Munstead BE100 23-03-14

Felt a bit surreal in the week leading up to this event as I've entered several BE100's over the last couple of years and not made it to a single one due to injury so was kind of waiting for something to go wrong.  We have only done two BE100's - one was a double clear round Munstead at the end of 2011 and the other was a rubbish trip round Pulborough a few weeks later leading to the only 20pens on his XC record.  Last time at Munstead we got a 39 dressage so was pretty hopeful we'd have moved on a bit from that at least but was worried about starting at BE100 after losing our BE90 warmup run at Aston.

So, Sunday morning came and fortunately the sun came with it.  He knew exactly where he was when we had to park right by the XC commentary tower and he came alive!  Dressage warmup was interesting - he was tenser than normal and I had a battle on my hands to get my trot-walk-trots.  Walk-trot became bouncy canter on the spot and he was fighting the contact.  Argh!  Took him over to the arena with his eyes out on stalks as the arena was right next to the woods that surround the dressage field and the wind was blowing pretty strongly.  Fortunately he decided to listen to me at just the right time and held it together for an ok test.  Nowhere near what he is capable of - he ignored my canter aids on both reins and only just made it into canter by the marker but otherwise he did everything required and I'm proud he managed a medium walk given his tension.  Came out and said it could be either a 25 or a 35 depending on what the judge was after.

So, next we went off to walk the XC course.  It all looked very doable which was a nice relief.  A skinny one stride double towards the end of the course, a chunky corner which looked tiny compared to how I remember it looking when I first did the BE100 there, a meaty trakehner, a coffin and the new step into water but otherwise all pretty straightforward. Got caught in a massive hail storm halfway round.  Felt so sorry for the people riding in that - they even held the course for a bit as it was so bad!  Watched a few people SJ - course looked quite small but lots having a skinny rainbow coloured vertical 5strides after an oxer so really planned how I would ride that.

Went to check my dressage score and was well chuffed to see we got 27 and were only half a mark behind the leader and even better 1.5marks ahead of Pippa Funnell on a very nice Billy horse.  Did feel the pressure then a bit - best not balls it up when you've made that good a start!

Onto the SJ - trainer had come to warm me up which was helpful - reminded me to keep him connected and he jumped every warmup fence spot on - I love this jumping stuff now we get it right most of the time - it's awesome!  Tried not to get intimidated by the afore mentioned stunning Billy horse clearing everything by miles.  And in we went.  He towed me into the first fence getting a little close but cleared it by miles:

Perfect 7 strides to fence 2 but forgot to open my left hand so he jumped a bit right and landed on the wrong lead, got disunited going round the corner and didn't get it back together very well so he got a bit long over the oxer at 3 and jumped out big, immediately tried to sit back and hold him off the skinny at 4 but he stuck his head up and towed me over and through it - argh!  Managed to hold it together for the rest of the course and made it through both 1 stride doubles (personal hatred!) and finish with just the 4 faults.  So frustrating.  Our jumping has come on sooooo much yet we just can't seem to stop having the odd pole.   Grrrr - more homework to do before Badders.  No point getting 27 dressage if you ruin it with a pole down!

Anyway, onwards and upwards to the best bit - the XC!  Aware that last time I did it I was only 8secs inside the time and really wanted to work on just taking all the simple fences out of my rhythm and not hooking so planned to kick on.  Had a napping attack getting into the warmup and had to get a lead in then we napped our way round the warmup as usual before trainer whispered in his ear and he made me out to be a liar by calmly wandering around the start box with no napping at all then mooching in with 5 seconds to go before bouncing out on "Go!" - don't think he's ever done that ever!  The next few minutes passed in a blur but it was utterly awesome - not one iffy awkward moment, he met every fence on a decent stride, I didn't hook him into the bottom of them and he felt like he was having a ball.  He made it feel so easy.  He bounded through the coffin, over the rolltop and down the spooky little BMX type track through the wood, launched up the steps, landing a bit right but I just opened my left rein and pointed and he made the 2 strides to the upright easily.  He did jump into the water like a gazelle but we soon left that behind and bounded over the Helsinki steps:

Had to really hold him to fit 4 strides in this combination:

XC combination

He barely took a second glance at the trakehner:

Then anchored him up for the corner, made the turn, got my line and let him keep travelling - did end up on a slightly long one, possibly not the ideal stride for an accuracy question but he was honest and up for it so we flew, over another oxer then anchored up again, got my line for the one stride double and he just ate it up, kicked on over the final 2 straightforward fences and he flew through the finish feeling full of running still.  So chuffed with him - he is just flipping awesome!

Bit of an epic hatcam fail - it ran out of battery filming the inside of the lorry when I decided to put it on my hat before the SJ trying to be prepared and accidently turned it on.  Here's the very calm start and first 2 fences - very sad to have missed such a super round:

Hatcam video

Collected my dressage sheet - chuffed to get an 8 for my riding, deserved the two 6's for his canter transitions - great score and I know we can do better!

So, this was the final scoresheet:

3rd place in our first event of the season, hot on Pippa Funnell's heels and a nice little qualification for a BE100 Regional Final later in the year.  Couldn't really ask for more (well, that elusive clear round SJ would be nice but still time to crack that!)  Won't mention our XC time too much - we were bang on the too fast time limit - shows how much time you can make up by not fiddling!  Will try and steady him a bit more next time but not too much as he felt comfy at that speed - too slow and I'll start to fiddle!  Next event is BE100 next Wednesday at Portman, a new event for us.  In the mean time have another lesson with Chris Burton to try and crack this SJ malarky!

Course photos - note the sudden appearance of white stuff on the ground half way round!:

SJL dressage lesson

Regular Sara-Jane Lanning lesson at Merrist Wood last Friday 21-03-14

The key thing we worked on was straightness.  He has a tendency to overbend his neck to the left so we spent the whole session reminding him of what straight was on the left rein and what bend was on the right rein.  We picked apart the movements in N38 and worked on where we could pick up every single last little mark.  

• Must not let him escape through his shoulders round corners, must keep him straight and soft.  
• His canter has improved 100-fold over the past few months but must remember to ride it uphill and keep the energy.  
• The trot just needs to steady a bit and not run on, especially after the canter, half halt and control the energy.  
• In the medium trot must remember to sit up and keep heels down and legs forward, lift hands up and let the energy flow and make a clear transition back to working trot.  
• In the warmup move him around with the lateral work and start with canter rather than trot as it loosens him up better.   Lots of canter-trot-canter transitions using sitting trot and making sure he is soft and round in the transitions and doesn't use his neck to brace against me but must start the transition from behind - I can really feel the difference when he starts it behind when I think about it so insist on all transitions feeling like this.  
• Don't leave the counter canter to trot transition too late - want to be back in trot before the corner so can soften him to the new bend. 

Apparently all his work is worth 7's but we were trying to get those extra half marks to pick him up even higher than that. 

We've got another lesson next Friday and then it's Winter Champs time the following week - exciting stuff!

Countdown to first event

Since our last blog entry we have been busy as ever prepping for our first event.  This was due to be Aston BE90 on 2nd March but sadly its postponement to a date I couldn't do means our first event is now at Munstead and straight in at BE100.  We haven't done a BE100 since the end of 2011 due to injury issues but Munstead is one of the ones we did previously and our training has all been geared towards 100 so I feel as ready as possible.

We went to BSJA last week and jumped the 95cm Amateur class and the 1m Open.  He jumped a lovely double clear in the 95cm and was unlucky to just tip a pole in the 1m Open jump off, especially as it was the smallest one on the course!  I mustn't get complacent at the smaller fences - they need as much respect as the big ones!

We had another jumping lesson this evening and worked on not letting him get long and flat around a course - I have been having monthly lessons with a local BSJA trainer over the winter and he has really upped our confidence levels.  1m10 no longer seems utterly terrifying but quite an attractive prospect!  Monty feels happy and I think our confidence is rubbing off on each other.  On Sunday we did an arena eventing clinic with Ginny Howe and worked on skinnies, corners and turns which was really worth doing - Badminton will certainly be technical so we need all the practice we can get!

We haven't made it out XC schooling yet due to the ground but are hoping to get to Boomerang next week for a play before Munstead.  We have made it to the gallops though which Monty thought was great fun!

And last but not least, we mustn't forget what appears to be the most important phase if you want to win - the dressage!  Monty was clever enough to qualify for 3 classes at the British Dressage Winter Regionals.  I wasn't expecting him to get placed - from past experience the standard is very high and you should normally expect your scores to drop by around 5%.  I just wanted to do our best.  However, Monts is on form and his dressage has come on leaps and bounds since starting training with List 2 judge and top level rider, Sara-Jane Lanning.  He eyes went out on stalks when we entered the arena for our first class - his local dressage venue was suddenly adorned with flowers, trees, banners and flags - he can be quite spooky and this just blew his brain.  Our first class was the Novice Freestyle to Music which fortunately meant I could do some ad-libbing but his tension put us behind in the music and he performed far under the level he is capable of.  I was amazed to come 6th.  The judge at C had us in 2nd by just half a mark.  What a result and meant we got to do a prize giving and lap of honour which Monty enjoyed and was a good chance to get back in the arena.

The following day we were back at the crack of dawn to do the arena walk - half an hour of wandering around confronting flowers and banners meant for a much calmer Monty in our test, the Novice Restricted.  I was over the moon with how he went (forgetting the one confusion over a canter strike off) and his score of 66.7% was very competitive.  It was very close and the class was won on 69%.  We snuck into another prize giving with 9th place - what a weekend but better was yet to come!

A couple of quiet days at home and then another early start.  We were 2nd to go in the Prelim.  His trot work was a little tense but as soon as the canter started he relaxed and did some lovely work.  I was not, however expecting to see a score of 72.224% - I nearly fell off my chair!  There followed a long, long, long 3hour wait for each individual result to go up, knowing only the winner would qualify for the Nationals.  Last to go was the winner of the Novice but she couldn't quite pip us to the win.  I still don't think it's quite sunk in - Prelim Regional Champion and off to the Nationals.  Couldn't wish for a better prep for Badminton as that is a very similar test.  We got a 9 for our entry and a 9.5 for our final halt from the judge at C and his personal best score.  What a horse!

BSJA - Merrist Wood - 1-3-14

Last minute decision to re-route to BSJA following the postponement of our first event - Aston le Walls.  Monty must wonder why he doesn't just move into Merrist Wood given how often we go there.  He was at JAS 2wks ago, then 3 days at the Regionals and then BSJA.  Still, it's 5mins down the road so hardly hard work for him on the travelling front and such a super venue to have so close.

I decided to enter the 95cm Amateur and the 1m Open.  A few months ago the British Novice looked big to me, let alone the 1m Open which looked completely unachievable but our lessons over winter with Carl Belson and Chris Burton have really upped both of our confidence levels and British Novice seems a bit small now.  I felt ready to tackle the 1m Open knowing it would be 1m10 in the jump off.  I decided to use the dressage bridle with Neue Schule snaffle and drop noseband again as it worked so well in our jump lesson the previous day.

Got there just in time to walk the course for the 95cm Amateur.  It all looked very doable height wise although there were some tight turnbacks in the first half of the course and not really anywhere to make up time in the second phase.  Monty warmed up brilliantly - used all the techniques Chris has been working with us on - keeping everything soft, rewarding him for being soft, canter to halt and staying beautifully soft on both reins, then moving the canter forwards.  He felt brilliant.  Started to jump him and he was meeting everything spot on with plenty of power, staying straight and never touching a pole.  Did what Chris suggested and did an ascending oxer then whacked it up and out to a big square one to try and catch him by surprise but he cleared it no probs.

In we went and he jumped superbly.  I just fluffed up the first fence in the second phase which probably lost us a few seconds but other than that wasn't sure where I could have really made up time.  Anyway, we're not really show-jumpers and I haven't practised jump off techniques as more bothered about leaving the fences up.  Still, a little disappointed to not get placed given they placed to 13th as huge class of 65.  I was pleased with him as he felt like he listened and he stayed soft and connected and met the fences in the right place.

Pro pics (starts with fence 2 which he absolutely pinged and makes it look tiny - click next for more):

95cm Amateur Pro pics

Little break before the next class.  Walked it and they had moved a few things around.  The first phase flowed much better but the second phase had some tricky options which involved some seriously tight turns or some very long alternatives.  Planned both routes just in case.  Back on to warmup and more of the same.  He was beginning to anticipate the canter to halts which is great as Chris said this is the key to getting him to listen to my half halts.  His canter was big, powerful but soft and he was towing me into the fences - great feeling.  Practised a sharp turn after the oxer and he made it feel easy.

So, in we went and he flew round the first phase clear so suddenly we were into the jump off phase and it all just came up a bit quick and I was concentrating on getting over the full up 1m10 fences and then it was too late to think about making the tight turn options so ended up going for a jaunt around the arena between each fence - probably had the slowest time ever.  Unfortunately because of that he got a bit long and on his forehand and clonked the smallest little vertical on the course - argh!  Got him back together after that and he pinged the final big oxer no probs.  Really must stop having the smallest fence on the course down - not a good habit to get into!  Fences looked tiny after Chris having us jump 1m30 the day before, all the related distances worked well, he flew all the doubles no probs and generally he felt full of confidence, keen and happy and so finished with a huge grin on my face.  Our biggest course to date and it felt easy peasy and not a dodgy shot in the whole course.  In the photos he's clearing them by miles.  The homework is really paying off and the horse must be grateful that finally I've learnt to ride him and let him get on with the jumping!  Now, I just need to work on thinking ahead and riding some tight turns if I actually want to be competitive at BSJA.

Pro pics here - starts with same jump as in first class except it was nearer the end of the first phase this time - he still gave it plenty of room - obviously dragons hiding in that one!  Click back for earlier fences.

1m Open Pro pics

A few stills from the videos: