Hallo2012
Well-Known Member
it been a busy few weeks for the mega midget and a stressful few for me............week before YP champs he pulled up after a steady canter up the gallops marginally NQR and further prodding found slight pulses and a tiny bit of stiffness turning tight on the hard 
the warm wet weather has played havoc with my normally bare/rough summer fields and although he works hard, is fit and i monitor closely grass intake it STILL got away from me.
A week on a bare earth pen with ad lib soaked hay and straw and he rodeo'd up sound on the hard (atually looked ok after 48 hours but taking no chances left him the week) so we went to Young Pony having walked for 10 min and trotted a circle each way....less than ideal! Our warm up also consisted of 25 min walk, 1 shoulder in, 1 half pass and 1 simple change each way so he was about as under prepped as could be, thankfully he can be relied upon to be safe, if not totally relaxed.
He did every thing but he was very very tight and lost the swing,but I wasnt disappointed in the slightest-to take a 6yo out to do a baby medium level test after a week off and *do everything* is nothing short of a miracle! predictably 3rd of 3, but we all had a lovely day out and another big show under his belt
He has qualified for the finals every year, the only pure bred native to do so (as far as i can find out) and ticked this off my bucket list not once but three times
He then had some further easy days in the dust bowl (furiously destroying rugs buckets and hay nets evey single day to convey his irritation!)
We managed to sneak a pre regionals lesson in and look at the changes-these have been a slow burn for him but are fiarly solidly waiting, on the aid and without handstands now. Another mobth of riding them on the 3/4 line and we can move on to some AM sequences/patterns.
Regionals- it was Port Royal or nothing as all other dates clashed so we trekked (and it WAS a mission and a half!) up the M62, got stuck in traffic constantly and arrived in a bit of a rush and with me co,pletely brain fogged and shattered..........fortunately he was fresh as a daisy and worked well on the friday eve, sassy as heck for 10 mins and then just his standard away show running on the red line.....but can always be relied on to chill for day 2!
No arena walk needed which was fortunate as with a delayed judge( M62 road of hell again) he was picked up and put down repeatedly trying to time it to her ever changing arrival, so i was on him longer than i wanted to be but he picked up like a star and gave me a great ride round E59......felt swinging, supple, and tried his hardest, i just had to steer and smile.....judges didnt agree for 63.23% but we were always going to up against it at this level-we went for a nice pic and not to be last and achieved both he is half qual for the winter regioanls @ elem so should get another crack at it, and then onward to mediums and adv mediums
we worked out it was SEVEN years since i last went to regionals so again, a dream come true for me, its nice to back at it with such an easy going partner.
He has a mare to cover this week, some bitless dressage to try and then back at the circling in Aug!!!
the warm wet weather has played havoc with my normally bare/rough summer fields and although he works hard, is fit and i monitor closely grass intake it STILL got away from me.A week on a bare earth pen with ad lib soaked hay and straw and he rodeo'd up sound on the hard (atually looked ok after 48 hours but taking no chances left him the week) so we went to Young Pony having walked for 10 min and trotted a circle each way....less than ideal! Our warm up also consisted of 25 min walk, 1 shoulder in, 1 half pass and 1 simple change each way so he was about as under prepped as could be, thankfully he can be relied upon to be safe, if not totally relaxed.
He did every thing but he was very very tight and lost the swing,but I wasnt disappointed in the slightest-to take a 6yo out to do a baby medium level test after a week off and *do everything* is nothing short of a miracle! predictably 3rd of 3, but we all had a lovely day out and another big show under his belt
He has qualified for the finals every year, the only pure bred native to do so (as far as i can find out) and ticked this off my bucket list not once but three times
He then had some further easy days in the dust bowl (furiously destroying rugs buckets and hay nets evey single day to convey his irritation!)
We managed to sneak a pre regionals lesson in and look at the changes-these have been a slow burn for him but are fiarly solidly waiting, on the aid and without handstands now. Another mobth of riding them on the 3/4 line and we can move on to some AM sequences/patterns.
Regionals- it was Port Royal or nothing as all other dates clashed so we trekked (and it WAS a mission and a half!) up the M62, got stuck in traffic constantly and arrived in a bit of a rush and with me co,pletely brain fogged and shattered..........fortunately he was fresh as a daisy and worked well on the friday eve, sassy as heck for 10 mins and then just his standard away show running on the red line.....but can always be relied on to chill for day 2!
No arena walk needed which was fortunate as with a delayed judge( M62 road of hell again) he was picked up and put down repeatedly trying to time it to her ever changing arrival, so i was on him longer than i wanted to be but he picked up like a star and gave me a great ride round E59......felt swinging, supple, and tried his hardest, i just had to steer and smile.....judges didnt agree for 63.23% but we were always going to up against it at this level-we went for a nice pic and not to be last and achieved both
he is half qual for the winter regioanls @ elem so should get another crack at it, and then onward to mediums and adv mediums we worked out it was SEVEN years since i last went to regionals so again, a dream come true for me, its nice to back at it with such an easy going partner.
He has a mare to cover this week, some bitless dressage to try and then back at the circling in Aug!!!
