jennystreek
Well-Known Member
Yesteray I did my first PN on my new nappy mare, who has caused me tremendous problems since i bought her last september!
She did 3 intro's last year with previous owners, and i managed to ride her round munstead intro in march, which was the 2nd time only i've ever taken her xc, so this was our 3rd xc attempt ever, and her first PN.
Dressage - felt she was quite settled, and tried my best to warm up away from other horses and in the 'spookiest' place i could find, so went over by the park. All was going well until we trotted past a bank with a white chair on it, and so she decided to do really huge verticle rears about 6 times in a row - the last one was so high i actually felt i was going to slide off the back. Got a few concerned looks
but then just carried on feeling a little stressed at that point.
Actual dressage test went well, and managed to ride without any spooks and kept her soft and round. Was disappointed with a mark of 41.4, as felt she had gone better than that - always the way
Then on to sj - was feeling quite sick, as had some fillers in it that i was sure she wouldnt like and would probably do some massive naps at. we were eliminated at Felbridge last week and have never jumped a course that big, so was feeling quite negative. warming up i suddenly felt really weak, and didnt want to actually do it, but decided the only way to get round would be ride it in true 'pony club style' and not let her get away with anything.
So cantered positively into the ring, felt her go to back off and nap along the side of the stands, so gave a big kick and rode strongly into the first fence. after that it all seemed a blur, and i must have gone round and xc speed as we had 2 down, but she didnt get the chance to stop at anything which i was totally thrilled at. was a big fence by the stands which she tried to run out at but growled at her and called her some explicit name so she hurridly popped over it!!!
was now feeling very relaxed and wasnt that fussed about xc, as was so pleased to get round sj without being eliminated that it had made my day - xc would just be a bonus considering she's never jumped anything bigger than intro (even schooling). gave her a quick warm up jump, and then on to the start.
as we cantered off, we must have got about 12 strides away from the first fence and i felt her starting to back off, yet as i went kick her, the next thing i know we had done a handbrake turn, reared up vertically and then proceeded to gallop back towards the start box
so i swiftly turned her and smacked her and she retaliated by an almighty buck which then caused me to lose my stirrups and almost go over her head!!! however, managed to stay focused and kept kicking her on to the first jump (without one of my stirrups still
) and once we were over she was off!!!
Gave me a lovely ride over fences we would never dream of attempting, but i completely missed the 2nd part of the chair combo and whizzed straight past so had to circle and go back for second part, plus same thing happened in the quarry after the ditch. it was just a case of bad riding and mis-aiming, although got 20 pens for each of these even though i didnt think i had presented her at the fences as line was so bad...still, she hadnt refused which was all i was interested in - penalties were my fault.
she did however try and have a spook at the photographer at the trailor fence 18, but luckily managed to get a quick shoulder tap in and jumped the furthest corner of the fence so no run out.
was absolutely thrilled with this nappy mare, and thought her to be so bold xc, helping me out also with my inaccurate riding!
just need to work on getting out the start box as wasted loads of time, plus wouldnt be good to get chucked off before i'd even jumped the first fence!!
Oh and saw Hattikins and madhossy (who did really well), plus was a gorgeous day!
thanks for reading
Dressage - felt she was quite settled, and tried my best to warm up away from other horses and in the 'spookiest' place i could find, so went over by the park. All was going well until we trotted past a bank with a white chair on it, and so she decided to do really huge verticle rears about 6 times in a row - the last one was so high i actually felt i was going to slide off the back. Got a few concerned looks
Actual dressage test went well, and managed to ride without any spooks and kept her soft and round. Was disappointed with a mark of 41.4, as felt she had gone better than that - always the way
Then on to sj - was feeling quite sick, as had some fillers in it that i was sure she wouldnt like and would probably do some massive naps at. we were eliminated at Felbridge last week and have never jumped a course that big, so was feeling quite negative. warming up i suddenly felt really weak, and didnt want to actually do it, but decided the only way to get round would be ride it in true 'pony club style' and not let her get away with anything.
So cantered positively into the ring, felt her go to back off and nap along the side of the stands, so gave a big kick and rode strongly into the first fence. after that it all seemed a blur, and i must have gone round and xc speed as we had 2 down, but she didnt get the chance to stop at anything which i was totally thrilled at. was a big fence by the stands which she tried to run out at but growled at her and called her some explicit name so she hurridly popped over it!!!
was now feeling very relaxed and wasnt that fussed about xc, as was so pleased to get round sj without being eliminated that it had made my day - xc would just be a bonus considering she's never jumped anything bigger than intro (even schooling). gave her a quick warm up jump, and then on to the start.
as we cantered off, we must have got about 12 strides away from the first fence and i felt her starting to back off, yet as i went kick her, the next thing i know we had done a handbrake turn, reared up vertically and then proceeded to gallop back towards the start box
Gave me a lovely ride over fences we would never dream of attempting, but i completely missed the 2nd part of the chair combo and whizzed straight past so had to circle and go back for second part, plus same thing happened in the quarry after the ditch. it was just a case of bad riding and mis-aiming, although got 20 pens for each of these even though i didnt think i had presented her at the fences as line was so bad...still, she hadnt refused which was all i was interested in - penalties were my fault.
she did however try and have a spook at the photographer at the trailor fence 18, but luckily managed to get a quick shoulder tap in and jumped the furthest corner of the fence so no run out.
was absolutely thrilled with this nappy mare, and thought her to be so bold xc, helping me out also with my inaccurate riding!
just need to work on getting out the start box as wasted loads of time, plus wouldnt be good to get chucked off before i'd even jumped the first fence!!
Oh and saw Hattikins and madhossy (who did really well), plus was a gorgeous day!
thanks for reading
