Journey of the orange horse on his road to Badminton Grassroots

Welcome to our blog - me, a 31 year old small animal veterinary surgeon based in Surrey and my orange horse, more correctly known as Marmalade Monty, a 15 year old, 15.2hh, TB x Welsh Cob gelding.

I came across Mr. Orange back in 2010.  I bought him as a jumping schoolmaster and to replace my old hunter.  He had done some BE100's back when he was 6yrs old and had more recently been doing BSJA.  His flatwork was shocking and he was more than a little bit sharp to hack but I have a fondness for slightly quirky, naughty horses and a secret passion for dressage so he seemed perfect.  I had him on trial for a month and he took me round the BE90 course at Munstead hunter trials in the 2nd week.  No chance he was going anywhere after that.  I hadn't done SJ or XC higher than 2ft6 before this and had severely lost confidence in SJ after a nasty fall from my first horse resulted in 3days in the Royal Surrey Hospital.

So, we spent the winter with the poor horse trying to cope with the wibbling idiot on top attempting to get round a SJ course and with me trying to coerce the ginger giraffe into something resembling a dressage outline.  We also did a bit of draghunting and he turned out to be the perfect hunter with a love for hedges and some form of brakes - good that worked out well given I had no idea if he'd ever hunted when I bought him as a hunter!

Somehow in April 2011 I found myself trotting down the centre line at Tweseldown unaffiliated 80 and even more amazingly coming home with a double clear and a handful of time faults for our first rosette.  Well, that was it - the eventing bug was well and truly caught.  Had an amazing season, coming 2nd in our first unaffiliated 90 at Mattingley, followed by 2nd at Borde Hill BE and finishing with a double clear round the BE100 at Munstead.  We even qualified for a BE90 Regional Final but sadly the ginger giraffe wasn't quite under control and we were last after dressage on 42 - oops!

Another winter of hunting ensued, probably more hunting than the work that should have been going into the dressage but we had lots of fun!

Before I knew it, 2012 was upon us.  We set off at BE90 again with the aim of consolidating before moving up to 100.  Five top ten placings out of five seemed like a good start so we entered the 100 at Borde Hill, but disaster struck a few days before.  He came in from the field with a fat leg.  Once the initial swelling had subsided it became clear there was a specific swelling over his tendon which would go down with rest but even a gentle hack brought it back up.  A scan revealed the possibility of a few tendon fibres being disrupted and a full tendon rehab program was recommended.  He wasn't ever lame on it so it was hard to believe we had to stop everything but it wasn't worth the risk to continue.

Fast forward 8 long months of rehab and a lot of flatwork and we started 2013 with a bang.  All the walking in straight lines had finally straightened him out and no jumping forced me to banish the ginger giraffe for once and for all.  He led from start to finish at Tweseldown BE90 in March and finished on his dressage score of 29!  Finally, a sub-30 dressage - I'd almost thought it impossible.

Sadly, disaster struck again all of a couple of weeks later.  A mysterious left forelimb lameness which started off very subtle but got dramatically worse until he was completely non weight bearing yet neither the farrier nor my horse vet could find anything wrong.  It was definitely in his foot but no sign of the cause.  No abscess ever appeared so we suspected deep bruising - perhaps he had trodden on something at Tweseldown, or in the field - we'll never know.  There ensued the most frustrating year ever.  Just when we thought he'd come right, we'd up the work, all would be fine, run him and he'd go lame again.  We played around with his shoeing, he had xrays and MRI scans which were remarkably normal yet something in his left fore continued to niggle.  He won again at Tweseldown BE90 in July, this time on an amazing score of 24.5 but he was lame again the next day.  

Made a decision then to have him shod by the remedial farrier at Liphook as his left fore foot was starting to look very strange.  He made a fabulous difference in a handful of shoeings and we were given the all clear to go to the last BE90 Regionals in the area - BCA on 1st October.  Our dressage was awful compared to what he is now capable of - I was convinced 32.5 would have us way down the leaderboard and wanted to go home but was persuaded to stay and SJ which he did brilliantly.  Then found out we were in 7th place so went off and did his customary clear inside the time XC.  Final results initially suggested we were going to stay in 7th - so near, yet so far, totally gutted.  But then found out we had sneaked into 6th place by virtue of being 1second closer to the optimum time XC than the person on equal dressage score.  Talk about by the skin of our teeth but we'd done it - we were qualified for the Grassroots Championships at Badminton!  Lots of tears and smiles and general hysterics and I'm still not sure it's quite sunk in.  I knew from the start he was good enough to get there but something always seemed to thwart us.  Now just have my fingers and toes crossed we can make it there in one piece.  Wishing someone would invent a bubble wrap onesie for accident prone orange horses!

Next time:

A review of our winter training and plans for the 2014 season.

January catch-up

We seem to have made it to the end of January with no blogging so going to attempt a round-up of the entire month.

In summary, he is feeling great, jumping really well and his dressage is really coming on too.

4th Jan - Chris Burton SJ lesson

He had us trotting over a small x-pole in a steady trot then 4 even strides down to an oxer which got bigger and bigger and bigger and then halting in a straight line afterwards.  He was pinging - such a fab feeling.  Then worked on a course - he said I had a good eye for a distance which was nice.  Needed to open my inside rein to get the right lead on landing.  Also need to get him more off my leg - he seriously told me off for nagging him with my leg/spur every stride.  He is just such a lazy bugger - minimal effort is definitely his style.  He minced down to this 1m20 oxer and just pinged it like it was nothing, clearing it by a mile and still dangling his feet over the top - the only time I've seen him really tuck his legs up was over a 6ft hedge!

Wed 8th Jan - Carl Belson SJ lesson - Merrist Wood
Mostly worked on jumping on a circle which is my weak point so good practice.  Had a circle of plank uprights and a circle of oxers going up to 1m10 and he was pinging - even when we got in a bit deep he really powered over them.  He felt fab!  Just have to remember to keep that canter going somewhere and use my leg on takeoff.

Fri 10th Jan - Sara Jane Lanning lesson - Merrist Wood
More work on half pass and flying changes.  He didn't really get the changes on a circle.  Ignored me mostly.  If I tapped him with the whip he changed in front, bucked and changed back in front.  Once he changed in front and then several strides later behind but generally it was a bit of a disaster.  He got the idea a bit more if I asked him after the half pass but still not changing properly behind.  Decided he wasn't really round enough and soft over his back which was causing probs in the half pass too so then worked on getting him rounder, especially in the walk as if not soft there then can't get the canter transition soft.  Generally the quality of his canter had come on massively though - lots more homework to do though!

15th Jan - evening eventers dressage - Merrist Wood
Warmup in half of the indoor arena with the mirrors - excellent - worth going just for that!  He warmed up beautifully.  Came 2nd in the BE102 with 70% and 2nd in N111 with 66.5%.  Very happy with that.  Even got an 8 from judge in BE102 - wasn't sure she knew what 8's were as without fail we've only ever got mid 60's from her before no matter what level test we've done.

19th Jan - BE JAS - Merrist Wood
Felt like we had a nice, forwards canter from the off in the warmup.  Warmed up nicely, awake from the start, no chipping in, jumping really well.  First round - BE90, really nice and rhythmical - moved him on for the XC section and he never hesitated.  Awesome result of 6th out of 60something on a style mark of 13 - got told not to rely on hands too much.  Even won £20!  Hour's rest then onto the BE100 - again, warmed up nicely but SJ section not quite as fluent as not sure he was 100% awake for first few fences so got  few distances a bit wrong.  Really woke him up for XC though as knew time was tight and he flew.  One of only 3 double clears inside in the time out of 65.  Style mark of 15.  Finished 11th.  Great day!

25th Jan - Dan Jocelyn SJ lesson - Ecchinswell
Told to put my stirrups up a hole and really think about stability of lower leg.  He warmed up easily over a fence on a circle but I was probably cheating by squaring off the turns a bit.  Then we moved onto a angled fence on a squewy circle and totally mucked it up and asked him to go on a long stride from a nothingy canter and he hesitated, tripped over the top pole and nearly went down.  Stupid rider.  Moved onto a course which went well until the dreaded angled fence where I did the same thing again - idiot.  Dan walked a better line with me and after that we did it right.  We did some curved lines on a related 6 strides, a related 3 strides - oxer to plank and a 1 stride double and he made it feel easy.

26th Jan - Royal Leisure BSJA
Torrential rain but fortunately all indoors there so worth the trip.  Warmed up nicely, taking me forwards and no iffy jumps - yay!  Started with British Novice and he jumped a nice rhythmical clear round - I think he was a little lucky with a couple of rubs but it felt great.

Think I let the excitement go to my head slightly in the jump off and chased him down what was already a long 5 stride distance to push him flat and knock the 2nd fence.  Then it got a bit wild, nearly topped off round the corner and only just made the last fence - oops.  How not to ride a jump off!

Nice pic though:

Short break before the 95cm amateur - course was full of curved lines, uprights off corners and all the things we've been practising.  Felt like a really nice round so no idea how we ended on 8f.  He was slightly long to the first part of the double and just touched the pole on the way in - it rolled back and forth a bit but went and then came down with his back legs on the final fence which was all of about 80cm!!!  Was looking forwards to doing the jump off - grrrr.  Walked the course for the 1m Open afterwards and definitely looked doable so planning a 1m class next time!

Was meant to go to more evening eventers dressage this evening but it was raining very cold rain and he was coughing a bit in my schooling session yesterday so didn't think it was the best idea to take him out in that weather, given he detests getting wet so much.

So, that was January.  February starts with more BSJA on Sunday, some BD the following week, more JAS (crazily entered the BE100 and the Novice!), 3 classes at the BD Winter Regionals, a couple of SJ lessons, a dressage lesson, some fitness work and hopefully a bit of XC schooling as first event is on 1st March!!!  Phew!

2013 round-up

Well I just looked back to see if I made any aims for 2013 but I guess as he was coming back from injury at the time I didn't bother.  So, no written aims but I'm pretty sure my aims were to get back out eventing, qualify for Regionals and qualify for Badminton!  I know I did also want to do the Blenheim Eventers Challenge which didn't happen and also to qualify for Area Festivals at Novice - qualifying for the finals wasn't on the agenda.

So, given we missed a large proportion of the year due to his mysterious foot problems, here is a list of what we did achieve this year;

March brought our first BE win in horrendous conditions at Tweseldown in the BE90, finishing on our dressage score of 29.  Such an amazing feeling to finally get a win and he made it feel easy.

Sadly, March also brought the start of his lameness problems so we didn't get back to eventing again until BCA in June - he felt good, he ran well finishing on his dressage score of 30.5 but sadly that only got us 9th place so no more Regionals qualifications and even worse, despite a trip to the spa afterwards he was lame again the next day.

More time off and we got back on the road again in time for Tweseldown in July.  In hindsight the ground was probably a bit hard for him given his problems but he did an awesome dressage test for 24.5 and I had no doubts about his soundness.  He wasn't jumping that well in the SJ warmup though and eventually threw in a stop and deposited me on the ground.  Again, with hindsight possibly should have stopped there but went into the ring and he jumped a great clear round and didn't seem to be feeling his feet at all so decided to take him XC and he flew round bagging another win.  Sadly, the following day he was slightly off again and an MRI scan followed shortly afterwards - fortunately it showed no soft tissue damage so he started being shod by the remedial farrier at Liphook which worked brilliantly.  Natural balance shoes all round and my happy horse was back.

In August we went to the Area Festivals at Oldencraig and came 4th in the Novice, qualifying for the Finals - mounted prize giving was great fun!  We also did an Elementary Music qualifier at Pachesham and won on 68%, qualifying for the Regionals.

In September we did the Area Festivals at Wellington and he was 3rd in the Novice in a huge class, and 2nd in the Novice Freestyle getting over 70% and qualification for the Regionals.

In October, the ground had finally softened enough for us to be allowed to go eventing again.  BCA BE90 Regionals was our first competition back.  We made too many green mistakes in the dressage and I thought our chances were blown but with his customary double clear he snuck into 6th place (the final qualifying spot) by virtue of being one second faster XC than the person on the same dressage score as us.  Talk about close.  So, despite the most stop start year ever, we had finally achieved our ultimate aim - Badminton Grassroots and am finding it hard to contain my excitement and I just hope I can keep him sound until then.

The rest of October saw a couple of very wet events - Pulborough I elected not to run XC in torrential rain despite being in 3rd place on 25.5 after dressage as I couldn't justify the risk.  Larkhill he did a nice enough dressage, but I didn't ride great in the SJ and so one down left us in 8th place.  He was awesome XC though.  Followed that up with a couple of trips back there for HT and he zoomed round the RC Open track  clear, although a bit slow (mostly BE100 with a few Novice fences thrown in for good measure) as ground was very holding.

November we had a blitz on dressage and managed to get enough points for Prelim/Novice Winter Regionals, winning 5 out of 6 classes including a Prelim on over 72% and an Elem on 68% (3.5% clear of the rest).

December we have had some fun with some hunting and jumping and not so much dressage.

And now we look forwards to 2014 - our aims are:

• number one would be to have a year without injury
• I would be over the moon to get a double clear at Badminton and to come in the top ten would be absolutely amazing - he is capable but we will need some luck on our sides
• To come top ten in any of our Regionals classes/Petplan Finals would also be a super achievement
• Moving on from there I would like to get 3 double clears at BE100 and get to the Blenheim Challenge and also qualify for a BE100 Regional Finals and dare I say it, qualify for Badders 2015!
• We are also working hard on the dressage and I'd like to do the Area Festivals at Elem and get top 10.
• Would also like to do a Medium Freestyle and get over 60% in a straight Medium test.  I've never done an affiliated Medium so that would be a great achievement, especially with my little giraffe.

A busy month of lessons

Well it seems I haven't blogged for the whole of Dec so let me see if I can remember what we've learnt this month.  We haven't competed since BD at the beginning of the month, just concentrated on lessons and we've been hunting 3 times which Monty has really enjoyed and has reminded me what a super hunter he is - happy to just sit behind the master and take everything in his stride.  Flew a lovely hedge on Boxing Day easy peasy.

SJ lesson - Thundry Farm 04-12-13
Too long ago to remember full details.  Tried him in a hanging cheek french link snaffle but he didn't think much of it and was pretty argumentative.  Tried to get him more on his bum by doing some direct transitions, using my weight to bring him back but he really struggles to do canter to walk unless it's from a nice collected dressage canter.  Considering we've not long perfected the dressage canter to walk I think it will take more work before he can walk nicely from a more forwards canter.  Need to sit up more between fences - think of zipping up jacket to take the weight off his shoulders.  Also need him to react much quicker to a signal to come back to me after a fence and get sorted on the new leg much quicker so can sort the canter out ready for the next fence.  Pleased with how he jumped though, I wasn't interfering and he was shortening and lengthening as needed to meet the fences in an ok take-off point.

dressage lesson - Merrist Wood - SJL - 13-12-13
We ran through E59 which is the toughest Ele and apart from it being very busy and me not being used to prepping all the movements so quick we had a pretty good bash at it.  We really worked on getting him in more of a Ele outline all the time, inc the walk which is where I tend to let him slop along all strung out.  Need to put him in his box and keep him there.  Finished with some work on the trot half pass thinking quarters in on the diagonal line and he did some very good attempts on the left rein - told it was worthy of a 7 already!  Not quite there on the right rein yet - remember to circle away to the right if losing the bend then try again.  Also remember to keep the trot steady, can't do it if going too fast.  We had one attempt at changes, bringing him across the short diagonal then asking for the change as we hit the long side - be very clear with inside leg right forwards and outside leg back.  If no change then onto the circle and keep asking, use whip to tap quarters if needed and be prepared to ride forwards into the change. Correct time to ask for change when leading leg is on the ground.  He had a go and did change but trotted behind and needed to ask him more forwards at this point.

SJ lesson - Thundry Farm 18-12-13
He was an absolute idiot about something in the corner, it was very very windy and he decided couldn't possibly do anything and had to reverse round the school at speed.  Ended up putting him on the lunge until he was tired and then trying again.  Daft horse.  Initially tried him in the pelham that I use for hunting which had the desired result of making him go in an outline but he hated it and wouldn't go forwards so don't think that's the key to success with him.  After that swapped to a happy mouth straight bar and he was much happier - more of his typical giraffe but really concentrated on flexing him to the inside and riding forwards and we did then do some good jumping on a serpentine which really had me thinking and turning quickly.  Still need to ride more forwards on the turns though and look up!  Find it so hard to ride forward to a fence on a circle where I can't see a stride - more practice needed!

SJ lesson - Merrist Wood - Harry Meade 28-12-13
Pleased with how he warmed up.  Stuck with straight bar happy mouth and he was lovely and soft and really working in a nice outline whilst keeping forwards.  Took advantage of the mirrors to do some work on our walk piris and they are really coming on nicely.  Did some 5m circles in walk and up to canter and then using bodywt to get canter to walk which is improving.  Moved on to work over a pole on a circle.  Was told to counter flex at 3,6,9 and 12 o'clock with one of those being over the pole so they couldn't bulge to the outside and lose their power.  In between should lift the hand and flex to the inside.  Monty didn't seem to like this much at all and was really resisting me.  The lifting the inside hand was to stop us pulling back and down onto the thigh as this just blocks the hindleg from coming through which made sense but not the way to get Monty on the bit.  Told to put his martingale back on which I think I might do but fairly loosely as I do think not having it helps when he has to do a spectacular jump to get us out of trouble sometimes (albeit this hasn't had to happen for a while so I think I'll try with it again)

Moved on to cantering over 2 poles and seeing how many strides they naturally put in - Monts did 11 so then we had to practice doing 10 and 12.  I think both of us found this quite easy - his stride is much easier to alter these days and I'm better at seeing how many strides I have to a fence further away.  We then had to trot round a square corner, over a x-pole in trot, back into trot, 90degrees turn to another x pole, land in canter and go back round over the poles in the opposite number of strides.  Monts wasn't quite sure about trotting over jumps in a slow trot but we got there.  Also had to give away the new inside rein on landing which rather gave it away that he is used to me turning him from the inside rein as he felt the only contact on the outside rein and tried to turn that way, so def need to think more about turning him from my outside aids.

Finished with jumping on a serpentine with straight lines to the fences - easier in the big school than in our lesson at Thundry.  I remembered to kick on and not hold back to the fences and if he landed on the wrong leg I just pushed him forwards to sort out the change of leg as not enough time to be trotting and changing leg.  He sorted himself out and got told it was good.

JAS clinic - Merrist Wood - Mark Smith 29-12-13
Had a big grin on my face for the entire clinic.  Monts was definitely top of the class.  He didn't knock a fence for the entire session.  He felt forwards and up for it and his canter felt lovely and springy.  I did more walk piris in the warmup as well as 5m circles in walk, up to canter then bodywt back and back to walk.  As soon as we started jumping he just felt super.  Started off with a few SJ's and then onto the XC stuff.  We did skinny rolltops then 2 skinny rolltops with no flags on an angled line.  There was a skinny sloping palisade and also a corner which was across the centre of the school and involved a tough tight turn off the left rein.  Shame it wasn't the right as might have shown up a few more problems but aside from jumping across the widest part the first time he jumped it well.  Did hold him and get in too deep once but generally met it right more often than not.  In between doing these technical questions we had to really open them up and gallop round the school before then collecting them back in a short distance and then riding forwards to the fence.  This was great practice for Monts and he was super reactive by the end and really taking me forwards to the fences - awesome feeling.  Didn't really get given much advice as he was such a swot he was doing everything brilliantly.  I swear he was showing off for the people watching.  Got to love him!  Hope he is that good for JAS!

A few hatcam videos from hunting at Tilford on the 22nd Dec: