Bill Levett Step up to Novice BE course Tweseldown 3-11-15

We started with SJ in the morning. A group session with 5 of us.  Started with a x-pole then an oxer.  Had to try and aim for the deeper spot.  He didn't want us to be pushing them for a longer one but holding them with power for a deeper take-off point.  Said this is important as the fence height goes up as you don't want to be diving at fences and they will be more likely to chip in as fence gets bigger.  We jumped a course a couple of times, but it was only at BE100 height with no combinations which was a little disappointing as the course was billed as working on the skills to be able to go Novice and I didn't really feel we did enough on this.  It was good practice to jump on grass though as the undulatons definitely make a course more challenging.  Was told to try and keep the canter more forwards through the turns then just sit down and wait for the fence.  Video below - course wasn't really big enough to get me riding him as forwards as he needs to be to go well.  I tend to resort to my old backwards riding when they don't give me the fear factor!

XC in the afternoon which was fab.  Key point was to only go as fast as you can slow down to tackle the fence safely. Speed comes later.  Monty was thinking otherwise.  There were 3 of us and he thought this was rather like team chasing and got rather excited!  I quite like him like that though :)  Tweseldown have built several new coffin complexes which was awesome for the ditchy orange one.  First one with hanging log either side I rode quite strongly but will never trust him at this kind of fence and wanted to reinforce that his only option is to go!  He made that easily so turned round and came back through with a log to ditch to triple brush 4 strides later - aced this one too.  Clever boy!  Then we did a step down to a meaty right corner on a left hand curve.  He jumped this brilliantly.  A real test would be to do it the opposite way though - right curve to left corner could prove more tricky - sadly wasn't set up to try this.  We flew the big fence with the roof on it then a little arrowhead off a tight left hand bend no probs.  This was all in the schooling area.

We then set off round the course which was flagged from the hunter trials still.  Just doing the 100 fences as no Novice ones but working on solid foundations so if the fences got bigger the basics were there.  The theme was still not to be pushing for any long strides. We had to slow down enough that we could get a nice, powerful jump not a long, flat one as if they try and chip in from that kind of canter it could end in trouble.  We even did a trial start from the start box and true to form Monts bounced around like tigger as one of his friends had already gone first - daft pony!  Lots of fun though.  Managed the duck out of the water no probs this time (his eyes were out on stalks last time) and we also did the log drop into water, curving line out to the duck which was more of a Novice question.  Got told to ride more forwards to the drop as would result in a more comfy jump into the water.  I tend to back off at the last minute with drops but can ride them more boldly, especially when followed by another fence.  We then had to gallop down the racecourse to a log pile with an upright front going as fast as we wanted but making sure we steadied up in time to make sure we were going a safe speed for the log pile and didn't tackle it on a long one.  Finally moved on to a table followed by a 90degree left turn to a hanging log under trees to a ditch round a right hand bend through trees to a left hand corner.  Got a little close to the left corner but really pleased with how he tackled the hanging log to ditch.  Kept my shoulders back and rode positively forwards all the time.  He feels super confident at the moment.  Long may it last!