2014 roundup/2015 aims

Well, what a year.  I feel like I have learnt heaps this year, my riding has improved in all 3 phases and I feel positive and confident going forwards into 2015.

I just found my aims for 2014:
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.

So I don't think we did too badly there.  We had an entire year without injury which considering how busy he was is great.  Badminton didn't go to plan but we learnt a lot.  He came top ten in all 3 Regionals including winning the Prelim which wasn't on the radar at all.  He then came top ten first rounds in the Area Festival Finals and scooped best Veteran award.  I didn't get 3 DC's at BE100 but we did get to Blenheim as they changed the qualification criteria - he had a super round there just rolling one unlucky pole.  We got top ten at the Elem Area Festivals and we did a Medium Freestyle and a straight Medium and got over 65% in both!

So, a little look back at the year.

January and February were focused on training.  Started our steep jump learning curve with Chris Burton, continued flatwork lessons with Sara Jane Lanning, survived competing at Novice JAS and had an amazing time at the BD Winter Regionals, winning the Prelim - beyond our wildest dreams and also landed us a sponsorship deal with the fabulous West Kent Saddles who have been super supportive this year.

March brought our first event - first BE100 since end of 2011 and 3rd place at Munstead with a confident 27, 4 faults and storming XC round.

April saw us come 9th at Portman BE100 round our trickiest XC to date and then grab our first BE100 win at no less an event than Hambleden International with a dressage of 21.5 and a lovely double clear.  April also saw the Area Festival Finals and the Prelim Winter Championships where he pulled out all the stops to do 3 of his best ever tests in one day in a big atmosphere - huge ask of him and couldn't have been more pleased with him.

Have to say we headed to Badminton in May on a high.  Our preparation has gone to the letter and he felt amazing.  They say pride comes before a fall and eventing is certainly a good leveller.  He did a fantastic dressage for 27.8, a superb clear SJ round to leave us lying in 5th place going into XC.  I knew it would be a challenge but I honestly thought we were both up for it.  Sadly hanging around in the collecting ring for an hour in gale force winds really didn't do us any favours at all.  He wasn't focused on the job and when it came to the horrid coffin, he went to take off, clocked the very large deep ditch at the bottom of the slope and said no thanks sending me into orbit.  It was such a shock - he does have a run out in him (and does like to choose important moments to bring it out) but it's not normally so last minute and he's certainly never deposited me on the floor with it!  I got back on, tried again, stopped again and seriously thought we were going home but thankfully 3rd time lucky and we got through it and carried on.  We had another run out coming out of the water which was my fault as lacking focus by this point and I just nursed him home after that.  Spent the week tending to my wounded pride and a sore leg and debating my future in eventing.  Sadly May was a bad month and I made the mistake of entering a very tough BE100 at Farley after a few weeks break.  He hated the ground, got to the water at the end, right next to the XC collecting ring and chucked me on the floor again - twice!!  Definitely ready to give up at this point.

June didn't get much better initially.  I managed to fall off in the SJ warmup at Stratford Hills giving myself a coccyx injury that would bug me for the rest of the year.  I didn't go XC partly due to being hurt and partly as had decided water jump was too much despite dropping back to BE90.  Fortunately a XC lesson with Chris sorted us out and he had us flying again.  I went to Rackham BE90 feeling sick to the bottom of my stomach, did a lovely dressage for 22.5, clung on nervously round the SJ for a clear and then wobbled round the first half of the XC before finally finding some bravery and kicking on to finish bang on the optimum time XC and win.  Quickly headed to Eridge BE90 the following week and nabbed a 3rd place there too.  Confidence on the up!

July was a quiet month as ground too hard for eventing.  Did an Elem at Patchetts and got 72.58%! Did a XC clinic at Coombelands with Chris and Monts was flying all the Novice fences no hesitations. Did Novice BD Summer Regionals and finished just outside top ten.

August saw us start with the BE90 Regionals at Chilham.  Sadly a tiny blip in the dressage saw us lose a mark to just miss out on qualifying for Badmnton.  We were 6th on a score of 30 with a double clear and top 5 went through.  So annoyed to have lost it in the dressage!  Quickly followed that with moving back up BE100 at Aston le Walls.  Ok dressage, one down SJ, nice confident clear XC despite me wobbling about the water jump still.  11th place.  We did the Area Festivals at Pachesham at Elementary and came 10th so got our mounted prize giving and a chance to jump the hedge!

September was a busy month.  Most importantly the BE100 Regionals at Goring saw us coming 5th with a fab double clear, a seriously confident XC round despite it being the biggest/most technical we've done and a qualification for Badders 2015!!!  Second BE90 Regionals at Moreton Morrell and he knocked down the smallest SJ to drop us from 2nd to 7th and out of the qualifications so looks like it's BE100 for Badders 2015 - eeeeeeeeek!  We also did Area Festivals at Wellington and got a 70% in the Freestyle but just missed out on top 10 in the Elementary.  We did the Blenheim Eventers Challenge which has been on my to do list for years and he was cracking, flying the tricky XC section and just rubbing one SJ.  100 odd entries and only 17 clears or something like that so pleased for a first attempt.  We also squeezed in a camp at Nick Gauntlett's yard the week before Goring which was very useful.

October I had intended to run him in the BE100 Plus at Pulborough but the weather was against us and I know he hates mud so don't run him in those conditions now as he just loses confidence.  Instead we went XC schooling at Lyneham Heath which is an amazing venue and we jumped him over every ditch and coffin and corner and drop fence without any hesitations.  Will definitely head back there before next season.  We did our first 1.05m BSJA class so up to 1m15 in the second phase and he was absolutely flying - what a great feeling.  He had his usual one rail down but felt so confident.  We also went on a pre-season hunt meet and he reminded me what an outstanding hunter he is by flying over open ditches and huge hedges without a hesitation.

November he mostly spent on holiday.  We did a quick XC clinic with Chris at LMEQ just building on his confidence and he was loving it and very much on form.  We did our first BD Mediums at Crofton and despite it blowing a gale and it not being the best work he can do he managed 65% in M61 and won the Restricted section followed by a respectable 62.5% in M75.

December he came back from holiday feeling awesome, won our first jumping class - a 1m Eventers Challenge, did another 1.05m class at Parwood and just flew round (needless to say via a pole or two on the floor - argh!).  We also won the Restricted Elem Freestyle at Merrist Wood on over 71% then won the Medium Restricted Freestyle on our first attempt on plus 65% so qualified for Regionals!  He has finally got the hang of flying changes and we're most definitely aiming towards Advanced Medium next year which is just beyond exciting!  He feels top dollar and I say roll on 2015 (even if I am quite frankly terrified about Badminton - I didn't get round the 90 very successfully, what on earth am I doing going back at 100?!!!!!)

Aims for 2015:

• Priority number one - another injury free year please.
• Dare I say it - let's just go for completing Badminton BE100 - a clear XC would be amazing but I will go for a completion as a realistic aim.
• Top ten Elementary Restricted/Freestyle Winter Regionals and Elem Summer Regionals
• Top ten Medium Restricted Area Festivals
• over 60% in an Advanced Medium - both straight and Freestyle
• Newcomers BSJA
• unaffiliated Novice one day event - thinking Aston le Walls pre-Badders or Mattingley post-Badders
• qualify for Badminton BE100 2016 unless he does amazingly in which case I might just retire him from qualification chasing and just enjoy a chosen few events!
• that lot should keep us busy!

SJ practice Parwood 30-12-14

Just went to Parwood today for a little play over some jumps before we head to Merrist Wood for BSJA this weekend.  Not jumped for 2.5wks and always feel like my eye for a stride will desert me if I don't get regular practice in.  Did some flying changes in the warmup and as long as I had the right quality canter they happened fine, if I let the canter get long and flat then he can't do them which unfortunately I think will always be a problem with our jumping as that's just how he likes to go.

Started jumping with an exercise I haven't done for a while that Chris Burton started doing with us which is always good for getting my eye in and gives us both confidence.  Trot to a x pole and then just let 5 regular strides happen to an oxer which you build up and out.  We got it to 1m25 and he was jumping really well, picking up and good technique as you can see in the photos.  He didn't feel like he was making much of an effort even at that height but I didn't see the point in keep going higher for the sake of it as we won't be jumping more than 1m10 at BSJA at the weekend.

After that I popped round the course that was up - guessing it was around 1m-1m05.  First time round wasn't great as I found myself adding a few strides.  Second time was fab and he was flying.  Needless to say he didn't touch a pole.  Inevitably he will find one or two to knock down at the weekend - he seems to save his clear rounds for training unfortunately!

SJL lesson and BD FSM at Merrist Wood

Friday's lesson focused on running through my music floorplans - taking advantage of having the long arena set out.  In the Elementary he was trying to throw in changes so had to make sure really kept the bend over the leading leg and positioning in the counter canter and into the medium canter.  Actually him now being able to do changes is going to improve my riding as I can't get away with being sloppy with my aids now - everything has to be right or he'll think I want a change.

We then ran through some lateral work before doing the Medium.  He did some super travers on both reins - really soft and supple to the bend.  Change of hand in trot must remember to move the forehand over to the new direction before asking for the HP.  Canter HP is still his weak point but it is improving slowly.  I need to make sure I really use the corners to set him up and create the bend for the next movement.  Everything comes up so much quicker at Medium and is more difficult as well so I need to sharpen up my riding to cope with it.  Also need to develop more core strength to be able to help him in the more difficult movements and half halt him properly to stop him running off in the lateral work.  Fine tuned the floorplan a bit but basically all works ok.  Remember heavy elbows, keep elbows in, carry hands.  Lift the inside hand in the HP to guide him over and remember inside leg.

On Saturday we were back at Merrist Wood for Freestyle day.  They had huge entries so we weren't on till mid afternoon.  I decided to use the snaffle bridle for the Elem as he is more established in that.  Warmup went well, lots of lateral work and simple changes.  The test all went to plan, floorplan worked really well.  He dropped on his head a little in both simple changes but was very obedient upwards.  Kept the canter through the counter canter and mediums.  Judge was grinning madly at me at the end.  It didn't feel amazing to me but I like happy judges!  Was quite gobsmacked to see score of 71.346%  We won the Restricted section and were 2nd Overall out of 19.  He got straight 7's for almost all his technical marks. 6.5 for his 10m circle right, 6 for his first medium trot, but 7.5 for the 2nd one down the final centre line!!  7.5's for both his leg yields. 6.5 for simple change right to left. 5 for first halt, 8 for second one!  6.5 for rhythm, energy and elasticity. 7 for harmony, 7.5 for choreography and 8 for music! Judge was Debbie Pateman who said "Great test, made me smile throughout! Horse shows lovely attitude and the music & floorplan worked well - well done!"

Swapped him into the double for the Medium which in hindsight maybe shouldn't have done as only had 10mins to warm him up again which wasn't really enough time to get him settled in it.  Test didn't start well with him trying to stop to have a poo as we were about to enter at A.  I kicked him on, he threw his head, curb rein tightened and he had a complete paddy coming into first halt.  Oops!  The rest of the test was a bit uninspiring.  He didn't feel like he was moving very freely sideways in the lateral work, he was wobbly in the shoulder-ins, the trot HP barely made it halfway across the arena and the simple changes all involved trotting on the downwards and they should be one of his strong points.  Was chuffed to see we scored 65.667% as he has the potential for soooo much more!  Even more chuffed to see that we won the Restricted section and ended up 4th out of 8 in the class and qualified for Regionals on first attempt!  Judge was Sue Rowlands who said "Well attacked test, needs freedom, mouth open at times. Good pattern. Music really suited paces"  He got a 4.5 for his first dire halt, 7 for his collected canter, 7.5 for his collected walk, 7.5 for his final halt, otherwise all 6's and 6.5's except a hurried 5.5 for medium trot.  His canter HP's got 6.5's so can't have been as bad as they felt.  6's for the trot HP and he got 7.5's in his last Medium so loads more potential there. 6 for rhythm, 6.5 for harmony, 7.5 for choregraphy, 7 for degree of difficulty and 7 for music.

Had an interview with Horse and Hound today.  She said the Elementary judge was really impressed with our final centre line and the Medium judge really liked how I designed the choreography to not include anything he couldn't do.   Not sure if will get a photo or just a few words but will be good to be in H&H again.  Love my boy!

Next stop a bit of hunting over Christmas and then arena eventing before Regionals at the end of Feb and before we know it it will be eventing season again!

BSJA Parwood 13-12-14

As is usual with BSJA - you either end up miles too early and waiting around for hours or late and in a mad rush!  Last time the former, this time the latter.  Missed the course walk for the Discovery which was not good as the second phase was seriously twisty with some tight turns I really could have done with walking.  A friend told me the course and the striding which helped and I just had time to watch 3 go.  Quick warmup.  He started trying to warm up in a poncy dressage canter and got a little reminder that we were SJing today and quickly became the gobby horse I know best.  Had him in his dressage bridle today - still experimenting what he jumps best in.  He was lovely and soft as long as I let him mooch along but once I upped the tempo and razzed him up a bit I don't think it would matter what bit he is in!

Very much enjoying jumping in my new Albion K2 Jump which my super sponsors West Kent Saddles have found me after months of searching for a saddle that fitted Monty and that I felt secure in.  It looks fabulous!

First class was Discovery running as single phase so get to jump the 2nd phase no matter what.  He jumped a fab round.  I held one stride too long at the castle and let him just get a bit flat to the penultimate fence which he had down (along with half the class) but I was really pleased with how he jumped, how easy he made the twisty turns in the 2nd phase and how smooth it all felt.  I also thought it looked quite small - never thought I'd say that about Discovery!

Actually turning in the air for the tricky tight turn to the next fence

If only he gave them all this much room!

Little break then back on for the 1.05m. Good, positive warmup and carried that through into the ring.  This class the 2nd phase looked huge but first phase was up to height yet still looking very doable which was nice.  It was 2 phase anyway so unlikely to get through to 2nd phase!!  He was really unlucky to breathe on the first part of the first double then gave the 2nd part a decent knock for good measure.  Shame as put him on a much better stride than in the first class.  Got a flyer to the 2nd double which has huuuuge oxer on the way in and he was great to respond and gave me a fab feeling.  He is just the most frustrating horse to SJ.  He has oodles of scope but just can't be bothered to pick up his feet those extra couple of millimetres over all the fences!  Most of them he gives them yards.  Still, just jumping smooth rounds over fences this size is huge progress for us!  I watched the Newcomers after and they only put it up a hole - definitely aiming for that next!

Off to Merrist Wood for dressage to music - first Medium level one next weekend then it's a bit of hacking and hunting for the clever orange one over Christmas before we pick up the dressage/SJ/arena evening again in the New Year.

Huuuuge oxer!  Lovely neat jump.

Beautiful jump

Sara Jane Lanning lesson 10-12-14

Aim of this lesson was to sort out a Medium choreography and do a bit with the flying changes.  Had him in the snaffle bridle today as don't want to be relying on the double all the time.  He was much softer than he has been in the past though.  Sara-Jane said often this will be the case - a little work in the double just helps to establish the softness.

Started with canter half pass into simple changes which seemed to work pretty well - kept the canter collected and the simple changes were nice so he is more than capable of us including this in our floorplan.  Canter half pass varied between being pretty good and quarters trailing.  Need more bend, softer to the bend (although he is way better than he was) and remember to half halt and use the inside leg.  To the right I need to watch my position as apparently it's very good to the left but because he finds it harder to go right I let my left shoulder creep forwards and get a bit wonky which blocks him a bit.  When we ran through the music I let his canter get too onwards bound which made the changes impossible so must remember to keep it collected (I think the music is too fast for his new collected canter so need to sort that asap!)  There is a way I can make the choreography a little easier by putting the change in a slightly different place so I can always do that if I feel the canter isn't good enough to get a good change as pointless having degree of difficulty marks if the quality of the basic compulsory movement isn't there.

The other thing I wanted to include was counter canter to counter canter via a simple change and he did this straight off both ways with no hesitation.  Just need to remember to do the downwards transition early enough so as not to be rushing him into the new canter and straight round a corner.

My trot floorplan worked out well and he managed a counter change of hand in half pass with no dramas at all.  He also let me sit to his medium trot which is still nothing special but he tries hard and it actually felt less messy with me sitting than rising.  In the counter change of hand I need to think about staying just behind the imaginary diagonal line I am following then move the forehand back to straighten him so I can then create the new bend in front and start with the forehand leading.  If you try and change everything at once you end up with quarters leading which given that is his tendency in that direction I will have to be quite careful for that not to happen.  Never done changes of hand with him so will probably take some practice to polish that one but definitely capable of doing a good job eventually.

Walk is the easy bit as I can just alter that n various ways to make sure we end up in the right place for the final trot.

Just did a bit of work on the trot afterwards as running through the test he got very heavy in my hand which is what he did in the double bridle in our Mediums at Crofton.  Sara-Jane asked me how many times I half-halted him and there lay the obvious answer.  Er, none!  He leans on my hands for balance, I let him and down the poll goes.  We did a few half halts and suddenly a rather impressive trot outline appeared.  Must must not let the reins get too long and must remember how important the half halts are, even if at this stage he might give me a reaction that doesn't look so pretty it is better than him leaning on me and running onto his forehand.

We finished with some changes.  Every single left to right one was clean and soft and through and apparently worth 7's!!!  And yes, I did say left to right - given this was the way that initially he couldn't comprehend for love nor money it's quite amazing that he is now just flicking easily from one leg to the other with no drama at all!  Right to left weren't so great, quite often being late behind - sadly only worthy of 4's.  New things tend to go through phases like this though - one bit comes then another bit and the original bit goes.  I feel confident by next year we will have both of them for 7's!  Then it's Advanced Medium here we come!  To get the right to left better I need to half halt before the change and be careful not to block him.  Be quicker to bring my new inside leg forwards out of the way as soon as I change the bend and ask for the change.  I think my timing was a bit out on this rein which is odd as it was always the better one to start with but I think he anticipates more going this way which makes it harder to coordinate everything when you're just learning.  It's like the blind leading the blind but we do seem to be getting places slowly but surely.  Can't believe it was only February he was winning the Prelim Regionals!  Next weekend Medium Freestyle and next year Advanced Medium.  He is such a little cracker!

Arena eventing training and competition report 5th/6th Dec 2014

Friday evening I went down to Merrist Wood for a BE organised training clinic on arena eventing.  Having not jumped for a month I was expecting us both to be a bit rusty but was pleasantly surprised to find my eye appeared to be working just fine and Monts was well up for it.  Downside of Monts in that kind of mood is that any kind of softness goes out the window.  If you try and ask him to work over his back into an outline he just sticks his head even higher in the air and fights.  Still, at least he was going forwards although he was a bit looky at some of the fillers.  We did loads of skinnies, difficult turns, corners etc and he was great - no cheeky run outs and really locking on.  Got told to try and anchor my hands into the base of his neck on landing from a fence to stop him plunging onto his forehand and charging off with me which worked well so just have to try and remember to do that.  Something to practice as he needs to learn to land then immediately rebalance, not gallop round half the arena first!

Saturday evening I took him back to Merrist Wood for the 1m unaffiliated indoor SJ/XC.  There were 5 SJ's then 11 XC jumps against the clock, some were knockdowns, some rolltops etc - things moved round from the night before and I missed the course walk as they were running early so just had 4 people to watch to learn the course!

Quick warmup as I was basically last to go.  Jumping well although there wasn't anything big to jump  and no-one to help me so I started doing some angles instead.  Forgot about his nappy streak and put him on a steep left hand angle right by the gate and he naughtily nipped out the left side.  He got a smacked bum for that as he really needs to learn it's not acceptable now and I didn't put him on a bad line or stride - he just took advantage.  Jumped it a couple more times fine and then in we went.

We had a couple of lucky rattles but for once the poles stayed in their cups.  Totally missed my turn from 6 to 7 so had to do a handbrake turn to a very spooky jump but fortunately he was on the ball and we pulled off some other tight turns, I rode forwards and he really responded.  Then had to seriously anchor up for 2nd last fence followed by 90degree turn right on 4 strides to a skinny - worst nightmare as perfect for him to nip out to the left but he didn't think about it - maybe smacked bum in warmup paid off!  Nearly fell off when they announced we'd gone into the lead.  Given we were last in, that meant we won the class!!!  I've never even been placed in a SJ competition on him and anything against the clock normally sees us coming last but he was excellent and we were a bit lucky in places and for once it all came together for us - well chuffed!

pro pics - last page (and 3 on the previous page) - he makes them look like they're tiny and he just can't be bothered with them!