Friday 30 May 2014
Schooling
Just a bit of flatwork schooling today. So pleased with how his flatwork continues to improve. I remember the days when I couldn't get him to strike off into right canter from trot without throwing his head and walk to right canter was a complete disaster. Canter to walk used to be impossible but now he can canter to halt just from me thinking it. He's even doing working canter pirouettes on the left rein and working towards them on the right! His half pass is really improving and his lateral work in general is so much better. He is so flexible and it's easy to change the bend whereas before took me ages to establish softness on the new rain now it comes instantly. Really love schooling him - I'd do it every day if I could but I know he'd stop giving me his all if I did!
Wednesday 28 May 2014
Chris Burton SJ lesson 28-05-14
Started with an exercise with a pole halfway down the long side and counting down the strides to take off, starting with one and building up. He said most people start to get stuck at 3. I got it spot on until 6 and then fluffed it. Chris said not to worry about making the strides even, it was about being able to pick a number of strides and ride to the fence from that distance on that number of strides. After that I had it sorted. We did up to 8 on a nice, steady canter. Then he made me open up the canter and ride straight away 8 strides in a much bigger canter and we got it right first time on both reins. Chris said "Super" a lot - he said to me at the end I've got a really good eye for a stride and he's not sure he could ride that exercise that well. High praise indeed. Maybe he was just being nice but still - put a grin on my face :)
Moved onto jumping and he was being a bit backwards thinking and adding strides - had to really wake him up, move him forwards then gently bring him back whilst keeping the forwards momentum and not killing the canter. Jumped a great round after that including a really tight right turn to a big x-pole oxer which Chris pre-warned was going to be a difficult one and we got it spot on - lots more praise :) Jumps up at 1m10-1m15 and Monts pinging. Really thinking about opening my inside rein for landing on the new leg which worked well and also using outside aids more to turn which also worked!
Got told mustn't make life difficult for Monty by seeing backwards strides into things like the treble and means he really has to reach to make the distance. Need to come into it much more positively. He called me a chicken rider lol - he has me sussed! I go round in a nice canter and then gradually shorten it on the way to the fence - it's not chipping in, just not the best canter for the job, get away with it at single fences but not good at all for a treble - need to continue riding the big, positive canter all the way to the fence. He said given I did the pole exercise so well it's clear I have a good eye for a stride so no excuse for not meeting the fences in the right place - need to look at my fences earlier and with the treble make sure to focus on the top rail of the first fence and the rest will happen - don't get hung up on the others.
Showed him the video of me falling off at the coffin at Badminton. He said my canter was rubbish - easy to do when they're pulling and charging off with you but I didn't create nearly enough energy. He said you have to really channel the energy up and have them arguing with your hand, desperate to go forwards, pinging with energy then ride really positively forwards at the fence. Equally he said sometimes these things just happen - he did the 4* at Kentucky with his old mare who wasn't ditchy at all and she jumped in, down the steep hill and just stopped at the ditch which wasn't like her at all. He did say he was thinking about building a coffin over his ditch in the field as impossible to find one to practice over anywhere and he won't do Tweseldown's as the open ditch with the water running through is such a harsh question for them.
Hopefully organising some XC clinics with him over the summer so should crack the XC soon enough. He asked if I was going to take him Novice this year or even 1* - explained about the whole points thing for Badminton. It's such a shame no Badminton if you get even one point :( Will keep my ears open for an unaffiliated Novice to run him round.
Moved onto jumping and he was being a bit backwards thinking and adding strides - had to really wake him up, move him forwards then gently bring him back whilst keeping the forwards momentum and not killing the canter. Jumped a great round after that including a really tight right turn to a big x-pole oxer which Chris pre-warned was going to be a difficult one and we got it spot on - lots more praise :) Jumps up at 1m10-1m15 and Monts pinging. Really thinking about opening my inside rein for landing on the new leg which worked well and also using outside aids more to turn which also worked!
Got told mustn't make life difficult for Monty by seeing backwards strides into things like the treble and means he really has to reach to make the distance. Need to come into it much more positively. He called me a chicken rider lol - he has me sussed! I go round in a nice canter and then gradually shorten it on the way to the fence - it's not chipping in, just not the best canter for the job, get away with it at single fences but not good at all for a treble - need to continue riding the big, positive canter all the way to the fence. He said given I did the pole exercise so well it's clear I have a good eye for a stride so no excuse for not meeting the fences in the right place - need to look at my fences earlier and with the treble make sure to focus on the top rail of the first fence and the rest will happen - don't get hung up on the others.
Showed him the video of me falling off at the coffin at Badminton. He said my canter was rubbish - easy to do when they're pulling and charging off with you but I didn't create nearly enough energy. He said you have to really channel the energy up and have them arguing with your hand, desperate to go forwards, pinging with energy then ride really positively forwards at the fence. Equally he said sometimes these things just happen - he did the 4* at Kentucky with his old mare who wasn't ditchy at all and she jumped in, down the steep hill and just stopped at the ditch which wasn't like her at all. He did say he was thinking about building a coffin over his ditch in the field as impossible to find one to practice over anywhere and he won't do Tweseldown's as the open ditch with the water running through is such a harsh question for them.
Hopefully organising some XC clinics with him over the summer so should crack the XC soon enough. He asked if I was going to take him Novice this year or even 1* - explained about the whole points thing for Badminton. It's such a shame no Badminton if you get even one point :( Will keep my ears open for an unaffiliated Novice to run him round.
Wendy Schaeffer XC clinic - Parwood - 24-05-14
Typical Monty - not quite the horse he is in competition - he finds XC schooling really rather unexciting so doesn't behave anything like he does in competition which makes it rather difficult to work on things! He was pretty foot perfect. The only blip was him skidding to a halt in a way that would definitely have counted as a refusal when I asked him to step down into the water. Not sure if I affected his confidence by asking him to go in the river out on our hack last week as he found it a bit scary and it's not like him to refuse to go into water. Hopefully we moved on from there and built up his confidence again so it won't become an issue in the future. I don't like this refusing thing - he doesn't want to be making that into a habit.
So, we started with just working over some logs and then did the 2 hanging roll tops on an angle which I didn't ride positively enough first time so stuck in 3 strides but did it perfectly on 2 strides on 2nd attempt. Confident on and off the bank, bouncing up the steps happily, then moved onto the ditch and jumped every option including the trakehner and bigger ditch palisade which I remember previously thinking was huge and now seems tiny which was nice - no hesitation at any of this. Then did some skinny shaped houses which with no flags were a challenge but he stayed straight. Then did house to ditch on a curve all ok, then palisade with sharp left to the house - exactly where he would choose to nip out if he could - remember to lower and widen hands and drive forwards and he didn't even think about ducking out.
Next, onto the water - cantered through via the ramps no probs then came round to drop down the step in and he did a naughty last minute stop. He was genuinely suspicious of the water so let him have a sniff then came round more positively and he climbed down into it - did that a few times until he was happier then came over the skinny house, one stride, down step into water, through water and up bounce steps out - all ok so back round and repeat in opposite direction and he stayed straight and true over the skinny house and then went on to jump the corner - not the best line as ended up jumping the wider part but no hesitation. Need to work on being more accurate to corners though - the BE100 ones at Badders wouldn't allow for jumping the wider part as they were so acute. Then moved onto jumping a reasonable sized house, one stride to a log into water. Never actually jumped into water before so that was a big step - got told had to ride more positively and to give him a smack on the bum over the house then sit up and drive him into the water - big thing for me to take a hand off the reins to give him a smack but indignant as he might have been he jumped it well!
Moved onto the skinny brushes - my new bogey fence but got a great forwards stride and he popped them fab. Finished with flying over the big brush oxer. I declined the saw bench - it's definitely Novice dimensions and whilst I would kick on in competition, in cold blood I didn't fancy it!
It was good to get back out doing some XC. I think I learnt that I need to ride more positively in general - this is XC and it is bold and he needs me to be bolder and give him more confidence. I need to ride every fence like I mean it. Wibbling and backing off is only going to get me into trouble. Remember to lower and widen hands for skinnies and use legs and bodyweight to turn him and not too much hand.
So, we started with just working over some logs and then did the 2 hanging roll tops on an angle which I didn't ride positively enough first time so stuck in 3 strides but did it perfectly on 2 strides on 2nd attempt. Confident on and off the bank, bouncing up the steps happily, then moved onto the ditch and jumped every option including the trakehner and bigger ditch palisade which I remember previously thinking was huge and now seems tiny which was nice - no hesitation at any of this. Then did some skinny shaped houses which with no flags were a challenge but he stayed straight. Then did house to ditch on a curve all ok, then palisade with sharp left to the house - exactly where he would choose to nip out if he could - remember to lower and widen hands and drive forwards and he didn't even think about ducking out.
Next, onto the water - cantered through via the ramps no probs then came round to drop down the step in and he did a naughty last minute stop. He was genuinely suspicious of the water so let him have a sniff then came round more positively and he climbed down into it - did that a few times until he was happier then came over the skinny house, one stride, down step into water, through water and up bounce steps out - all ok so back round and repeat in opposite direction and he stayed straight and true over the skinny house and then went on to jump the corner - not the best line as ended up jumping the wider part but no hesitation. Need to work on being more accurate to corners though - the BE100 ones at Badders wouldn't allow for jumping the wider part as they were so acute. Then moved onto jumping a reasonable sized house, one stride to a log into water. Never actually jumped into water before so that was a big step - got told had to ride more positively and to give him a smack on the bum over the house then sit up and drive him into the water - big thing for me to take a hand off the reins to give him a smack but indignant as he might have been he jumped it well!
Moved onto the skinny brushes - my new bogey fence but got a great forwards stride and he popped them fab. Finished with flying over the big brush oxer. I declined the saw bench - it's definitely Novice dimensions and whilst I would kick on in competition, in cold blood I didn't fancy it!
It was good to get back out doing some XC. I think I learnt that I need to ride more positively in general - this is XC and it is bold and he needs me to be bolder and give him more confidence. I need to ride every fence like I mean it. Wibbling and backing off is only going to get me into trouble. Remember to lower and widen hands for skinnies and use legs and bodyweight to turn him and not too much hand.
Wednesday 14 May 2014
Badminton Grassroots BE90 2014
I hope you're sitting comfortably as this is likely to be the most epic blog I've ever written. All the photos were taken by my friends so no copyright issues.
Tuesday 6th May saw us finally heading off to Badminton after 3years of attempting to qualify and a long 7months since the Regionals doing as much preparation as I possibly could to make sure we had the best chance possible of doing well whilst keeping Monty happy and sound and well. I started training with Chris Burton in January and he totally turned around our SJ and really helped Monty's flatwork too. We had weekly lessons in April and were jumping courses of 1m10-1m15 in lessons and making it feel easy. SJ has always been my nemesis but finally I felt confident!
It didn't seem real that we were actually finally heading off to Badminton. Easy couple of hours and we were there and parked up just a few horseboxes along from Alexis and had a bit of a joint squeal about finally being at Badders after such an epic journey. No time to relax though - we settled Monty into his stable and he seemed pretty chilled:
So then made the trek over to the XC to go on an organised course walk with Tiny Clapham. My first proper look at the course and my initial thoughts were "wow!" It seemed tougher in real life than it had appeared from the photos. There were lots of skinnies and lines we'd have to keep to. Headed back over to the lorries and had a quick break, organised the horsebox and then headed back over and went on a second course walk, this time with Nick Gauntlett who was brilliant at spending loads of time with us discussing lines and I really tried to take everything he said on board. He made a point of telling us we'd have to get back into a proper coffin canter for fence 8 and that they wouldn't see the ditch until the last minute so we'd have to ride it but once over the first part we should be ok to just pop over the ditch and out.
Got back over to the lorries and had a schooling session on Monty in the dressage warmup field.
He worked brilliantly so put him to bed happy
Then rode back to the course on our bikes to walk a few of the lines I was worried about in more detail. I thought the step down to the skinny at 5 was challenge no.1 as Monts not always great at turning right so I planned to angle the step down to make the turn easier. I wasn't overly concerned about the coffin - he has never been bothered about open ditches, jumped a half coffin at Hambleden easily a few weeks ago and has schooled through various full coffins in the past. The fence I was most worried about was 11/12ab which was a log followed by a steep hill down on a right curve to a skinny brush and another right curve to a super skinny shaped brush which was very similar to what Monty ran out at XC schooling back in March - I walked my line lots! The rest of the course didn't worry me too much - I could have done with getting in the water and walking the line out better but I knew what I needed to do in theory. Back to camp, time for dinner and bed and try to get some sleep!
Sleep failed miserably - it hammered it down all night which was soooo loud on the roof of the luton and I kept thinking we'd wake up to find they'd abandoned and we'd all have to go home. Finally the morning came, no signs of abandonment so cracked on with plaiting up and choosing some studs which always causes me great dilemmas. The lovely FMBS people came over with their rug to put on Monty while I studded up and then it was time to get on. He warmed up beautifully, cantered round the arena confidentally and did a smashing test, just marred by falling back to trot slightly early in the second canter but I hid it as best as possible and picked up canter for another stride and from the sheets the judge at E didn't even see it so bit of a save and probably just cost us the one mark from the C judge.
Monty's never had such a big support team!:
Monty safely back in his stable and time to go and check scores and walk the SJ course. Really happy to see a score of 27.8. We were lying 13th out of 92 after dressage which I was quite happy with. Still miles behind the leader who was on 18.3 but very much in contention with many of the others. Walked the SJ course and was very happy with plenty of straight line related distances and nothing that should challenge him. It looked tiny compared to what we've been jumping. Watched a few jump and noted that jump 2 was headed directly towards a flapping tent in the warmup and causing a few refusals so made a mental note to ride that properly as Monty's views on tents are unprintable!
Parents had come up to watch so sat down for a picnic and picked at a few bits of food before rapidly wishing I hadn't bothered - bleugh! 4hrs zoomed by and it was time to get on.
By this time the wind had really got up and they had people hanging onto the metal archway into the arena and the tent in the warmup was banging and crashing and trying to take off. Monty went wild - he hates still tents, let along flapping, banging ones. He also hates wind and I would normally dread even trying to school him in high winds as he's so jumpy. He was leaping around all over the place and it was not a civilised warmup!
Chris had said he would come and help us out but sadly the riders briefing ran late and then he had a Team Australia course walk which obviously rather took priority. Clearly though he has taught us well enough to manage without him as despite having to be led into the arena at the gallop Monty jumped a cracking clear round, meeting every fence spot on and making it feel about 2ft tall. What a buzz!
Back over to the lorry for a change of tack and a run through of the course in my head, remembering all my lines. We headed over to the XC warmup with a planned 15mins until our time to find they were running 30mins late. In hindsight at this point I should have taken him back to the lorry but it's a ten minute walk over there and so I opted for just walking round the warmup which seemed like a good plan and he seemed settled enough until I picked him up to canter him and he went totally nuts. The wind was blowing a gale by this point and we'd been waiting way longer than half hour due to further holds on course which I was oblivious to as had no watch but we were probably in there a good hour. Monty hates XC warmups at the best of times and I normally try and minimise the time spent in them. When I tried to jump him he was running blind into the fences, ignoring me and running in deep then skewing over them - it wasn't pretty. In between he was leaping, plunging, rearing, spinning, fly bucking, the lot. It was Monty to the extreme.
Finally we got into that start box and he was actually remarkable controlled in there considering and finally we got that count down and off we went. He jumped one and two well but was spooking at the metal fencing lined up by the track on the way to the brush at so got in a bit deep and pinged the full height. He ran on down the hill and came back ok for 4 but then went to charge off and I had to shout at him to get him back for the step down to brush but he did it nicely. He was gawping at the people watching so got a dodgy shot to the wall at 6, then galloped on and spooked at the bridge before climbing up the hill to pop over the table at 7 then woah, out to the string on the left, sit him back, turn right, straight up and a nice positive stride to the rail into the coffin. He dropped his head to take off and clearly clocked the ditch and ducked left sending me flying with no warning at all. Slightly dazed I got to my feet and they asked if I wanted to continue. Retiring at this point was not in my head so on I got, waited for the following rider to go through and then came back round for another try. Got another nice forward stride, employed my best growl and he stopped again. Really not like him but was not giving up! One more try, sat back, kicked for my life, shouted "GO!" and he went. He left a leg and tipped me forwards on landing but proved his lack of ditchiness as despite me not helping much he launched over the ditch. At this point we were way over to the right but I pulled my left rein and kicked like mad to get out over the third part. Huge cheer from the crowd and a big pat for Monty. Totally out of character for him to throw in the towel like that. He has an immaculate competitive XC record and our only blips have been running past skinnies when I haven't got the line right and have fiddled instead of riding forward. It came from nowhere and the whole situation clearly worried him for him to react like that as he is normally the most genuine horse and has put up with some shocking riding from me in the past and jumped when I haven't helped him. This time I thought I'd set up perfectly so the stop was totally unexpected. In hindsight watching the video I should have sat further back and really ridden more positively but I don't normally need to attack fences like that so I don't think I'd have changed anything if I'd had to do it again although I'll certainly be riding the next one a lot more positively.
Anyway, we had to put that behind us and crack on. The next fence was a hanging rail with a drop behind it and I felt him hesitate and look for the ditch but with none in sight he popped over. Onto the brush under the trees which he backed off - he really was finding the course a lot more spooky than he normally would. Then it was my nemesis combination and he only went and made it feel like childs play. Popped the log, perfect curved line to the skinny brushes and we were away up the long hill where Badminton House first comes into view and you realise you really are galloping round Badminton.
Monty ate up the large brush oxer and then popped through the silver birch rails on the angled line I'd planned before galloping on over the 2nd brush oxer and then getting again my planned angled line into the garden over the house and then lovely stride on the right curve to the jump out. Over to the string and got my line to the water. Rode forwards as they can't see the water till the last minute but he never hesitated and in fact was too bold in, floundered out into the deep water and I lost all connection. I tried to get my line for the skinny out but it required an accurate turn and I made a hash of it and he took advantage and ran past it to the left - always his weakness to run out that way and I didn't help him. Came round and got a better line and he jumped it fine. Got a lovely stride to the wishing well in front of the house and the chair and then came to the corners knowing one more run out and we'd be walking home so opted to take the long route. Over the trakehner and the final book and we were home safely. It was a huge relief to cross that finish line!!
I can't hide how disappointed I am that our Badminton dream didn't go to plan. I thought I was sat on a XC machine but the circumstances on the day altered that and I didn't adapt my riding well enough to get him to cope with it. I've only been riding XC since 2011 and I think my inexperience showed. It was certainly a massive learning curve and I have taken a huge amount away from it. My XC riding is now top of my list of things to work on. I think I've been lucky and he's been genuine with me in the past but with the huge distractions of Badminton he needed me to help him out more and I didn't and I'm kicking myself for it. I worked so hard to get there and thought I'd done all I could to get us a good result but sadly it wasn't to be. I felt like I'd let all my supporters down and a bit of a failure to be honest.
Fortunately after some positive talking from my amazing friends and a chance to digest the fact we'd completed Badminton which was more than a third of the class did and with a bit of help from some alcohol I have rationalised it a bit more and realise it was a big achievement to get to Badminton at all, especially with my limited experience of XC riding and it was a true Championship course which produced true Champions. We didn't deserve to be one this year but it's made me all the more determined to go away and become a better rider. I'm not one to give up and I will keep on trying to be the best rider I possibly can be. I have an absolutely awesome horse who got shell shocked and showed up his insecurities but he is still the best best horse I could ever have wished for and I still worship the ground he walks on. And not forgetting he produced an awesome dressage test and a superbly confident SJ round which is one hell of an achievement in itself. When I got 42 at our first Regionals in 2011 I never thought I'd see us scoring 27.8 at Badminton! And when I first started jumping him it was all I could do to stay on let alone jump clear. We have come a long way and I just hope I can keep him sound and happy to continue on my steep steep learning curve that eventing has put me on. I have always loved a challenge and this sport just keeps on giving me that.
Onwards and upwards and we will be back! We already have 3 Regional Finals for this year and I am now planning to get him out to the bigger International events to expose him to more atmosphere and people and bigger courses. I toyed with going back to 90 to qualify again but he is doing so well at 100 I am just going to crack on with them and enjoy it! What will be will be. As Chris said to me after Wednesday "with eventing, there's always another day!"
at home before setting off
Tuesday 6th May saw us finally heading off to Badminton after 3years of attempting to qualify and a long 7months since the Regionals doing as much preparation as I possibly could to make sure we had the best chance possible of doing well whilst keeping Monty happy and sound and well. I started training with Chris Burton in January and he totally turned around our SJ and really helped Monty's flatwork too. We had weekly lessons in April and were jumping courses of 1m10-1m15 in lessons and making it feel easy. SJ has always been my nemesis but finally I felt confident!
It didn't seem real that we were actually finally heading off to Badminton. Easy couple of hours and we were there and parked up just a few horseboxes along from Alexis and had a bit of a joint squeal about finally being at Badders after such an epic journey. No time to relax though - we settled Monty into his stable and he seemed pretty chilled:
So then made the trek over to the XC to go on an organised course walk with Tiny Clapham. My first proper look at the course and my initial thoughts were "wow!" It seemed tougher in real life than it had appeared from the photos. There were lots of skinnies and lines we'd have to keep to. Headed back over to the lorries and had a quick break, organised the horsebox and then headed back over and went on a second course walk, this time with Nick Gauntlett who was brilliant at spending loads of time with us discussing lines and I really tried to take everything he said on board. He made a point of telling us we'd have to get back into a proper coffin canter for fence 8 and that they wouldn't see the ditch until the last minute so we'd have to ride it but once over the first part we should be ok to just pop over the ditch and out.
Got back over to the lorries and had a schooling session on Monty in the dressage warmup field.
He worked brilliantly so put him to bed happy
Then rode back to the course on our bikes to walk a few of the lines I was worried about in more detail. I thought the step down to the skinny at 5 was challenge no.1 as Monts not always great at turning right so I planned to angle the step down to make the turn easier. I wasn't overly concerned about the coffin - he has never been bothered about open ditches, jumped a half coffin at Hambleden easily a few weeks ago and has schooled through various full coffins in the past. The fence I was most worried about was 11/12ab which was a log followed by a steep hill down on a right curve to a skinny brush and another right curve to a super skinny shaped brush which was very similar to what Monty ran out at XC schooling back in March - I walked my line lots! The rest of the course didn't worry me too much - I could have done with getting in the water and walking the line out better but I knew what I needed to do in theory. Back to camp, time for dinner and bed and try to get some sleep!
Sleep failed miserably - it hammered it down all night which was soooo loud on the roof of the luton and I kept thinking we'd wake up to find they'd abandoned and we'd all have to go home. Finally the morning came, no signs of abandonment so cracked on with plaiting up and choosing some studs which always causes me great dilemmas. The lovely FMBS people came over with their rug to put on Monty while I studded up and then it was time to get on. He warmed up beautifully, cantered round the arena confidentally and did a smashing test, just marred by falling back to trot slightly early in the second canter but I hid it as best as possible and picked up canter for another stride and from the sheets the judge at E didn't even see it so bit of a save and probably just cost us the one mark from the C judge.
Monty's never had such a big support team!:
Monty safely back in his stable and time to go and check scores and walk the SJ course. Really happy to see a score of 27.8. We were lying 13th out of 92 after dressage which I was quite happy with. Still miles behind the leader who was on 18.3 but very much in contention with many of the others. Walked the SJ course and was very happy with plenty of straight line related distances and nothing that should challenge him. It looked tiny compared to what we've been jumping. Watched a few jump and noted that jump 2 was headed directly towards a flapping tent in the warmup and causing a few refusals so made a mental note to ride that properly as Monty's views on tents are unprintable!
Parents had come up to watch so sat down for a picnic and picked at a few bits of food before rapidly wishing I hadn't bothered - bleugh! 4hrs zoomed by and it was time to get on.
pep talk from Dad
I love this photo - Monts and my grandad
By this time the wind had really got up and they had people hanging onto the metal archway into the arena and the tent in the warmup was banging and crashing and trying to take off. Monty went wild - he hates still tents, let along flapping, banging ones. He also hates wind and I would normally dread even trying to school him in high winds as he's so jumpy. He was leaping around all over the place and it was not a civilised warmup!
giving it some air!
he really didn't like that tent!
Chris had said he would come and help us out but sadly the riders briefing ran late and then he had a Team Australia course walk which obviously rather took priority. Clearly though he has taught us well enough to manage without him as despite having to be led into the arena at the gallop Monty jumped a cracking clear round, meeting every fence spot on and making it feel about 2ft tall. What a buzz!
Back over to the lorry for a change of tack and a run through of the course in my head, remembering all my lines. We headed over to the XC warmup with a planned 15mins until our time to find they were running 30mins late. In hindsight at this point I should have taken him back to the lorry but it's a ten minute walk over there and so I opted for just walking round the warmup which seemed like a good plan and he seemed settled enough until I picked him up to canter him and he went totally nuts. The wind was blowing a gale by this point and we'd been waiting way longer than half hour due to further holds on course which I was oblivious to as had no watch but we were probably in there a good hour. Monty hates XC warmups at the best of times and I normally try and minimise the time spent in them. When I tried to jump him he was running blind into the fences, ignoring me and running in deep then skewing over them - it wasn't pretty. In between he was leaping, plunging, rearing, spinning, fly bucking, the lot. It was Monty to the extreme.
Finally we got into that start box and he was actually remarkable controlled in there considering and finally we got that count down and off we went. He jumped one and two well but was spooking at the metal fencing lined up by the track on the way to the brush at so got in a bit deep and pinged the full height. He ran on down the hill and came back ok for 4 but then went to charge off and I had to shout at him to get him back for the step down to brush but he did it nicely. He was gawping at the people watching so got a dodgy shot to the wall at 6, then galloped on and spooked at the bridge before climbing up the hill to pop over the table at 7 then woah, out to the string on the left, sit him back, turn right, straight up and a nice positive stride to the rail into the coffin. He dropped his head to take off and clearly clocked the ditch and ducked left sending me flying with no warning at all. Slightly dazed I got to my feet and they asked if I wanted to continue. Retiring at this point was not in my head so on I got, waited for the following rider to go through and then came back round for another try. Got another nice forward stride, employed my best growl and he stopped again. Really not like him but was not giving up! One more try, sat back, kicked for my life, shouted "GO!" and he went. He left a leg and tipped me forwards on landing but proved his lack of ditchiness as despite me not helping much he launched over the ditch. At this point we were way over to the right but I pulled my left rein and kicked like mad to get out over the third part. Huge cheer from the crowd and a big pat for Monty. Totally out of character for him to throw in the towel like that. He has an immaculate competitive XC record and our only blips have been running past skinnies when I haven't got the line right and have fiddled instead of riding forward. It came from nowhere and the whole situation clearly worried him for him to react like that as he is normally the most genuine horse and has put up with some shocking riding from me in the past and jumped when I haven't helped him. This time I thought I'd set up perfectly so the stop was totally unexpected. In hindsight watching the video I should have sat further back and really ridden more positively but I don't normally need to attack fences like that so I don't think I'd have changed anything if I'd had to do it again although I'll certainly be riding the next one a lot more positively.
Anyway, we had to put that behind us and crack on. The next fence was a hanging rail with a drop behind it and I felt him hesitate and look for the ditch but with none in sight he popped over. Onto the brush under the trees which he backed off - he really was finding the course a lot more spooky than he normally would. Then it was my nemesis combination and he only went and made it feel like childs play. Popped the log, perfect curved line to the skinny brushes and we were away up the long hill where Badminton House first comes into view and you realise you really are galloping round Badminton.
Monty ate up the large brush oxer and then popped through the silver birch rails on the angled line I'd planned before galloping on over the 2nd brush oxer and then getting again my planned angled line into the garden over the house and then lovely stride on the right curve to the jump out. Over to the string and got my line to the water. Rode forwards as they can't see the water till the last minute but he never hesitated and in fact was too bold in, floundered out into the deep water and I lost all connection. I tried to get my line for the skinny out but it required an accurate turn and I made a hash of it and he took advantage and ran past it to the left - always his weakness to run out that way and I didn't help him. Came round and got a better line and he jumped it fine. Got a lovely stride to the wishing well in front of the house and the chair and then came to the corners knowing one more run out and we'd be walking home so opted to take the long route. Over the trakehner and the final book and we were home safely. It was a huge relief to cross that finish line!!
definitely monsters in that ditch
coming out of the coffin
silver birch rails
there's that iconic shot I came for!
weeeee!
one from home!
finish in sight
the alternative at the corners fence 20
I can't hide how disappointed I am that our Badminton dream didn't go to plan. I thought I was sat on a XC machine but the circumstances on the day altered that and I didn't adapt my riding well enough to get him to cope with it. I've only been riding XC since 2011 and I think my inexperience showed. It was certainly a massive learning curve and I have taken a huge amount away from it. My XC riding is now top of my list of things to work on. I think I've been lucky and he's been genuine with me in the past but with the huge distractions of Badminton he needed me to help him out more and I didn't and I'm kicking myself for it. I worked so hard to get there and thought I'd done all I could to get us a good result but sadly it wasn't to be. I felt like I'd let all my supporters down and a bit of a failure to be honest.
Fortunately after some positive talking from my amazing friends and a chance to digest the fact we'd completed Badminton which was more than a third of the class did and with a bit of help from some alcohol I have rationalised it a bit more and realise it was a big achievement to get to Badminton at all, especially with my limited experience of XC riding and it was a true Championship course which produced true Champions. We didn't deserve to be one this year but it's made me all the more determined to go away and become a better rider. I'm not one to give up and I will keep on trying to be the best rider I possibly can be. I have an absolutely awesome horse who got shell shocked and showed up his insecurities but he is still the best best horse I could ever have wished for and I still worship the ground he walks on. And not forgetting he produced an awesome dressage test and a superbly confident SJ round which is one hell of an achievement in itself. When I got 42 at our first Regionals in 2011 I never thought I'd see us scoring 27.8 at Badminton! And when I first started jumping him it was all I could do to stay on let alone jump clear. We have come a long way and I just hope I can keep him sound and happy to continue on my steep steep learning curve that eventing has put me on. I have always loved a challenge and this sport just keeps on giving me that.
our completion rossies
Onwards and upwards and we will be back! We already have 3 Regional Finals for this year and I am now planning to get him out to the bigger International events to expose him to more atmosphere and people and bigger courses. I toyed with going back to 90 to qualify again but he is doing so well at 100 I am just going to crack on with them and enjoy it! What will be will be. As Chris said to me after Wednesday "with eventing, there's always another day!"
Thursday 1 May 2014
Chris Burton SJ lesson 30-04-14
Started with the usual x-pole to oxer. He wasn't very impressed with Chris picking up the lunge whip and standing alongside and we had a rather wobbly approach - turns out he didn't need a reminder anyway, was picking his toes up fine. We had the fillers in quite narrow after the fence to keep him straight which he didn't like much as he likes to veer right straight away on landing so a few times we halted him in a straight line to remind him to stay straight. He didn't knock it once even when it got up to 1m35 or so and even with me pressing him deep to it - clever boy.
Moved onto a course - started with vertical then water tray which he did beautifully. Then again with a halt after the water tray, then into canter and straight down a big double no probs. Then back up a 4 stride distance easy and down over an oxer, 6 strides to a skinny upright which he was a bit wobbly to but jumped well. Then changed the course around to include some curved lines, water tray to oxer, vertical to vertical all on 5 strides and kept not being quick enough to think on landing when we'd got in deep to the first fence to remember to either really kick on for 5 strides or make the curve slightly wider and ride for 6. If going to stick to strides walked need to stay straight to the fence - if let him drift will struggle to make distances. Finished with oxer to vertical on 6 strides with the vertical up at 1m20 and it being skinny so looked even bigger and he just pinged over no probs. Think the only time he knocked one was the front rail of the oxer once but otherwise pinging round a Novice height course no probs. Just hope he keeps on pinging for Badminton!
Moved onto a course - started with vertical then water tray which he did beautifully. Then again with a halt after the water tray, then into canter and straight down a big double no probs. Then back up a 4 stride distance easy and down over an oxer, 6 strides to a skinny upright which he was a bit wobbly to but jumped well. Then changed the course around to include some curved lines, water tray to oxer, vertical to vertical all on 5 strides and kept not being quick enough to think on landing when we'd got in deep to the first fence to remember to either really kick on for 5 strides or make the curve slightly wider and ride for 6. If going to stick to strides walked need to stay straight to the fence - if let him drift will struggle to make distances. Finished with oxer to vertical on 6 strides with the vertical up at 1m20 and it being skinny so looked even bigger and he just pinged over no probs. Think the only time he knocked one was the front rail of the oxer once but otherwise pinging round a Novice height course no probs. Just hope he keeps on pinging for Badminton!
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