September 2011
27th September
Just when I was really looking forward to a few days away with the girls at Dauntsey a major spanner is thrown in the works. Brought Sarnie in yesterday for Fiona to do her back, we trotted her up for Fiona to see how she is moving and found she was quite lame behind. Difficult to say what is causing it, there is a digital pulse which could indicate something going on in the foot although my farrier couldn't find anything too obvious. I poulticed the foot last night but nothing came out and she is much the same today. She has been withdrawn from Dauntsey which leaves Pippa flying the Shoestring flag. I have spoken to the vet who has suggested we fully eliminate any foot issues before we start investigating other things. One advantage of renting a yard at my farriers is that I know Sarnie will have the very best of care and if anything changes with the foot or a quick dig is needed she will get prompt attention. It is very disappointing but whilst it would have been a nice outing it is no way key in her development and she can have as long as she needs for either the absess to come out or for us to work out what is wrong.
On the positive side Fiona couldn't believe how Pippa has muscled up and changed for the better. Her uneven muscle distribution when I had her has now totally evened out and she is in great shape. No high hopes of a repeat of our Monmouth performance this weekend but hoping for another educational event. We have been inflicted with the test I hate most 112 which has movements we have yet to establish. I am also wondering if the combination that caused us 20 penalties last time is still in the course! We travel tomorrow but don't compete until Sunday, the rest of the time we are helping.
Hopefully should be able to keep the updates coming.
25th September -
It has been a non stop weekend with show jumping today, feeling a bit guilty that I am working Pip quite hard but then again I need to know what she will be like on the 3rd day of a 3 day and from today's showing pretty good!
She jumped the 1.10 and 1.20 and had an unlucky rail in the 1.10 over the water trays when she just looked into it and dropped her hind leg, in the 1.20 she jumped well but I totally missed her to the planks causing her to take it out in front and then just tipped the back of the final oxer.
Although we didn't jump clear rounds and I don't think she will ever have Sarnie's supreme care she is improving every time out.It is easy to forget I have missed out a few stages with her as she has done very little over the smaller courses.
Sarnie did the 1.10 and jumped a rather lethargic clear round. In the jump off I had a real crack at the time and she was superb turning sharply and from an early draw giving them something to aim at. We were beaten by the last competitor but I was still delighted with 2nd.
Hoping a go faster clip on Tuesday and a bit extra grub may give her a bit more sparkle for Dauntsey, knowing our Sarnie it will all come out in the dressage!!
24th September -
With Dauntsey fast approaching for both horses and Pippa having quite a testing run at Monmouth I thought a day cross country schooling would be very beneficial. I would love to do this more often but with the nearest suitable course being 100 miles away I don't go as often as I would like!! It was a lovely day and great to catch up with friends and a big thanks to Nick Perry for the pictures.
Pippa was schooled first, a necessity as she is not that happy left in the lorry before being worked! Had a hack round the estate and had a look at what different fences there were. Great variety of every type and size of fence. Worked with her on trying to get her jumping out of her stride in a soft contact with me focusing on not interfering! We then moved onto to jumping through the water and I was pleased that she is still bold but not as reckless as she was before her fall.
The only time she struggled to cope was with a combination of a palisade on the curve to a skinny triple brush, the first time we slipped out to the side although on the second attempt she got the idea but made a very awkward jump . Other than that she was very focused through all the combinations and we started to see a better stride to the simpler fences. A very good session.
A swap took place and Sarnie was allowed out to play. She actually xc schools best in a group where she can show off and doesn't see the point practicing without an admiring audience! She took a little while to wake up and indeed until we tried the combination Pippa struggled with she was fairly lazy however having powered through that she suddenly woke up and started adding the odd buck and really taking the fences on. Full of enthusiasm and feeling as good as ever.
My new Hit-
22nd September -
I was looking forward to showing Caroline how much Pip had improved in our session
tonight -
We started to work on the exercise using poles and small jumps practicing staying
straight and getting her listening by stopping between the elements. My 'Novice'
eventer thought the small jumps were the most terrifying things ever hesitating,
cat leaping and jumping sideways. The video gives you an idea of the exercise but
not a good example of it being done well -
The light got too bad after this to take any more video but Pip's behaviour didn't improve. Frustrating as it was it gave me a chance to work through an issue I often can't recreate when schooling. She can get very tense and the head sets against me, we spent a long time cantering getting her really softening and thinking quite a big crude shoulder in to get her focusing back on me. By the time we had finished it was dark, we were both dripping in sweat but Pip had softened and we had worked through her issues tonight. Good lesson learnt I think.
20 September 2011
Well I have spent some of Rosie's money and splashed out on a air jacket not the Point 2 but the Hit Air. http://www.hitairuk.co.uk/ They are slightly cheaper but also following quite a bit of research to my mind a slightly neater and better jacket. It inflates outwards rather than inwards so is less likely to wind if it does go off. I am now taking bets on how many times I will get off and forget to detach the jacket!
I had some good news today from Monmouth Horse Trials to say the prize money had been done wrong and instead of the cheque for £29 I had it should have been £63 and they were sending the difference. Very much appreciated and honest of them to own up as I never realised.
Today has been miserable and wet so horses have been in much of it, happily eating away my haylage supply, taking no notice of the small hole nets or my plea about do they realise how much they are eating and what it costs!!
17 September -
It has been 7 years since we last visited Monmouth and I am glad we went back to such a lovely event. With the recent weather the ground was as good as you will get and the courses were testing yet fair. As it was sponsored by SupaStuds I also had a chance to thank them in person for the lovely stud kit they sent me.
Still feeling inspired from our Robert Pickles lesson and having the easiest novice dressage test (114) to do left me feeling far more confident for the dressage phase. Overall she did a much softer test with the medium paces starting to come through, she was in a good rhythm so I was pretty happy for her stage of education although the canter transitions are still quite hollow.
The mark of 35.7 was our best at Novice to date, the leader was only on 31 in a tightly bunched section. I had 2 hours to kill before Show Jumping so walked the course a third time and took the course pictures. The weather couldn't quite decide what to do and we had some really heavy blustery showers. The show jumping course was straightforward and probably not as big as some we have jumped this year. On the down side the ring was undulating which certainly upped the difficulty. I went down 20 minutes before my time to find the collecting ring in chaos with it running 40 minutes behind causing multiple horse riders to need to push in as they had other rides. Having assessed the situation I went back to the lorry and put her away for 30 minutes. On my return although the timing was right to get into the ring it was not on the weather front and a heavy shower came down as we went in.
Very pleased with our first clear round at this level, we gave 2 fences a fair tap but for once luck was on our side (please ignore me committing the cardinal sin of looking behind me to see if anything had fallen).
So onto cross country and although I was in the early part of the class I was aware the leader was on 49 so a good round would make me competitive as well as earning us the coveted first point. All the course pictures are on the course pictures page.
We set out positively over the simple first 3 fences before coming to number 4a and
b. At the time of riding I had heard very little commentary but as the day wore on
it became clear this was the bogey fence causing numerous refusals and eliminations.
It was a narrow brush under trees on a related distance to a palisade. What the picture
doesn't show is you have a sharp turn to the fence and only about 3 straight strides.
Pip was a bit green but popped it and did a neat 2 strides to the palisade. This
was followed by a drop to a ditch and then a turn to a skinny which we negotiated
well. A sprint up the hill and a turn back on yourself to 2 steps down followed by
a acutely angled fence on a stride, Pip popped a few strides of trot in and jumped
neatly. The water was next and with my recent history it was the fence that worried
me most. The water was in a narrow concrete bowl under trees so spooky and approached
via a log a stride out. Popped the log ok and she backed right off the water, kept
my leg on and she popped in a bit skew wiff but took the required stride and popped
out. Simple fences followed and then a bullfinch with a ditch, she jumped the top
which was well over 5 foot -
The video picks us up as this point going up the hill to a decent brush and turn back to a drop and brush, which I think we did pretty well. The hedge followed and then a very skinny fence at 15 which evidently Mum was worried I was going a bit too fast to but she had locked on quite a way out which allowed me to keep coming. The last significant combination was a supastud fence on 2 strides to a small ditch and 3 to a corner. As she was jumping the supastud she suddenly dropped her legs as she couldn't work out the question, you see her on landing hesitating to suss it out before continuing and jumping through neatly. So we finished with a clear round 9 seconds over for 3.6 time so finished on our first sub 40 score.
After a long wait we were announced as 4th but later the scoreboard corrected us to 5th so two shiney points and our first eventing frilly this season. Also a cheque for £29 which nowhere near covers any costs but ever bit helps! I really wanted to get a double clear point before the end of the season but was over the moon to get a placing as well, particularly being less than 4 marks off the winner. Whilst I feel she will be very competitive next year I didn't expect such a high placing this season. Just two events left now with a return to Dauntsey and a trip to Larkhill on the cards. Sarnie has also been entered in the Open Novice at Dauntsey so it will be great to get her out and about again.
14 September
Finally took the lorry tyre to be changed yesterday at our great independent garage Taylor’s Tyres. As the tyre was off the lorry I took it over in the car and then my mechanic was going to pop it on for me, we were going to swap it onto the front and put that tyre as the spare. Why didn't anyone tell me the tread used on a front tyre is different to that on a back tyre?! The tread on the back is designed for grip and drive and the front tyre for steering so I had the wrong tread on the tyre! I have been away in Bristol today and left poor Mum trying to fit in taking the tyre back to the garage where they kindly swapped it from a back to a front tread and then to our garage so he could swap it all around! How can I tyre cause so much trouble and the cost is best forgotten!
Getting ready for Monmouth on Saturday with Pippa, it is an event I have not been to for about 10 years so looking forward to going back to a really friendly event. I would think with the weather we have had the ground should be perfect. Been trying to work on her flatwork this week and continue where we left off with Robert with a very soft frame using her back. Robert kept saying push the nose out and by remembering this it also helps me soften my hands by pushing them forwards a bit and not holding on too much.
10/11 September -
It is rarely I write an enthusiastic report about some dressage lessons, particularly after one involved a soaking, but I had a couple of fantastic lessons from Robert this weekend and both horses were stars.
The lessons were on separate days which in a way was easier as the clinic was not too far away. Pippa had the first go and I can honestly say I have never had a trainer go so overboard about a horse before, he really loved her. Within five minutes he was hopping on for a feel! (Now I may be overloading you with what I consider to be boring videos but you can watch or ignore as you please!)
We worked on getting her soft through the back by working her deep but with her nose out so a good length of frame. We got her quite forward in the trot and really swinging through her back. Roberts comments of 'she moves better than most at Burghley’ and 'you will be able to lead after dressage with this one' whilst extremely gratifying does put a bit of pressure on! It also gives me a huge amount of confidence that I may finally have a horse that isn't constantly going to be playing catch up after dressage!!
Plenty to work on in the short term and getting her stronger over the winter but if she doesn't make it eventing it seems she has an alternative career!
So dressage wise Sarnie had something to live up to today and I was wondering whether
it would be naughty or nice Sarnie that came out today. I think having had her ear
bent all last night by Pip she decided the cooperative version would come out. The
lesson started in a down pour but it soon cleared. It was good Robert could see an
improvement as he had last taught us just before Houghton and I have been working
hard at getting her softer. Robert feels her naughtiness in tests will evaporate
as long as I can get her softer, perhaps easier said than done. I need to be able
to Traver and shoulder-
A few videos working on the lateral work, you can see the basic trot work is really coming through
You will see I had my usual struggles of getting my circles the right size and shape as well as getting my position correct in the lateral work. However I was delighted with both girls and have some homework.
8 September
Still wishing there was 26 hours in a day or that each hour had 70 minutes! Work is very busy and then trying ride my two girls and a friends horse at another yard! Pip at least had her flu jab this week so has been on gentle exercise for a few days, Sarnie has been very bright and full of herself particularly as the wind has got up. They each have a lesson with Robert Pickles this weekend, Pippa on Saturday and Sarnie Sunday. Hoping to stay dry for at least one of them!
No longer worrying about hard ground at Monmouth more whether it will run if this wet spell continues, seems Autumn has arrived with a bang! Pip is being well rugged up as I don't want her coat coming too early, lovely as she is to handle she has a real fear of the clippers so a vet visit and sedation is the only way to safely clip her. Trying to limit the number of times we need to do this!
5 September -
The journey was completed on Saturday with no more dramas and Rosie safely dropped off to her lovely new home. Had a chance to walk the course Saturday night, I found the course to be technical and up to height certainly top end novice. After our fall last time out I was keen not to make any more mistakes!
Sunday dawned overcast and when we arrived at the event the rain started and proceeded to pour solidly for a couple of hours. My planned 40 minutes warm up for dressage was quickly paired down to 15 minutes as the rain was so heavy it simply wasn't possible to do any sensible warming up! No video or pictures of the test as the rain would have killed any electronics! The test wasn't bad, she broke into canter a couple of times in the trot, got sucked in on the wet muddy corners and was slightly quarters into the rain. The judge didn't make any allowances for the rain and we scored a 41 which probably was fair although certainly influenced by the conditions.
Back to the lorry at break neck speed and into the dry. We were last to go of the mixed Novice sections show jumping so had the very worst of the ground. In order to get good lines you had to go into the mud and I think the fences were 3 inches bigger from jumping out of the mud. I also tried Pip's bling present a black show jumping hat, now please don't think I have gone all mad and fashionable. I am trying it for a serious reason in order to help her relax and cut out any distractions. Warmed up and was soon in, she jumped her best horse trails show jumping round to date. Considering the 10 in front of us had one clear and one four faults and the rest had multiple problems I was over the moon with 1 unlucky rail. Unlike Hatherleigh where we were lucky to have only 2 down this time she jumped very clean. Huge improvement.
By this time the rain had just about stopped but the ground was cut up, I spoke to a friend who had just completed cross country and heard that it was jumping ok if you took it steady but people were having lots of problems. Decided to continue and take it very steady we probably needed to anyway. Put some of the biggest studs I have into Pips feet (thanks SupaStuds) and started warming up. The warm up was slippery and a lack of people waiting to go showed a few had pulled out.
Set off over the first 3 nicely
The first question came at 4 a narrow saw bench which caused a few run outs to a decent drop. The ground into the narrow fence was deep and even Pip backed off but plenty of leg and over she popped and down the drop. The next fence was the water which was a log, stride, small drop in then 4 decent strides to 2 bounce steps up to a big brush. After our ducking at Hatherleigh I wanted to ride this quite slowly but actually over did it! I popped the log and she gently popped into the water, I let her trot through but just didn't get enough impulsion so we lacked energy up the steps and came to the big brush on no stride with no impulsion and bless her she propelled herself over. A big pat but also a hefty boot to make sure she stayed in front my leg as another question was fast approaching with a big rail over a ditch on 4 strides to a triple brush. We got into the bottom of the rails a bit and I added a stride but she stayed very straight to the triple brush. One of the rare let up fences followed before we proceeded down a steep (now slippery) slope with a turn to a brush and then a slightly angled 3 strides to a step and bounce to a brush which we did steadily but otherwise very well.
Had a bit of a gallop as a fair way to the next a hay rack to corner which she jumped nicely, as she did the double of skinny brushes on the turn. Coming towards home but perhaps the fence that worried me most a big parallel rails on a turn to a decent corner where I saw a lot of run outs and a few eliminations. Show jumped the rails and made quite a square turn, came in with no stride and it was easier for her to run out with me feeling a bit helpless, well she was very honest again and popped over to big pats. Just the final combination of houses and the final fence where I missed my stride!
We finished with 22 time but in the conditions that really didn't worry me as I know speed won't be a problem. We actually need a slower run and I was delighted how well she coped with the technical elements of the course.
Many thank to Nick and Jane for their help and the gorgeous photos.
3 September
Sat updating this page as we are driving up the M5 to Goring and also to drop Rosie off. So far it has not been a good trip, up at 4.30 to leave the yard at 6, just as we got the M5 the lorry started vibrating but seemed to be pulling ok, we stopped at the next services and initially everything seemed ok, I then noticed a rear tyre had lost the rubber tread and was not looking very good. After a 90 minute wait the spare tyre was fitted and the damaged one in the living with the dogs much to their disgust, as it couldn't go back underneath.
Anyway on a brighter note (ignoring the fact we are now in slow traffic on M5) I took Sarnie cubbing yesterday. In my efforts to be a bit less precious and brighten her up a bit I decided to risk it. She has been hunting once before but it was rather a disaster with nearly all our time spent plunging and leaping. At least early cubbing was relatively quiet. We met at 7 and actually there were a fair few out, I was very glad we didn't go out of walk for the first 45 minutes as from the bouncing up and down and the high pitched squeals I had the feeling I could be deposited quite easily! I stayed firmly behind the field master as at the back she would have lost the plot. After an hour or so we had a trot and a canter (or more a trot and a plunge) and then came to out first jump. Now generally the country around us consists of banks and we have very little in the way of rails or fly hedges. So to be faced with a decent bank (at least properly faced) but quite narrow on top I though might test her as she is used to either flying or having plenty of room to jump on and off. I let a few experienced hunter go in front then trotted gently in and I should have had more faith as she popped on and off very neatly, not sure about the squeal on landing and taking off though.
We stayed out about 3 hours and there was less squeaking as time went on although
she never really totally settled, we did a few small xc fences that were around and
had a few canters. It certainly worked on the brightening her up front and she was
good enough to take again maybe if I can get her out a few more times while it is
quiet then she will settle to the job -
1 September
September here already and the ground is baked hard again, hoping Goring will not be too bad although last weekend Highclere was cancelled and that was not far away. Leaving very early on Saturday to try and miss the tourist traffic which will be returning home after last weekends bank holiday. We are dropping Rosie off to her new home on route which is going to make it quite a mammoth journey!
Have a feeling I have bitten off more than I can chew having taken on another horse to exercise while a friend is away, need a few more hours in the day!
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