Still missing you

There is a update or two coming in regards to the horse trial with tsar and it was absolutely a mixed bag and I was sorely tested as a rider! As far as lead ups to an event go it went about as badly as I have ever had when he got grass affected a week out.

I think maybe it was the fact that the horse trial just been was the last event I ever ran Butch at and the weather was so horrendous and one shoe was barely holding onto his brittle munted feet and I couldn't stud the fronts because it would put extra strain on them. I have never wanted so badly to pull up cross country as my fingers were frozen around the reins ( it must have run earlier in the season because he's been gone for more than a year) but despite everything against him, his little sharp ears were hard pricked and he just rolled along jumping perfectly out of stride. His long ewe neck and awkward baby giraffe gait almost haunts me. I can recall whole courses stride for stride. I have ridden some super horses that I loved dearly I would never have believed that this awkward munted Orange horse would still hold such a huge piece of my heart.

Sorry buddy. 

Wairarapa A&P Show/ Gladstone Sports

Photos are all from Gladstone sports. So the weekend after the Wairarapa Champs, the Wairarapa A&P show ran in the next town. I only jumped the Friday and the Sunday because those classes best fitted with my work schedule. The Firday he was in the 1m and the 90cm class. Thw 1m class was held in ring 1 so it was quite busy and had a bit more in the way of fillers and stuff. Honestly, when I walked the course I felt sick because it was a lot gruntier than the very soft 1m class I had jumped the week prior. It was a two-phase class as well, so you go straight into the jump off if clear in the first round and the jump off part was a good 1.05, maybe nearly 1.10m. I was hoping I wouldn't get into the jump off. I went back to the horse float and was busy telling my partner how I couldn't jump it and it was too big, while the whole time I got my horse ready so go figure. (In my wussiness defense, he did say he thought it was a lot bigger than he was expecting). Horse warmed up like a dork because they were unloading pigs. Lots of the impossible to sit pepe le pew canter that jars your entire body. Still he was getting to the base of the warm up fence and just jumping out of his skin.

So he jumped super in the first round, a bit manic to ride between, quite hot and badly falling out on the turns, but I'm trusting him a bit more and not overriding so much. He was brave to the fillers as well, even when we were travelling down the six stride line he stayed brave. Super to the last triple bar as well even though I was scared. Though in looking back, we had an awkward jump over the second fence because I let him run himself really deep to it, but it was a brilliant piece of training because after that he backed himself off a little more, and rocked back and operated when he got deep later in the course. I'm so much better to stay the same, or go for the quiet distance than the ride up on this horse.

Both times I have gone for a big ride up I have ended way out in no mans land, trying to salvage the half stride. In the jump off he jumped super over the bigger fences. He shut down a little at fence 11 by the gate because he was like 'and I'm done' and I was all no no theres a jump two strides away. Still he cleared the fence and travelled down in five strides to jump the combination super. I didn't go for time in the jump off at all I just wanted to get him round these bigger fences smoothly and the 2 phase worked out well for us, because by the time he jumped fourteen fences in a row he was jumping so well and a lot more settled between. Very pleased to post a clear in by far our most difficult track. Man alive the horse can jump, over the oxer at five it felt like we damn near cleared the stands. Then I went straight down to ring 2 to jump the 90cm class and he was a bit manic again, he needs to not do classes back to back I think, and the 90cm just wasn't enough to make him think at all. He took the last rail and he felt good in places but didnt jump anywhere near as well.

Then on the Sunday, I was late to the grounds because of work and I was trying to learn the course from his back down at the ring side and ran into a whole heap of trouble. (This was with a calmer on board because I knew the atmosphere was going to be a lot for him to cope with) Ring two was very close to some of the other exhibits, including sheep racing and wood chopping and there were two guys playing ping pong and he just went to pieces. He was doing little rears and I couldn't turn him right at all and he napped all the way back down the alley was between rings until he was back in the warm ups. All the people watching were horrified and I took a pretty tactful approach because hes not a horse you go head to head with, he will throw down and he had a reputation at the track for being dangerous. So I wasn't that keen to start pushing his buttons when its not a side of him I had ever dealt with before.

 I ended up waiting until the gate was clear and then trotting him down the alley way with my partner running ahead. Once he was in the ring he was super. Had a rail because I thought he would back off a fence because it had a lot going on behind it and he didn't so I rode him through the top rail. Took a while but by fence 6 he had settled and finished really well. After my round I made him stay up by the ring and he was totally relaxed, so clearly he gets some performance anxiety. Still it was really good for him to be exposed to some real atmosphere and every round we do I'm trusting him more and learning how he goes.

The next event was the Gladstone horse sports and he was only entered in the 1m class, because I'm working heaps, but I probably should have done the 1.05m. Its taken three shows but 1m doesn't look that big anymore which is a nice feeling. At Gladstone he was the polar opposite of the horse I had been riding at the last two shows and he was completely laidback. I didn't quite compensate enough for how quiet he was by creating more canter, so I got a few deeper distances and he really didn't like the filler in the picture above, but he still jumped it. As long as he goes I'm happy. He seems to almost be more spooky when he is more quiet.

He got into the jump off and he had a rail in the combination when I overrode him between the fences (sense the theme??) It wasn't that long, he would have smoked through it easily if I left him alone a little and gave him the time to really jump into the air. I definitely need some lessons. Still I couldn't be happier with him. So next weekend he is in a horse trial and I'm pretty sure I'm going to die on the cross country. Why didn't I do the intro class instead of the pre-training D:  

Wairarapa Showjumping and Showhunter Championship

So I'm back into it. My first proper affiliated show in a year. Like a proper rider. Honestly I felt rusty and so ring green. Like once I was un the ring I just felt mildly panicked and like everything was happening too fast. Ok but stop, so he had the physio on Thursday and basically she said he is lacking muscle on the right shoulder and she thinks as he works, that shoulder being weaker, eventually gets tight and sore. Man did he feel good afterwards, everytime I saw him that day he was getting aerial playing. She said by all means to jump him if he felt good. The next day it was pouring but even though he wouldn't stay straight in the weather he felt great on that shoulder. And probably the loosest he has ever been. In happy news he was very loose in his hindquarters and neck, just tight in the shoulders and a bit in his back.

So I stop in at the show after work and they had already started my class (90cm /3 foot class) so I was like well I'll hurry and maybe I'll make it. But really. Hurrying a horse is never a good idea, I really struggled to catch him and then he was just a nervy twit to deal with. Arriving at the showgrounds I saddled up and got on and holy hell, I wish I had training as a helicopter pilot because man did we get aerial. Leaping, plunging. Just an absolute treat. I immediately shifted the goal posts to just jumping a warm up, but my old boss with her Bex is chickening out instinct turned up and helped me warm up and got me into the ring. To be fair he jumped quite well, though a cheap rail at the third fence and then fence 4 and 5 seemed to me like huge oxers and I jumped four and then just panicked and had a circle before 5. After that though, I settled and he jumped super, got all the strides in his lines and was really brave to the filler. Though he is a little wild in the ring and I'm still finding this. He just loves it and is so enthusiastic, land and zooooooooooom.

The next day more hurrying and into the 90cm class and I overode the first fence and overshot the turn and was all disunited and circled again ( Chicken!!) and then settled and he jumped well, though backed off the filler some and landed crooked so the related line rode a little long. Then at the last double he had a bobble at the last where he was like and I'm done and I was like no no buddy keep jumping!! He was clear too, Which made my circle a little more depressing. Still progress! The next day he was in the 1m (3'3") class and I turned up to warm up with four horses to go. This is the downside of trying to work and show in the same day. Luckily I dont like to warm up too long anyway, and the track hadn't been changed from yesterday which was a little disappointing. Though it must have gone up some. And the plus side of the same track, is I basically got to correct my mistakes from the day before. The only real bobbles happened in the second phase (jump off starts after the double) was when I got a bit keen down to fence nine and then two strides out really hooked him back to add the stride and survive so that was ugly, and my saddle pad started to shuffle back and he started pig jumping at the end of the jump- off. Still for three days I'm so stoked at the improvement. Video of second 90cm class and 1m class.

Actual Video!!!

Ok so my lack on technical savvy has resulted in this video taking like four hours to be publishable. The quality is pretty poor, but I would love to hear any impressions.

Video!!

So here we have a video of my horse doing a few jumps with me. I left the talking in at the start because it makes me laugh. The first clips are in my saddle and the final two down the grid are in his old owners saddle. The video is crap but if you think he looks happier I'd love to know. You can see he is hotter in the cross country clip. He's very different to ride out in public. I wish I had some clips of the bucking and stuff he was doing. I really like this horse though. He was still a little off on the lunge tonight and so he won't be at the show on Saturday. He must have heard me say the word show.  Bugger.

Still there are shows on both the following weekends close to home so there's no rush. It's just a great show to start at without too much atmosphere and stuff 

Saddles, niggles and stumbles

So I have been making more of an effort to do more jumping to get braver at it and I have been out cross country schooling a couple of times and he is pretty brave. Bolder than expected but a bit of a dork with all the other horses going around and can be a bit cheeky. He's getting up into the air nicely and making a really nice shape.

My saddle hasn't ever really fit him super well and I have known this but wasn't too concerned because it wasn't terrible either but I tried another saddle on him and while I hated it, he was possibly a little softer in his back and didn't Buck when I galloped him. I always just thought the bucking was hijinks because he is that sort of guy but perhaps it's more than that. I really want to try an Ogilvy half pad because they look like a super product but they haven't made it to nz. But then still a lot cheaper than a new saddle. 

Terrible cell phone pictures yay!!! Still those knees though. He has had this intermittent oddness in his front right, and I was starting to think that maybe he has some issues brewing that are rearing their heads now the ground is getting harder but I had a good chat with his old owners and apparently he is prone to getting really tight in his shoulders and where his neck ties in and so I might try a physio first and see if that works. If it doesn't I might look at getting a work up done because it's  better just to know. It's just hard to work up a horse who is probably less than a 0.5 out of 5 lame. 

Though today while I was trotting and discussing whether or not he was lame with my boyfriend we had a stumble and he ended up scrambling along the ground on both his knees. I have no idea how he stayed on his feet but well done pony! Now though he is like 2.5 out of 5 lame on the left front. I'm hoping it's just a tweak and he'll be ok to show next weekend. Time will tell I guess. Just hard to do something about the right front when he's now off on the left. Dorky horse I think he stood on his bell boot 😕. It was a very scary few moments having seen someone concussed by a horse that was trotting and then stumbled the same way but then added a flip on the end. 

America

So when the title says America it's because I just got home from spending two weeks in North America. 10 days in the US and 4 in Canada. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip with my brother and sister and it was amazing because I haven't spent that length of time with my brother in ten years or so because he lives in Germany. So it went San Fran, Vegas, then so much driving in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and and to Denver. Mostly it involved hiking to see rocks and stuff. The wave which is a pretty incredible rock formation, Grand Canyon, monument valley and Arches National Park, even a trip up mt Evans. I gotta say every we saw was pretty epic, huge open vistas and just filled the eyes. And far apart. Everything was so far apart, just hours and hours of driving. My entire country is like around 1000 miles long so the states felt huge. Can't say I loved the cities, being not very used to so many people. Loved Canada it had a similar feel to home, and Drumheller with te dinosaurs totally rocked my world. I'd love to come back and do an entirely horse related tour, ride a hunter, a cutter, a Reiner, a barrel horse, Tennessee walker, western pleasure Arab and so forth. It would be an amazing learning experience.

My pony has been a good boy lately and has made heaps of progress. Two weeks until our first show for the year and I'm hoping to do more this season. He can really jump but he tends to land on the backs of his front feet which can be terrifying especially because then he gets upset and bucks.