Worked on getting him to go forwards from my seat aids today. At the moment it's taking my leg aids to get his work suitable for a 7. Need him to give me work for a 7 with no effort from me and use my leg aids to increase it to an 8. In the canter especially he doesn't flex his hocks so need to get him sitting more behind.
So, started with walk to trot - need to tilt pelvis and think trot with my body. For canter need to move inside hip forwards - that was easier as I use that aid anyway. The trot was a whole new thing though so need to work on that. To get him round in the halt need to wrap legs around and in and use them to lift his abdomen up so he can round over the back and soften in the halt. Then move thighs backwards which will tilt pelvis forwards and keep him round in the rein back. Must then move instantly forwards afterwards.
Tried to get him to do some half steps in the trot to try and get him to ping up and down rather than just pushing forwards. Don't think he really got it. Had a lot of bum swinging from side to side but we did get a few half steps.
In the walk piris must remember to use my inside leg to keep activating the inside hind to march and not pivot.
Then did exercise medium canter up 3/4 line then collect and think working piri collected canter to the other 3/4 line then back down in medium canter.
Medium trot must not waterski - puts too much weight on his loins and makes him hollow. Tried doing it standing in stirrups which was interesting but actually worked well.
Sunday 27 October 2013
Saturday 26 October 2013
BSJA - Crofton Manor - 25-10-13
Very early start for Crofton Manor - never been before so wasn't sure how long would take and how much traffic but really easy run so will definitely go back.
Was pretty much first to go, they were still building course for British Novice when I got there. It looked big enough for my first BSJA so decided to buy 2 tickets for that class and not worry about trying the 1m open.
Warmed up ok, if a bit lazy as usual. Went into indoor and he was quite looky. Predicted he would be - he can be quite a spooky thing when he wants to be. Thought he might not like fence 5 which had rustic poles but funny wings. Jump off only had 4 jumps but they were bigger than the rest. 12 fences in all. As he was being looky he was a bit behind my leg and not going forwards enough hence got in short to 3 and landed short so I opted to hold for 6 strides as thought he might not make 5. He almost stopped at no.5 but I was ready for him. Looky at 6 too but got the curve right on 5 strides to 7, clear over the 1 stride double, big oxer at 9 then onto the JO - nowhere to cut corners so just kept him moving on and met everything spot on. Yay - double clear in a good time. We were only a fraction off being placed and I hadn't even thought about looking where the finish line was and kicking on for it as I wasn't actually trying for the time, just wanted to keep our forwards rhythm.
Quick wander round the warmup to get his breath back then in for another go. This time I had him in a much better rhythm and made the 5 stride distance easily between 3 and 4. He was still a bit looky at 5 and 6 and landed off to the right over 6 which meant we cut the corner and I crazily decided to try and fit 4 strides in the 5 stride distance and he chipped in and somehow left it up. Just lost our canter quality a bit and then he got in a fraction close (not as close as to no.7) and just touched the rail on the way into the double. Clear from then on though. Despite the 4 faults I was much happier with that round as much more rhythmical. Still having to really work to keep him on the forwards stride though. He needs a rocket up his bum!
I looked at the 1m Open and the first part was fine but the JO did go up and out quite a bit and given his lack of forwardness I think good decision not to try that one just yet!
In the afternoon I went with Caroline to watch her lesson with Seb Poirier which was interesting as Womble has a lot of the same issues as Monty. These are the things I really took note of:
Was pretty much first to go, they were still building course for British Novice when I got there. It looked big enough for my first BSJA so decided to buy 2 tickets for that class and not worry about trying the 1m open.
Warmed up ok, if a bit lazy as usual. Went into indoor and he was quite looky. Predicted he would be - he can be quite a spooky thing when he wants to be. Thought he might not like fence 5 which had rustic poles but funny wings. Jump off only had 4 jumps but they were bigger than the rest. 12 fences in all. As he was being looky he was a bit behind my leg and not going forwards enough hence got in short to 3 and landed short so I opted to hold for 6 strides as thought he might not make 5. He almost stopped at no.5 but I was ready for him. Looky at 6 too but got the curve right on 5 strides to 7, clear over the 1 stride double, big oxer at 9 then onto the JO - nowhere to cut corners so just kept him moving on and met everything spot on. Yay - double clear in a good time. We were only a fraction off being placed and I hadn't even thought about looking where the finish line was and kicking on for it as I wasn't actually trying for the time, just wanted to keep our forwards rhythm.
Quick wander round the warmup to get his breath back then in for another go. This time I had him in a much better rhythm and made the 5 stride distance easily between 3 and 4. He was still a bit looky at 5 and 6 and landed off to the right over 6 which meant we cut the corner and I crazily decided to try and fit 4 strides in the 5 stride distance and he chipped in and somehow left it up. Just lost our canter quality a bit and then he got in a fraction close (not as close as to no.7) and just touched the rail on the way into the double. Clear from then on though. Despite the 4 faults I was much happier with that round as much more rhythmical. Still having to really work to keep him on the forwards stride though. He needs a rocket up his bum!
I looked at the 1m Open and the first part was fine but the JO did go up and out quite a bit and given his lack of forwardness I think good decision not to try that one just yet!
In the afternoon I went with Caroline to watch her lesson with Seb Poirier which was interesting as Womble has a lot of the same issues as Monty. These are the things I really took note of:
- break course down into bitesize sections and regroup in between each one, breathe out, calm and off you go again
- he falls in and cuts corners on the right rein which makes distances too short
- he falls out and jumps off to the right on the left rein making distances too long
- practice, practice, practice
Wednesday 23 October 2013
Mark Corbett SJ lesson - Parwood - 23-10-13
2days off to chill in the field after Larkhill brings us to today. 25min hack to Parwood to warmup and then into a lesson with 3 others all happy jumping same height. Warmed up over the same 2 stride double we did last week. Start with just x pole, then x pole to vertical then x pole to 1m oxer. Really concentrating on keeping him straight and letting him work it out for himself.
Moved onto a really twisty course that he had deliberately designed with lots of turnbacks. Double then round to little oxer, left turnback to wavy planks, round to the right to a big oxer, round to the right to a vertical then left turnback to scary psychadelic filler, round to the right to the sheep, keep going round to right and over zebra planks then completely double back on yourself to upright then left dogleg to wavy planks. He just took the back rail on the back of the oxer in the first double for no good reason but otherwise I was really pleased with how he jumped the entire course and how well I managed to keep the power round the corners and meet the fences in the right places.
Different course to finish - double to little oxer then double back 180degrees to a big oxer then right to the big oxer and then right to the wavy planks and right dogleg to upright. Cleared them all and got a super jump over the 2 big oxers.
Mark would like to see him snapping up more in front and learning to go from a deeper spot which is interesting as we've been pandering to him up till now and appreciating that he likes to go on a long, forwards stride and when I get him in deeper it's normally with not enough power and then he just tries to levitate over the jump. Now I've got more power when he gets in deeper he's taking the fence down because he doesn't sit back on his hocks and snap up in front. Mark would work on shorter striding grids (today's 2 stride had 10 strides in it so not exactly long anyway) and v-poles to try and get him to get to a deeper spot and snap up. Something we can work on at home. Interesting to now be thinking about improving his technique rather than just getting round. Perhaps we're making progress!
Moved onto a really twisty course that he had deliberately designed with lots of turnbacks. Double then round to little oxer, left turnback to wavy planks, round to the right to a big oxer, round to the right to a vertical then left turnback to scary psychadelic filler, round to the right to the sheep, keep going round to right and over zebra planks then completely double back on yourself to upright then left dogleg to wavy planks. He just took the back rail on the back of the oxer in the first double for no good reason but otherwise I was really pleased with how he jumped the entire course and how well I managed to keep the power round the corners and meet the fences in the right places.
Different course to finish - double to little oxer then double back 180degrees to a big oxer then right to the big oxer and then right to the wavy planks and right dogleg to upright. Cleared them all and got a super jump over the 2 big oxers.
Mark would like to see him snapping up more in front and learning to go from a deeper spot which is interesting as we've been pandering to him up till now and appreciating that he likes to go on a long, forwards stride and when I get him in deeper it's normally with not enough power and then he just tries to levitate over the jump. Now I've got more power when he gets in deeper he's taking the fence down because he doesn't sit back on his hocks and snap up in front. Mark would work on shorter striding grids (today's 2 stride had 10 strides in it so not exactly long anyway) and v-poles to try and get him to get to a deeper spot and snap up. Something we can work on at home. Interesting to now be thinking about improving his technique rather than just getting round. Perhaps we're making progress!
Monday 21 October 2013
Larkhill BE90 20-10-13
Early times for Larkhill meant I'd have been walking the course in the dark so managed to find a stable and I headed down on Sat afternoon. Took Monts for a wander round the dressage warmup - it was blowing a gale and there was firing going on but he doesn't mind that kind of thing living next to a firing range! Went to walk the course - it felt like miles but I thought it was just the hills making it feel long - couple of fences to make me think about my lines but nothing that should challenge him. It was getting dark by the time I finished talking to far too many people and walking the SJ course so headed off to find my stabling. Two 3 point turns on dark country roads and finally got there! Settled Monts into bed and we headed off to the pub with the guys we were staying with. Couple of large glasses of wine and a nice meal and tumbled into bed.
Spent most of the night awake listening to high winds and heavy rain, dreaming of it being cancelled and running through all 3 phases in my head so was glad when it finally got to 6am and could get up.
Got to Larkhill with plenty of time and the sun poking through the clouds. Headed up to dressage, pretty windy but he is mr.cool. He was a bit lazy in the test, it wasn't as good as Pulborough but not bad and the judge gave us a big smile at the end which always makes me feel good!
Headed straight off to SJ as was chasing the black clouds. SJ there is on a slope, he has only jumped on grass 3 times this year due to all his foot problems, last time was Tweseldown in July which was flat and hard so this was a bit different. He was leaping around and launching at his fences and I thought this could be fun! First 3 fences went well but I lost his back end round the turn back to the planks at 4 and we got in a bit close but clear. Saw a bit of a stupidly long one to the oxer downhill at 5 and he launched and then tanked me down the hill on a very wonky wiggly line towards a very narrow, flimsy looking stile. Luck was on our side as managed to leave that up and made a good turn to the oxer at 6. Jumped that well so I rode forwards for my 5 strides to the double which had walked an exact 5 and I know with him to make 5 I have to ride pretty forwards but that is my new mantra so off I went only to find 3 strides away I was never going to make it, so ended up strangling his canter and he took out the first part and had to really stretch to make the 2nd part on one stride although at least we seem to have got out of the habit of putting 2 strides in a 1 stride which he did last year at Larkhill. A hairy right hand turn to another big oxer downhill we just about survived then he thought about stopping at the last fence as he clocked the flowers marking the finish - leg on and we finished. I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed with one down on a slippery arena on the side of a hill given our lack of match practice but it always feels like I've let him down so much when he's so good at the other 2 phases now and everything had been going so well in our lessons. A winter of SJ is in store for us I think.
Got a bit wet on the walk back to the lorry but fortunately just a shower and it cleared in time for us to go over to the XC. I felt rather sick which I'm not sure was the wine the night before or XC nerves but it wasn't good! He had a nap attack before we even got into the warmup, but jumped the warmup fences nicely. Optimum time for XC was down as 6mins8secs - I knew it had felt long when I walked it but given the hills I did wonder if he'd be fit enough given his lack of runs. I swear he knows his number because as soon as they called for us he went into reverse. Got friend to lead us round the start box and then he decided another attempt at rearing and reversing was needed. 10 seconds to go, big kick, 5seconds, got posted through the side of the start box and he was off like a rocket.
He soared over the first hanging log and tore off round the corner - I just love that feeling when he's really taking me. Had a bit of a look at the house at 2 and then uphill to the parallel rails at 3 but then he was off. Made sure to keep a bit of a lid on him as last time we did Larkhill he very narrowly missed too fast TP's. Downhill to 4 which was a simple up to height palisade which he flew, up a hill and round another corner and set up for 5 which was a double of skinny chase fences on 5 strides. Felt him looking for which fence was his, locked on and flew them both. Down another hill and flew a little rolltop then uphill, steady and got my line for a wide table then 5 strides to a corner. Got the line perfect and perfect stride to the table, leg on, 5 strides and felt the cheeky bugger go to go through his left shoulder - leg on and some err verbal encouragement and we were over safely.
Down another hill to another straightforward fence, up another hill (getting the sense it was hilly yet??) and set him up for an upright up to height rails at the top of a hill, got the canter, got the line, got the turn and he popped it beautifully before cruising downhill and back up the other side to a step up to brush, continue up the hill and round to a simple box fence. Along the top and set up for a rails then 2 strides to sunken road which he popped through nicely. Downhill, round a corner and pop a narrow hanging log, continue downhill to the water which was skinny brush, water to skinny brush, uphill to a carved log thing, then downhill to the big scary ditch brush which has become the size of the Cottesmore Leap in my head overnight! Saw a lovely forwards stride, tap on the neck with the whip and we were flying. Up another hill, turn ride for a 2 stride combo and then uphill to the last and through the finish still full of running. Any doubts about his fitness gone. He had flown round, made it all feel like a walk in the park and had his breath back halfway back to the lorry park. What a buzz! I absolutely love taking that horse XC. Cannot wait to fly round Badminton on him. Stupidly forgot to turn my hedcam on though :(
So, 29 dressage with a comment about being beautifully turned out :D and a clear 16secs inside the time meant we finished on 33. As usual for me, it was a super competitive section so we finished 8th out of 33. Did mean that was his tenth top 10 finish in a row. Am so lucky to have such a super duper horse. :D
Spent most of the night awake listening to high winds and heavy rain, dreaming of it being cancelled and running through all 3 phases in my head so was glad when it finally got to 6am and could get up.
Got to Larkhill with plenty of time and the sun poking through the clouds. Headed up to dressage, pretty windy but he is mr.cool. He was a bit lazy in the test, it wasn't as good as Pulborough but not bad and the judge gave us a big smile at the end which always makes me feel good!
Headed straight off to SJ as was chasing the black clouds. SJ there is on a slope, he has only jumped on grass 3 times this year due to all his foot problems, last time was Tweseldown in July which was flat and hard so this was a bit different. He was leaping around and launching at his fences and I thought this could be fun! First 3 fences went well but I lost his back end round the turn back to the planks at 4 and we got in a bit close but clear. Saw a bit of a stupidly long one to the oxer downhill at 5 and he launched and then tanked me down the hill on a very wonky wiggly line towards a very narrow, flimsy looking stile. Luck was on our side as managed to leave that up and made a good turn to the oxer at 6. Jumped that well so I rode forwards for my 5 strides to the double which had walked an exact 5 and I know with him to make 5 I have to ride pretty forwards but that is my new mantra so off I went only to find 3 strides away I was never going to make it, so ended up strangling his canter and he took out the first part and had to really stretch to make the 2nd part on one stride although at least we seem to have got out of the habit of putting 2 strides in a 1 stride which he did last year at Larkhill. A hairy right hand turn to another big oxer downhill we just about survived then he thought about stopping at the last fence as he clocked the flowers marking the finish - leg on and we finished. I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed with one down on a slippery arena on the side of a hill given our lack of match practice but it always feels like I've let him down so much when he's so good at the other 2 phases now and everything had been going so well in our lessons. A winter of SJ is in store for us I think.
Got a bit wet on the walk back to the lorry but fortunately just a shower and it cleared in time for us to go over to the XC. I felt rather sick which I'm not sure was the wine the night before or XC nerves but it wasn't good! He had a nap attack before we even got into the warmup, but jumped the warmup fences nicely. Optimum time for XC was down as 6mins8secs - I knew it had felt long when I walked it but given the hills I did wonder if he'd be fit enough given his lack of runs. I swear he knows his number because as soon as they called for us he went into reverse. Got friend to lead us round the start box and then he decided another attempt at rearing and reversing was needed. 10 seconds to go, big kick, 5seconds, got posted through the side of the start box and he was off like a rocket.
He soared over the first hanging log and tore off round the corner - I just love that feeling when he's really taking me. Had a bit of a look at the house at 2 and then uphill to the parallel rails at 3 but then he was off. Made sure to keep a bit of a lid on him as last time we did Larkhill he very narrowly missed too fast TP's. Downhill to 4 which was a simple up to height palisade which he flew, up a hill and round another corner and set up for 5 which was a double of skinny chase fences on 5 strides. Felt him looking for which fence was his, locked on and flew them both. Down another hill and flew a little rolltop then uphill, steady and got my line for a wide table then 5 strides to a corner. Got the line perfect and perfect stride to the table, leg on, 5 strides and felt the cheeky bugger go to go through his left shoulder - leg on and some err verbal encouragement and we were over safely.
Down another hill to another straightforward fence, up another hill (getting the sense it was hilly yet??) and set him up for an upright up to height rails at the top of a hill, got the canter, got the line, got the turn and he popped it beautifully before cruising downhill and back up the other side to a step up to brush, continue up the hill and round to a simple box fence. Along the top and set up for a rails then 2 strides to sunken road which he popped through nicely. Downhill, round a corner and pop a narrow hanging log, continue downhill to the water which was skinny brush, water to skinny brush, uphill to a carved log thing, then downhill to the big scary ditch brush which has become the size of the Cottesmore Leap in my head overnight! Saw a lovely forwards stride, tap on the neck with the whip and we were flying. Up another hill, turn ride for a 2 stride combo and then uphill to the last and through the finish still full of running. Any doubts about his fitness gone. He had flown round, made it all feel like a walk in the park and had his breath back halfway back to the lorry park. What a buzz! I absolutely love taking that horse XC. Cannot wait to fly round Badminton on him. Stupidly forgot to turn my hedcam on though :(
So, 29 dressage with a comment about being beautifully turned out :D and a clear 16secs inside the time meant we finished on 33. As usual for me, it was a super competitive section so we finished 8th out of 33. Did mean that was his tenth top 10 finish in a row. Am so lucky to have such a super duper horse. :D
Friday 18 October 2013
Fairoak Grange BD 18-10-13
Took Monty to Merrist Wood yesterday to hire out the indoor school and he was superb. Really chuffed with him. He is really mastering the lateral work in trot and we can now get perfectly respectable travers, renvers, leg yield, shoulder in and even half pass is coming along. He was powering around and felt so impressive - looked fab in the mirrors too. Canter lateral work he still doesn't seem to get, he doesn't move off my leg aid and just gets tight and tense. In fact generally I would go back to now saying his canter work is weaker than his trot work again. Funny how things swap and change. He did do some lovely counter canter and CC to trot transitions though. Just really need to build that strength behind in the canter.
So, we toddled off to Fairoak Grange today for some BD. Was looking forward to it as feel he is coming on so well at the moment. He warmed up beautifully which is generally a bad sign. If he's too soft and relaxed at the beginning of a warmup it generally means he'll be half asleep in the test itself! True to form he was behind my leg in the first test - N27 in the indoor arena. The test suits him well as it's busy and he was obedient but not taking me forwards as well as he could. Just scraped a qualifying score so 3 more points towards Regionals qualification. There were a lot of good bits which have improved - was very pleased with his two 1/2 10m circles in trot and his canter to trot after the diagonal and also his G&R in canter which is funny to think that 18mths ago he couldn't do that without impersonating a giraffe. His medium trots weren't so good though and only got 6 and 5 and he dropped me big style into the final halt and landed on his shoulders. Whole test was a mix of 6's and 7's. Collectives 7667. 65.71% Comments about needing to be more in front of the leg but willing and obedient. He was only 1 mark behind 2nd place but 3.5% behind 1st place so still lots of work to be done.
Took him back to the box for 25mins and then back on for a quick warmup and attempt to get him more in front of my leg for 2nd test but he was well and truly asleep by this point. He is just so flipping laid back he's nearly horizontal! His canter was well behind my leg to the point where he started nodding his head and I couldn't wake him up. He woke up a bit in the arena as it's quite exposed on top of a hill with some horses grazing in the field next door but it wasn't enough. He got an 8 for his first centre line but it was downhill after that (literally) - he dropped me in several transitions and cantered in his medium trot getting us a 4 for that movement. Encouragingly he did manage a 7 for his other medium trot though which is real progress. Collectives 7667. Judge: Pat Watts. Annoyingly finished just short of a qualifying mark on 64.52% and again was 1 mark behind 2nd place but 4.5% behind 1st. Usual comments about needing to be more supple and work more through from behind.
So, 3 more points towards regionals means we've got 11 now I think and he now has a total of 42 BD points. Need to think about if I want to qualify him for Prelim Regionals as needs to have under 49 proper points and I need another 5 Prelim points to qualify so need another outing at Prelim before I do any more Novice or do I concentrate on getting the results at Novice. Realistically he probably won't come anywhere in either class at Regionals level so wondering whether to bother or just concentrate on Petplans again next year as doing Regionals at Novice will stop us doing Petplans. Decisions!
Off to Larkhill tomorrow - staying away for the night and competing on Sunday in our last BE90 of the season. Assuming it goes ahead given forecast of rain, rain and more rain!
So, we toddled off to Fairoak Grange today for some BD. Was looking forward to it as feel he is coming on so well at the moment. He warmed up beautifully which is generally a bad sign. If he's too soft and relaxed at the beginning of a warmup it generally means he'll be half asleep in the test itself! True to form he was behind my leg in the first test - N27 in the indoor arena. The test suits him well as it's busy and he was obedient but not taking me forwards as well as he could. Just scraped a qualifying score so 3 more points towards Regionals qualification. There were a lot of good bits which have improved - was very pleased with his two 1/2 10m circles in trot and his canter to trot after the diagonal and also his G&R in canter which is funny to think that 18mths ago he couldn't do that without impersonating a giraffe. His medium trots weren't so good though and only got 6 and 5 and he dropped me big style into the final halt and landed on his shoulders. Whole test was a mix of 6's and 7's. Collectives 7667. 65.71% Comments about needing to be more in front of the leg but willing and obedient. He was only 1 mark behind 2nd place but 3.5% behind 1st place so still lots of work to be done.
Took him back to the box for 25mins and then back on for a quick warmup and attempt to get him more in front of my leg for 2nd test but he was well and truly asleep by this point. He is just so flipping laid back he's nearly horizontal! His canter was well behind my leg to the point where he started nodding his head and I couldn't wake him up. He woke up a bit in the arena as it's quite exposed on top of a hill with some horses grazing in the field next door but it wasn't enough. He got an 8 for his first centre line but it was downhill after that (literally) - he dropped me in several transitions and cantered in his medium trot getting us a 4 for that movement. Encouragingly he did manage a 7 for his other medium trot though which is real progress. Collectives 7667. Judge: Pat Watts. Annoyingly finished just short of a qualifying mark on 64.52% and again was 1 mark behind 2nd place but 4.5% behind 1st. Usual comments about needing to be more supple and work more through from behind.
So, 3 more points towards regionals means we've got 11 now I think and he now has a total of 42 BD points. Need to think about if I want to qualify him for Prelim Regionals as needs to have under 49 proper points and I need another 5 Prelim points to qualify so need another outing at Prelim before I do any more Novice or do I concentrate on getting the results at Novice. Realistically he probably won't come anywhere in either class at Regionals level so wondering whether to bother or just concentrate on Petplans again next year as doing Regionals at Novice will stop us doing Petplans. Decisions!
Off to Larkhill tomorrow - staying away for the night and competing on Sunday in our last BE90 of the season. Assuming it goes ahead given forecast of rain, rain and more rain!
Wednesday 16 October 2013
Mark Corbett SJ lesson - Parwood - 16-10-13
Today we hacked to Parwood in the pouring rain for a SJ lesson with Mark Corbett. Shared the lesson with an ex 2* horse who needed to work on control so started in the indoor with some canter poles which were on rather a long distance for Monts and he rather struggled with that - his canter really isn't that big without jumps in the way! Moved outside and fortunately rain had died down to a drizzle. Started with a x pole which he popped lovely then a 2 stride distance to a vertical which became a parallel and got to about 1.05m. Got it right every time and felt like he was flying. Got told off for letting him jump right though. Explained when he jumps off to the right he uses his 2 hindlegs in different places but if straight he pushes off them equally which gives him much more power. It also impacts in related distances, corners, doglegs etc so important to get him out of that habit.
We then moved onto a course. Started with grid then round to sheep upright on a left turn then sharp right turnback to big oxer. Totally messed up the line to the sheep and let him jump off to the right then nearly crashed into the fence attempting to turn right so pulled up. Told off for my rubbishy line to the sheep and had to try again. Took wider line to sheep, aimed for the centre but then thinking right, landed on the correct leg and made a nice right turn and met the oxer on a lovely forwards but controlled stride. Right sweeping turn to zebra upright then keep going round to dice, right turnback to wavy planks and left turnback to pink swirly where I hooked and let him jump right. Overall, not awful but must must remember to jump straight. Remember to take rhythm checks during the round, half halt, gather together, mustn't let reins get too long.
Next attempt at same course soooo much better. We did land in a bit of a muddle before the sharp right turnback to oxer but he said I did good to just sit and let him sort his legs out before continuing to ride forwards to the oxer. Rode the wavy planks brilliantly and he praised us for getting there on a really powerful stride. Got a slightly longer one to the last fence but we were straight and no hooking so happy with that. Really lovely round for me - if only they were all like that and I could remember all that when we go in the ring!
Finally had a discussion about doglegs. Important to get square on the turn, don't cut the corner, jump the middle of the fence, stay straight then outside aids to turn and stay forwards. It all comes down to my inability to ride forwards off a turn with less than 3 strides to the fence. So, went and rode a 5 stride dogleg and did it perfectly proving we can do it!
There's just soooooooooooo much to remember and think about whilst remembering where to go! Fine with that in a dressage test but just don't have the experience of doing it in the SJ arena. More and more practice needed but feel we could jump the moon if I always rode it like I did today.
Yesterday we did some flatwork schooling at home and I was so chuffed with how he went. He is really developing the strength from behind to carry himself in a more advanced outline. He is taking less and less warmup time to be able to achieve it. We avoided any lateral work in walk as he was seriously taking the mick and swinging his bum all over the place. Did some more half walk pirouettes which weren't as good as in lesson but tried to remember to look where I was going and weight to the inside. We did lots of counter canter and some 5m circles in walk into canter which really helps the walk to canter transition as really engages the hindleg. His right canter transitions are improving so much. In trot I worked on a rectangle rather than getting drawn into sticking to a 20m circle or the outside trench. Meant I could work on getting good corners and using the corners to engage him. Real effort to think about keeping him straight on the left rein and not letting him overflex to the inside. Couple of medium trots across the diagonal - hard in the short school to rebalance him in time for the corner when he does give it to me but pleased with his efforts. Some lovely straight centre lines and halts to. Doing BE92 on Sunday could be interesting as BE95 and N27 both have walk onto centre line, trot D to G but 92 has walk to halt at X and think he will anticipate the trot.
Looking forwards to hiring out the huge indoor school at Merrist Wood tomorrow to practice our lateral work which is so much easier with sooooo much space! Then we have BD at Fairoak Grange on Friday - N27 and N38 which suit him so really looking forwards to seeing how he goes. Mission forwards!
We then moved onto a course. Started with grid then round to sheep upright on a left turn then sharp right turnback to big oxer. Totally messed up the line to the sheep and let him jump off to the right then nearly crashed into the fence attempting to turn right so pulled up. Told off for my rubbishy line to the sheep and had to try again. Took wider line to sheep, aimed for the centre but then thinking right, landed on the correct leg and made a nice right turn and met the oxer on a lovely forwards but controlled stride. Right sweeping turn to zebra upright then keep going round to dice, right turnback to wavy planks and left turnback to pink swirly where I hooked and let him jump right. Overall, not awful but must must remember to jump straight. Remember to take rhythm checks during the round, half halt, gather together, mustn't let reins get too long.
Next attempt at same course soooo much better. We did land in a bit of a muddle before the sharp right turnback to oxer but he said I did good to just sit and let him sort his legs out before continuing to ride forwards to the oxer. Rode the wavy planks brilliantly and he praised us for getting there on a really powerful stride. Got a slightly longer one to the last fence but we were straight and no hooking so happy with that. Really lovely round for me - if only they were all like that and I could remember all that when we go in the ring!
Finally had a discussion about doglegs. Important to get square on the turn, don't cut the corner, jump the middle of the fence, stay straight then outside aids to turn and stay forwards. It all comes down to my inability to ride forwards off a turn with less than 3 strides to the fence. So, went and rode a 5 stride dogleg and did it perfectly proving we can do it!
There's just soooooooooooo much to remember and think about whilst remembering where to go! Fine with that in a dressage test but just don't have the experience of doing it in the SJ arena. More and more practice needed but feel we could jump the moon if I always rode it like I did today.
Yesterday we did some flatwork schooling at home and I was so chuffed with how he went. He is really developing the strength from behind to carry himself in a more advanced outline. He is taking less and less warmup time to be able to achieve it. We avoided any lateral work in walk as he was seriously taking the mick and swinging his bum all over the place. Did some more half walk pirouettes which weren't as good as in lesson but tried to remember to look where I was going and weight to the inside. We did lots of counter canter and some 5m circles in walk into canter which really helps the walk to canter transition as really engages the hindleg. His right canter transitions are improving so much. In trot I worked on a rectangle rather than getting drawn into sticking to a 20m circle or the outside trench. Meant I could work on getting good corners and using the corners to engage him. Real effort to think about keeping him straight on the left rein and not letting him overflex to the inside. Couple of medium trots across the diagonal - hard in the short school to rebalance him in time for the corner when he does give it to me but pleased with his efforts. Some lovely straight centre lines and halts to. Doing BE92 on Sunday could be interesting as BE95 and N27 both have walk onto centre line, trot D to G but 92 has walk to halt at X and think he will anticipate the trot.
Looking forwards to hiring out the huge indoor school at Merrist Wood tomorrow to practice our lateral work which is so much easier with sooooo much space! Then we have BD at Fairoak Grange on Friday - N27 and N38 which suit him so really looking forwards to seeing how he goes. Mission forwards!
Monday 14 October 2013
Pulborough BE90 - 13-10-13
I went fence judging the day before in beautiful sunshine but sadly the forecast for Sunday was awful :( Walked the XC course on Saturday and it looked good. Mostly a typical 90. Only thing that got me thinking was on the gallop home there was a roll top off to the right, heading straight into some trees followed 2 strides later by a 90degree turn to the left, 2 strides to a skinny brush rolltop on the way out - thought that would be interesting on wet ground and a tiring horse on his gallop home.
Left him in overnight all plaited up so minimal work to do in the morning. Awoke to light, misty rain and thought this isn't too bad so off we went. Stopped off on the way to pick up another which added an hour to the journey.
Off to warmup for dressage and he was beautiful from the word go. The warmup was on the side of a steep hill but he felt really balanced and he was soft and forwards from the off. Perhaps keeping him in the night before suits him. It didn't suit his legs though - they filled up like tree trunks and he was coughing a bit. If I do it again I'll bandage his legs. I did some counter canter in the warmup and some transitions but missed out the walk lateral work so as not to make him too wobbly. Test was on a flat arena at the bottom of the hill and they'd moved them over from the day before but did mean you had the old centre line just off to the side of the new one which was a bit off-putting. Cantered round the edge of the arena then in we went for BE95 and he was lovely - really forwards. Only little mistake was him cantering slightly early in the first canter - he went off before C instead of after C so corrected him back to trot and asked again. Lovely square halt to finish - so chuffed with him - huge improvement on BCA the other week - ground was much softer so sure he appreciated that. Judge gave me a big smile at the end so that was nice. Big pats for Monts.
Video:
Piccies:
By now the rain was chucking it down. Went off to see if they would let me go early in the SJ and learn the course. Shame I didn't get to walk it as there was a dogleg and some related distances and curved lines and could have done with knowing the striding. The warmup was already looking horrible but I figured we didn't need to do too much having just got him going nicely for SJ. Got him into the warmup and he was just not impressed - felt like he was tip-toeing around as the ground had broken up and got lumpy but not gone to slush. Had planned to do similar warm-up to what we did in the SJ lesson on Wed but I couldn't do any on and back as too slippery. I did a few 5m circles in walk and walk to canter but couldn't collect him enough to do canter to walk. Popped over the x-pole and he flew it so thought I'd go in on that.
SJ warmup:
Got a good stride to 1 but landed on wrong leg and then he went disunited so tried to get back to counter canter and got that back on the way out of the turn. Looking at photo he jumped way off to the right again which is hardly going to help with landing on the left lead so really need to work on that in next jumping session. Jumping right over everything is not good. 2 was ok but he jumped off to the right again and I knew 3 should be on 7 forward strides but instead I strangled the canter to fit in 8, he got a bit close and booted out the top rail in front. So annoyed with myself - totally against all the forward riding I've been working on. Rode forwards round the corner and met 4 nicely then round another right turn to 5 which we got in too close to - I knew 6 was on a forwards 4 strides and I know that 4 is his worst for getting if he's not forwards enough and knowing he'd landed short from 5 I decided to hold for 5 strides which meant he got in short to 6 as well but cleared it, round left bend to 7 and keep curving left to 8 and 9 - I think we met all of them a bit close because I just didn't have him going forwards enough. Fence 10 was a one stride double still on the left curve and gave myself a mental kick to ride forwards into it, met it perfectly and flew through it. So annoyed with myself. I knew we were likely to have a rail down at some point as his record has been immaculate but that was totally my fault and I'm lucky we didn't have more. Lack of any decent warmup didn't do me any favours as wasn't thinking forwards.
Video:
Piccies:
Fence 9:
Fence 10a:
Fence 10b:
Fence 5:
Fence 6:
Fence 4:
Fence 2:
Fence1:
At this point had to decide whether to go XC. It was still hammering it down. My dressage score wasn't up yet. I had a feeling it would probably be quite good but thought a rail down would likely put us out of qualifying places. Besides all that I was really worried about how he would cope with the ground. He is ok in mud having hunted plenty but he doesn't like slippery and I was hearing reports of horses losing their back ends. His jumping confidence is fairly fragile and I knew that if he started losing his footing he would start chipping in short ones which we really don't need and from past experience it takes him a long time to get out of that habit once he's had a bad round. I also knew if I was to come anywhere I'd have to ride for the time and I wasn't feeling the love for that given I knew it was slippery. So I made the decision to withdraw :( Walked over to tell secretary to see I'd got 26.5 dressage and was 3rd after dressage, about 5th after SJ. Gutting to be withdrawing but my support team also felt it was the right thing to do for him. He doesn't need to run and I have to look after him thinking of Badminton and all we've been through this year and last with injuries. Ever since getting home I've been in a right grump and thinking I just should have manned up and got on with it and run him as would have been nice to get another Regionals in the bag for next year but I'm sure it was the right decision for him and he certainly thanked me for not running him in that. It was a very expensive combined training outing though and so frustrating that the weather was perfect the day before.
Dressage sheet - he gave me an error of course for the canter transition which whilst it was nothing to do with me worked out better than being given a 4 for breaking into canter when he should have been trotting. So, without that mistake we'd have been on 25.5 (his PB is 24.5). I am so pleased with how much his dressage has improved - we're talking 10% on 2yrs ago. I've worked so hard on it and it's so rewarding to see all that paying off. Judge was Steve Smith - list 4. 2 above me after dressage were on 21.5 and 22 so still lots more marks for us to pull up to 8's to match that.
So, theoretically we should be at Larkhill on Sunday but currently the forecast is terrible. There's no point me getting up at 5am to go all that way not to run him so will have to watch and wait. It's chalk there so will drain quickly if it's dry on the day but SJ is on a slope and I know he'll hate it if it's slippery. Please please let me get a last run in. I know I've achieved the most important thing this season but I've evented even less than last season so far and it's such an expensive sport to train for to only run a handful of times.
This week we have a SJ lesson at Parwood on Wed with Mark Corbett - I will be asking to work on course jumping and stopping him jumping right all the time. Terrible habit I've let him get into. Then we are hiring the indoor at Merrist Wood on Thursday to work on our dressage. Friday we have BD at Fairoak - 2 of my favourite tests for him - N27 and N38 so really hoping to get a couple of qualifying scores and net a few more points towards Winter Regionals - need 11 more by end of November. Sounds a lot but he can get 8-10 in a day on a good day so should be achievable.
Still trying to decide what to do with him next week. It's my SJ that needs work so thinking need to go at least once - there is BSJA at Crofton on Fri which has British Novice and a 1m Open and we really should be capable of those after doing 1m10 last Wed at MW but the thought scares the life out of me. Will also require very early get up as 1st classes of the day. Never done BSJA either so bit scary. Really ought to man up and get on with it. They also have unaff there on Sunday with a 3ft and 3ft3 class - could do that as well or instead of or just do Friday and do something different on Sunday. There is BE SJ training with Warren Lamperd near Hook on Sunday so could get another SJ lesson with someone different in. MC is also teaching at Parwood again on Wed. Oldencraig has DTM on Fri which we could probably get late entry for. Thinking I might take Llewi out with the draghunt on Wed. The thought of hunting Monty scares the life out of me at the moment - much as I would adore to take him out jumping hedges he is soooo precious now and needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool until Badminton. I might take him a couple of times to the meets where I know there's no hedges with dodgy hidden ditches and good ground as I think he might go stale on me if he's stuck in an arena until May but we'll see. Really need to make some decisions about next week now though - so rubbish when there's so much choice!
Course photos of the XC:
Left him in overnight all plaited up so minimal work to do in the morning. Awoke to light, misty rain and thought this isn't too bad so off we went. Stopped off on the way to pick up another which added an hour to the journey.
Off to warmup for dressage and he was beautiful from the word go. The warmup was on the side of a steep hill but he felt really balanced and he was soft and forwards from the off. Perhaps keeping him in the night before suits him. It didn't suit his legs though - they filled up like tree trunks and he was coughing a bit. If I do it again I'll bandage his legs. I did some counter canter in the warmup and some transitions but missed out the walk lateral work so as not to make him too wobbly. Test was on a flat arena at the bottom of the hill and they'd moved them over from the day before but did mean you had the old centre line just off to the side of the new one which was a bit off-putting. Cantered round the edge of the arena then in we went for BE95 and he was lovely - really forwards. Only little mistake was him cantering slightly early in the first canter - he went off before C instead of after C so corrected him back to trot and asked again. Lovely square halt to finish - so chuffed with him - huge improvement on BCA the other week - ground was much softer so sure he appreciated that. Judge gave me a big smile at the end so that was nice. Big pats for Monts.
Video:
Piccies:
By now the rain was chucking it down. Went off to see if they would let me go early in the SJ and learn the course. Shame I didn't get to walk it as there was a dogleg and some related distances and curved lines and could have done with knowing the striding. The warmup was already looking horrible but I figured we didn't need to do too much having just got him going nicely for SJ. Got him into the warmup and he was just not impressed - felt like he was tip-toeing around as the ground had broken up and got lumpy but not gone to slush. Had planned to do similar warm-up to what we did in the SJ lesson on Wed but I couldn't do any on and back as too slippery. I did a few 5m circles in walk and walk to canter but couldn't collect him enough to do canter to walk. Popped over the x-pole and he flew it so thought I'd go in on that.
SJ warmup:
Got a good stride to 1 but landed on wrong leg and then he went disunited so tried to get back to counter canter and got that back on the way out of the turn. Looking at photo he jumped way off to the right again which is hardly going to help with landing on the left lead so really need to work on that in next jumping session. Jumping right over everything is not good. 2 was ok but he jumped off to the right again and I knew 3 should be on 7 forward strides but instead I strangled the canter to fit in 8, he got a bit close and booted out the top rail in front. So annoyed with myself - totally against all the forward riding I've been working on. Rode forwards round the corner and met 4 nicely then round another right turn to 5 which we got in too close to - I knew 6 was on a forwards 4 strides and I know that 4 is his worst for getting if he's not forwards enough and knowing he'd landed short from 5 I decided to hold for 5 strides which meant he got in short to 6 as well but cleared it, round left bend to 7 and keep curving left to 8 and 9 - I think we met all of them a bit close because I just didn't have him going forwards enough. Fence 10 was a one stride double still on the left curve and gave myself a mental kick to ride forwards into it, met it perfectly and flew through it. So annoyed with myself. I knew we were likely to have a rail down at some point as his record has been immaculate but that was totally my fault and I'm lucky we didn't have more. Lack of any decent warmup didn't do me any favours as wasn't thinking forwards.
Video:
Piccies:
Fence 9:
Fence 10a:
Fence 10b:
Fence 5:
Fence 6:
Fence 4:
Fence 2:
Fence1:
At this point had to decide whether to go XC. It was still hammering it down. My dressage score wasn't up yet. I had a feeling it would probably be quite good but thought a rail down would likely put us out of qualifying places. Besides all that I was really worried about how he would cope with the ground. He is ok in mud having hunted plenty but he doesn't like slippery and I was hearing reports of horses losing their back ends. His jumping confidence is fairly fragile and I knew that if he started losing his footing he would start chipping in short ones which we really don't need and from past experience it takes him a long time to get out of that habit once he's had a bad round. I also knew if I was to come anywhere I'd have to ride for the time and I wasn't feeling the love for that given I knew it was slippery. So I made the decision to withdraw :( Walked over to tell secretary to see I'd got 26.5 dressage and was 3rd after dressage, about 5th after SJ. Gutting to be withdrawing but my support team also felt it was the right thing to do for him. He doesn't need to run and I have to look after him thinking of Badminton and all we've been through this year and last with injuries. Ever since getting home I've been in a right grump and thinking I just should have manned up and got on with it and run him as would have been nice to get another Regionals in the bag for next year but I'm sure it was the right decision for him and he certainly thanked me for not running him in that. It was a very expensive combined training outing though and so frustrating that the weather was perfect the day before.
Dressage sheet - he gave me an error of course for the canter transition which whilst it was nothing to do with me worked out better than being given a 4 for breaking into canter when he should have been trotting. So, without that mistake we'd have been on 25.5 (his PB is 24.5). I am so pleased with how much his dressage has improved - we're talking 10% on 2yrs ago. I've worked so hard on it and it's so rewarding to see all that paying off. Judge was Steve Smith - list 4. 2 above me after dressage were on 21.5 and 22 so still lots more marks for us to pull up to 8's to match that.
So, theoretically we should be at Larkhill on Sunday but currently the forecast is terrible. There's no point me getting up at 5am to go all that way not to run him so will have to watch and wait. It's chalk there so will drain quickly if it's dry on the day but SJ is on a slope and I know he'll hate it if it's slippery. Please please let me get a last run in. I know I've achieved the most important thing this season but I've evented even less than last season so far and it's such an expensive sport to train for to only run a handful of times.
This week we have a SJ lesson at Parwood on Wed with Mark Corbett - I will be asking to work on course jumping and stopping him jumping right all the time. Terrible habit I've let him get into. Then we are hiring the indoor at Merrist Wood on Thursday to work on our dressage. Friday we have BD at Fairoak - 2 of my favourite tests for him - N27 and N38 so really hoping to get a couple of qualifying scores and net a few more points towards Winter Regionals - need 11 more by end of November. Sounds a lot but he can get 8-10 in a day on a good day so should be achievable.
Still trying to decide what to do with him next week. It's my SJ that needs work so thinking need to go at least once - there is BSJA at Crofton on Fri which has British Novice and a 1m Open and we really should be capable of those after doing 1m10 last Wed at MW but the thought scares the life out of me. Will also require very early get up as 1st classes of the day. Never done BSJA either so bit scary. Really ought to man up and get on with it. They also have unaff there on Sunday with a 3ft and 3ft3 class - could do that as well or instead of or just do Friday and do something different on Sunday. There is BE SJ training with Warren Lamperd near Hook on Sunday so could get another SJ lesson with someone different in. MC is also teaching at Parwood again on Wed. Oldencraig has DTM on Fri which we could probably get late entry for. Thinking I might take Llewi out with the draghunt on Wed. The thought of hunting Monty scares the life out of me at the moment - much as I would adore to take him out jumping hedges he is soooo precious now and needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool until Badminton. I might take him a couple of times to the meets where I know there's no hedges with dodgy hidden ditches and good ground as I think he might go stale on me if he's stuck in an arena until May but we'll see. Really need to make some decisions about next week now though - so rubbish when there's so much choice!
Course photos of the XC:
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