Group of 4 of us including a 1* horse and Harry Dzenis (4* rider) riding a 2* horse. No pressure or anything! Very glad to have had my private lesson with Chris last week to get us back on track so was feeling confident we could keep up.
Warmed up over 2 poles going from fitting in 5 canter strides to 4 strides and up to 8 strides. Proud to say we were the only ones to get it foot perfect every time and have to have another go. I only have 2 poles for equipment at home so it's an exercise we do a lot of and practice definitely makes perfect with this one.
Moved on to the usual trot into a xpole, 5 strides to an oxer which got bigger and bigger. Monts was doing his usual leaning to the right slightly so had to halt him after and then just ask him to yield away from the right leg. He was jumping well though. Think it got up to about 1m20 although wasn't that wide.
Warmup photos:
From there we moved onto a course which was set around 1m05 ish. Started with the same SJ course as we did on Saturday. I rode for 7 strides instead of 8 between the first two fences after getting too close on 8 on Saturday. 7 was a bit of a reach though! Should have sat up and held a bit for 8. He then carted me down the related distance line of one stride double, 5 strides to oxer and only just fitted in the 5th stride and had to cat leap the (not small) oxer before settling down ok to jump the last oxer which was then followed 2 strides later by a skinny rustic which he had a little look at and dangled his legs over (there's always gotta be one!). On to another rustic parallel then a house, brush skinny, left turn to another brush skinny and tight right turn to the horrid skinny brush rolltop. Made sure to really get him back and set up properly for it. Probably held a bit too much but at least no run out!
Then a second course with them all up a couple of holes so reckon 1m10-1m15 - same SJ's and first two rustic fences then round to a vertical, 4 strides to the massive oxer we had jumped in the warmup and round to a final rustic upright. He stumbled after the first oxer so had to regather ourselves and then put 9 strides before the 2nd fence. Was very forwards through the related distance line again but managed to woah him a bit earlier to fit the 5th stride in easier. Good for the final SJ to rustic skinny but he merrily ploughed through it again for no good reason (wasn't even getting too close - grrr!). Fab over the rest of them athough did veer rather too much to the right over the massive great oxer. He was absolutely flying though! So much so he really jarred my back in the first round so I wasn't at my best in the second round and got a bit left behind on a couple of occasions. Soooo pleased with how well he was jumping though - he was awesome!
Somewhat tougher 90 course than we encountered at Wellington or LMEQ. A really acutely angled double of rustic skinnies, an angled house to a rustic skinny and a skinny brush rolltop on a tight left hand bend.
Warmed up really thinking about getting him forwards and really taking me to the fences. I think I may have forgotten a bit about connection but was happy that at least he was taking me forwards. There wasn't anyone to put a x pole for us so made sure to ride super forwards to the upright and it was fine. Went in to our round and he was really flying, the distances were actually coming up short, he did the seriously angled double really well but made up too much distance so took the 2nd part down. He then did the corner brillantly followed by skinny brush and then I kicked on too much and pulled round the left hand bend too much rather than sitting up and using my outside aids and the little monkey just sailed merrily past the skinny brush rolltop. He knew I was aiming at it, was on a good stride and just cocked his jaw and past we went. Grrrrr. We weren't in for a placing anyway due to pole down but just very frustrating for him to do that. Still a good reminder he has that in him!
Hour break while they rearranged the course. We now had the angled house to corner instead of skinny, they took out the seriously angled double and we had a 2 stride double of skinny to the rolltop brush. I think it was a nicer course to be honest! Made sure to really wake him up in the warmup and he felt really up for it. Put ourselves out of contention early on though by making up too much ground between the first 2 show jumps then having to chip in the 8th stride so took it out in front - grrrr. We then also had the first part of the skinny double down as I was really keen to get him straight and well set up and he just wanted to attack it so ran into the base of it. So, another 8 faults. Not doing great on the 100 Championship league at the moment - 3 comps and 8 faults in all. Next stop Wellington again at end of March.
Have been feeling a bit down about our jumping recently. Since we xrayed his hocks before Christmas I just keep thinking he's 17 now and he's got a few mild changes in his hocks but maybe I shouldn't be pushing him to go jumping anymore. It's niggling away in my head all the time even though he's been as keen as always XC and out hacking, he is always so laid back about SJ.
Today took him to Chris Burton who knows him well. Explained what's been going on and got him to have a sit on. He popped him round a 95cm-1m course to start with then whacked them all up 6 holes - guessing around 1m15 ish and he pinged round not touching a thing. Chris pronounced him the same lazy toad as always and just need to sharpen him up again and then he flies. Yay! Was so paranoid he might say he didn't feel right. Great to know he is fine and just his usual laid back self.
So, we started with a bit of work moving him on and back, trying to keep him connected through the bridle, not letting him run on and all the energy fly out the front end. Make a click click sound and if he doesn't listen then sharp leg aid. Aiming to just be able to make the click click at any point and he will take me forwards. He said he used it when he was slightly off to a fence to make sure he moved up instantly and made up the distance and need that kind of reactivity from him. Let him chill out in walk in between work, but as soon as pick up the reins want him instantly reactive. Reaction and connection. Don't nag!
Then we went straight into a course. No time to mess around with warmup fences for me as used half the lesson with Chris riding so he said he hoped I had my eye in!! Eek. (very glad I did some pole work and a little x pole yesterday now) Proved I don't need a tiny x pole every time I get on though. Went straight into an upright of reasonable size and round a course. I tried to go into panic meltdown pull for a stride ridiculousness at the one stride double but thanks to the forwards conditioning from Chris, Monts just took over and pinged through no probs. Great feeling!
Short break, then on to another course with a couple of trickier lines. Got told to just sit quieter down the treble but well done on riding positively through the corner to it. We got a little close to the final double but generally really pleased with how happy and forwards he felt. Time to forget about his age. He'll tell me when he's had enough. Onwards and upwards!
Mostly the day was definitely telling me not to bother going! First I forgot my wallet after driving all the way to the feed shop. The weather was diabolical - blowing a gale and rain too. Then the lorry wouldn't start - battery flat as a pancake. Combined with times of 5.52pm and 6.38pm I really couldn't be bothered!
Thankfully, good friend Claire came to my rescue and offered to take us so had to get my act together and get on with it. The weather wasn't as bad as it sounded once we got on board and we didn't get too soaked in the warmup. We started with the Medium but to be frank it could have been better. Monty seemed to be struggling with the new surface and kept losing his footing which meant he lost balance and given he struggles to keep the weight back at the best of times, falling on his nose wasn't very helpful. We seem to have lost left half pass in trot and canter in the last couple of weeks. Annoying given he got a 7 for his canter HP left at Crofton a few weeks ago - not sure why it's gone awol! Also, it's the first movement we do so not a great first impression. Simple changes in the counter canter serpentine weren't great, lost balance down so was a bit progressive - need to collect the canter and have him secure into the outside rein - difficult as he is anticipating changes. Also I think for next time we might just do canter-trot-canter for the final one as already done one each way in the serpentine and should have done a good right to left one at the start of the test. For the trot, he ran in the Medium and could feel him trying but loosing balance as he fell more onto the forehand. The counter change of hand HP didn't really come off as the left HP didn't flow. Tempted to change the floorplan for the Regionals and do SI to HP on each rein and make it a bit easier. If we do SI on the 3/4 line that will still keep reasonable degree of difficulty but better to make it easier and have it flow better. Unfortunately also broke in the final medium trot down the centre line which was a shame as he was really going for it. Ended up on 64.167%. Collectives 6.0, 6.0, 7.0, 7.0, 7.0 - "Would like to see horse work with more suppleness and bend, in a more uphill frame with more relaxation" - James Rooney.
We got 5.5 for medium trot, 6's for the collected trot (needs more suppleness), SI left (on forehand), SI right (tension), collected canter (on shoulders), canter HP left (laboured), simple change right to left (unbalanced), 6.5's for collected walk, extended walk, both halts, both trot half passes (left one laboured), canter HP right, simple changes from left to right. Not one 7 in the technical marks :( Finished 10th of 13 in the Silver section. Very disappointing as know he can do much better than that.
Video here:
Was very tempted to go home but got persuaded to stay and do the Advanced Medium. Went back in the warmup and established the changes button. Sara-Jane came out and gave me a few quick pointers. He felt great in the trot work and did me a really lovely try at medium trot. Canter needed to stop him coming tight in his neck and above the bit. Went in and felt that he did really try for me. SI felt better, HP still not great, most of the changes came off. Annoyed myself at the end of the canter music as messed up the floorplan as was behind the music thanks to him reversing in the first halt so ended up in the middle of a simple change when the music changed to trot which made it look like I couldn't communicate with my poor horse and affected our collectives as judge pointed it out there. Somehow we ended up on exactly the same score as the Medium - 64.167%, 4.6% better than our debut attempt.
First halt got a 5 thanks to the reversing but everything else 6 or higher. 6's for collected trot (needs collection), extended trot (not enough for extension, more suppleness, hurried and to left of centre line), SI right (more collection/suppleness), SI left (too much neck bend, more collection), HP trot right (lacks bend), HP trot left (losing bend to finish). 6.5's for collected walk and extended walk (generous given he grabbed the reins out of my hand at the beginning and threw his head in the air!), medium canters (more ground cover), HP right in canter (more balance needed), HP left in canter (nodding head/lost bend), final halt, 2nd and 3rd flying changes right to left (tight/snatchy) but gave overall mark of a 7.0 (first one got a 7 which is the one from counter canter to counter canter) (2nd one was late behind but on straight line away from judge so she couldn't see) 7's for both changes left to right. Bit confused as test definitely does 3 changes left to right and only 2 right to left but had 3 marks for right to left and 2 for left to right but hey ho! Very pleased that the highest marks in the test are for the changes. Definitely better off doing Advanced Medium than Medium as can make up marks on changes! Collectives 6.0, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5, 7.0. " Needing more engagement and suppleness. Stayed attentive. Very suitable walk music and stirring ending" Sally Merrison. Ended up 3rd of 3 predictably but only just under 65% which is a qualifying score so pleased overall. Just need to convert a few more 6's into 6.5's but at least nothing under a 6 today which is progress. We have now established forwards in the trot work but we've lost any semblence of collection. I prefer forwards to the backwards dribbly going nowhere trot we had but now need to work towards some kind of compromise so we get forwards and collection rather than running on his forehand.
Straightness in the changes - need to be able to canter across the diagonal and change the bend without getting a flying change - he must wait for my leg aid. Then moved onto the changes on the serpentine - need to keep the canter forwards, not let him suck back, change the bend round the corner before the actual change and keep the change coming forwards. Think oranges, oranges, oranges, change.
Walk piris - don't overdo them, finish it on a line slightly parallel to the original line. If needed can walk back to original line on the diagonal but don't overturn the piri and lose balance.
Getting flexion at the throatlatch, rather than neck bend. This should help in the lateral work and the walk piris. Always too much neck bend on the left rein - must keep hold of the outside rein.
Shoulder-in must move the shoulders off the track with the outside rein, not pull them off with the inside rein as often his quarters move out if do this and also end up with too much neck bend. Seems to be a left rein problem as can do it fine on right rein. Same in the left half pass as will help him to stay up off his shoulder rather than falling through the shoulder
Bit of a mind blowing lesson really - kept getting asked questions I really didn't know the answers to!
Mission for next lesson - need to work on getting some collection in the trot and continue to work on the half pass left in trot and canter plus always the changes right to left.
Started with the 90cm course. No time to walk the course so just watched several go from various angles to get the hang of the turns for the timed XC section. Bogey fence seemed to be fence 5 in the SJ, a skinny on a tight turn off the wall around a XC fence.
Warmed up nicely, seeing good shots to my warmup fences which is always encouraging. I do wish he'd put a bit more enthusiasm into it given how insane he was on our hack the day before but that's Monty for you. He woke up nicely in the arena, popped round the SJ's nicely, held him a bit to the bogey fence but we cleared it then put my foot down for the XC section. Was really pleased with how he responded, how I rode the corners and he stayed balanced and went on the forwards stride. Turns out we won and it was a huge class. We were 0.2seconds slower than the optimum. Clever pony.
Hour's break then on to the 100. They didn't change the course, just put the height up so aim was to just ride it the same although wanted to not ride such a backwards stride to the bogey fence. It was up to height and the XC fences just had poles on top rather than being bigger and more solid which is always a problem with the dangly toed one!
Warmup didn't exactly start well. No-one around to put a small fence for me so aimed him at the 1m vertical that was up, rode it really backwards so he stopped and I fell off - what a load of rubbish. Luckily the lovely Chris Kirby who was stewarding came to my rescue, made me a x-pole and we built up from there and he was jumping well so in we went. He flew round, making it all feel really easy, got a great stride to the bogey fence and he tapped it out behind - grrrr! He is so careful when I bury him and just gets lazy when he's on a slightly longer stride. Also had one of the skinny poles over the logs down - boshed it hard enough with his fetlock to leave a brown stain for days so can't put that one down to just breathing on it! Disappointing but pleased with how confident he felt after the blip in the warmup. We were 5secs off the pace but I didn't really ride for it after the pole down in the SJ section. Need to give myself a kick and stop riding him like a bloody lemon in the warmups. Have got a couple of much needed lessons with Chris Burton coming up to kick us into touch.
The bogey fence - must have had it down behind as looks good in front.
Big thanks to Stephen Bartholomew and Chris Kirby for the piccies (permission to use in blog)
Amazing opportunity to ride a horse currently out competing at Grand Prix dressage thanks to my super trainer, Sara-Jane Lanning. Absolutely honoured to be given the chance to ride such a superstar.
We started off just with some trot so I could get used to his massive movement. He is 17hh compared to little Monts who is only 15.2hh and had such a huge variation in his trot that Monty just doesn't have. We played with making it bigger and then really collecting him up into passage which was great fun.
Then moved on to the canter. Had a play with the flying changes. Interesting that I found the right to left most difficult as I do on Monty. Took me quite a while to find that button but we did eventually master a line of 4 times and 3 times. Do love playing with the tempi changes - so much fun! Must remember to keep the neck straight in the changes. I found the tempis on a straight line much easier than riding the changes on a serpentine as getting too much inside neck bend round the corner and losing the shoulder. Almost want to think about having the new bend round the corner before asking for the change.
Then we had some fun with the canter pirouettes. Never ridden these before so this was a great experience as we have just started introducing this work to Monty. Was interesting to note how slow the canter feels in the pirouette. These are our attempts. Plenty for me still to learn with these but was great fun having a go.
Huge thanks to Sara-Jane for giving me the opportunity to ride such a wonderful, patient horse who made me feel very safe. I could count on one hand the number of horses I've ridden in the last decade so it was quite something to get on a 17hh with so much power but he was the perfect gentleman. Spent the whole session with a huge grin on my face!
