Merrist Wood Winter Regional Championships 21st/22nd Feb 2015

What a weekend!  Am so excited by my little orange horse at the moment.  He is turning into an absolute pro at this dressage stuff and I never would have thought he would get this far a couple of years ago, and especially not 4.5yrs ago when I got him so crooked he looked lame on his vetting!  His centre lines resembled some kind of crab impression, he certainly couldn't do direct transitions, let alone simple changes, even working in any kind of outline was hard work and maintaining it through transitions impossible.  Persistent, consistent work and help from my lovely trainer, Sara Jane Lanning, and it seems the sky is the limit!

This time last year he won the Prelim Regional Final and was placed in the Novice Restricted/Freestyle.  This year being out of Novice points we stepped up to Elementary.  We started with the Elementary Restricted on Saturday.  A nice time of 3.36pm and only a few after us before the end of the class.  Lots of lateral work in the warmup to get him soft and stepping under with his hindleg.  Practised the major movements of the test and all felt good.  He went in very chilled, no spooking at the flowers and did such a grown up test with no mistakes.  I really couldn't have asked for any more from him.  Was really pleased with a score of 67.448%.  We have only done E59 a couple of times and that is our highest score so far by about 3% and at the Regionals no less!  There were 29 in my class and although I was secretly hoping for top ten I didn't think it was realistic.  Somewhat frustrating to come 11th, missing out on top ten by one measly mark.  Kept looking at my test wondering where I could have got it but really don't think he had any more to give me and 11th is still a great result at this level out of 29 top combinations.

We got 69.2% from the judge at C and around 66% from the other 2 judges.  Judge at H (Sue Rowlands) gave him straight 7's for his walk and canter work, just his trot work bringing the score down a bit, judge at C (Heather Ashley) similar with a few 7.5's for the canter-trot-canters and walk to canter.  She gave him an 8 for his leg yield right but otherwise and 7's/7,5's for most of his trot work.  Even got a 7 for his second medium trot across the diagonal - a 7 for medium trot at the Regionals - nearly died of shock! She actually only dropped him down for his medium trot and despite mostly 7's for the test only gave 6.5's for impulsion and submission which was a shame, just dropping his score to 69.2% - pretty fab score for him at this level!  Judge at M (Rosanne Liversidge) was the least impressed by him.  Leg yields got 7 and 7.5 and a few 7's for canter work but otherwise mostly 6.5's.

A few stills from the video:

Video:

Pro photos

Got the pony home safely and back in his stable, went back into the lorry and something went bang very loudly.  Looked underneath to find two of the ramp springs had sheared off and were dangling on the floor.  Thank god we got the pony home safely but bit of a disaster with second Regional class to do on Sunday.  Cue panicked call to mechanic who promised to come and check it out in the morning and a sleepless night wondering if we were even going to make it to our next class.

Sunday was a weird day as we weren't on again until 9.06pm for the Elementary Restricted Freestyle to Music.  Spent most of the day hiding from the horrific weather and wondering if I was mad going to do dressage in high winds and heavy rain.  Any other class and I'd have baled but it was the Regionals!  Mechanic was optimistic of fixing the lorry until 6.30pm when the springs broke again.  Thank god for my lovely friend Claire who has been on standby all day and came to my rescue.  Cue a quick visit to the lorry to unload all my stuff into my car, take it back to Monty's yard and then reload it into Claire's lorry.  Monty is a star and just walked up into a strange lorry with no hesitations.  At this stage my stress levels were through the roof but thankfully Monty was on form and my lovely trainer was there to help me in the warmup.  Despite the sloshy warmup he was trying his best and I went in determined to enjoy my music.

Again, he tried his little heart out.  They were slow starting my music which meant I had to stop and wait and then ended up behind and halting too close to A which basically just put me a few metres behind for the whole test which meant I ended up adlibbing the final walk floorplan not very well as didn't think very quickly on the spot but we ended up in the right place at the end so all ok in the end!  He was a superstar.  His downwards transitions in the simple changes could have been smoother but he was very obedient and rhythmical and again I don't think I could have squeezed any more marks out of him.  Was really hoping to get somewhere around 70% and he didn't disappoint me.  69.1% and into 5th place.  Took Monts home to his field and went back for the prize giving.  We ended up in 6th out of 25 entries.  Equal 2nd were on 70% so we were soooooo close!  I think we'll be just that little bit too far off to get a wildcard to the Nationals but what a score for a little horse who was the opposite to a dressage horse a few years ago, is not a big mover, but has the biggest heart in the world and tries his little heart out for me.

Sara Jane took some gorgeous photos of him for me.  Shame about the muddy socks - I did have him sparkling but the warm up arena was gross!

Stills from the video:

Video:

Prize giving:

Score sheets - so excited to get 8's at Regionals level, especially for things like simple changes and leg yield, as well as his free walk.  So lovely to have hard work rewarded.  I really do adore that horse - such a lucky girl to have him!

Pachesham BD. 15-02-15

Pretty busy week ending in dressage today.  Not on the original plan but last week's BD got snowed off and I felt like we needed another outing before the Regionals next weekend.  Couldn't find anywhere running E59 but E57 seemed like a good second option as not ridden it before and looked pretty tough.

He felt a little tired in the warmup (hardly surprising given his week) so I did wonder how he would be in the test but he tried hard as always.  He did stick two fingers up at me when I asked for medium trot, shook his head and just carried on in working trot but otherwise it was good.  Judge must have blinked and missed it as still gave us a 6.  His final halt looked more like an octopus than anything else but must have looked different from the judge's box as got a 7.  Basically just got 7's the whole way though.  Dropped to a 6.5 for leg yield left needing more impulsion and 6.5 for 15m circle canter right for being a bit big but collectives all 7's so finished on 69.31%, winning the Restricted out of 13 people and coming equal 3rd overall out of 18 so grabbing a fiver prize money to pay for lunch!  Judge was Jane Kendall who said "Calm, obedient test in a pleasing rhythm"

Little break then hopped back on, did a couple of rein backs trying to keep the straightness and some simple changes and then in we went.  E57 a new test for us so was mostly worried about getting lost.  Judge has always in the past been quite tough on us and penalised him for nodding his head in canter which he doesn't appear to do now so did wonder what she would make of us probably a year on from last time she saw us.  Apparently we have improved quite a bit as we managed to score 69.28%!!!  This also won the Restricted section out of 12 and 4th overall out of 19.  Got a 7 for our entry and the halt, rein back.  6.5's for 10m circles which needed more suppleness, 7's for leg yields, 6.5 for medium trot which needed more fluency - over the moon with a new comment that doesn't involve not enough shown, not medium etc etc!! Maybe progress finally being made.  7's for the working trot and medium walk, 8 for the double marked free walk, 7's for the walk to canter right, medium canter circle right, change of leg through trot over X, 6 for medium canter circle left, 6.5 and 6 for simple changes as he dropped me in the first one and trotted in the second but a 7 for the serpentine and 7 for final trot and final halt.  7.5 for his paces !!!, 7 for impulsion, 6.5 for submission and 7 for rider.  "Some good movements and a well ridden test.  He was forward but needed a little more fluency at times"

Chatting to photographer there who also pointed out our half page mention in this month's Local Rider magazine in their Veterans feature.  So lucky to have such wonderful horses in my life.

Next stop Regionals at Merrist Wood next weekend for the Elem Restricted straight and Freestyle to Music - hope he can do as well!

Attington XC schooling 14-02-15

A new venue for us.  Having seen the photos on the website I thought it would be a useful venue for us to try as we have jumped everything at our local venues and Monty needs some new challenges.  Only an hour and ten mins away too - closer than I imagined.  I prefer clinics/lessons when going XC schooling as I rely on the trainer to suss me out and give me challenging things to jump that I wouldn't even think about trying by myself.  Today's trainer was Jonathan Chapman, very popular BE trainer and I wasn't disappointed - he pushed us but never to the stage of losing confidence.

We started with just popping over a simple log and roll top.  Jonathan wanted us to just let the horses suss it out rather than trying to manage their strides.  They need to learn to work it out for themselves and if they run too fast and get too close they should learn and back off the next time.  Bit alien for me as been working so hard on seeing a stride and riding for it but can see the logic behind it.

Moved on to cantering through the water which was pretty deep for little Monts - I got soaked!  Popped a little jump on the edge before and after fine.

Then he upped the anti and had us canter up a hill and jump a log on top before cantering down the hill and into the water.  The ground was deep and yucky and Monts left a leg and nearly catapaulted me out the front door first time!

Had another go - slightly better:

Made it through the water 3rd go:

Then we moved onto ditches - just walked and trotted and popped to start with then built in a roll top afterwards followed by one before as well.  He seemed quite happy with this.

Then we built in the jump with a roof on it - he ducked and swung his legs out to the side which made for a very uncomfy jump!  Still being told to let go of his mouth but don't trust him one bit to jump if I don't hold his hand the whole way!  He's a cheeky sod and can nip out far too quickly.

Next we added in the trakehners including the one I sat there looking at thinking that looks rather big - no thank-you but with a decent amount of leg he pinged it.

Added in the ditch palisade and a skinny after the trakehner.

Finished with a very skinny big house (definitely Novice height) and then curving line, 2 strides to ditch and on to the other skinny house.  I saw quite a bold stride into the house and he kind of hesitated last minute which made me adopt hunting safety seat which was useful given he then stumbled on landing before launching over the ditch and nicely over the skinny house.  Definitely good work for his coffin dislikes.

After that we went back to the water and practised jumping in.  He flew over a Novice hanging log in although did get rather grounded on landing by deep water!  Then steps into water and finished up a mound and over a house - need powerful strrong canter as they don't like jumping where they can't see where they are landing.

Moved onto some corners.  Started with left ones - not my favourite at the moment.  Jumped the tiny BE90 one no questions, same with the BE100, saw a good positive stride to the Novice one and 2 strides out he just shot off to the left.  Argh.  Don't know if I didn't use enough right rein or left leg or if he's just a cheeky little sod but this is becoming an issue I really could do without!  We came round and did it again and he was fine second time although probably jumped it a bit over the wider bit than ideal but at least got over it.

Needless to say he did the 2 bigger corners on a right hand curve without a second thought despite me aiming much more to the apex of the corner.  Little sod.

After this we had a lovely gallop over a log pile, a mahoosive elephant trap - saw a good strong stride into it, felt him look down at the last minute but leg on and over we flew.  Finished up with a nice BE100 type triple brush no hesitation.

Then onto a step down to brush, round to step up to brush

Then a challenge I didn't think we could do but he aced it - brush, one stride to step down, 4 strides on a curving line to a skinny Novice level triple brush.  Definitely a Novice question, no hesitation, easy peasy.  Why is a triple brush so much easier than a bloody corner which is surely just a fence on an angle.  Grrr.

Finished with a double of chunky skinny right hand corners up hill on a left hand curve.  Easy peasy.

So, more homework to do on left corners.  3 weeks until first event - that's going to go pretty quickly.  Hoping for no meaty left corners.  Everything else though feeling pretty good.  More ditch schooling the better still but he felt pretty confident for first XC of the year.