23rd and 24th May

So last week was the area eventing as we were elim in the SJ and Deanna was just not right. She did a lovely sweet dressage test, then warming up for the SJ she was a nightmare, stopped at an Xpole and was running around getting very strong which is unlike her. The course was barely 90cm and should not have caused any problems what so ever, almost stopped at the first and by the 5th we were out. Didnt take her XC as it just wouldnt have been safe, she was not a happy bunny.  

So enter physio. Had a session on thursday and physio told me to jump yesterday, and if all ok compete today then call her to tell her how she felt ect.  

So yesterday....(first time using super Mum's home made wings. Other than the white stands and one plastic pole everything else is home made [:D])  

Something tells me she was feeling fine xD  

So off out BSJA today, had a silly rider error stop in the 80cm - just jumped it as a warm up and Deanna was really paying attention. Got out act together for the BN and finished 4th :D:D Hooray

80cm

90cm first round

Jump off - total rider error in the jump off spinning back to the wall so had a stop :( But she jumped super

17th Area 7 ODE...bad day

What a rubbish day.Walked the course on saturday, the XC was huge! 

Our course was meant to be "2.9ft some may be 3ft" yet the course was the exact same intro BE course as last week and we measured every fence and only 2 were at 85cm everything else was over height.

Thankfully lots of complaints were made and the biggest fence, 1.10m, had been taken out. Everything else was the same however...

Arrived sunday morning, off to the dressage and thought Deanna had done a lovely test. Round and controlled, good transitions - a snort going into the 2nd canter ruined that movement a bit but otherwise everything seemed good. Bit dissapointed to find I got 40.1 or 59.9% so not amazing. 

Then off to the showjumping. Very easy course, hardly any fillers and barely 90cm. Deanna was having none of it :( Stopped in the warm up and was totally unfocused, rushing around everywhere. Went into the ring, almost stopped at the first fence, 2 stops at the 3rd fence. Got her over then, but only to have another stop at the 5th fence so eliminated.

I think I was the only person out of 55 juniors to get eliminated, and my horse jumps DC's round BSJA discovery courses...ridiculous :(

Didnt dare take her XC, if she was stopping at X poles in the warm up theres no way I'd take her round an up to height XC.

Working on 3 theories...

1) She's tweaked her back so didnt want to jump, physio out asap

Unlikely, as she was jumping fine last week and I cant see her having done something the field in that time. We'll see.

2) Hormonal, possibly in season so her ovaries are hurting and the movement when jumping is painful.

A possibility, trying to look into it a bit more at the minute. She doesnt show any other 'marey' signs though so if her ovaries were bothering her that much I'd of thought she would be showing other signs.

3) Terrible day, I rode badly, D took the piss.

Few pics from the dressage...

3rd and 4th confidence building!

Well after our "adventures" falling over out XC last weekend we had a bit of a regroup this weekend. Started with an SJ lesson on sunday with my lovely instructor, needed to check that D was jumping ok first then cracked on with getting me jumping better as I was not riding positively...too scared of falling off and hurting myself again!

Things got better the more we did so thats a good sign!

Onto today (Monday) and we headed straight back out onto the XC course. Camera batteries died very quickly though which is a real shame :( She jumped super though and I started riding a lot better by the end :)

Well that was exciting..XC

Deanna was fantastic yesterday. Just amazing, didnt look at anything, Straight over all the ditches and the big fences. Made everything seem so easy

We'd almost finished when I went to jump another fence. Deanna just misjudged the fence as the stride was right, but she just put her feet out in front of her as if she was going to bank the fence. Not going to happen and it caused us to flip over (her and me!). Probably the most terrifying thing to happen to me on a horse, I was so scared she was hurt. Thankfully she got straight up and is seemingly fine today (monday). Im just praying it hasnt wrecked her confidence, she was jumping so honestly and just loving every second of it..

Why didn't I go jumping?!

Ah god so today was the trailblazer 2nd rounds. I wasn't really fussed about TB, as for one thing Im hoping to jump at hickstead which is 2 days before the trailblazer finals so wouldnt be able to do both. However as I'd qualified for the 2nd rounds, we thought we'd go along anyway.

First test was p14 and she warmed up lovely, went to go show the judge my number and D spots the SJ timer (attached to the fence next to our arena) que major spooking, kicking white boards everywhere and refusing to go near it! This makes her totally tense throughout the whole test, kept having to cut the 'scary' corner. Later, whilst in canter she tossed her head and pulled my rein out of my hand, went to grab it back and it was caught over her nose...so had to go back to walk in the middle of my "canter circle" to sort it out!

Unsurprisingly we scored very very low...

So then into the novice 27; wasn't expected much from this as we haven't really been practicing! But Deanna was going really nicely, bit too forwards but on the bit and tracking up lovely. Medium trot was a bit non-existent but it always is! All in all I came out pretty chuffed...and suddenly was very very dissapointed as I'd scored less than in the prelim test :'( I honestly don't know how, different judges of course but still.

God I hate dressage.

Few pics from the novice, prelim was in the other ring and the stills aren;t very clear

14th April - XC schooling

Aww good pony! Think she enjoyed today!

We haven't been out XC since october so I wasn't sure what to expect, it was an RC clinic with Nat Dixon and I was a little worried as I've never actually had a lesson on the XC!

Nat was amazing, such a good trainer, really want to have some more sessions with her! Started with 5 simple fences, linking together - D popped through like a pro. Then onto two fences then a log on a bit of an angle - still a pro. Absolute star through the water! Trotted straight in, jumped in first time and generally was fab!

Only issue was ditches! Now this has always been an issue with D and whilst every ditch we encountered today we did get over, we did have to have a lead first or someone walking up behind. Definetely the area we need to work out.

Mainly worked over introduction (3ft) fences today as thats the height of the Area horsetrials qualifier course but did jump some PN stuff. Deanna just found all the non-ditched fences soo easy and (dare I say it?!) I really want to event her!!!

The venue we schooled at today run unaffiliated ODE's over introduction and PN courses all up to BE spec so aiming for them...but need to make sure we're ditch proofed!!

Anyway..pics, sorry not many. We were mainly linking fences so Mum would only ever be stood near one and then its lots of bum shots!

My horse is incredible!!

Another fantastic trip out BSJA today!! With pouring rain last night, I woke up this morning half thinking I wouldnt bother going today...my bed seemed far cosier :P

 

Set off and arrived it perfect time and set off into the British Novice (90cm). After a very odd jump over the first fence (watch the video, my brother describes it as a 'bunny hop' haha!) we got round clear :D I was 2nd in the for the jump off and really went for it, took an inside turn that only one other person tried and came home clear and in the lead...and stayed there!! Our first BSJA win!! :D:D

 

Dragged my brother along to take pictures! :)

 

Jump off

 

And video!

 

Next up was the discovery, jumped clear in the first round and then had to wait quite a while for the jump off. Deanna went in and felt a bit tired, after jumping an oxer (3rd fence of jump off) she felt a bit flat so I went wide for the final line, this cost me time and as unfortunately as we tipped the last fence down we were just pushed out of the top 3 to finish 4th!

 

Video stills from the disco

 

Jump off stills

 

Real pics from the discovery

 

 

Jump off photos

 

 

 

Video from the discovery