WEC show jumping 30.01.010

Had entered 90, 1.00 and 1.05, but it was a bit of a long, very hot, humid day, and having had a brain blip and riding badly in the meter, I decided to scratch from 1.05.
Have entered 1.00 and 1.05 for tomorrow, when we will both hopefully be feeling a little fresher.

90.
Went fine, and I think I rode ok....(no 'oh shit' moments, or tilting)
Just took a rail in the jump off. He backed off an oxer, and was probably waiting for me to do the Mrs Tilty thing so he could stop, but I didnt.

1.00
A loooong wait since his morning class, and it was like a sauna.
Started off ok, although perhaps feeling a little jaded (the heat?). Went through the double, and then I just went totally and completely blank. Didnt know where I was going, or even what number I was up to.
Thankfully Miranda (photographer extra-ordinairre for the day) pointed me in the right direction and I finished the round.
However, I rode the last two jumps (uprights) VERY badly. I saw a slightly long one to the second last, but Willie took another little one (and I tilted just a little), but at the last, I really dont think there was another stride, and went to go, but Willie decided he would try and fit one in....ummmm crash of rails....oooops

However, no stops in either round so that is all good. :)

Well, Sunday dawned a little moist
Although it started to tip down while I was loading Willie, I decided to go anyway, as the last time I let it put me off, the weather cleared and it left ideal conditions.
NOT THIS TIME.

During the morning, there were the odd patches before it looked like it would clear.
However, I then watched the sky closing in, and the the rain set in with a vengeance. I hung around till about midday, but by then my first class had still not started, and I was already soaked to the skin.
I decided to scratch.
We had a good day yesterday with no stops, and I didnt want to start riding cautiously due to the ground conditions and have him use it as an excuse.

Out came his studs and home we went.
Really disappointing.

Lucinda Green Clinic - 17.01.010

Second Day

Cross country proper; rather than in the arena with show jumps.

To start with (having warmed up over whatever jumps we wanted to), we were to WALK up one step. Then to walk down one step, then two, three and finally four. The object again being, once the horse has started down, become 'rag dolls', get in behind the movement and LEAVE THEM ALONE. (And for someone who is a 'tilter', I wouldnt have believed I even could get my shoulders back....pleased to see that although it looks 'unco' I did manage to do just that! - there's hope for me yet.)

If a horse questioned however, then of course one must remind them to go forward.

Then onto the relatively big, open ditch - thankfully shallow. Again, walk up to it, and just leave the horse to work it out himself. Some went in and out, some bumbled though, and some (including Willie) clattered, and fell through it! VERY hard to sit still and leave them alone.
Next time around however, willie just walked up to it and jumped it - he learnt very quickly that that was the easiest option.

(Unfortunately however, he did manage to pull a hind shoe clambering through on his previous attempt)

We were then allowed to trot over it, which was fine.

Next, we were to walk up a bank, then walk off the 'down' bit of it, which just happened to have a ditch on the landing side. I really didnt think it would happen, but Willie just looked at it and jumped.....he was really showing some courage - again, I wonder if it was because he was becoming confident that I wouldnt tip forward or interfere.

Then it was skinnies (using yesterday's SJ's), the first being on the lip of a hill (YUK) and the second off to the left at the bottom.

They all did it really well, and again when it was a right hand turn also.

Then a bit of a course oncorporating, a skinny to a down bank to another skinny, a trakener, a rampy thing and a small oxer thing, and a downhill log. Willie felt really really good, and likewise I was able to resist tipping.

Unfortunately I was very concerned about his shoe-less foot which was quite broken, and I know it was worrying him. I elected to not do the next course of jumps, saving him for the water - although I almost changed my mind.

However, walking through the river just about did him in I am afraid; the grit and rocks were I am sure quite painful for him.

Although he jumped in and out of the water a few times, he was distinctly sore, and so I had to finish there.

Both Willie and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and I was also very pleased with his fitness. Even though I have been just ticking him over, he was pretty fit still.

Now to put it all into practice in the coming Autumn eventing season.

Lucinda Green Clinic 16.01.010

Carolien and I travelled up to Hunua together for the clinic. It was great to have a weekend away with a like minded friend.

And it was lovely that the two horses got on very well, and seemed to become firm friends from the get-go. We were able to paddock them together, and it was so funny seeing them graze in tandem, and even drink at the same time.

Day One:
To warm up, we were told to go off and trot over any jumps that we wanted to, but NO cantering....we had to keep to a trot. This was not a dressage lesson, and so we were expected to get out there and get jumping.

There were some arrow heads, plastic barrels, and skinny (and I mean SKINNY) jumps set up.

Having warmed up we were given courses involving exercises, and were to keep in trot. The skinnies were also off line to anything else, so we had to focus on keeping them straight and on line.

The one thing that we were quite simply NOT to allow, was a run out. Stops were permitted, if only because we could then make the horse go forward and jump from where it was. A run out basically takes away the opportunity to jump the jump and a whole new approach must be made.

Our group was quickly allowed to canter through the exercises, and we ended up doing arrowheads, to skinnies, slalem skinnies etc, as well as a straight forward oxer. We were not to dictate to our horses at all where to put their feet or take off - that was their decision ; our job was the line and the engine.

Another exercise was to WALK up to the barrels (plastic barrels on their sides) and jump them...NO trot at all allowed, and then to continue in canter and jump another jump. In reverse that meant cantering over a jump, down to walk and proceed to walk over the barrels.

I felt Willie grow in confidence, that he would be left alone to do his job, but he also became far softer and more attentive. I really didnt think he would walk up to a jump and do it....but he did!

The last exercise, which was a goodie for me! - was to jump an upright on one side of the arena and continue round to a triple bar ~ 1.10 (looked pretty big to me!). The object was to get a wriggle on, and allow the horses to just keep coming to the jump. No interfering, and NO TIPPING. Took me a few rounds to get it right, but I definitely felt it when I got it. Willie however was thoroughly enjoying blatting around over the two jumps with no interference from me.

NITE 2/3 January 2010

I hadnt planned to do NITE at all this year, as I felt Willie had done a fair bit in Spring, and had a long Autumn Season coming. Plus, in terms of the jumping, he can be quite difficult when jumping smaller jumps and it is all more mileage on his legs.

However, last minute (night before) I was asked to help out a Tauranga team who were short for the team ride and Quadrille. So a hasty practice the evening before (Willie having had three days off after last weekend's show jumping) and we were set! ?

Poor Willie was quite worried about the sacking i had draped over his bridle, and there was a lot of head shaking and grinding of teeth going on. I became quite worried that he wouldn't hold it together, but as soon as we actually started to ride our quadrille, he forgot about his worries and concentrated on the job.

And of course he was his usual good self, doing what was asked, when it was asked. Sometimes I really love my pony!

Hard case, in that I had learnt the quadrille and had no blank moments, and a couple of others who had had weeks, if not months of learning it, made mistakes.
Oh well; you get that with the big jobs. :)

It was also funny that while practicing on the Friday night, one of the riders was bugging me, in that I was sure I knew her from somewhere but couldnt quite place her. Turns out she had felt the same with me, and Saturday morning we worked out that we had worked together about 25 years ago.

Unfortunately, Tauranga ended up with only 2 riders for the jumping with one horse lame, and the other 'lost in transit'.