First couple of fences good and then despite a nice stride he absolutely clouted number 3 - it was quite spooky and he just didn't pick up. Lost a bit of power round to triple bar at fence 4 so had to cut the dogleg and ride forwards for the 5 strides I had walked to a vertical which was then followed by a spooky wall on a good forwards 3 strides. Lots I watched earlier on tried to do 6 on the dogleg and then struggled to get to the wall on 3 and were chipping in, especially as backing off at the spooky wall. I got my 5 and 3 nicely though so really pleased with that. XC fences all went ok to start with, rode positively at the corner and got a good stride but then pulled a little too hard with the left rein and almost got myself a run out at the first sort of skinny brush down the long side, meaning we then shuffed in 4 and 3 strides instead of 3 and 2 - doh. Lost my focus because of this and totally missed the turn to the arrowhead. Realised too late, pulled him round but gave him no chance to jump it so just pulled him up, patted him and approached again when he jumped it fine. Finished well over the double, nice tight turn to roll top and onto final fence. Pleased with him, not so pleased with me.
As he had jumped nicely I decided to do the Novice. Pleased to see that the jumps didn't look anywhere near as big as last year after a year jumping this height. Warmed up again ok. Just didn't have him powering forwards enough so he took the back rail off the first fence and got too close to fence 7 taking it out in front. On the XC section he dropped his back feet on the rail over the gate and then clonked the first part of the bounce. Pleased that I kept the power up for the triple bar and got my 5 and 3 strides again well. Didn't hook and pull, rode forwards, jumped the corner well, got 3 and 2 in the combination and made the turn to the arrowhead. So, despite 4 down, it was a smoother round than last year and I was pleased with him. Style mark of 23 in both classes - difficult to be stylish on a horse like him who fights any contact on his mouth and backs off every fence so needs a fair bit of riding! Also my lower leg went wayward as my back was hurting so not my best performances but still good education for him.
Decided against doing the JAS at Wellington as a smaller, darker indoor arena which he'll just back off in and not likely to get good jumps. Also decided to head to a new XC venue for us at Attington rather than the 2nd Merrist Wood JAS. It's really nothing like real XC so better to practice the real thing and have been wanting to go to Attington so taking advantage of Jonathan Chapman doing a clinic there.
Rewarded Monts on Sunday with a ride out with the Kent and Surrey bloodhounds. Not proper hunting as ground too wet so no hounds but a group of 20 or so going for a blast round Puttenham put Monty in a very happy place - lots of squealing and snorting, leaping and bouncing, and standing on his back legs when made to stand still. Bit naughty but I love him when he's full of it like that!
Trying on his new posh dressage browband today:
Back to Chris for another lesson tomorrow then off to the Balanced Rider with a friend in the evening which should be interesting. Have arena XC with Lucinda Fredericks on Saturday - bit nervous after the session with Wendy Schaeffer but will try and have the balls to say if I know it is something that he is likely to struggle with so we don't upset his confidence or Chris will kill me for putting all his hard work with us to waste. Off to Patchetts on Sunday for a pre-Regionals practice of E59 and also having another bash at M75. Think I'm gonna keep him in the snaffle this time and see what he is like doing a Medium test in the snaffle - we shouldn't get the ducking behind the contact or the temper tantrums but we might not get as good submission. We shall see! Thankfully couple of quieter weekends coming up after this due to work and before we know it eventing will be starting again!
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