wet and windy weekend plans!

It does feel a little fast, if I’m being honest, but I feel like I’m on a bit of a roll with the jumping and I don’t want to have a long break and lose my confidence again. *sigh* I don’t know...

I think you'll know when it's right? After losing Ginny Katie avoided the yard completely for a week and only went up on the Sunday after she lost Ginny because she was already entered on Jenny for an Arena Eventing competition. But then she flew round and loved it which helped her feel ready to think about a new one. It does feel a bit fast but it also feels right.
 
Sorry for your loss BM, I'm sure you will do what is right for you :)

Change of plans for me, the weather looks bleurgh and im shattered after a few very busy and stressful weeks at work so not going XC schooling tomorrow, will have a quick hack and stay close to home.

There is an indoor derby show on tomorrow quite locally but I can't even be bothered with all the waiting around at that. I've hired the course for Monday to have a school around which I am looking forward to.
 
Thanks, guys...
I’ve decided I’m going to look for something a bit older and more established to take me up the levels.

yes, DabDab, that was the newcomers/1.10m open. He felt great - the new bit/noseband combo is working wonders 👌🏻🙂

Well, I woke up to no water this morning so have rushed back from seeing horses at the show to let Scottish water into the house. Hoping they figure out what it is that’s causing issues soon.

I viewed four horses today. one I discounted straight away but the other three I saw are quite similar on paper. Just waiting on that all important price for one of them before I decide whether or not to try him. Definitely going to view the other two so 🤞🏻 because I really liked what I saw.
 
Sorry for your loss BM, I'm sure you will do what is right for you :)

Change of plans for me, the weather looks bleurgh and im shattered after a few very busy and stressful weeks at work so not going XC schooling tomorrow, will have a quick hack and stay close to home.

There is an indoor derby show on tomorrow quite locally but I can't even be bothered with all the waiting around at that. I've hired the course for Monday to have a school around which I am looking forward to.

I'm sure our weekend forecast was reasonable at one stage, and then all of a sudden it turned into wet both days :(

Enjoy your indoor schooling on Monday :)

We have an RC lesson indoors on Monday evening, and may possibly squeeze a hack in tomorrow between the outbreaks of rain that are suddenly forecast 😣😣

Fiona
 
So proud of Buzz today, we got 4 faults but the course was terrifying😅 think giant hot air balloons, giant dolphins, giant sunflowers as wings!! Plus he was very distracted in the warm up watching some horses do xc up a hill. I'm so pleased he's starting to listen to me and although it was a sticky round he went over everything with no running out because of the scary jumps!! So proud.
Plus it was an up to 75cm course so a little bigger. Brilliant boy.
 
This weekend will Consist of playing with Faran and getting him ready for his first inhand show and making sure he’s ready for gelding next week, getting dressed up again (second weekend in a row, I honestly despair at this time of year I hate all the effort that goes into glamming up lol ) for a few parties over the weekend and chilling out of this weather :D

This is just too much effort in this weather for me lol ;)
.

You look lovely well worth the effort;)
 
Just back from the Christmas jumping show and feeling a bit flat about it all. The old schoolmaster I was meant to be jumping had been booked to someone else without me knowing so I got assigned a little Spanish gelding I've ridden on the flat sometimes and once on a fun ride where he stopped at everything, and because I'd pre-entered my classes I was a bit stuck. Really wanted just to turn around and go home but lack of transport meant I was there for the duration!

Got told he'd been jumping nicely in lessons recently and to 'stop whimping and grow a pair,' by my dear instructor so I threw some tack on and popped him over a couple of fences in the warm up and decided as I was there, I might as well jump even though he propped at all three fences.

First class was 90cm accumulator and he tried his patent napping backwards trick as we went in, so he got a smack on the backside. Must have worked, as we jumped a nice clear...turned to the final fence and decided on the spur of the moment to tackle the 1.05 joker which he flew and the bell went as soon as we landed. Eliminated, I didn't realise I should have jumped the final fence and then circled into the joker if I wanted.

So a technical clear there and I was fuming with myself as we'd have been high in the placings.

Next was 90 pairs relay and we jumped clear in that but I lost a stirrup and jumped 2 fences without, cost us a few seconds. My partner who I'd never met before done a good job on a young horse, and we got a 3rd from 4 pairs.

Last class was take your own line at 90+ and I started well, cleared 4 fences, turned back to the biggest one and messed the stride up so he stopped. Didn't think about what class I was doing, so represented and stopped again before people shouting in the gallery got through to me, but I completely lost track of my plan and just jumped random fences afterwards with no fluency. Got 4th from 8.

So although it looked good on paper, I feel like I let him down by not knowing the rules and then not remembering my plans. Although I'm pleased he jumped almost everything, I could have done a lot better!
 
We had a great time at the dressage , I was feeling quite sick before I got on an questioning why oh why am I doing this ? Anyhow , my daughter calmed me down and got me going . First test felt horrible , she was really tense , and was a bit WTF at the judges box , but calmed down half way round the test . Then on the free walk she was just about to relax into a nice one , and some cows walked passed . Que giraffe walk . Finished ok. Onto the second test , she felt much more relaxed, the first canter transition was right next to the judges box , the minute I put my leg on , she shot from c to x faster than a speeding bullet !! So we started again , and finished ok . We didn’t get earth shattering scores, but we did come 6th in the first test, which surprise me and 60.5% in the second test . My target was to build confidence and get over 60% which we did . So happydays , here’s to the next one . No action shots I’m afraid as my daughter was reading the test. So just a pretty head shot 😊
 

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Well done chippers

That's a shame snowfilly but many of us have had far more disastrous days than that lol sounds like you did well in the circumstances.

I gave M his 2nd clip of the year and it took blinking ages. I swapped the blades half way through as this was blade set 1s 2nd clip and they were dragging a bit but then the 2nd set kept getting too hot even after only a couple of minutes on at a time, no idea why they were doing that, I reset them a couple of times but it kept happening. So swapped back to the original set to finish off! We have many many clipping lines, missed bits, dodgy leg lines etc but his coat is growing so fast at the min that nobody will notice in a few weeks (I hope lol)
 
Well done those of you getting out and about :)
Weird being home for a weekend but do feel like I've caught up a bit ;)
Salty was an absolute tit at arena hire on Friday, kira was really clever on Saturday 😁
Both were fairly decent today 😂

Still finding it hard to get salty really under the thumb but that's what she needs and the only way I feel safe! When she's screwed down she feels super easy and sensitive in a good way so I just have to go with it I think.

Kira is on details bootcamp at the moment so we've been working on developing the half pass zigzag using some exercises from the BD convention. Also added another change to her 1 tempis so I can reliably get 6 now, it's really difficult to ride well tho!

Looking forward to lesson on Tuesday.
 
Well done chippers and asha and snowfilly...

And wheels for clipping, I should have but I just couldn't face it. Son's pony is so fluffy.

We just hacked today, although didn't get wet which is good.

Yesterday we built a baby corner in the school and both jumped it, then son jumped my grid from last week.

When is your yard move milliepops?

Fiona
 
We had a lesson on Saturday, using franklin balls for the first time. My lord did I feel like an awful rider when I first had them right under the tops of my thighs! But when they got taken away I felt like my leg was glued to Chills' side and I could feel everything. Super cool. Instructor also helped me develop my hand position and using my ring fingers for aids down the rein and pushing Chill from behind. She felt so much more secure in the contact by the end and we had a total lightbulb moment to finish which was Chill taking the rein all the way to the buckle in a proper stretchy over the back nose forward moment, not something I've ever felt with her before. I know I'll be hunting for that feeling in our schooling sessions now as it was hard work to find it and I'll admit it doesn't allow me to cut corners in the rest of my riding if I want it but that isn't a bad thing!

Then went out for a lovely meal in the evening with my lovely bloke who after I'd had a few drinks had to listen to me bang on about how brilliantly Chilli went. :p Today put up the tree and just fussed Chilli up in the evening.
 

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Franklin balls riding sounds interesting RO - might have to give that a try!

Didn't manage to catch pebbles in that desired semi dry state this weekend so that plan went out the window, but did have a productive ride on Arts this morning following 5 days off as a precaution after she managed to get her rug stuck on the post and rail fence and took out 3 posts with rails and climbed backwards out of her rug to get free :rolleyes:....why is it always that mare.

Also, my OH hit the target weight I had said to him he could get on Dabs at. So this morning I schooled him a bit and then my nervous OH who hasn't ridden in over 25 years, climbed aboard my wonderful kind boy who merrily wombled off round the school as his new rider requested, with a smile on his face. Love my big goofy horse 💕. My OH was so chuffed, when he got off he rubbed Dab man's face and just said 'thank you mate'. Makes it all worthwhile.
 
We had a really good time this weekend, especially spectating at Equestrian in the Park! I met up with a friend for a ride yesterday, deciding to take Coolie since he's been missing out on adventures recently. Well he was was a complete pork chop, spending half the ride spooking at nothing (and being cool as a cucumber about things like cyclists :rolleyes:) and leading my friends horse astray. He calmed down eventually and we had quiet a fun ride but you would think Mr. 16 would be more sensible than Mr. 5. Not the case at all!coolie small.jpg
 
My weekend didn’t quite go to plan and ended with a broken ankle for me! We were having a super day with a pack we haven’t hunted with before, Boggle was absolutely on fire jumping all manner of huge fences until he pecked on landing at a tiny rail, I fell off holding the reins and landed on my feet- ankle broken.

Such a shame- doctor says 8 weeks no riding but... we shall see!

Main thing is Boggle is absolutely fine as if it had been him broken I would have been devastated, and he was such a star hacking back to box with me and my dangly wobbly ankle. B59DC526-9F46-44D2-9220-DBE6422F7AD3.jpegB59DC526-9F46-44D2-9220-DBE6422F7AD3.jpeg
 
Eek michen - be careful with that. Ankles are one of those things that if you damage the wrong bit you'll be stuck with issues from it forever 😕

Sounds like little Bog was an absolute star though ✨
 
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Had a brilliant arena hire today to jump a derby course left up after a show yesterday.

The jumps were all set at 1m which is a bit big for us at the min since M is only 5 and I am a bit more nervous these days so I put them all down, most were 80 - 85cm - it was great fun, M was not too sure about a big bright red wall, backed off a little and changed legs a few times on approach but I just kept my leg on and he flew over it. No probs with anything else including a very skinny gate which is progress because when he first met a skinny he was a bit confused about it and ran out a couple of times.

Once I'd jumped everything I decided to put a couple up - 4 of them went up to about 95cm - 1m. The first one he wasn't ready for and he knocked it down so I put it back up and went around again with a little more impulsion and sailed over it and the other three with gusto! The boy has some power (just not quite sure I'm ready to release it yet)
 
Had a brilliant arena hire today to jump a derby course left up after a show yesterday.

The jumps were all set at 1m which is a bit big for us at the min since M is only 5 and I am a bit more nervous these days so I put them all down, most were 80 - 85cm - it was great fun, M was not too sure about a big bright red wall, backed off a little and changed legs a few times on approach but I just kept my leg on and he flew over it. No probs with anything else including a very skinny gate which is progress because when he first met a skinny he was a bit confused about it and ran out a couple of times.

Once I'd jumped everything I decided to put a couple up - 4 of them went up to about 95cm - 1m. The first one he wasn't ready for and he knocked it down so I put it back up and went around again with a little more impulsion and sailed over it and the other three with gusto! The boy has some power (just not quite sure I'm ready to release it yet)

Fantastic 😊😊

Well done you.

I saw a couple of pics on fb of the course, and it looked super...

Fiona
 
Fantastic 😊😊

Well done you.

I saw a couple of pics on fb of the course, and it looked super...

Fiona
Yes it was great, flowed really well.

I think we will do the 85cm class at lusks, bit out of my comfort zone doing a whole course at that height without jumping a few of the scary ones on their own first but next year I'm hoping to do the Connemara performance hunter classes which are 95cm for the 5-7 year olds so I just have to battle on until I get up to height
 
Michen, ouch! Do be good and follow the meds advice to the letter. All the best for a speedy recovery.

It's great to read all the reports of what folk are up to. We are still stuck in a rehab cycle, Tammy's stone bruise has now matured into an abscess. It's 5 weeks since her hocks were jabbed again and I was intending to crack right on with her after. Instead, I'm spending my time doing this.
image.jpeg

image.jpeg

I now realise that her leg blows up when she has pus in the foot. The inflammation gave me the eeby jeebies at first. I though 'eek, tendon', but now I know it's normal for her.

Maybe eventually we will be able to start proper work.
 
Yes it was great, flowed really well.

I think we will do the 85cm class at lusks, bit out of my comfort zone doing a whole course at that height without jumping a few of the scary ones on their own first but next year I'm hoping to do the Connemara performance hunter classes which are 95cm for the 5-7 year olds so I just have to battle on until I get up to height
Ohh I didn't realise you had a Connie too.... I'm try to decide whether to do NIF but the Nov 143 m&m WH is 85cm and I've never jumped a full course at that height.

Was going to go to lusks, but now I have a lesson with Ian Fearon that day and I'm sooo excited 😊😊😊

Fiona
 
Ohh I didn't realise you had a Connie too.... I'm try to decide whether to do NIF but the Nov 143 m&m WH is 85cm and I've never jumped a full course at that height.

Was going to go to lusks, but now I have a lesson with Ian Fearon that day and I'm sooo excited 😊😊😊

Fiona
Oh brilliant, he is supposed to be brilliant, let me know how you get on.

I will probably go to the NIF but thinking of just doing the amateur and the home produced classes as you don't have to qualify for those, think they are 70 and 90 or something like that
 
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