Took Monty to Merrist Wood yesterday to hire out the indoor school and he was superb. Really chuffed with him. He is really mastering the lateral work in trot and we can now get perfectly respectable travers, renvers, leg yield, shoulder in and even half pass is coming along. He was powering around and felt so impressive - looked fab in the mirrors too. Canter lateral work he still doesn't seem to get, he doesn't move off my leg aid and just gets tight and tense. In fact generally I would go back to now saying his canter work is weaker than his trot work again. Funny how things swap and change. He did do some lovely counter canter and CC to trot transitions though. Just really need to build that strength behind in the canter.
So, we toddled off to Fairoak Grange today for some BD. Was looking forward to it as feel he is coming on so well at the moment. He warmed up beautifully which is generally a bad sign. If he's too soft and relaxed at the beginning of a warmup it generally means he'll be half asleep in the test itself! True to form he was behind my leg in the first test - N27 in the indoor arena. The test suits him well as it's busy and he was obedient but not taking me forwards as well as he could. Just scraped a qualifying score so 3 more points towards Regionals qualification. There were a lot of good bits which have improved - was very pleased with his two 1/2 10m circles in trot and his canter to trot after the diagonal and also his G&R in canter which is funny to think that 18mths ago he couldn't do that without impersonating a giraffe. His medium trots weren't so good though and only got 6 and 5 and he dropped me big style into the final halt and landed on his shoulders. Whole test was a mix of 6's and 7's. Collectives 7667. 65.71% Comments about needing to be more in front of the leg but willing and obedient. He was only 1 mark behind 2nd place but 3.5% behind 1st place so still lots of work to be done.
Took him back to the box for 25mins and then back on for a quick warmup and attempt to get him more in front of my leg for 2nd test but he was well and truly asleep by this point. He is just so flipping laid back he's nearly horizontal! His canter was well behind my leg to the point where he started nodding his head and I couldn't wake him up. He woke up a bit in the arena as it's quite exposed on top of a hill with some horses grazing in the field next door but it wasn't enough. He got an 8 for his first centre line but it was downhill after that (literally) - he dropped me in several transitions and cantered in his medium trot getting us a 4 for that movement. Encouragingly he did manage a 7 for his other medium trot though which is real progress. Collectives 7667. Judge: Pat Watts. Annoyingly finished just short of a qualifying mark on 64.52% and again was 1 mark behind 2nd place but 4.5% behind 1st. Usual comments about needing to be more supple and work more through from behind.
So, 3 more points towards regionals means we've got 11 now I think and he now has a total of 42 BD points. Need to think about if I want to qualify him for Prelim Regionals as needs to have under 49 proper points and I need another 5 Prelim points to qualify so need another outing at Prelim before I do any more Novice or do I concentrate on getting the results at Novice. Realistically he probably won't come anywhere in either class at Regionals level so wondering whether to bother or just concentrate on Petplans again next year as doing Regionals at Novice will stop us doing Petplans. Decisions!
Off to Larkhill tomorrow - staying away for the night and competing on Sunday in our last BE90 of the season. Assuming it goes ahead given forecast of rain, rain and more rain!
Friday, 18 October 2013
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Mark Corbett SJ lesson - Parwood - 16-10-13
Today we hacked to Parwood in the pouring rain for a SJ lesson with Mark Corbett. Shared the lesson with an ex 2* horse who needed to work on control so started in the indoor with some canter poles which were on rather a long distance for Monts and he rather struggled with that - his canter really isn't that big without jumps in the way! Moved outside and fortunately rain had died down to a drizzle. Started with a x pole which he popped lovely then a 2 stride distance to a vertical which became a parallel and got to about 1.05m. Got it right every time and felt like he was flying. Got told off for letting him jump right though. Explained when he jumps off to the right he uses his 2 hindlegs in different places but if straight he pushes off them equally which gives him much more power. It also impacts in related distances, corners, doglegs etc so important to get him out of that habit.
We then moved onto a course. Started with grid then round to sheep upright on a left turn then sharp right turnback to big oxer. Totally messed up the line to the sheep and let him jump off to the right then nearly crashed into the fence attempting to turn right so pulled up. Told off for my rubbishy line to the sheep and had to try again. Took wider line to sheep, aimed for the centre but then thinking right, landed on the correct leg and made a nice right turn and met the oxer on a lovely forwards but controlled stride. Right sweeping turn to zebra upright then keep going round to dice, right turnback to wavy planks and left turnback to pink swirly where I hooked and let him jump right. Overall, not awful but must must remember to jump straight. Remember to take rhythm checks during the round, half halt, gather together, mustn't let reins get too long.
Next attempt at same course soooo much better. We did land in a bit of a muddle before the sharp right turnback to oxer but he said I did good to just sit and let him sort his legs out before continuing to ride forwards to the oxer. Rode the wavy planks brilliantly and he praised us for getting there on a really powerful stride. Got a slightly longer one to the last fence but we were straight and no hooking so happy with that. Really lovely round for me - if only they were all like that and I could remember all that when we go in the ring!
Finally had a discussion about doglegs. Important to get square on the turn, don't cut the corner, jump the middle of the fence, stay straight then outside aids to turn and stay forwards. It all comes down to my inability to ride forwards off a turn with less than 3 strides to the fence. So, went and rode a 5 stride dogleg and did it perfectly proving we can do it!
There's just soooooooooooo much to remember and think about whilst remembering where to go! Fine with that in a dressage test but just don't have the experience of doing it in the SJ arena. More and more practice needed but feel we could jump the moon if I always rode it like I did today.
Yesterday we did some flatwork schooling at home and I was so chuffed with how he went. He is really developing the strength from behind to carry himself in a more advanced outline. He is taking less and less warmup time to be able to achieve it. We avoided any lateral work in walk as he was seriously taking the mick and swinging his bum all over the place. Did some more half walk pirouettes which weren't as good as in lesson but tried to remember to look where I was going and weight to the inside. We did lots of counter canter and some 5m circles in walk into canter which really helps the walk to canter transition as really engages the hindleg. His right canter transitions are improving so much. In trot I worked on a rectangle rather than getting drawn into sticking to a 20m circle or the outside trench. Meant I could work on getting good corners and using the corners to engage him. Real effort to think about keeping him straight on the left rein and not letting him overflex to the inside. Couple of medium trots across the diagonal - hard in the short school to rebalance him in time for the corner when he does give it to me but pleased with his efforts. Some lovely straight centre lines and halts to. Doing BE92 on Sunday could be interesting as BE95 and N27 both have walk onto centre line, trot D to G but 92 has walk to halt at X and think he will anticipate the trot.
Looking forwards to hiring out the huge indoor school at Merrist Wood tomorrow to practice our lateral work which is so much easier with sooooo much space! Then we have BD at Fairoak Grange on Friday - N27 and N38 which suit him so really looking forwards to seeing how he goes. Mission forwards!
We then moved onto a course. Started with grid then round to sheep upright on a left turn then sharp right turnback to big oxer. Totally messed up the line to the sheep and let him jump off to the right then nearly crashed into the fence attempting to turn right so pulled up. Told off for my rubbishy line to the sheep and had to try again. Took wider line to sheep, aimed for the centre but then thinking right, landed on the correct leg and made a nice right turn and met the oxer on a lovely forwards but controlled stride. Right sweeping turn to zebra upright then keep going round to dice, right turnback to wavy planks and left turnback to pink swirly where I hooked and let him jump right. Overall, not awful but must must remember to jump straight. Remember to take rhythm checks during the round, half halt, gather together, mustn't let reins get too long.
Next attempt at same course soooo much better. We did land in a bit of a muddle before the sharp right turnback to oxer but he said I did good to just sit and let him sort his legs out before continuing to ride forwards to the oxer. Rode the wavy planks brilliantly and he praised us for getting there on a really powerful stride. Got a slightly longer one to the last fence but we were straight and no hooking so happy with that. Really lovely round for me - if only they were all like that and I could remember all that when we go in the ring!
Finally had a discussion about doglegs. Important to get square on the turn, don't cut the corner, jump the middle of the fence, stay straight then outside aids to turn and stay forwards. It all comes down to my inability to ride forwards off a turn with less than 3 strides to the fence. So, went and rode a 5 stride dogleg and did it perfectly proving we can do it!
There's just soooooooooooo much to remember and think about whilst remembering where to go! Fine with that in a dressage test but just don't have the experience of doing it in the SJ arena. More and more practice needed but feel we could jump the moon if I always rode it like I did today.
Yesterday we did some flatwork schooling at home and I was so chuffed with how he went. He is really developing the strength from behind to carry himself in a more advanced outline. He is taking less and less warmup time to be able to achieve it. We avoided any lateral work in walk as he was seriously taking the mick and swinging his bum all over the place. Did some more half walk pirouettes which weren't as good as in lesson but tried to remember to look where I was going and weight to the inside. We did lots of counter canter and some 5m circles in walk into canter which really helps the walk to canter transition as really engages the hindleg. His right canter transitions are improving so much. In trot I worked on a rectangle rather than getting drawn into sticking to a 20m circle or the outside trench. Meant I could work on getting good corners and using the corners to engage him. Real effort to think about keeping him straight on the left rein and not letting him overflex to the inside. Couple of medium trots across the diagonal - hard in the short school to rebalance him in time for the corner when he does give it to me but pleased with his efforts. Some lovely straight centre lines and halts to. Doing BE92 on Sunday could be interesting as BE95 and N27 both have walk onto centre line, trot D to G but 92 has walk to halt at X and think he will anticipate the trot.
Looking forwards to hiring out the huge indoor school at Merrist Wood tomorrow to practice our lateral work which is so much easier with sooooo much space! Then we have BD at Fairoak Grange on Friday - N27 and N38 which suit him so really looking forwards to seeing how he goes. Mission forwards!
Monday, 14 October 2013
Pulborough BE90 - 13-10-13
I went fence judging the day before in beautiful sunshine but sadly the forecast for Sunday was awful :( Walked the XC course on Saturday and it looked good. Mostly a typical 90. Only thing that got me thinking was on the gallop home there was a roll top off to the right, heading straight into some trees followed 2 strides later by a 90degree turn to the left, 2 strides to a skinny brush rolltop on the way out - thought that would be interesting on wet ground and a tiring horse on his gallop home.
Left him in overnight all plaited up so minimal work to do in the morning. Awoke to light, misty rain and thought this isn't too bad so off we went. Stopped off on the way to pick up another which added an hour to the journey.
Off to warmup for dressage and he was beautiful from the word go. The warmup was on the side of a steep hill but he felt really balanced and he was soft and forwards from the off. Perhaps keeping him in the night before suits him. It didn't suit his legs though - they filled up like tree trunks and he was coughing a bit. If I do it again I'll bandage his legs. I did some counter canter in the warmup and some transitions but missed out the walk lateral work so as not to make him too wobbly. Test was on a flat arena at the bottom of the hill and they'd moved them over from the day before but did mean you had the old centre line just off to the side of the new one which was a bit off-putting. Cantered round the edge of the arena then in we went for BE95 and he was lovely - really forwards. Only little mistake was him cantering slightly early in the first canter - he went off before C instead of after C so corrected him back to trot and asked again. Lovely square halt to finish - so chuffed with him - huge improvement on BCA the other week - ground was much softer so sure he appreciated that. Judge gave me a big smile at the end so that was nice. Big pats for Monts.
Video:
Piccies:
By now the rain was chucking it down. Went off to see if they would let me go early in the SJ and learn the course. Shame I didn't get to walk it as there was a dogleg and some related distances and curved lines and could have done with knowing the striding. The warmup was already looking horrible but I figured we didn't need to do too much having just got him going nicely for SJ. Got him into the warmup and he was just not impressed - felt like he was tip-toeing around as the ground had broken up and got lumpy but not gone to slush. Had planned to do similar warm-up to what we did in the SJ lesson on Wed but I couldn't do any on and back as too slippery. I did a few 5m circles in walk and walk to canter but couldn't collect him enough to do canter to walk. Popped over the x-pole and he flew it so thought I'd go in on that.
SJ warmup:
Got a good stride to 1 but landed on wrong leg and then he went disunited so tried to get back to counter canter and got that back on the way out of the turn. Looking at photo he jumped way off to the right again which is hardly going to help with landing on the left lead so really need to work on that in next jumping session. Jumping right over everything is not good. 2 was ok but he jumped off to the right again and I knew 3 should be on 7 forward strides but instead I strangled the canter to fit in 8, he got a bit close and booted out the top rail in front. So annoyed with myself - totally against all the forward riding I've been working on. Rode forwards round the corner and met 4 nicely then round another right turn to 5 which we got in too close to - I knew 6 was on a forwards 4 strides and I know that 4 is his worst for getting if he's not forwards enough and knowing he'd landed short from 5 I decided to hold for 5 strides which meant he got in short to 6 as well but cleared it, round left bend to 7 and keep curving left to 8 and 9 - I think we met all of them a bit close because I just didn't have him going forwards enough. Fence 10 was a one stride double still on the left curve and gave myself a mental kick to ride forwards into it, met it perfectly and flew through it. So annoyed with myself. I knew we were likely to have a rail down at some point as his record has been immaculate but that was totally my fault and I'm lucky we didn't have more. Lack of any decent warmup didn't do me any favours as wasn't thinking forwards.
Video:
Piccies:
Fence 9:
Fence 10a:
Fence 10b:
Fence 5:
Fence 6:
Fence 4:
Fence 2:
Fence1:
At this point had to decide whether to go XC. It was still hammering it down. My dressage score wasn't up yet. I had a feeling it would probably be quite good but thought a rail down would likely put us out of qualifying places. Besides all that I was really worried about how he would cope with the ground. He is ok in mud having hunted plenty but he doesn't like slippery and I was hearing reports of horses losing their back ends. His jumping confidence is fairly fragile and I knew that if he started losing his footing he would start chipping in short ones which we really don't need and from past experience it takes him a long time to get out of that habit once he's had a bad round. I also knew if I was to come anywhere I'd have to ride for the time and I wasn't feeling the love for that given I knew it was slippery. So I made the decision to withdraw :( Walked over to tell secretary to see I'd got 26.5 dressage and was 3rd after dressage, about 5th after SJ. Gutting to be withdrawing but my support team also felt it was the right thing to do for him. He doesn't need to run and I have to look after him thinking of Badminton and all we've been through this year and last with injuries. Ever since getting home I've been in a right grump and thinking I just should have manned up and got on with it and run him as would have been nice to get another Regionals in the bag for next year but I'm sure it was the right decision for him and he certainly thanked me for not running him in that. It was a very expensive combined training outing though and so frustrating that the weather was perfect the day before.
Dressage sheet - he gave me an error of course for the canter transition which whilst it was nothing to do with me worked out better than being given a 4 for breaking into canter when he should have been trotting. So, without that mistake we'd have been on 25.5 (his PB is 24.5). I am so pleased with how much his dressage has improved - we're talking 10% on 2yrs ago. I've worked so hard on it and it's so rewarding to see all that paying off. Judge was Steve Smith - list 4. 2 above me after dressage were on 21.5 and 22 so still lots more marks for us to pull up to 8's to match that.
So, theoretically we should be at Larkhill on Sunday but currently the forecast is terrible. There's no point me getting up at 5am to go all that way not to run him so will have to watch and wait. It's chalk there so will drain quickly if it's dry on the day but SJ is on a slope and I know he'll hate it if it's slippery. Please please let me get a last run in. I know I've achieved the most important thing this season but I've evented even less than last season so far and it's such an expensive sport to train for to only run a handful of times.
This week we have a SJ lesson at Parwood on Wed with Mark Corbett - I will be asking to work on course jumping and stopping him jumping right all the time. Terrible habit I've let him get into. Then we are hiring the indoor at Merrist Wood on Thursday to work on our dressage. Friday we have BD at Fairoak - 2 of my favourite tests for him - N27 and N38 so really hoping to get a couple of qualifying scores and net a few more points towards Winter Regionals - need 11 more by end of November. Sounds a lot but he can get 8-10 in a day on a good day so should be achievable.
Still trying to decide what to do with him next week. It's my SJ that needs work so thinking need to go at least once - there is BSJA at Crofton on Fri which has British Novice and a 1m Open and we really should be capable of those after doing 1m10 last Wed at MW but the thought scares the life out of me. Will also require very early get up as 1st classes of the day. Never done BSJA either so bit scary. Really ought to man up and get on with it. They also have unaff there on Sunday with a 3ft and 3ft3 class - could do that as well or instead of or just do Friday and do something different on Sunday. There is BE SJ training with Warren Lamperd near Hook on Sunday so could get another SJ lesson with someone different in. MC is also teaching at Parwood again on Wed. Oldencraig has DTM on Fri which we could probably get late entry for. Thinking I might take Llewi out with the draghunt on Wed. The thought of hunting Monty scares the life out of me at the moment - much as I would adore to take him out jumping hedges he is soooo precious now and needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool until Badminton. I might take him a couple of times to the meets where I know there's no hedges with dodgy hidden ditches and good ground as I think he might go stale on me if he's stuck in an arena until May but we'll see. Really need to make some decisions about next week now though - so rubbish when there's so much choice!
Course photos of the XC:
Left him in overnight all plaited up so minimal work to do in the morning. Awoke to light, misty rain and thought this isn't too bad so off we went. Stopped off on the way to pick up another which added an hour to the journey.
Off to warmup for dressage and he was beautiful from the word go. The warmup was on the side of a steep hill but he felt really balanced and he was soft and forwards from the off. Perhaps keeping him in the night before suits him. It didn't suit his legs though - they filled up like tree trunks and he was coughing a bit. If I do it again I'll bandage his legs. I did some counter canter in the warmup and some transitions but missed out the walk lateral work so as not to make him too wobbly. Test was on a flat arena at the bottom of the hill and they'd moved them over from the day before but did mean you had the old centre line just off to the side of the new one which was a bit off-putting. Cantered round the edge of the arena then in we went for BE95 and he was lovely - really forwards. Only little mistake was him cantering slightly early in the first canter - he went off before C instead of after C so corrected him back to trot and asked again. Lovely square halt to finish - so chuffed with him - huge improvement on BCA the other week - ground was much softer so sure he appreciated that. Judge gave me a big smile at the end so that was nice. Big pats for Monts.
Video:
Piccies:
By now the rain was chucking it down. Went off to see if they would let me go early in the SJ and learn the course. Shame I didn't get to walk it as there was a dogleg and some related distances and curved lines and could have done with knowing the striding. The warmup was already looking horrible but I figured we didn't need to do too much having just got him going nicely for SJ. Got him into the warmup and he was just not impressed - felt like he was tip-toeing around as the ground had broken up and got lumpy but not gone to slush. Had planned to do similar warm-up to what we did in the SJ lesson on Wed but I couldn't do any on and back as too slippery. I did a few 5m circles in walk and walk to canter but couldn't collect him enough to do canter to walk. Popped over the x-pole and he flew it so thought I'd go in on that.
SJ warmup:
Got a good stride to 1 but landed on wrong leg and then he went disunited so tried to get back to counter canter and got that back on the way out of the turn. Looking at photo he jumped way off to the right again which is hardly going to help with landing on the left lead so really need to work on that in next jumping session. Jumping right over everything is not good. 2 was ok but he jumped off to the right again and I knew 3 should be on 7 forward strides but instead I strangled the canter to fit in 8, he got a bit close and booted out the top rail in front. So annoyed with myself - totally against all the forward riding I've been working on. Rode forwards round the corner and met 4 nicely then round another right turn to 5 which we got in too close to - I knew 6 was on a forwards 4 strides and I know that 4 is his worst for getting if he's not forwards enough and knowing he'd landed short from 5 I decided to hold for 5 strides which meant he got in short to 6 as well but cleared it, round left bend to 7 and keep curving left to 8 and 9 - I think we met all of them a bit close because I just didn't have him going forwards enough. Fence 10 was a one stride double still on the left curve and gave myself a mental kick to ride forwards into it, met it perfectly and flew through it. So annoyed with myself. I knew we were likely to have a rail down at some point as his record has been immaculate but that was totally my fault and I'm lucky we didn't have more. Lack of any decent warmup didn't do me any favours as wasn't thinking forwards.
Video:
Piccies:
Fence 9:
Fence 10a:
Fence 10b:
Fence 5:
Fence 6:
Fence 4:
Fence 2:
Fence1:
At this point had to decide whether to go XC. It was still hammering it down. My dressage score wasn't up yet. I had a feeling it would probably be quite good but thought a rail down would likely put us out of qualifying places. Besides all that I was really worried about how he would cope with the ground. He is ok in mud having hunted plenty but he doesn't like slippery and I was hearing reports of horses losing their back ends. His jumping confidence is fairly fragile and I knew that if he started losing his footing he would start chipping in short ones which we really don't need and from past experience it takes him a long time to get out of that habit once he's had a bad round. I also knew if I was to come anywhere I'd have to ride for the time and I wasn't feeling the love for that given I knew it was slippery. So I made the decision to withdraw :( Walked over to tell secretary to see I'd got 26.5 dressage and was 3rd after dressage, about 5th after SJ. Gutting to be withdrawing but my support team also felt it was the right thing to do for him. He doesn't need to run and I have to look after him thinking of Badminton and all we've been through this year and last with injuries. Ever since getting home I've been in a right grump and thinking I just should have manned up and got on with it and run him as would have been nice to get another Regionals in the bag for next year but I'm sure it was the right decision for him and he certainly thanked me for not running him in that. It was a very expensive combined training outing though and so frustrating that the weather was perfect the day before.
Dressage sheet - he gave me an error of course for the canter transition which whilst it was nothing to do with me worked out better than being given a 4 for breaking into canter when he should have been trotting. So, without that mistake we'd have been on 25.5 (his PB is 24.5). I am so pleased with how much his dressage has improved - we're talking 10% on 2yrs ago. I've worked so hard on it and it's so rewarding to see all that paying off. Judge was Steve Smith - list 4. 2 above me after dressage were on 21.5 and 22 so still lots more marks for us to pull up to 8's to match that.
So, theoretically we should be at Larkhill on Sunday but currently the forecast is terrible. There's no point me getting up at 5am to go all that way not to run him so will have to watch and wait. It's chalk there so will drain quickly if it's dry on the day but SJ is on a slope and I know he'll hate it if it's slippery. Please please let me get a last run in. I know I've achieved the most important thing this season but I've evented even less than last season so far and it's such an expensive sport to train for to only run a handful of times.
This week we have a SJ lesson at Parwood on Wed with Mark Corbett - I will be asking to work on course jumping and stopping him jumping right all the time. Terrible habit I've let him get into. Then we are hiring the indoor at Merrist Wood on Thursday to work on our dressage. Friday we have BD at Fairoak - 2 of my favourite tests for him - N27 and N38 so really hoping to get a couple of qualifying scores and net a few more points towards Winter Regionals - need 11 more by end of November. Sounds a lot but he can get 8-10 in a day on a good day so should be achievable.
Still trying to decide what to do with him next week. It's my SJ that needs work so thinking need to go at least once - there is BSJA at Crofton on Fri which has British Novice and a 1m Open and we really should be capable of those after doing 1m10 last Wed at MW but the thought scares the life out of me. Will also require very early get up as 1st classes of the day. Never done BSJA either so bit scary. Really ought to man up and get on with it. They also have unaff there on Sunday with a 3ft and 3ft3 class - could do that as well or instead of or just do Friday and do something different on Sunday. There is BE SJ training with Warren Lamperd near Hook on Sunday so could get another SJ lesson with someone different in. MC is also teaching at Parwood again on Wed. Oldencraig has DTM on Fri which we could probably get late entry for. Thinking I might take Llewi out with the draghunt on Wed. The thought of hunting Monty scares the life out of me at the moment - much as I would adore to take him out jumping hedges he is soooo precious now and needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool until Badminton. I might take him a couple of times to the meets where I know there's no hedges with dodgy hidden ditches and good ground as I think he might go stale on me if he's stuck in an arena until May but we'll see. Really need to make some decisions about next week now though - so rubbish when there's so much choice!
Course photos of the XC:
Sara-Jane Lanning lesson - MW - 11-10-13
Nice to have a lesson in an indoor school given the awful weather - high winds and rain - yuck!
MW had the 20x60m arena set out ready for their show the next day so we worked in that space on their lovely surface. So much better than our tiny arena at home.
Started with walk work - I was doing my usual walk squares and he was being wiggly as he was anticipating the next exercise where we do travers/SI/renvers on a square. She said have to be a bit careful with that as he is anticipating so much so maybe not do that exercise so much and think about doing half pirouettes. We worked a bit on those. Must remember to look where I'm going, move the forehand round, not sit to the outside, keep the activity and the flexion. Not too much then! She did say he did a couple of them really really well and would give 8's for them so that was encouraging. Some of them were terrible though so lots to work on there.
Moved into trot and got told have too much flexion to the inside on the left rein so need to have him straighter into the outside rein and give away the inside rein regularly. She said he's got good activity, is obedient and willing.
She asked me which rein I thought he was better on and I said I would always have said left but now thinking right as he is so tending towards over-flexion on the left rein he's actually straighter on the right rein now. She agreed.
Did some work on improving his medium trot - she suggested we did medium up the long side then continue it around a half 20m circle and then keep going down the next long side and should really feel him opening up there. Did it several times and definitely felt him opening his shoulders on the second long side. She said he's definitely got the potential to produce a good medium.
We did lots of counter canter which seemed to really help get him back on his hocks and connect him better. Canter work started a bit long and strung out but really improved with the CC. Started with loops and moved onto changing the rein across short diagonal and maintained the CC round the arena. His CC has really come on last few months and he did this well. Lost a bit of impulsion round the short side as he finds that hardest so just have to maintain that. She said his canter started off as a 7 (maybe a 6 if she was judging Regionals level) but finished as an 8 :) Again, must make sure he's equally into both reins not overflexing to the left.
Onto leg yield. Started in walk and he did it beautifully so moved into trot. Had to go across the whole arena on the diagonal line and forget looking pretty - need effective aids and a good response. Tap him up if he isn't listening, keep legs long and half halt. She said it wasn't as bad as I thought though.
One big thing to remember is my half halts - I don't use them nearly enough. I need to use them after canter-trot transitions, in the leg yield and lots of other places - they really help to rebalance him.
Overall, she said there was a lot to like and it was just refining the little things to pick his marks up. She said I rode really well and had a lot of feel which was lovely to hear :)
Back again next month for more.
MW had the 20x60m arena set out ready for their show the next day so we worked in that space on their lovely surface. So much better than our tiny arena at home.
Started with walk work - I was doing my usual walk squares and he was being wiggly as he was anticipating the next exercise where we do travers/SI/renvers on a square. She said have to be a bit careful with that as he is anticipating so much so maybe not do that exercise so much and think about doing half pirouettes. We worked a bit on those. Must remember to look where I'm going, move the forehand round, not sit to the outside, keep the activity and the flexion. Not too much then! She did say he did a couple of them really really well and would give 8's for them so that was encouraging. Some of them were terrible though so lots to work on there.
Moved into trot and got told have too much flexion to the inside on the left rein so need to have him straighter into the outside rein and give away the inside rein regularly. She said he's got good activity, is obedient and willing.
She asked me which rein I thought he was better on and I said I would always have said left but now thinking right as he is so tending towards over-flexion on the left rein he's actually straighter on the right rein now. She agreed.
Did some work on improving his medium trot - she suggested we did medium up the long side then continue it around a half 20m circle and then keep going down the next long side and should really feel him opening up there. Did it several times and definitely felt him opening his shoulders on the second long side. She said he's definitely got the potential to produce a good medium.
We did lots of counter canter which seemed to really help get him back on his hocks and connect him better. Canter work started a bit long and strung out but really improved with the CC. Started with loops and moved onto changing the rein across short diagonal and maintained the CC round the arena. His CC has really come on last few months and he did this well. Lost a bit of impulsion round the short side as he finds that hardest so just have to maintain that. She said his canter started off as a 7 (maybe a 6 if she was judging Regionals level) but finished as an 8 :) Again, must make sure he's equally into both reins not overflexing to the left.
Onto leg yield. Started in walk and he did it beautifully so moved into trot. Had to go across the whole arena on the diagonal line and forget looking pretty - need effective aids and a good response. Tap him up if he isn't listening, keep legs long and half halt. She said it wasn't as bad as I thought though.
One big thing to remember is my half halts - I don't use them nearly enough. I need to use them after canter-trot transitions, in the leg yield and lots of other places - they really help to rebalance him.
Overall, she said there was a lot to like and it was just refining the little things to pick his marks up. She said I rode really well and had a lot of feel which was lovely to hear :)
Back again next month for more.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Carl Belson SJ clinic MW 09-10-13
Arrived to find myself surrounded by a blinding amount of bling and that was just on one girl's breeches!! They were all platinum blonde and dolled up to the nines. Boy did I feel out of place. I nearly turned around and went home. Watched someone do the clear round and do a nice job and then a lad on a horse with the most amazing back end over a fence - he jumped a lovely round over 1m then they whacked the fences up to 1m10-1m15 and he started stopping and Carl started yelling and everyone got more and more wound up. He clearly knew the rider well but I very nearly bottled it and buggered off home again. I don't like being yelled at.
Anyway, decided I could always leave if it was terrible so put my brave pants on and got on. Group of 4 of us. Had a walk around and then we did some trot work large round the arena, sitting trot and collect around the short side then push on down the long side really activating his back end and careful not to let him come too deep in the collected. Then we did similar in canter. Trot was then banned and we had to canter to walk/walk to canter and simple or flying changes. We did canter to walk, walk 5m circle then back up to canter. Did a lot of this - Monty was foaming - he very rarely foams! I thought this could be fun as totally knackered him before we've even jumped!
So, then we popped over a 2ft6 vertical and he was really sticky and cleared it by miles and I felt his back end flick into the air like I never have before. Next time he jumped it without the spooking but I still felt the back end ping. Put it up to 90cm and we all came again - yet again he pinged. Really don't think I have ever felt his back end so active. Guessing it was all the warmup work we did but will have to remember that kind of warmup as it really seemed to activate his back end.
There was a course set up and we worked out way around it jumped a couple of fences at a time. First time over the first jump which was an oxer he really backed off the nice, forwards stride I saw, so I had to really push him to take that stride and he must have cleared it by 2ft, nearly jumping me off in the process which messed up our line to the 2nd fence which was on a curved line off the wall. No chance to do it again before he was putting it up. It was already bigger than I've jumped for months and months so I was a tad bricking it but no way was I going to turn into a big wuss in front of the others especially when he was jumping so well so I manned up (sort of!). So next time round we did the first two and then a tight left hand turn to a humongous oxer which I messed up the line to and he ended up coming down on the back bar and then we had another curved line out to the wall and then off the wall to a vertical which I never got quite right all session for some reason - kept jumping to the right to fit in another stride. Got told to come round again and jump the oxer again - scared witless TBH but focussed on getting a good turn and letting the fence come to me and thankfully met it on a good one and he flew it. Then we had to do the 4th fence, round a sharp left turn to a big green oxer then a dogleg right to an upright on 4 or 5 strides. Then sharp right to a vertical to big oxer on 4 strong strides. I got the oxer ok (thank god) but then rode a straight line rather than a dogleg so got in too close on 5 strides and knocked it down. Managed to fit 5 strides in the related distance as got in too close to the first part.
So, then he put them all up a bit more - was wondering if anyone would notice if I sneaked out at this stage - and sent us up the other end to come in and jump the whole course one at a time. Well, he bloody flew! We still didn't manage to quite fit in 5 nice strides in the dogleg so took that out but powered through the final line on 4 good strides. He felt absolutely awesome! Got made to do the oxer (which was now an ascending spread) to vertical dogleg again - argh - was happy to have survived it once as it was mega big but did it again and just about managed to fit in 5 strides and clear it. Didn't help I felt I really had to work to get him to take me over the oxer which didn't help me land in balance quick enough to make adjustments. He was really powering over the jumps but still needs plenty of leg to keep the power up so he is happy to go on a normal stride and not back off and chip in.
So, things I need to work on:
Anyway, decided I could always leave if it was terrible so put my brave pants on and got on. Group of 4 of us. Had a walk around and then we did some trot work large round the arena, sitting trot and collect around the short side then push on down the long side really activating his back end and careful not to let him come too deep in the collected. Then we did similar in canter. Trot was then banned and we had to canter to walk/walk to canter and simple or flying changes. We did canter to walk, walk 5m circle then back up to canter. Did a lot of this - Monty was foaming - he very rarely foams! I thought this could be fun as totally knackered him before we've even jumped!
So, then we popped over a 2ft6 vertical and he was really sticky and cleared it by miles and I felt his back end flick into the air like I never have before. Next time he jumped it without the spooking but I still felt the back end ping. Put it up to 90cm and we all came again - yet again he pinged. Really don't think I have ever felt his back end so active. Guessing it was all the warmup work we did but will have to remember that kind of warmup as it really seemed to activate his back end.
There was a course set up and we worked out way around it jumped a couple of fences at a time. First time over the first jump which was an oxer he really backed off the nice, forwards stride I saw, so I had to really push him to take that stride and he must have cleared it by 2ft, nearly jumping me off in the process which messed up our line to the 2nd fence which was on a curved line off the wall. No chance to do it again before he was putting it up. It was already bigger than I've jumped for months and months so I was a tad bricking it but no way was I going to turn into a big wuss in front of the others especially when he was jumping so well so I manned up (sort of!). So next time round we did the first two and then a tight left hand turn to a humongous oxer which I messed up the line to and he ended up coming down on the back bar and then we had another curved line out to the wall and then off the wall to a vertical which I never got quite right all session for some reason - kept jumping to the right to fit in another stride. Got told to come round again and jump the oxer again - scared witless TBH but focussed on getting a good turn and letting the fence come to me and thankfully met it on a good one and he flew it. Then we had to do the 4th fence, round a sharp left turn to a big green oxer then a dogleg right to an upright on 4 or 5 strides. Then sharp right to a vertical to big oxer on 4 strong strides. I got the oxer ok (thank god) but then rode a straight line rather than a dogleg so got in too close on 5 strides and knocked it down. Managed to fit 5 strides in the related distance as got in too close to the first part.
So, then he put them all up a bit more - was wondering if anyone would notice if I sneaked out at this stage - and sent us up the other end to come in and jump the whole course one at a time. Well, he bloody flew! We still didn't manage to quite fit in 5 nice strides in the dogleg so took that out but powered through the final line on 4 good strides. He felt absolutely awesome! Got made to do the oxer (which was now an ascending spread) to vertical dogleg again - argh - was happy to have survived it once as it was mega big but did it again and just about managed to fit in 5 strides and clear it. Didn't help I felt I really had to work to get him to take me over the oxer which didn't help me land in balance quick enough to make adjustments. He was really powering over the jumps but still needs plenty of leg to keep the power up so he is happy to go on a normal stride and not back off and chip in.
So, things I need to work on:
- not letting him jump right - partly that is my fault as I let him move over to the right to make himself more room if we're running out of space but it does mean he always tends to go right
- reacting quicker on landing so I can make adjustments and then ride forward for the next fence
- not trying to look for strides round the corner, get straight and then focus on the fence and the stride will come
- outside aids round the corner, don't up the speed anymore but keep up the power
Overall though, was super pleased with him. I went up to the green ascending spread at 6 and the blue oxer at 3 afterwards and both were on 1m10. I've never jumped a course with fences that big in it before and he made it feel easy.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
The road to Badminton - BE90 Regional Finals at BCA. 01-10-13
So, yet again my entire year has hinged around the possibility of qualifying for Badminton.
We started off on the back foot having not managed to gain any qualifications at the end of last year due to his tendon injury. This year started amazingly with a win at Tweseldown in March getting us what I hoped would be one of a few Regional qualifications. However, ten days later he went mysteriously lame on his left fore. He took several weeks to come sound on it with vet/farrier investigations proving fruitless other than throwing a large spanner in the works when we discovered he was also mildly lame on his right fore. Further investigations showed he had pain in both his coffin joints so we changed his shoeing and everything seemed ok again. He ran again at BCA in June on perfect ground, although sadly his double clear finishing on 30.5 wasn't good enough for another Regionals qualification. Even worse, he was lame again for ten days after, again on his left fore and again blocking to his foot. MRI scan showed nothing much to worry about. He had some mild changes to his navicular bone, not to be unexpected in a jumper of his age, but most importantly no soft tissue damage. However, something in his foot was still bothering him.
We put him back into his previous shoes and all seemed well again so I ran him at Tweseldown in July and he won again qualifying for next year's Regionals. However, yet again he was lame for ten days afterwards. This time he had a huge bruise on his left heel and we concluded his heels were just too low and he had no heel support in his current shoes so we went off to see the farrier at Liphook. He shod him with Natural Balance shoes, bringing the shoe back on the foot by a whole nail-hole and giving his heel much more support. Immediately he seemed happy in these shoes. I didn't jump him for 5weeks, he just worked on a surface and hacked on sandy tracks. Went back for second shoeing and the farrier was really pleased with him so we started jumping on a surface and then finally some XC schooling last week after a decent amount of rain softened the ground enough. During this quiet time he managed to qualify for the Area Festival Finals at Novice Restricted and the Winter Regionals at Novice/Elementary Freestyle to music. Back again last week for a third shoeing and got the excellent news that he was sound as a pound, even on the lunge on a hard circle, and neither the vet nor the farrier wanted to see him again in a hurry!
So, that brings us onto today. My nerves have been building up for a good week or so. This has been a dream of mine since I started eventing this horse and realised what a superstar he was. Our first attempt at Regionals in 2011 was a disaster when we were last after the dressage but we have turned him around since then so I knew he really could do it this time which piled the pressure on. He had show-jumped clear at 9 of his previous 10 events and has never had a XC fault at 90 which also piled a bit more pressure on. I knew he could do it but we just needed a bit of luck to come our way on the day.
The day didn't start too well when my phone decided to switch itself off overnight and fail to wake me up this morning! Thank god it was a late start and I woke naturally only 20mins behind schedule. We then got stuck in traffic on the way to BCA so ended up with only 30mins to walk the XC which considering it takes 10mins each way to walk up to the XC start, was a fair old mission! Fortunately they hadn't changed much of the course and I sprinted round. Certainly warmed me up! I refused to look at the score board and see any other scores as just wanted to concentrate on doing my best.
Quick glug of rescue remedy (I am sure it doesn't work but the placebo effect is good enough for me!) and on for the dressage warmup. Worked on what we had done in our lesson on Sunday and he was going beautifully. He napped like a mad thing and had to be led into the dressage field but then settled down nicely around the arena. First few movements went well and then I made the mistake of asking for too much in the change of bend between the trot half 20m circles and he popped up into canter - argh!!!!! I could have cried then. You can't afford mistakes like that at Regionals. I thought it was all over. I then managed to forget when the canter to trot transition was and was nearly late with that and didn't balance it like I should have done. Pulled it together for the next bit of trot and then he point blank refused to canter when I asked for about 3 strides!!! Just about got it before the marker but was not amused with him at this point as he is normally ultra obedient and today was not the day to be a lazy git. We then fell into trot before doing a stonking walk because I was determined to claw some marks back. However, he then ignored my outside leg aids and nearly walked into the white board, wobbled around, ignored me again in the pick up to medium walk and nearly missed the centre line before falling in heap in the final halt. Honestly, it was god awful and I was ready to go home afterwards.
first fence in the dogleg:
after the dogleg:
Was all set for going home at this point as no need to run him XC if no chance of coming anywhere. Friend went to look at the score board for us and came back saying we were in equal 7th which I thought was pretty amazing given the carcrash of a dressage test so thought I better run him as top 6 qualify and never know if someone above us might have jumping faults. Managed to get him in the start box with minimal drama as no-one before us so starter gave us 15 secs and off we went. He took a flyer over the first and then I proceeded to bury him at several of the next few fences. I felt him think about going round the corner and slapped my right leg on him and I almost asked him to stop at the next. After that got my act together and rode for my life. Was not going to ruin it at this stage in the game! Felt quick and was aware mustn't go too quick but my speed judgement is all out after hardly going XC this year so didn't want to go too slow either! Took a pull into the water and he bounded out and over the last few fences hardly out of breath.
Water jump:
Hatcam video - bit drunk sorry - put it on in a hurry:
Took him back, washed him off in nice warm water and stuck his feet in ice boots for 20mins. Sent friend to look at scoreboard who came back saying we looked like we were going to be 7th when top 6 qualify. Went into major sulk about carcrash of a dressage test. Phoned other friend there who was in other Regional section and over by the scores and found out she had qualified after initially thinking she had just missed out so got her to check my score and she said I was 6th - I made her double and triple check and check the number of starters but she was sure I was 6th. At this point I burst into floods of tears. I have wanted this so much for so long and especially after all his problems last year and this year. The nerves had been building, the adrenaline rushing and it all just came flooding out. By the time I'd composed myself and got over to the prize giving it was all over - I'd missed it! Probably not a bad thing given the mess I looked though. We won a lovely brown saddlecloth lol but who cares about that, we had something far more important than that!
So, here we are, 6th place and off to Badminton along with one of my best eventing buddies and her superstar horse. I simply cannot wait!
We started off on the back foot having not managed to gain any qualifications at the end of last year due to his tendon injury. This year started amazingly with a win at Tweseldown in March getting us what I hoped would be one of a few Regional qualifications. However, ten days later he went mysteriously lame on his left fore. He took several weeks to come sound on it with vet/farrier investigations proving fruitless other than throwing a large spanner in the works when we discovered he was also mildly lame on his right fore. Further investigations showed he had pain in both his coffin joints so we changed his shoeing and everything seemed ok again. He ran again at BCA in June on perfect ground, although sadly his double clear finishing on 30.5 wasn't good enough for another Regionals qualification. Even worse, he was lame again for ten days after, again on his left fore and again blocking to his foot. MRI scan showed nothing much to worry about. He had some mild changes to his navicular bone, not to be unexpected in a jumper of his age, but most importantly no soft tissue damage. However, something in his foot was still bothering him.
We put him back into his previous shoes and all seemed well again so I ran him at Tweseldown in July and he won again qualifying for next year's Regionals. However, yet again he was lame for ten days afterwards. This time he had a huge bruise on his left heel and we concluded his heels were just too low and he had no heel support in his current shoes so we went off to see the farrier at Liphook. He shod him with Natural Balance shoes, bringing the shoe back on the foot by a whole nail-hole and giving his heel much more support. Immediately he seemed happy in these shoes. I didn't jump him for 5weeks, he just worked on a surface and hacked on sandy tracks. Went back for second shoeing and the farrier was really pleased with him so we started jumping on a surface and then finally some XC schooling last week after a decent amount of rain softened the ground enough. During this quiet time he managed to qualify for the Area Festival Finals at Novice Restricted and the Winter Regionals at Novice/Elementary Freestyle to music. Back again last week for a third shoeing and got the excellent news that he was sound as a pound, even on the lunge on a hard circle, and neither the vet nor the farrier wanted to see him again in a hurry!
So, that brings us onto today. My nerves have been building up for a good week or so. This has been a dream of mine since I started eventing this horse and realised what a superstar he was. Our first attempt at Regionals in 2011 was a disaster when we were last after the dressage but we have turned him around since then so I knew he really could do it this time which piled the pressure on. He had show-jumped clear at 9 of his previous 10 events and has never had a XC fault at 90 which also piled a bit more pressure on. I knew he could do it but we just needed a bit of luck to come our way on the day.
The day didn't start too well when my phone decided to switch itself off overnight and fail to wake me up this morning! Thank god it was a late start and I woke naturally only 20mins behind schedule. We then got stuck in traffic on the way to BCA so ended up with only 30mins to walk the XC which considering it takes 10mins each way to walk up to the XC start, was a fair old mission! Fortunately they hadn't changed much of the course and I sprinted round. Certainly warmed me up! I refused to look at the score board and see any other scores as just wanted to concentrate on doing my best.
Quick glug of rescue remedy (I am sure it doesn't work but the placebo effect is good enough for me!) and on for the dressage warmup. Worked on what we had done in our lesson on Sunday and he was going beautifully. He napped like a mad thing and had to be led into the dressage field but then settled down nicely around the arena. First few movements went well and then I made the mistake of asking for too much in the change of bend between the trot half 20m circles and he popped up into canter - argh!!!!! I could have cried then. You can't afford mistakes like that at Regionals. I thought it was all over. I then managed to forget when the canter to trot transition was and was nearly late with that and didn't balance it like I should have done. Pulled it together for the next bit of trot and then he point blank refused to canter when I asked for about 3 strides!!! Just about got it before the marker but was not amused with him at this point as he is normally ultra obedient and today was not the day to be a lazy git. We then fell into trot before doing a stonking walk because I was determined to claw some marks back. However, he then ignored my outside leg aids and nearly walked into the white board, wobbled around, ignored me again in the pick up to medium walk and nearly missed the centre line before falling in heap in the final halt. Honestly, it was god awful and I was ready to go home afterwards.
I only stayed to SJ as it was on a nice surface so I thought we might as well. It was quite tight in their new arena compared to a normal big grass arena so was glad we had been doing lots of practising tight turns SJ recently. There was a related 5 stride distance, a 5 stride dogleg and a series of 3 jumps on a curving line which I watched people ride on anything from 5-7 and 4-6 strides so had no idea what to aim for! Went in determined to ride forwards and just hope for the best! They announced my dressage score of 32.5 on the way to the first fence but at this point I'd given up hope of being placed anyway so it didn't bother me. He was being looky at the first even though the fillers weren't even completely under the fences so had to ride really positively the whole way round. Can't say it was the most stylish round but it worked and we went clear!
fence 3 on related 5 strides:
first fence in the dogleg:
after the dogleg:
Water jump:
Hatcam video - bit drunk sorry - put it on in a hurry:
Took him back, washed him off in nice warm water and stuck his feet in ice boots for 20mins. Sent friend to look at scoreboard who came back saying we looked like we were going to be 7th when top 6 qualify. Went into major sulk about carcrash of a dressage test. Phoned other friend there who was in other Regional section and over by the scores and found out she had qualified after initially thinking she had just missed out so got her to check my score and she said I was 6th - I made her double and triple check and check the number of starters but she was sure I was 6th. At this point I burst into floods of tears. I have wanted this so much for so long and especially after all his problems last year and this year. The nerves had been building, the adrenaline rushing and it all just came flooding out. By the time I'd composed myself and got over to the prize giving it was all over - I'd missed it! Probably not a bad thing given the mess I looked though. We won a lovely brown saddlecloth lol but who cares about that, we had something far more important than that!
So, here we are, 6th place and off to Badminton along with one of my best eventing buddies and her superstar horse. I simply cannot wait!
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Rest of the week and Tracey dressage lesson 29-09-13
On the way back from Liphook on Wed stopped off at Hankley and went for a nice just under 2 hour hack. Lots of power walking and a good 4min canter as well as some other shorter ones although didn't do too much trotting, definitely kept a steadier pace than usual for one of our hacks as giving him a chance to get used to new shoes.
Thursday we did some lunging including over poles in the draw reins. This seems like the best way to do poles with him as he relaxes over his back whereas under saddle he always tries to hollow. Raised poles are especially useful to get him flexing his hocks.
Friday did a short flatwork session and he went really nicely.
Saturday did a short gridwork session. Started with flatwork and he was going beautifully but then moved onto the gridwork and he really wasn't very enthusiastic. He never is about jumping at home but god he can be lazy when he wants to be. He was really having to use himself in the grid as built up to fences on bounce strides only about 2ft high but good gymnastics for him. Then took away 2 parts of the grid so had pole to 2ft fence to pole to 3ft fence. Finished on that. Hope he puts in more effort on Tuesday!
Today had a dressage lesson with Tracey. Lots to remember - going to jot down the most important points to remember:
Thursday we did some lunging including over poles in the draw reins. This seems like the best way to do poles with him as he relaxes over his back whereas under saddle he always tries to hollow. Raised poles are especially useful to get him flexing his hocks.
Friday did a short flatwork session and he went really nicely.
Saturday did a short gridwork session. Started with flatwork and he was going beautifully but then moved onto the gridwork and he really wasn't very enthusiastic. He never is about jumping at home but god he can be lazy when he wants to be. He was really having to use himself in the grid as built up to fences on bounce strides only about 2ft high but good gymnastics for him. Then took away 2 parts of the grid so had pole to 2ft fence to pole to 3ft fence. Finished on that. Hope he puts in more effort on Tuesday!
Today had a dressage lesson with Tracey. Lots to remember - going to jot down the most important points to remember:
- have done well getting him straight into both reins but he needs to show more suppleness and be more into the outside rein now
- if he tilts his nose lift inside hand up
- he tends to motorbike round the turn onto the centre line so remember to lift inside hand up
- look right up and ahead on the centre line
- when coming back to trot from canter, bring outside leg forwards and step into outside stirrup to get the trot transition
- in canter when collect him need to speed him up and when extend slow him down so he takes bigger, slower strides and shorter quicker strides
- lateral work is the key to getting him connected
- don't forget to let him stretch but make him really stretch and flex at the same time
- work on changing the flexions inside to outside and back again making sure can G&R the rein to the inside of the flexion in trot
- make sure he bends through his whole body, not just his head and neck. on the circle think travers then changing flexion to renvers
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