Firewell
Well-Known Member
YIPPPEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE my horse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right, now that I have that out of my system, get yourselves comfy for a big juicy report
.
A week last Sunday I took Jae to our first US hunter/jumper show. I was super nervous. It wasnt just our first show in a new country where we know ****** all but also our first trip out in my new trailer. Also we have had a few teething troubles since we have arrived here, it has been a big change for us. We do not have any of our UK support system or management system and it has all taken a bit of getting used to. First off were physical issues. Nothing major but I just was not 100% happy with J. He didnt look quite right to me, I had the vet check him and he said he was fine Anyway to cut a long story short I stuck him on ulcer medication figuring after the long journey and upheavel he might need it and he was back to his old self instantly. Phew!
There has also been some farrier issues and feed issues and other minor things! (Basically one farrier was rubbish and I am never feeding my horse alfalfa hay again, he turned into a hive covered monster).
There have been training changes and issues. The attitude here at my yard is so different to England. Its hard to explain. .. There has been some not very nice comments made to me. You are so WONKY, My god can you not just sit STILL when you jump!! Yes that is what one livery thought it appropriate to say as I was cantering over a warm up x pole one day. I said Please dont say that to me, that is not helpful or very nice, then in good old British style I wacked the jumps right up, kicked my horse on, whereby he absolutely flew them with feet to spare and I got immense satisfaction from thundering around the arena with her watching.
I dont think it helps that at the moment we have a show hunter trainer based at our yard and show hunters are something I have never experienced before. The sport basically involves cantering very slowly, perfectly and prettily over what is often very small jumps. Anyway I have been having lessons with this trainer and she is super she really knows her stuff and in some ways she has helped me a lot, our rhythm is better and Im riding from my legs better but Jae has been trained to jump bigger fences out of a bigger canter and he started getting cross and rushing and not respecting the tiny jumps. It has taken inner strength on my part to focus on what I know we can do, and how we do it best and to take from my lessons what helps us and disregard what doesnt. After all he has been trained in a totally different way to an American show hunter!
Following on from all that yes I was pretty nervous.
I entered what I thought would be nice quiet local little show with tiny jumps and when I arrived there were loads of people and I spotted a couple of the local professional event riders there for practice. Oh great! Never mind, lets crack on! Jae was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. He was sooooooooo pleased to be at a show! He warmed up lovely and quietly and stood and fell asleep with the other horses while I waited for about 4 hours for our class to start. Funny how on the other side of the world there is the same hanging around to jump! The first class I did I was shaking from head to toe before I went in, it was ridiculous. Because I was sat like a lemon we got in far too close to the first jump but my super horse chipped in a little one, lifted his knees and over we went. I found my legs then and actually managed to ride him forwards slightly but I clung onto my neckstrap as I didnt want to nervously tug on his new stronger bit and he basically carried me round that class, I barely steered. I was useless, he was amazing. We went clear, and by some miracle we were fast enough to come 5th.
The second class, the 80cm I rode him a bit better , I tried to concentrate on a nice clear which we got but we were far too slow and got time faults (they set the time really tight in these US jumper classes), I didnt care about the TF though as the rhythm was more important to me. Anyway it was helpful in a way as it made me pick the pace up and not dribble around in our 3rd class, the 90cm. Jae jumped this class really really well, I was riding well, we saw good shots into everything, did a couple tight turns and we WON!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldnt blimin believe it. Cue lots of hugging my super pony who had jumped clear in all 3 classes and rubbing my happy tears into his ginger fur. It was also lovely after years and years of begging, borrowing and stealing transport to ride my horse back to my very own smart new trailer! I actually removed the mats and power hosed the whole thing out afterwards, doubt that will happen again ha ha ha.
Monday we had a Danish dressage trainer come to our yard to do a Dressage clinic. A man called Jens Mortensen. I jumped at the chance to take part. Well it was inspiring to say the least, what a fabulous trainer!! We worked on suppling Jae to the right which he finds hard with shoulder in on a circle and leg yielding across the diagonal. I dont do enough of this sort of stuff but with lots of encouragement Jae really started to move his bum over and stay straight. We also worked on getting him to jump in the transitions and move off my leg quicker without ducking behind the bridle. This took a few goes at walk-trot and trot-canter but it was worth it as he was pinging by the end. Jens encouraged me to sit to the trot which I never do either and despite some giggles and hes too bouncy!!! on my part we really got that together as well. We finished off practicing some centre lines. He transformed us actually in the space of 45 mins and I can guarantee anyone on here would think we were a different pair before and after the lesson. Jens made me feel like I could ride and that I could ride well. He said he liked Jae very much, that he was built well and was a good mover. He also said that even though I might feel like I look silly when I sit to the trot I dont look silly. He said I had a good seat and I should sit to the trot all the time. He said with my good seat and Jaes good moves there is no reason we should not go up the marks in dressage. Actually I could cry reading that back as it is just what I needed to hear after feeling so hopeless.
Those two days have really boulstered me back up and I am back on track now to keep my head down, not listen to other people and focus on what I want to do and what I know as a team Jae and I CAN do.
Something a bit cheesy. Jae is at an uber posh yard with some insanely expensive warmbloods, well I am blatently biased but I happen to think he is just as nice. I would NEVER do this in England as I would look an idiot but an English TB that is not a racehorse in Calif is rare and I'm proud he is a bit different so I treated him to some embroided saddlecloths for using at home. Now he can hold his own in the arena with the Hanno's :-
Tee hee!
Thanks for Reading xx
Right, now that I have that out of my system, get yourselves comfy for a big juicy report
.A week last Sunday I took Jae to our first US hunter/jumper show. I was super nervous. It wasnt just our first show in a new country where we know ****** all but also our first trip out in my new trailer. Also we have had a few teething troubles since we have arrived here, it has been a big change for us. We do not have any of our UK support system or management system and it has all taken a bit of getting used to. First off were physical issues. Nothing major but I just was not 100% happy with J. He didnt look quite right to me, I had the vet check him and he said he was fine Anyway to cut a long story short I stuck him on ulcer medication figuring after the long journey and upheavel he might need it and he was back to his old self instantly. Phew!
There has also been some farrier issues and feed issues and other minor things! (Basically one farrier was rubbish and I am never feeding my horse alfalfa hay again, he turned into a hive covered monster
).There have been training changes and issues. The attitude here at my yard is so different to England. Its hard to explain. .. There has been some not very nice comments made to me. You are so WONKY, My god can you not just sit STILL when you jump!! Yes that is what one livery thought it appropriate to say as I was cantering over a warm up x pole one day. I said Please dont say that to me, that is not helpful or very nice, then in good old British style I wacked the jumps right up, kicked my horse on, whereby he absolutely flew them with feet to spare and I got immense satisfaction from thundering around the arena with her watching.
I dont think it helps that at the moment we have a show hunter trainer based at our yard and show hunters are something I have never experienced before. The sport basically involves cantering very slowly, perfectly and prettily over what is often very small jumps. Anyway I have been having lessons with this trainer and she is super she really knows her stuff and in some ways she has helped me a lot, our rhythm is better and Im riding from my legs better but Jae has been trained to jump bigger fences out of a bigger canter and he started getting cross and rushing and not respecting the tiny jumps. It has taken inner strength on my part to focus on what I know we can do, and how we do it best and to take from my lessons what helps us and disregard what doesnt
. After all he has been trained in a totally different way to an American show hunter!Following on from all that yes I was pretty nervous.
I entered what I thought would be nice quiet local little show with tiny jumps and when I arrived there were loads of people and I spotted a couple of the local professional event riders there for practice. Oh great! Never mind, lets crack on! Jae was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. He was sooooooooo pleased to be at a show! He warmed up lovely and quietly and stood and fell asleep with the other horses while I waited for about 4 hours for our class to start. Funny how on the other side of the world there is the same hanging around to jump! The first class I did I was shaking from head to toe before I went in, it was ridiculous. Because I was sat like a lemon we got in far too close to the first jump but my super horse chipped in a little one, lifted his knees and over we went. I found my legs then and actually managed to ride him forwards slightly but I clung onto my neckstrap as I didnt want to nervously tug on his new stronger bit and he basically carried me round that class, I barely steered. I was useless, he was amazing. We went clear, and by some miracle we were fast enough to come 5th.
The second class, the 80cm I rode him a bit better , I tried to concentrate on a nice clear which we got but we were far too slow and got time faults (they set the time really tight in these US jumper classes), I didnt care about the TF though as the rhythm was more important to me. Anyway it was helpful in a way as it made me pick the pace up and not dribble around in our 3rd class, the 90cm. Jae jumped this class really really well, I was riding well, we saw good shots into everything, did a couple tight turns and we WON!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldnt blimin believe it. Cue lots of hugging my super pony who had jumped clear in all 3 classes and rubbing my happy tears into his ginger fur. It was also lovely after years and years of begging, borrowing and stealing transport to ride my horse back to my very own smart new trailer! I actually removed the mats and power hosed the whole thing out afterwards, doubt that will happen again ha ha ha.
Monday we had a Danish dressage trainer come to our yard to do a Dressage clinic. A man called Jens Mortensen. I jumped at the chance to take part. Well it was inspiring to say the least, what a fabulous trainer!! We worked on suppling Jae to the right which he finds hard with shoulder in on a circle and leg yielding across the diagonal. I dont do enough of this sort of stuff but with lots of encouragement Jae really started to move his bum over and stay straight. We also worked on getting him to jump in the transitions and move off my leg quicker without ducking behind the bridle. This took a few goes at walk-trot and trot-canter but it was worth it as he was pinging by the end. Jens encouraged me to sit to the trot which I never do either and despite some giggles and hes too bouncy!!! on my part we really got that together as well. We finished off practicing some centre lines. He transformed us actually in the space of 45 mins and I can guarantee anyone on here would think we were a different pair before and after the lesson. Jens made me feel like I could ride and that I could ride well. He said he liked Jae very much, that he was built well and was a good mover. He also said that even though I might feel like I look silly when I sit to the trot I dont look silly. He said I had a good seat and I should sit to the trot all the time. He said with my good seat and Jaes good moves there is no reason we should not go up the marks in dressage. Actually I could cry reading that back as it is just what I needed to hear after feeling so hopeless.
Those two days have really boulstered me back up and I am back on track now to keep my head down, not listen to other people and focus on what I want to do and what I know as a team Jae and I CAN do.
Something a bit cheesy. Jae is at an uber posh yard with some insanely expensive warmbloods, well I am blatently biased but I happen to think he is just as nice
. I would NEVER do this in England as I would look an idiot but an English TB that is not a racehorse in Calif is rare and I'm proud he is a bit different so I treated him to some embroided saddlecloths for using at home. Now he can hold his own in the arena with the Hanno's :-
Tee hee!
Thanks for Reading xx
