Te Teko Show- Part 2

See the difference in weather between Saturday and sunday?? Brr! Also isn't Rascal a really nice looking horse

Another early sort of a start but 6am felt like a great sleep-in to me so I was bouncing of the walls all morning! This didn't last, the greyer the day got, the greyer I got. I took one look at the 90cm class and went "OMG it's huge" and went green. This of course cracked my sister up and to be honest it was a really nice course. I just lose all perspective overnight, and turn into a big wussy.


Connie over fence one. I am amused how it looks like we both have duck butts. and as you can see it wasn't big at all I just have an overactive imagination.

What was really nice was that I only had Connie in the first class so it was a leisurely saddle up for me and I gave her a really good warm up. She started off really resistant but once she softened she worked really well. Over the warm up fence she was blowing off my half halt though and racing to the fence as we were jum[ping towards the truck. Once in the ring she jumped well. Neighed/Screamed all the way to fence 1 and I'm not sure she really saw it, but we cleared it. Went well from there until a jump in the middle that I took a ridiculously long take off spot too. What happened is I lost my canter in the corner and sort of hesistated to see my spot (bad habit of mine) so then had to (shouldn't had- could have added a stride) chase to the fence. Had I ridden her all the way round the corner it would have been a good spot. Le sigh. Also got insanely deep to the last fence- you can see the awkwardness of her jump in the picture. I really need to jump this horse a little more- doing crossrails and ground poles like I did with Kate to train the canter and my eye. Unfortunately, Connie is so much fun I tend to not take her seriously enough.


Connie over the last. Check out her near foreleg. How can her foot go that far to the side?? She is an andalusian thats how she moves, haha!

Then Kim rode Rascal in this class. This was a smart move because she missed a lot of the bad weather. I had already decided to pull connie out of the 95cm as she had jumped well enough and there wasn't really anything to gain from another class. If she had been looky at the fences then sure, but she jumped well enough that I was happy to leave it.


Rascal showing great use of head and neck over a fence and Kim showing an enviable position (what you can see of her)

Kim and Rascal definitely improved an incredible amount over the show. Kim needs to learn to trust her nnew horse and give her a slightly more positive ride to the fences, while maintaining the canter and not making her run. It's a difficult task. She used roller spurs in this round and the two of them put in a really nice smooth round that she should be very proud of. She just a had a rail at the last fence.


Rascal and Kim over the last

Then Kim and I ended up late again for the 95cm which Kate and Rascal were both still in. It was awful cold by now and raining, and again we were helping my friend who put in an excellent round in the 1.25m class. So we scratched from the 95cm and my friend pulled out of the GP and we started to look at pacing up and going home. But then we had to wait for my cousin to do her 1.10m class and so I decided to warm up Kate for the 1m class and see how she handled the rapidly worsening ground conditions. I was concerned because the day before one of her studs had literally sheared off and she had slipped abit in that afternoon. I couldn't remove the thread of the stud so I only had an inside stud on that foot. I ahte only having one stud ina foot because I feel it adds torsion to the leg and especially the inside because they so easily stud themselves.


Kates shorn off stud, with her large inside pointy stud for the bad conditions.

Anyway she warmed up really well though I was so nervous eh. Jumped a big oxer in the warm-up of about 1.05m which didn't make me feel any better but hey. It sucked that they hadn't moved the jumps for a few rounds so it was well chopped up in front of the fences.


Kate over the last fence in the first round

Anyway, she jumped amazingly despite being handicapped by me. I was clear in the first round and then in the jump-off (Proper jump-off for money this time) which went well over the first but then at the wall I saw a short stride she went for the jump (she is better at this than me) and I did a bit of an aerial. Landed in the saddle and continued but I had my stirrup backwards and they are one directional stirrups. So stopped, got my stirrup the right way round, and jumped the last three fences really well.


Kate over the last in the jump-off

Poor Kate I let her down really, but I think I got a bit excited by being in the jump-off. Still I was super pleased with her considering the average conditions.


Apparently this picture does not reveal the full extent of how bad the rain was haha!

So we started to pack up and then the first reports of snow started to come in. I was sent a PXT of the snow on the Napier-Taupo road, and then conformation that our most direct route home was closed. Curses!

Te Teko Show- Part 1

Packing up to leave for the racecourse in the morning- Dan holding Rascal with Kate in the background and Connie obscured

Gosh the whole weekend rather turned into an adventure. It went up and down like you wouldn't believe and it quite the tale as those readers who also have my facebook must now know. Anyway, we left about 1 oclock from my house and arrived at my Aunties about 8 o'clock so it was a hell of a trip. I managed to convince my friend who has a 7 horse truck that seeing as Taranaki was cancelled she should go to Hawera. And thank goodness I did because when we struck out it was windy as and Truckie isn't as good in the wind (or anything really....sorry Truckie) as her truck is. I'm not sure she is so pleased I talked her into it after the weekend but at the time it seemed like a great idea.


Kim and the lap dog

We picked up my Cousin in Ashurst so we had four people and a staffy dog in the cab which made for an interesting journey. Not the comfiest but we survived. There was some complaining about how we were going to a show where it was forecast to rain, but hey it happens right- it is spring in NZ.So anyways, we arrived at my Aunties and then we all got up bright and early to feed horses and load out to head of to day parking. We got an awesome park next to the fence which meant we could could Kim and my girls away from Anna's boys, especially because one of hers thinks he is pretty studly and two of the girls are pretty boy friendly. It was also insanely warm. The day started with a chilly breeze but was amazingly hot by the end of the day.


Connie with Kate in the background

The thing I love about Te Teko show is that they have a huge range of classes starting at 80cm on the first day and lots and lots of smaller classes .90-1.10m classes. They also have a wall in every ring. Being able to jump a wall in competition at the smallest heights makes it a lot easier than if you don't see them until you are doing 1.10m classes. The courses all weekend were young horse friendly also. So as you do, we wandered around the showgrounds, watched a few rounds, pulled a few manes, And when we got back to the truck we found that Rascal, without having done a lick of work found herself to exhausted to go on and so she laid down for a lovely sleep. She did this at Te Teko last year also only she had a saddle on then so it was a lot less cute.



So there aren't any photos from the jumping on the saturday because Dan was at cricket. The first class was the 90cm and they were all in it. Rode connie first and she was a dick to start of with and screamed the entire time. I know she will get past this as the season goes on but for now it is quite annoying. Still she jumped well for a double clear with out hesitation at the wall and she did a very cute cute over the picket. She is so bold and happy in her job it's time to start doing more with her. I do have a wee problem with her canter, mostly that it's at an in between stage and I need to work more on developing the "perfect canter" and doing more small feces on her for my eye when I'm riding her because between her and Kate there is quite a difference. Kim and Rascal were also double clear and so was Kate. It was a A1 class so basically everyone that gets a clear round "wins".

The 95cm was a bit of a debacle because I was helping my friend in ring 1 and Kim and I were the last three people to ride in the class. I jumped on Kate and she jumped clear but I turned the wrong way once and after I overshot nine I retired. She jumped really well but I didn't know my course well enough. Kim I think had a rail (I was rapidly saddling up horse two and didn't see it) and then on Connie who had one practise fence- poor mare I hate doing that- I had a rail in the double but the round was a little speedy. The is a bit of a ctach 22 in that I need to keep her forward without her getting speedy but she tends to break so some work needs to be done. And she really isn't that fit after the puncture wound in her foot so I was pleased with her.


Rascal, Kate and Connie having dinner in the yards before being put in their paddock for the night.

Then we packed up and we took everyone back to my Aunties and we enjoyed some bourbons in my Aunties incredible garden listening to some tunes and yarning. It was good times all round.

Posty posty.

Haha Sharon you are a litte premature. Te Teko show is the weekend coming. Am I organised. Ahh no. Do i have two horses each missing a shoe. Ahh yes. I'm I starting to get a little stressed?? Ahh yess. Last weekend on the sunday Kim and I went cross country schooling with Rascal and connie. Connie has never jumped a XC fence but once she go the idea she was excellent. Just a few dramas with the ditch haha! And she nearly rolled in the water jump, her knees buckled and I was like " Nooo!". sorry it will be a short update I have a million thins to do but yea in three days I will be in/have complated the first clss for the new season and thats exciting.

Solway Practise Day

Sigh I have to say having had a little much fun this weekend I was pretty tired going to this but havin Truckie on the road again with Kim in the passenger seat and nice horses in the back was amazing. Rascal was very cute but then went amazing once Kim figured out the canter she wanted and they both jumped really well. Kim just neds to learn to trust her because really Rascal doesn't stop.

Kate was also excellent. Required a lot of leg to the liverpool and I have one miscommunication with her about when we should take off and I landed rather heavily on her back and that upset her a little. Thankfully for me she didn't just bury me but it tok me the rest of the ride to get the balls to jump that line again and she did it nice as, I just needed to dogleg more to the liverpool and ride on to it. But basically I'm feeling more and more confident on her, she adores her job and I love her to pieces. When I think of all the fun I missed out on riding Fred wen I could have had something like Kate I kick myself, but then it worked out so I did learn a lot and so that I ended up with Kate who suits me well. I wont ever take that long to pass a horse in again though. Just not worth it. So I guess feeling happy and excited about the first show in a fortnight, just need to go kick Connies ass into gear now.

Entries are out

Okey dokey. Entries to the first show are out. We are starting at Te Teko in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. My Aunty lives 5 mins from the showgrounds and it was such a nice show and it's far far away from anyone we know! haha excellent plan. I plan to stat conservatively even though I think I'm lame for doing so. Better to start low and find it easy and move up. The conundrum is that Kate is experienced as but then as a combination we are pretty green I have no idea what she will be like once we are out, or in the ring.

So all three Connie, Kate and rascal are in the 90 and 95cm the first day and then Kate and Rascal do the 95-1m. Though if it goes really well with Kate I may do the 1m and then the 1.05m so there are options. Connie does another 90cm and 95cm on the Sunday. She isn't fit at all and has hardly any work so I'm heading for a cruisy start to the season. I'm riding her again, she is about 99% now but I wont be jumping her for a while longer yet. The cause of her lameness was a puncture wound in her sole but thats mostly resolved now, I was too late finding it to help much.

Practise day at solway on Sunday so will jump Kate, Kim will jump Rascal and I'll school connie there so at least they have all had an outing.

More gridwork

So we did gridwork again, but this time it was my turn. We did similar grids to what I discussed earlier when Kim jumped Rascal. Started with rails on the ground and cantered throughthem and Kate was just as happy as a kid hunting Easter eggs. She was initially sticky when I first got on because she didn't like the feel of the stud girth but once she had had a canter she was fine.

Then did crossrail to an upright to a small oxer. Built the oxer bigger and bigger and she stayed bold as through it, at one point jumping the first ground rail and the crossrail- a jump of 9 feet across! What was she thinking! But smooth as, I had to ask Kim what had happened. Built the oxer up until it was 1.20m at it's highest point and about the same across. The first time I did a 1.10m oxer she just powered off of the gorund and I was like Damn Kim you have to try this. So Kim went down the grid on her a few times and we both agreed she is a powerhouse. The problems we did come up with are that I unfold too fast and Kate pulls left over the big fences, so there is plenty to work on there because I really have to stay forward to encourage her to loosen up behind.



Then we went to a big Cross behind, and as I said before they back horses off and Kate stopped the first time because I didn't put enough leg on her. After she had been over it once she was good as gold. As you can see from the photos it encourages her to loosen up behind (she still doesn't have a nice trail though I think I should get a chiropracter to her because she has an inflexible back) and made her knees super cute and tight in front.



You can see her power off the ground here, she really springs off of those back legs.



Ah love! What a good horse.

The latest post

Oh man oh man, I am living groundhog day and i'm having trouble with my registrations. I do believe I will be sending of my third check to ESNZ tomorrow for forty dollars owing to Kim's horse, for a reason I don't understand but joy oh joy they wont register Kate until it is done. I'm getting really tired of being financially pillaged to fund our high performance programs which seem to achieve sweet F all. Money seems to just fly away from me, sigh. I'm sure I shouldn't be this broke. Perhaps I need a better job, but that would mean sacrificing alot. Such as free grazing, help with costs,time to ride in the middle of the day.

Connie is still lame. It's really mild but still there. I think it's in her foot but can realy find not alot wrong with her feet. Treated a bit of trush but it shouldn't have been bad enough to make her lame especially as she was totally unreactive when I stabbed at her foot with my hoofpck so who knows. The farrier comes on tuesday so will be interesting to see what he says. I wonder is perhaps it is muscular and related to changing the angles in that foot which is clubby?? But that is also very expensive especially because I will get an epic lecture about how her saddle doesn't fit perfectly. It doesn't and I know this but she needs a custom saddle and I'm poor. It fits her about as well as any non custom saddle could and she has never had any back pain so What can you do?

And Kate?? Oh my word I love Kate, what a cool horse. She has been packing me around so nicely. Has gallops the other days on the hills and she was a lot faster than I thought considering she never even trialled as a racehorse. I love how sensitive she is. Riding rather behind the leg steady types has made me a bit of a blunt tool as a rider and she is making me regain some finesse.She is picking up the schooling super fast so it's mostly about building strength and going forward more now. She can be a bit backwards when I first start working her and I have to get her more forward off of the leg.

I had a good play today just jumping crossrails (So as not to kill us both when I missed) and trying to figure her out. She likes to run to her fences, but not if I stay really quiet, and I can steady her in front of the fence but I have to do it very smoothly and quietly. If I can steady her she doesn't get so deep and jumps much nicer. She felt really good though and I love how she is a grumpy old mare until you put a fence in front of her or have a gallop. She is all about the fun parts of being ridden thats for sure. And she is a hungry little pig. She lost some condition over the winter which I'm kicking myself about but she is picking up quickly despite the reasonably heavy workload.