe? but he is 100% sound, or has he twisted smething
>he felt like he was backing off, so maybe the ground?

god i dont know, ideas appreciated please, and im so sorry for rambling, i just dont know what to do, and now dont know whether to enter pontispool, or just accept that BE is a step to far for me and him
help please
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Aww that sucks!
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good dressage score though, any pics?

it does sound like there could be an abcess brewing somewhere? the general not going forwardness anyway!

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What a shame.
We always know our horses best and if you are sure it wasn't your BE debut nerves then I would have in the back of your mind that he may have been in a bit of discomfort for some reason.
 
I can tell you now that it wasn't the fences, he has oodles of ability and Intro is easy peasy for him. I think there is something underlying and you need to get him checked out. As you say, you know him inside out and you know he doesn't usually jump like that.
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A real shame Luce, as he was a super star the other day.xx
 
in my experience a horse stopping that doesnt normaly is hurting so check that out first. also the ground is unusually hard for time of year which can cause a horse to jump funny.dont give up on one bad performance and the 80training classes are lovely if your worried
 
Oh mate, thats not like wills at all
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I would be thinking something isnt right maybe, he is so genuine, he wouldnt do that for no reason
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thats a shame!! it could be a minor knock i had a horse that had a number of minisculetmall holes in its off hind tendon - didnt show unsoundness at all but there was a tiny bump and some heat. his fine now as thank god we found it early enough!
hope everything is ok with your boy im sure it will be
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dont let it knock your confidence whatever it is im sure next time he will be alot better
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i was nervous but not overly nervous, and i was so positive going XC, i really wanted to do it and genuinely thought he would get round, i do think there has to be something wrong
he has only jumped outside once this year (with wizoz, and has been on a surface all the other times, so dont knowif the hard ground was a shock to his legs? and it showed up some pain?
 
but lou the fences were massive really chunky and beefy, so worried that maybe he was a bit shocked at the size of them, but then he didnt even want so sj, which was smallish
i dont know, something definitely isnt right, hes sound this eve, but wont be surprised if hes lame in the morning
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he has only jumped outside once this year (with wizoz, and has been on a surface all the other times, so dont knowif the hard ground was a shock to his legs? and it showed up some pain?

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I thought Winkleigh was pretty hard when we were there L, so I wouldn't think it would be that, either bite the bullet and get the vet or try jumping him tomorrow on the surface?
 
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but lou the fences were massive really chunky and beefy

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Even so, they can't be bigger than 90cm and you were easily jumping 100cm. I really can't see the height being a problem for him.
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I would get yourself an infared thermometer they are only about £20 and it means you can detect the early signs of heat and so an abscess in the foot. Sounds like if you have heat he may have tweaked himself.
 
I don't think it will have been the ground as the ground at Bickenhall was as close to perfect as it gets yesterday, with a bit of cut in it, so can't imagine it has dried to a rock overnight?

As B&J says, if you're certain it wasn't nerves then discomfort is the most likely issue. That said, fence 5 caused the most problems in the PN yesterday and more than one stop and elimination.
 
ill see what his legs are like am- i worried though that the ground may have shown up something, that wouldnt neccesarily hurt on a surface, going to ring the farrier in a mo, and get his back done too
i jumped him on sat and he flew, didnt hesitate, and enjoyed himslef- stark contrast to today
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Thats a shame.
How many xc rounds has he jumped? A nicely presented intro like that can be a bit of a shock if theyre only used to 2'9 PC/RC hunter trial courses where you dont get much of the decoration and setting.
I thought the course was lovely and the ground very good, maybe he just wasnt quite ready for it? If it helps, Moon got eliminated in her first intro- twice in the sj (but they let me go xc as it was mostly pilot error!) and again on the xc when she was just totally baffled by everything.
 
That fence (well the equivalent) caused a lot of refusals and elims in the PN - I think the drop the other side was poss the problem and horses not being able to see an exit till the last minute... the commentator went and looked at it yesterday to see why it was casuing so many probs..
 
Oh bugger Luce - how frustrating. I agree with the others, if you're sure it wasn't nerves then I would guess he's feeling a bit uncomfortable about something.

Get this sorted and keep thinking positive. You'll get it right at the next one. x
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thats good info about the ground, thank you, having not been to many events its hard to judge what is 'good ground'-puts my mind at rest over that issue
i wasnt that nervous-promise
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he is not the type to stop, so something has to be up, its just finding out what
i dont think i over faced him?
 
Just do bear in mind that fence caused a lot of problems in the PN the day before when I was there - I wouldn't rule out discomfort either, but equally he may just have been surprised by the fence if he's used to mainly unaff stuff? I would use his reaction in the SJ as more of a guide TBH, as it was a very small, very fair intro SJ track.
 
Sounds like he isnt feeling up to par. Dont panic, if the fence was a bogey see if you can school over something similar or make one similar, but I'd check he is 100% 1st. Best of luck.
 
he did unaffils last year at SL, nutwell, winkleigh etc, and has never stopped xc, in fairness it was the biggest track he would have jumped, but im worried as the problems and hesitation started at the sj
he has done BNs etc, and i though the SJ was reasonable, but he was very iffy and reluctant even then, he was even relucantant over the small practie xc fence?!?
i am worried that i over faced him, but Wills always tries and always jumps 2nd time, and maybe we would have had problems at the technical bits ie the water, but we didnt even get that far
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Firstly commiserations, it's pants being eliminated we know!
The SJ course was pretty much normal, nice ring etc so it shouldn't have caused you too many problems, I reckon if your horse was being iffy over the practice fence when you actually felt confident there is something brewing in him like an abcess.
The XC was without doubt the beefiest and with the most questions we have ever encountered, not complaining it was a beautifully built and fair course but not the same as some like Nutwell.
Usually if the fences are well built the horses enjoy attacking them, so it does sound as if he felt discomfort somewhere. The ground was good definitely not hard and had been prepared well with a good layer of turf.
Our horse got eliminated because of our error bitting, otherwise he would have flown round, it was just his sort of course!
I expect tonight you feel like giving up, but please don't, treat it as a blip and try and learn from it, once you think he is ok get out and practice at Pontispool if you can and see how he copes with the fences, if he feels back to normal, then he probably will be fine.
CCJ has just told me we can hire The Grange's fences, and they have several ditches for us and probably plenty of stuff for you, if you want to meet us there we will give you a hand, I used to teach lots of XC including training Bristol uni's team for international comps, and C will I'm sure help you too.
I would keep an eye on your horse's temp and feel his feet regularly for a while just incase something is stewing away, lunge him on a tight circle and any lameness should show up..
Chin up, next time it should go according to plan, forget this one.
 
HH, when are you planning on going to the Grange? Zeb needs somewhere different to go and that would be perfect for us, if you wouldn't mind me gatecrashing?
 
Ah thats a shame
I wouldn't worry, that fence caused a lot of problems. Mine was such a baby through that first field but as soon as we were away he was fine. I actually though the intro SJ was quite decent (well on sunday anyway, don't know if they change the course). Only 8 clear out of 41 in my section.
When was the last time he went out? As mine was backwards thinking but he hasn't seen an xc fence for 4 weeks and hasn't left home for 3 weeks, so thats what were putting it down to.
 
We'd love your company Lou, it will have to be next week sometime after Wednesday as C is HGV driving and fitting the horses in before and after, her course finishes Wed. so preferably Thursday/Friday?
Don't know what they have there now but they did say they had quite a few ditches which is what we now need.
 
Hard luck. Does sound like something may be sore somewhere give him a few days and see what if anything develops and how he seems at home.
 
Does he trot up sound on hard ground now? I was also going to suggest giving it a few days to let anything that is brewing either emerge or go away. If it definately wasn't your nerves, then trust your judgement that you know the horse well enough to know when he's not on form.


A few tips I found useful for my first intro last year -
I always make sure i am jumping bigger & wider SJ at home before the event, so that when i get there the jumps don't look big.

Get yourself xc schooling or something a couple of weeks before each event, preferably with a trainer or even a round at a local event and make sure again, you are pushing yourself to do at least intro & some pn fences.

I made a really numpty mistake which actually turned out quite useful. Walking the course for my first event, I lost my fence at number 3, PN continued round the track, while intro left the track and the jump was round the back of a tree and into another field.
So me not knowing my flags carried on walking the PN course. That looked beefy and big and i thought i was going to have to ride my socks off. It wasn't till the two tracks met up again i realised i had gone wrong and went back and found the intro track which looked lovely and small in comparison!
 
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