Despite being our 2nd event of the season I was feeling optimistic about Borde Hill. I've only been once before and I remember it being the type of event that suits us - Not a dressage competition!
I decided to take a bit of a risk and use the warm up space nearest the cross country. Smokey can sometimes be a little flat so my guess was that this would spark him up. The test felt good, albeit a little quick in my view but it certainly was active, so active we nearly jumped out the arena twice! My gamble paid off, we got our best ever score of 32.3!! The SJ was by far one of the biggest courses I’ve jumped at BE 90 but I think this is what we needed. It meant I could really work on riding him forward and positively. We had our best jump over fence 1, and a good push up the hill to fence 2. I was then able to bring him back well and really set up for 3, 4, 5 on the downhill. Sadly we slipped on the turn to number 6 which meant we had it down (apparently if I’d sat there and not fiddled we'd have probably kept it up!) then onto 7 the biggest fence, and then clear around 8 and 9a+b. I really feel that the show jumping is coming together and I’m now starting to feel confident over the larger more demanding fences rather than worrying and holding onto him. The XC presented a good step up from Rackham with some tough questions and some big fences early on (number 5 and number 7). Number 5 the big brush took some riding as it was off a tight turn and there was a group of people stood there. Likewise the combination at 6 caused a lot of problems. It was a narrow wishing well onto a narrow corner off the downhill turn. I actually went back and walked that line from 5 to 6 again and glad I did. I decided to take the course fairly slowly and did a big loop out of the water witch cost me a lot of time. Following a slip in the showjumping and a slip in the XC warm up I wasn’t willing to risk anything. We really stepped up our game over the XC and he gave me a cracking ride. Clear with 6.4 time to add. Over the moon with how Borde Hill went for us, we we're just out of the placings and ended 13th. A really good result and hopefully can do the same at Chilham in a couple of weeks.
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We sadly withdrew from Tweseldown this weekend in the 90 section as Smokey was ever so slightly foot sore following the Farrier. Despite being 100% fine after 24 hours we felt that following the distinct lack of rain and the very hard ground that it would be better to pull out.
It was just one of those things and we trusted our gut instinct and thought that it would be a much safer plan to save him for another day and another Pony Party!! Bring on Borde Hill on the 25th July instead :-D We're very fortunate to have a local riding club that organises so many clinics and low key competitions (as very as very active teams at various qualifiers!). Following our rather disappointing dressage score at Rackham (37) I was feeling slightly disheartened so was going out with the aim to focus on him going forward and accepting the contact. He does have very good paces and is capable of getting 8's so as an idealistic dream I was ambitiously hoping for 2 8's.... Both test we're long arena (Prelim 15 and Novice 37). We've only done one Novice together before and was one of the early Novice tests - Novice 37 was considerably tougher!
The prelim test went very well, I as incredibly pleased with how he went. He didn't get a huge amount of warm as the ground is still quite hard and I'm keen to save him for Tweseldown this weekend so we we're going in slightly less prepared than I would have hoped but I needn't have worried! He was soft and round and forward. Again warming up and using his 'gears' really helps us. We had an hour and a half wait before the Novice and again I didn't warm him up a lot due to the ground. This is our first time doing a test with such complex movements in and at times this showed. We only practiced rein back the day before and the same with counter canter! Still, at the end of the test I was very pleased with him and he did everything I asked and did it well - he even gave me a few lengthened strides which is something I know he struggles with. Whilst collecting results I was shocked that in the Prelim we have finally exceeded the 70% milestone and 2 8's, coming a very respectable 3rd in a big class. Then the Novice, he only went and got 2 8's again and just over 66% and a very respectable 4th against competitors that compete regularly BD! I'm very pleased with him and this has given us a good confidence boost as well as lots of things to work on such as giving us a good direction to start schooling in and incorporating some more complex movements. I had the pleasure of having a Showjumping clinic with Ernest Dillon on Saturday morning organised through Sevenoaks Riding Club.
When Mum told me I had a jumping clinic with him I thought great! Who is he? Turns out he's actually a pretty big deal...a top level showjumper himself, competed up to PSG dressage and also tried a spot of eventing. Before clinics with new people, I like to have a little Google and find out what people think of them, what they've done (competition wise) and their style of teaching. After Googling Ernest, it's safe to say I was pretty apprehensive! His website tells it how it is, but reviews on various forums are very mixed. General consensus was - it you can handle someone that is very direct and to the point then he's your guy!! The clinic was with me and another lady called Liz - riding a lovely grey Connie. It started off well as Ernest said he liked Irish horses - and was partial to a grey. Warming up it was apparent that Ernest liked our way of working in. He is very keen on horses to be relaxed and responsive - we've been working on going through Smokey's 'gears' within the paces and I guess it all means we're going in the right direction. The jumping started quickly with a warm up fence near enough 90cm. No messing about with poles or cross's. Then progressed quickly to 2 fences on a related distance on both reins before working around a course with 2 combinations (one related distance and one long double), a 1m upright on the downhill and few 'let up' fences and a dog leg on the down hill to finish (the session was on a very undulating grass field). The main aim of the session was to focus on a good forward canter and not be afraid to KICK! One of the main things I will take away from the session is that when things go wrong (and they did a couple of times) just sit up and kick. Wise words. He made a very fair point by saying that when your riding a course or competition and something goes wrong sometimes you don't have the time to sit up, balance, change lead and faff about. Sometimes you just have to work with what you've got and make the best of a bad situation. He's really taught me that our level SJ isn't this stuffy precise game but actually in order to get that good canter you need to have a bit of momentum behind it and allow the horse to travel. He also came our with some cracking quotes (in my opinion): "You rode that like a lemon!" (this was over one of the related distance - and admittedly, I did just sit there!) "Do you ride with Spurs" "Yes, when I'm competing" "Where are your spurs?" "with my Mum" "They're much more useful on your feet love!" (Can't really argue with that can I...?!) I was very lucky to win a pair of eGlove's from a Twitter competition! Now, you're probably thinking, what an earth a eGloves?!
Direct form the company website: "Top equestrian riders from the Netherlands and United Kingdon teamed up to develop a high performance touch screen horse riding glove with the grip, warmth, feel and accuracy to provide the right glove for the right conditions. Our GripPro gives you that second skin feel with silicon grip where as the Winter Elite brings waterproofing, windproofing and breathablility in colder conditions." So there you have it - gloves that can be used with your touch screen! Addmitedly when schooling I very rearly look at my phone. However, these gloves will become an essential part of my hacking equipment! When hacking before work I am very concious of the time, I must be back at the yard by 7:30 therefore I have to keep an eye on the clock (i don't wear a watch so my phone is my clock). With normal riding gloves, I have to take my glove off, sit on my glove (how I've not managed to drop a glove or 10 is beyond me!), wrestle phone out of pocket, look at the time and then repet the whole process in reverse. With eGlove I can actually keep my gloves on my hands!! The material is very soft and moveable and the grip is very good. It has an elasticated back to help with movement and a very good velcrow fastening. The rrp for the Gloves is £29.99 and they have summer and winter styles (they also have gloves for snow sports, extreme sports, running and cycling) Overall, I would highly recomend these - especially if you're a teenager that has their phone glued to their hand 24/7!! http://www.eglove.co.uk/nl/horse-riding-gloves |