Over RC 31st August

Aww lovely day today :) I was seriously regretting the idea of entering a showing class last night as I realised the amount of effort that goes into preparing for a show class. Removed all the bling from my bridle *sob* and also had to plait beastie which never goes too well hehe!

Got there thinking we were early and turned out we were almost late!! Showing class was RC mount with a small course of little jumps, which proved more testing that I think the judges thought..lots of stops! Deanna, for once!, set the example and popped round clear before doing a rather fast individual show haha! Finished 3rd :)

Lunch break and then off for the 2.9ft. Went in early and just had the first fence down, bit upset as I assumed I'd be well out of the placings for that. As it was, the little filler style fence caused mega problems and loads had stops! Ended up 2nd which was a nice bonus!

Into the 3ft and had the first fence down again!! arrrghh! Rider error, rode far too fast!! Popped round the rest clear and ended up winning as only 4faulter and no clears!

Wasnt going for the placings at all, just wanted some nice confidence giving rounds which I got :D Rosettes were a lovely bonus!!

heheheheh :P

2.9ft video

3ft video

British Dressage 30th August

Yay! Fab day today!!

Having had two lessons in the week with Matt, followed by a visit to the European dressage championships to watch Laura B pick up a bronze medal I was feeling rather inspired this morning! Deanna went beautifully in the first test (P13), I was so so chuffed with her. Disappointed to see we only scored 60%, but with the winner only on 62.3% (and looked stunning) it seemed it just a low marked class. Finished 4th so happy with that.

Onto the second test. Often in the second test Deanna can get very disobedient to my left leading to cut corners and at times I can struggle to get her any where near the track! This has been the focus of my lessons recently and it seems to be working!

She was almost as good as the first test! P14 has a few more turns to the left which isnt ideal with our left bend problem but she was much better. Scored just one mark less than in p13 to finish on 59.92% haha so consistent at least....and finished 4th again!!

Prelim 13:

Prelim 14:

Videos to follow!

Prelim 13:

Prelim 14:

Training in August

After a few weeks off due to me being on holiday(!), Deanna is now back in work and off we go again back training! This week we've been to my dressage trainers twice and she's going brilliantly, having a few issues with her left shoulder and getting true left bend so he's been helping us with that and she's coming on really well.

Gave her a jump today, first time she's jumped in 4/5 weeks and she was really fab. Nothing major, just a small grid of 3 and a spread on the other rein. Jumped really sweetly so am really happy with her :)

Got BD on sunday, just two prelims, then an RC show on monday with 'RC horse' class then hopefully the 2.9ft and 3ft :)

Few pics from training :)

Feeling very disappointed with myself

Despite the fact that I can set up a 1m course and jump round no problems at home, jump 1.15m courses in lessons and be calm as a cucumber...even if the idea of a 2.6ft at a show makes me want to cry :( Its not the height, Im just convinced it's all a waste of time as we keep getting eliminated. 

Was meant to go SJ today, was planning on the 2.6ft and 2.9ft - so well below anything we're jumping at home/in training/last weeks course hire - but told Mum this morning I didnt want to go :( Was already thinking about Deanna stopping/getting eliminated and if you ride D negatively she will just stop.

Im going on holiday on friday as I was worried about going to a show and getting elim and then not having time to correct it before we both had breaks. But at the same time Im now wound up that Im about to go away and still haven't sorted the jumping since the last time we were elim plus thinking the longer I leave going to a show the more nervous Im going to be.

Sorry, long rambling post here. Not even sure anyones reading it. Just so cant believe back in April we were flying round 1m courses BSJA and winning....and now I dont even have the confidence to compete her round 2 foot fecking 6 :'(

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 :)