On Wednesday I took him to LMEQ for some more water training. We started in the SJ arena just to remind ourselves we can actually jump as the SJ at Farley was awful due to the ground - he just got stuck and couldn't take off and was really sticky the whole way round. SJ went fine and we did the arena corner nicely so then headed out to the water. Gave him a canter round, popped a few small fences then turned towards the water and he whipped round to the left and stood up before conceding to then trot down and through it nicely. Spent a load of time just standing in there letting him relax and then trotting/cantering through before popping a little fence on the way out. Did a few more little jumps but he didn't feel up for it and was getting in close to everything. Decided to razz him up a bit as he's always had a tendency to be lazy XC schooling and then he was much better - dragging me into the fences and jumping confidently again.
After that I decided we needed another water trip so went to Tweseldown on Friday. Jumped a couple of logs really nicely on good, forward strides then cantered round the back of the water, back to trot and he trotted through happily. Water was clear and shallow and perfect for his confidence. He was happily cantering through so built up to doing the jump before and after it that were part of the BE90 and he was great. Finished with a blast round the racecourse. Great prep for Stratford.
So, onto Stratford yesterday. Went to walk the XC course and felt sick. Not really the ideal course for confidence building. Very hilly. Most of it well within his capabilities but the jump before the water was quite close to the water with the BE100/Novice fences protruding into your landing so that they kind of channelled you forwards into the water - sort of a good thing but Monty always spooks lot at other fences so not really ideal. Water only tiny but not the most inviting looking. Had some serious thinking to do as to whether it was right for us to go XC.
Anyway, on with the dressage to start with. He was super - warmed up beautifully and did a lovely test and a fab square halt at the end (hard work finally paying off there!) - judge gave us a big smile so was glad to see we got 27.5 and were 2nd after dressage out of 33. Finally we do seem to have that phase cracked! We got a 9 for his free walk, 8 for his medium walk, 8 for his canter-trot and 8778 for collectives :)
Onto the SJ - got down there with 15mins to go to find they were running 30mins late. Keen not to repeat the warmup disasters of Badminton I walked him back to the lorry and then back to the warmup to waste some time. Got back to find only 2 numbers before me so kind of panicked into warming up I didn't really take time to establish my manoveurable canter first. Aimed at the x-pole and met it lovely so aimed at a small vertical. Saw a long one, put my leg on and expected him to go on it and next thing I knew I'd hit the ground extremely hard. Apparently he chipped in and just orbited me - not sure why I came off as used to him chipping in and normally just results in a bit of an uncomfy jump, not full on smash into the ground. I normally get straight to my feet as hate any fuss but having sat up I was seeing stars and had a sore nose/mouth so waited for help to get to me. The stars disappeared so I got to my feet but my back was agony. They made me go and see the paramedics to make sure I was ok to continue and then I got back on - couldn't sit properly as back hurting so much and felt very wary of any long strides so just compacted the canter and jumped him off short ones but he seemed happy enough so took him in. He was quite spooky at the banners round the edge but that's typical for him. Jumped well enough except for me just holding that bit too much at an oxer and he took the front rail with his back feet.
Decided most definitely not a good idea to go XC. Back hurt far too much and not feeling confident so would have transmitted that to him. Took a couple of hours before I felt well enough to drive the 2.5hrs home. On the up side, would have finished 3rd out of 33 if it had been Combined Training! On the down side - what the hell is happening? 4 falls in 6 weeks plus the one back in March schooling? Over the past 4yrs exluding a few falls out hunting (which you kind of expect), I've come off him once hacking, once SJ warmup at Tweseldown, once SJ lesson and a couple of times XC schooling when I first got him. It's not normally a regular thing for us. I'm far too old to be falling on the floor this often. He felt fine afterwards so I don't think it's too much to worry about regarding him, more of an unlucky one this time but it's not helping my confidence. Feeling like I really ought to stick to dressage, especially once I heard about the two rider fatalaties that happened yesterday, one at Nunney which is where I was meant to be before I decided to drop back to 90. A real shock and does make you think twice about why you even do it :(
Anyway, positive thinking needed. We have a XC lesson with Chris on Wednesday which is much needed. Eventing magazine are doing an article so we get a private lesson and plenty of time and all for free so that will be much appreciated. Then we have Rackham BE90 on Sunday and I have just put in a late entry to Eridge BE90 and am 2nd on the waitlist so hoping we can sneak in a run there as well. Seriously need to get a couple of nice runs under our belts and then having a month off to concentrate on qualifying for the Elementary Petplans and competing at the Novice Summer Regionals. Will then plan to come back at 90 before hopefully making it to our 100 Regionals later in the year.
As an aside, I got Monty a Micklem bridle last week and am trying to decide if he goes better in it or not. He seems more settled in his mouth and I particularly noticed when I put him back in the drop yesterday he was waggling his tongue around more but he was quite heavy in my hand in the Micklem and I didn't really enjoy that feeling hence putting him back in the drop for the competition. More time needed before I make a decision on that one I think.
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