Even us showjumpers get our brave pants on and go cross country schooling. The horses love the change of pace and it helps get them going forward and being bold. I evented a long time ago when I was much braver and I have to say the solid fences look so much bigger than the painted rails!! I got braver as we went though. My little sister rode Honey and I rode Erl, though sometimes I popped honey over some things- i'm in the maroon breeches. As an aside Kims lower leg is amzing and it's been years since she did any serious jumping- bitch! Anyway, pictures are more interesting than my words so here some are. All photo credit to Belinda who is a fabulous equine photographer- link here.
Such a fun night and so amazing to ride with my sister again after her being in Canada for ages. Very much like us in our younger more pony club less grown up days. Both horses were fabulousness, the only trouble I had was at the Trakenher (more because I was scared!) and at this cow painted fence which was yuck! Hoping to do a low key event later in the season which will be a nice change of scene. God I love my job! For those that want to know there are a mixture of training and pre-training fences which is a range of 80cm to 1m. Not that big in showjumping terms but pure terror as far as I'm concerned in eventing terms. Lucky Erl took such care of me.
How good of a smell is that??? Delicious. I'm very excited about this haha. But I'm not going to tell you anything more until money changes hands. Had a good show the weekend just been, picking up a third in the 1.10m on Erl Grey and several places in the showhunter on a clients horse called Folly though showhunter seems so fast and reckless with all that two pointing and forward rides down the lines!! Frightening stuff. Folly is a very good dressage horse though and does beautiful flying changes.
Tomorrow I have a clinic with Sean Cubbit, my second one with him. He is a rider from Ireland whom has been riding in Germany for ages and seems pretty onto it though last time it was so hot at the end of the lesson I was working really hard not to puke. Definitely a loy more riding fit and strong now and feeling happier in my position and balance again. Office work is really notr that good for staying fit as a rider. Definitely not as good as riding for a living. I love my job right now. More soon.
So I had a pretty easy show with only 4 horses and we only did the Friday and Sunday so we could got to the Rugby on Saturday. Though I do have pictures yay. I'm still just having the odd four faults and making that one silly error that stops me from jumping clear. It's very very frustrating for me the ever perfectionist. Still I'm only getting to know the horses and in one instance I made the right ride but the horse didn't come with me. Without further ado here are three of the team-
Erl Grey- Holsteiner X
Honey- Stationbred- Coastie cross Seriously how cute are those giant ears!!
Butch- OTTB- very unusual looking and unorthodox, but check out the back end!! Unfortunately I had the wrong saddle on him and I really struggled to stay with him.
I have Feilding A and P next weekend and we are taking 6 horses and I'm doing hunters and jumpers so I may just die!!At least it's on a sureface so I don't have to stud!
Goodness me it hs been very very hot lately and my poor flabby excuse of a body has struggled ot adjust to physical labour again. I really need to lose some weight but like so many of us know, it's so damn hard! I'm such a suger junkie. Nevermind. Things are interesting here, I'm finding it very hard but I suspect I just need my depression meds again. I thought I would try without them, but it would seem I'm something of a lifer. I know as soon as my brain keeps repeating that I'm worthless and I want to cry all the time that I'm not ok.
The horses here are mostly lovely. I'm madly in love with this awkward ungainly fantastic chestnut thoroughbred called Butch. People have tended to let him down and he has ende up bit of a boomerang. If I had the money I would buy him in a heartbeat. Getting on him is like getting into bed with your favourite blanket, its comfortable and reassuring because he is just so incredibly genuine.
Onme mare I don't see eye to eye with because she was bottlereared and has a real chip on her shoulder. Even the babies and the poorly schooled sale projects all approach with pricked ears and are happy except for this version. That been said I get to compete her tomorrow which is a bit of a oh yay :/ I had my first show last weekend and mostly went ok, apart from the odd mistake and circle. I 1.10med Butch and a holsteiner cross called Erl who is lovely but needs more riding and skill and Butchy. Still by the end of the show it was a lot smoother just the odd mistake leading to four faults or time faults and the occassional circle where needed.
I'm also riding a young horse for my own friend/client who is a bit of a mongrel but a very very promising and genuine young horse. I have included a video of her for you to watch. She is still very awkward and needs more strength and schooling but she wants to do all the right things and feels quite scopey so I'm hoping to keep the ride on her for as long as possible. The only down saide is getting announced as Rebecca Presow riding U Honey which sounds a bit racy.
I'm getting heaps of saddle hours and I think if I wasn't getting so depressiony I would feel pretty positive about the improvements I am making.I really really miss having my good horse Connie who is out at the turnout block and may have injured her DDFT in her foot which is why she isn't improving despite having her feet rebalanced. That could take 8 months to come right which is sucky. My boss hates Anbdalusians and Connie stopped on her and pooped in a class at HOY once and wouldn't go despite strong persausion so is not her biggest fan. This meant I had a bloody good laugh the other day when she mixed up her fancy 4yr old Cassini filly with Connie. It is scary how alike they are to be fair.
So one of the joys of coming home was getting my old farrier to shoe my fat little spanish horse. After being to the vets and finding her joints all look pristine and her bones are good, it was nice going forward knowing that whatever discomfort she was in was coming from dynamic changes and unbalance and not permanent changes.
I was very interested to see what my farrier had to say. I think her current job is more a reflection of the difficulty of shoeing her correctly more than the skill of the farrier. Anyway, apparently the fashion in sport horse shoeing at the moment is big quarter clips on the side feet and the shoe set back from the toe. The setback toe reduces their ability to grab with the toe when climbing hills and the like, and the big quarter clips reduce the ability of a horses foot to expand and contract and cushion the concussion of movement. Connie especially with her upright foot which wouldn't have the same shock absorbtion was sorer on that side.
She has been reshod in the much lighter shoe with toe clips, and so far she feels like she is really improving much more rapidly than the vets expected. They said 6-8 weeks but I think she will be back much sooner than that, based on how she feels and how much forward thinking she has gotten.
