We entered a dressage competition on Saturday, Prelim 1 and 7. Did prelim 7 first (I'd wanted prelim 1 as a warmup..grrr) and she went beautifully. Got a lot to work on in canter but the rest seemed to go quite smoothly. We ended up with 64.5%!! Our best mark yet and we came 3rd :) Very pleased as it was a strong class.
Prelim 1 didn't feel as good. She wasn't as in front of the leg as I'd have liked but she still went fairly nicely. We got 60% for that (no improvement on our mark from March but she's completely different now so just shows different judges!) and won!! Very pleased with my little dressage pone :) I think once our canter improves and she's moving forward properly we should be getting much better marks, maybe even 70%! We'll see :)
I started her on Allen & Page Hacking Mix on Friday night to give her a bit more oomph. I've worked up gradually and she's now on a scoop a day so I'll see if that helps. I was schooling her today in a Derby House Samber saddle (want!) and she went beautifully. Much more forward going and was working in an outline for the vast majority of the time. I loved it :) Jumping lesson tomorrow! I'm going to ask if we can do some scary fences in preparation for working hunter on Sunday :)
Monday 26 July 2010
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Jumpy jumpy
Had another amazing jumping lesson today! I started with a 2ft warmup which, although small, makes me pleased we're now jumping bigger warm up jumps. Cara then put up a triple bounce, one stride then another jump. We bounced through them multiple times trying to get it right but she wasn't using her back legs enough and so was brushing the jumps and knocking them. She made me get a really bouncey canter instead of letting her go fast and flat. The best we did was a triple bounce (all about 2ft) then a straight of just under 3ft one stride after. It felt brilliant and she flew it!
Cara then made it into a double but put 2 poles meeting at the middle of each jump in a V shape to make her jump higher rather than flatter. She told me to be ready for her to stop because it was something new but I was determined to ride her through it and she popped through no problem! She really snapped her little legs up and again it felt great :) We were both melting by the end of it but she really seemed to be enjoying it bless her.
I've bought a new saddle off ebay this evening so hopefully it will arrive soon. It's the poshest saddle I'll have ever had, really hope it fits well!!
Cara then made it into a double but put 2 poles meeting at the middle of each jump in a V shape to make her jump higher rather than flatter. She told me to be ready for her to stop because it was something new but I was determined to ride her through it and she popped through no problem! She really snapped her little legs up and again it felt great :) We were both melting by the end of it but she really seemed to be enjoying it bless her.
I've bought a new saddle off ebay this evening so hopefully it will arrive soon. It's the poshest saddle I'll have ever had, really hope it fits well!!
Thursday 15 July 2010
Out and about
I had such a good hack yesterday :) Unfortunately there's nowhere nearby to go offroad so we always have to do lots of road work on our hacks. She's fine with traffic and the drivers are generally very good so it's not much of an issue. She does like to gawp at peoples' gardens etc though which is quite embarrassing :)
We've hacked out about 4 times on our own and so far she's been pretty great. No unnecessary spooking (the crunchy leaf spook was entirely necessary). We went a different way to normal and went to a little park thing with a bridle path in it. It's tiny, takes about 5mins to walk around the whole thing. Anyway it was completely empty so we had a couple of good fast canters across the grass and she was loving it! It's the first time I've opened her up in ages and she really seemed to enjoy it. It made me realise how great her brakes are too. I didn't struggle to pull her up one bit.
We then went down a bit of the road we've never been down before and she was great aside from oggling a poor defenseless gardener. Got home and I was buzzing from how good she had been and the fact that I now have a pony who hacks alone! It means we can spend a bit less time in the school now so she doesn't go stale.
I got home and got an email off someone about a hound exercise run with the north east cheshire drag hunt this saturday. The kennels are a 45min hack away on a route we've been multiple times (never alone but it can't be too different..right?). I called the hunt master's wife and she was really nice. Apparently it's a fairly slow-paced hack out for a couple of hours followed by lunch at the kennels. It should be good to get her used to riding in such a big group and with the hounds etc without having to worry about charging through the countryside :) Sooo excited!! Will hopefully refresh her in time for the show on sunday too. Eeeeee :D
We've hacked out about 4 times on our own and so far she's been pretty great. No unnecessary spooking (the crunchy leaf spook was entirely necessary). We went a different way to normal and went to a little park thing with a bridle path in it. It's tiny, takes about 5mins to walk around the whole thing. Anyway it was completely empty so we had a couple of good fast canters across the grass and she was loving it! It's the first time I've opened her up in ages and she really seemed to enjoy it. It made me realise how great her brakes are too. I didn't struggle to pull her up one bit.
We then went down a bit of the road we've never been down before and she was great aside from oggling a poor defenseless gardener. Got home and I was buzzing from how good she had been and the fact that I now have a pony who hacks alone! It means we can spend a bit less time in the school now so she doesn't go stale.
I got home and got an email off someone about a hound exercise run with the north east cheshire drag hunt this saturday. The kennels are a 45min hack away on a route we've been multiple times (never alone but it can't be too different..right?). I called the hunt master's wife and she was really nice. Apparently it's a fairly slow-paced hack out for a couple of hours followed by lunch at the kennels. It should be good to get her used to riding in such a big group and with the hounds etc without having to worry about charging through the countryside :) Sooo excited!! Will hopefully refresh her in time for the show on sunday too. Eeeeee :D
Tuesday 13 July 2010
May, June, part of July
Once again it's been far too long since I updated this but we've been having a brilliant time :) After my last update she went lame for about 10 days due to the hard ground. I bit the bullet and had shoes put on her and it's done her the world of good. She really steps out more now and she's a lot less on the forehand which feels great.
June 13th Urmston
Not bad but not great. I was knackered and she needs me to be excited and lively to pass it on to her. I didn't agree with a few of the placings but she behaved, was a real credit.
June 20th Hargate Charity Show
Was a very hot day and the ground was rock solid. She was good, got some ok placings.
June 27th Dressage Regional Finals
She was a star to hack over there. It was her first time leading a hack that far and she didn't put a foot wrong. She worked in well and rode a really nice test for the intro. I was really pleased. We then did the prelim and she did very well but the other horses were all old-hands and the majority were also entering the novice. Got my result for the intro - we won!!! I was over the moon. Our first ridden red rosette :D It definitely suited her!
July 4th Hargate Show
Really crappy day out. She was great to hack there but just wasn't playing ball for the showing. We had our worst ever show and disgraced ourselves in the riding club horse class by jumping the tiny jump 4 feet at once and losing all stirrups/sense of pride. I decided then that we'd have a break from showing classes and do some working hunter to spice things up a bit.
July 11th Urmston
Brilliant day out :) We both felt recharged and under less pressure because we didn't have to rush around fitting into loads of classes. Did the WH clear round first and it took ages :) It was a really challenging course with a couple of solid jumps. We then went into the novice class and had 3 refusals but I was so pleased with her for trying her hardest. Plenty to improve on for next time! We had time to go in the riding club horse class then too which went brilliantly. She did a gorgeous gallop and popped the jump beautifully. I knew who'd win but we got 2nd!! AND, the best bit, the judge said it was extremely close!!! I was so pleased I almost cried :)
In between those shows we did 2 clear round evenings which were great. A short hack over to the farm then a really relaxed atmosphere to practise our jumping. She loved both times and did the 2ft6 course brilliantly :)
We've started having proper jumping lessons and she's really improving. I'm absolutely loving jumping her, it's so exhilerating. She really gets into it too which is great to feel. She jumped 3ft the other day! The kids kept putting the jump higher and higher to see what she could do :) I used to idolise people with their own horses when I was a kid, especially ones that could jump. Feels very weird to be that person now (not that they idolise me!!), although I absolutely love my situation.
Today in my lesson she did her first triple and then her first bounce, ending on a triple bounce, stride, 2ft 6 fence :D She was great once she realised what she had to do. I just need to remember to stay sat up so I don't unbalance her. My instructor also said it would be worth trying eventing with her!! I never thought she'd say that but I'm so excited to try. There's a small xc course nearby that I'm going to have a lesson on. All very exciting!
That's all for now. Got another show this Sunday, more working hunter classes!!
June 13th Urmston
Not bad but not great. I was knackered and she needs me to be excited and lively to pass it on to her. I didn't agree with a few of the placings but she behaved, was a real credit.
June 20th Hargate Charity Show
Was a very hot day and the ground was rock solid. She was good, got some ok placings.
June 27th Dressage Regional Finals
She was a star to hack over there. It was her first time leading a hack that far and she didn't put a foot wrong. She worked in well and rode a really nice test for the intro. I was really pleased. We then did the prelim and she did very well but the other horses were all old-hands and the majority were also entering the novice. Got my result for the intro - we won!!! I was over the moon. Our first ridden red rosette :D It definitely suited her!
July 4th Hargate Show
Really crappy day out. She was great to hack there but just wasn't playing ball for the showing. We had our worst ever show and disgraced ourselves in the riding club horse class by jumping the tiny jump 4 feet at once and losing all stirrups/sense of pride. I decided then that we'd have a break from showing classes and do some working hunter to spice things up a bit.
July 11th Urmston
Brilliant day out :) We both felt recharged and under less pressure because we didn't have to rush around fitting into loads of classes. Did the WH clear round first and it took ages :) It was a really challenging course with a couple of solid jumps. We then went into the novice class and had 3 refusals but I was so pleased with her for trying her hardest. Plenty to improve on for next time! We had time to go in the riding club horse class then too which went brilliantly. She did a gorgeous gallop and popped the jump beautifully. I knew who'd win but we got 2nd!! AND, the best bit, the judge said it was extremely close!!! I was so pleased I almost cried :)
In between those shows we did 2 clear round evenings which were great. A short hack over to the farm then a really relaxed atmosphere to practise our jumping. She loved both times and did the 2ft6 course brilliantly :)
We've started having proper jumping lessons and she's really improving. I'm absolutely loving jumping her, it's so exhilerating. She really gets into it too which is great to feel. She jumped 3ft the other day! The kids kept putting the jump higher and higher to see what she could do :) I used to idolise people with their own horses when I was a kid, especially ones that could jump. Feels very weird to be that person now (not that they idolise me!!), although I absolutely love my situation.
Today in my lesson she did her first triple and then her first bounce, ending on a triple bounce, stride, 2ft 6 fence :D She was great once she realised what she had to do. I just need to remember to stay sat up so I don't unbalance her. My instructor also said it would be worth trying eventing with her!! I never thought she'd say that but I'm so excited to try. There's a small xc course nearby that I'm going to have a lesson on. All very exciting!
That's all for now. Got another show this Sunday, more working hunter classes!!
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