30th July - SJ training

Good day on the whole. Went BSJA course hiring as my nerves have really been struggling in comp situations.

Warmed up and 3 fences in suffered a slight problem...

Approached it fine but in the last stride a plastic bag that was tucked into one of the plant pots (you see the tree on the left!) blew up so D flew right and I flew off!

Managed to fall on the wing and plant pot which in turn ripped my jeans and t-shirt! :O Its also left a pretty big gash in my back but umm...hopefully it'll be ok?!

Anyway, jumped back on and schooled round 90cm/1m and she was very good. Stopped at the wall once but otherwise ok :) :)

Please excuse the large stain on my back! Yellow t-shirt and dark sand do not mix!!

28th July - BEACH!

Oh my gosh, everyone must take their horses. Amazing day, Deanna was so well behaved. Didn't mind the dogs, children, flying frisbees. Had some lovely gallops and a little paddle in the sea - but of course, the sea is terrifying ;-)

Probably one of the only summer aims I can actually cross off from my list, seems comp plans have gone rather array! 

Couple of my favourite pictures from the day :D

26th July - Dressage

After all our disappointments in the SJ arena recently I decided to have a change and go do some dressage.

p13 and p18. P13 first, she warmed up sweetly but then decided the judges box was well..terrifying, oh dear. So an ok test, some lovely bits (that we got 8's for :D) and some rubbishy bits as we had to go past the judges box hehe. Finished on 61.25% which was very fair and came 4th :D Only 1.5% off first place!

Into p18, should have really picked up a schooling stick as she was getting quite heavy in my hand, leaning on my left hand and therefore when on the left rein she was drifting in a lot. As such theres a fair few 'wrong bend' comments and marks lost for inaccurate movements...and umm the pilot error that sent us the wrong way haha ;) Anyway, something must of been going wrong for the others as we came 3rd :D Even if I hadnt of made the mistake I would have still been 3rd so cant be too worried :)

Two top 6 placings have qualified us for the centres dressage championships so will look forwards to that in september :)

21st July - BSJA

Disappointing day - very short report as such! Put her in the CR and she had a look at the first then jumped clear no problems. Into the BN, single phase so even if you have a fence down you'll jump the full course of 15 fences.

Started off ok, tapped one down at no 6 and an unlucky v. late falling pole at no 13! Anyway, twisty course but she coped ok - until fence 15, the final fence, water trays and two stops :( :( Not sure whether to be disappointed or not, at the end of the day water trays have always been our nemesis but equally we practice them a lot at home and she's not fussed.

At the end of the day its clear its my riding is causing the problem, for whatever reason my confidence at shows has been knocked and Im not too sure how to go about rebuiliding it. I see little point in jumping tiny classes with her as I know we can, but maybe for now thats what we need to do hmm...

Area 7 summer SJ qualifier

I was very nervous about this show. Me and Deanna are not in good form at the moment and we dont have a good track record in RC comps!!

Unfortunately we didnt start well. Deanna was a twit in the first round, 95cm, stopping and having mini paddys. Came out the ring very very disappointed, I came to the show with my instructor to help me and she broke down the round and helped me look at it a bit more rationally.

Good know how many hours later they put the fences up a good 4 holes for the second round. I rode so much better and silly mare popped round clear with no fuss - not sure what I'd prefer, a careless horse who will always get round but with faults...or my horse who will jump clear or get eliminated, with no real inbetween!!

Unfortunately the video all went a bit wrong and then Mum forgot the zoom existed so heres the video...

8th July - Training

Very good day today!

Having felt very down following the weekends antics I booked a lesson straight away as we have the area SJ qualifiers this sunday *gulp* 

Started off a bit shakey, Deanna was jumping..but just didnt feel good. Kept chipping it little strides and I was feeling very down about it all as I knew its cause I wasn't riding her well. Thankfully things improved and by the end we were jumping so decent fences a lot better.

Ive picked up a few nasty habits, gripping with my knees and holding onto the front end too much to name a few, which need some real work but hopefully once they are fixed we should improve a lot.

5th July

Today was a different story. They had their 70, 80, 90, 90, 1m, 1m10 schedule on and we arrived having missed the second 90cm so I just entered the 1m. She warmed up super, really pinging the fences and giving everything good clearance. Went into the ring and had a stop at the first bloody fence. I think Im holding onto her head a bit too much but hmm. Smacked her hard and over the 1st and 2nd, slightly dodgy stride to the double at 3 but ok. Over the 4th and then its the water trays. Looking at my body Im totally in defense and of course a stop follows. 

So annoying as she jumps these bigger fences (and the ones in the 2nd part of the BN from sat) so much better. Pays much more respect and, on the whole, I think I ride a bit better to them. Yet we're right back where we were a few months ago getting elim most times out :'(

Got her home and tacked her straight back up, the jumped her over the water trays we have at home. She tried to have a spook first time then popped them no worries up to 3.6ft. Idiot mare.

Pictures from saturday..

And pictures from sunday's 1m:

4th July - BSJA

Quick visit to Manor farm this morning. Jumped the clear round first where she was silly with a viaduct wall, she's jumped it several times before but just takes the piss a bit. Got over it and popped round ok.

Went in first for the British Novice. The class was run as single phase so unless you are eliminated you get to jump the whole course which is nice, makes your entry fee worth a bit more!! Jumped nicely round the first few although tapped the 2nd fence down, flew the wall (good pony!) and ok to no8. Straight on from 8 came a double, something not included in the clear round but something she's jumped a lot; yet she still stopped :( Smacked and came again, no worries 2nd time and flew the rest clear.

So pleased as she was jumping well, taking me to the fence but annoying that she still throws these silly stops :(

Video 

We are going to go back tomorrow to MF and jump the 90cm and 1m so hopefully she'll be good!

1st July Clear round jumping

I took D to Bury St Edmuns RC as they were having a clear round evening. 

Lovely set up, very low key...maybe a bit too so as my course was mainly poles but still. First time I've SJ'd D on grass this year and she popped straight round the 3ft clear twice :D Took her into the other ring and jumped her round the 2.6ft, as bizarrely it had more fillers - she tried to duck out at one but pulled her in again and popped round fine. So 3 rosettes and lots of pats for pony pony!

Few pics

28th June - Area Dressage

Well sunday was the area 7 dressage qualifier and me and D were in a good team riding the prelim test. It's teams of 4 with two riders riding prelims and two riders riding novices and the overal placings of each rider in their section are added together to get the winning team.

Our first prelim rider did a lovely test so we were a little surprised to see 63.7%, I thought she would score around 66%. Off me and D went, she did a lovely test although a little quick; however with the issues we've been having trying to school at home recently I was very very pleased. We scored 61.3% which I felt was very fair, the judge left a lovely comment "a little 

slower to allow more balance and this would be a winning test" which is always nice to hear!!

Unfortunately our two novice riders didnt do so well. Their ponies just weren't playing ball, bucking and trying to rear and as such the scores were very low and our team haven't qualified but still, it was an enjoyable day!