Monday, December 28, 2009

Waimauku SJ

Waimauku Pony Club had a show jumping day on today so thought we would go so we could sort our stupid canter out & also to finally have a good crack at 90cm.

Cobs is normally really unsettled at these grounds but today he just mooched round like he had been there all his life. Made my day more relaxed thats for sure!

We started on 80cm round. No idea what Cobs was thinking but the first two jumps were hideous! Was almost like jumping took him by surprise even though we had warmed up over jumps. Dick! So by the time we got to number 5 which was a fairly big oxer he really started to jump properly & just cruised round. Was so much fun. We got into the jump off as well but although we went clear we were competing against ponies which is a little unfair but thems the breaks! He still tried really hard & we did one sneaky corner to shave some time off but it wasn't enough. Was stoked with his round - don't think our canter was quite fast enough but was definitely an improvement on where it has been.
The 90 round was AWESOME!!! Cobs jumped out of his skin! Wasn't the prettiest round as I got too excited that we were actually doing it but never mind LOL!

We got through to the jump off as well but again too slow. Who cares - NOT ME!!!

Super proud of the boy - although I was a little apprehensive about doing it I am glad I did and I hope I can continue working at that height out at comps now.

Photos from 80cm round:











Warming up between classes:





90cm round:







Saturday, December 19, 2009

Twilight Dressage 17th December

Went down to Woodhill Sands for day three of their summer twilight dressage series.

Cobs warmed up fantastically - was wondering what had happened to my horse as straight away he was lovely & soft, listening, not worried about the other horses. Just awesome!

However that didn't last long LOL! Went to go into my first test which was the harder of the two and then it started - shying everywhere, snorting, wouldn't listen etc. Was so freakin weird as nothing happened to set it off. I wonder if what happened is I went to the judges car & the judge is someone who ALWAYS slams us if I tensed up or something - with him thats all it takes!

We had to do the harder test first which always annoys me! Anyway we cantered down the centre line which is always a great start (not) but then did a great halt etc so we weren't marked too harshly. Next few movements were okay but then we were on a 10 metre circle and he leapt sideways & I lost my stirrup which at this point annoyed the hell out of me so he got a few pony club boots in his side which actually seemed to do the trick!

Our rein back was in front of the judge and I wasn't even sure if we were going to be able to halt let alone rein back but funnily enough we got 8's for these movements LOL! Who would have thought!

Our first counter canter was a bit hairy but maintained however in the second one he broke & went on the wrong leg so I stopped and redid the movement. Knew I would get a course error however we ended up getting a 7 for the movement and if I had carried on I would have got a 3 or something so I think we ended up getting a far better mark. I wasn't going to let him get away with being a shit so think I made the best call.

Rest of the test was okay - obviously tense but he didn't explode so that was good.

Then just to keep up with the strangeness of the night his second test was AWESOME & we got 2nd!!! Stupid horse!!! Was a lovely, calm, consistent test. When I did my final halt I turned to friends watching & said "this is why I persevere with this horse". As frustrating as the first test was he calmed down and was awesome. Freakin strange horse LOL!

We ended up third in the first test too which surprised me - the judge was more than fair with her marks and I guess she was having a good day LOL!














Lesson with Liz 15th December

Had a FANTASTIC lesson with Liz - Cobs was so nice & soft and worked his arse off basically!

We are doing a ton of work trying to get him off my leg as I have got into a VERY bad habit of my leg moving back (as I am sure you can see from all of my photos!) so we are doing heaps of lateral work and trying to get me to stop blocking him with my right rein when doing shoulder ins etc.

We ran through the tests we were doing on Thursday (twlight dressage) and I have to say we completely nailed our counter canters & rein backs. I had been working on our rein backs since our last lesson & the improvement was awesome.

Looking forward to putting some more consistent work into Cobs over the Xmas break & having more lessons with Liz before we get into competing again every weekend.

I was super proud of him today. Just wish my stupid right hand wasn't so blocked!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lessons Update

Have had two great lessons this week.

Had a dressage one with Liz on Monday - ran through some movements in some Novice tests which was fun. It has become apparent that I have no idea how big a 10 metre circle should be so we worked on that for a while! Practiced some rein back & counter canter which we got pretty well. Both Liz & I were very happy with him as he has had some time off after Kumeu as I had an infected foot so couldn't ride. He seems really really happy in his work and tried so hard doing different movements etc. Very pleased with him :)













Yesterday I went up to have a jumping lesson with Jaime - first one in a LONG time so was good to go through things again.

The canter that I thought I had nailed was wrong so all of our lesson was working on that again. Amazing how different it felt and the jumps just came on the right stride etc. Disappointed in myself that I haven't kept up with stuff but I hope to see Jaime over Xmas and get this stupid canter cemented in us.

He went really well once I got my shit sorted out. Got a bit frazzled as we pushed him out of his comfort zone with the canter work but settled quickly & tried his heart out.

All in all two very successful lessons this week :)








Sunday, November 22, 2009

Kumeu 2 Day Event

This is the one event I look forward to every season and it started off so well and then went extremely pear shaped!!!

Cobs did a really nice dressage test to come second which was just awesome! It was nice & consistent, no spooking etc. The arenas were nice and had lots of room between them - what suits him best.

We did a nice SJ round however got time faults again - I was sure we had a better canter this time round but I guess not so we will continue to work on that. He jumped well though and feels great so thats the main thing.

Although we got time faults we were still lying second going into the XC which was exciting! However the weather was shite - rained for some of the morning & was really quite drizzly so I decided to play it safe and go for clear rather than the time.

Things started off well with him jumping the fence he didn't like last year beautifully so that was good. However we came into the sunken road and he leapt into it & I just wasn't prepared enough so pulled him round & represented. He did a HUGE leap and I saw something fly past us.....our stirrup....fabulous!!! I asked the jump judge to help me however he wasn't horsey so it took FOREVER for him to get the stupid thing so we could start again. By this time about three people had passed us so I pretty much thought sweet, will just cruise the rest of the course! No point when we would have had a million time faults by this stage!

He jumped the rest of the course okay - we got a bit rattled so never really got our rythym back but he was good. Jumped the corner really nicely as it was on a funny line so that was good. I didn't feel like we had enough impulsion to get out of the water (I hate the water jump there for some reason) so I represented him at that also.

I am pretty damn stoked with him to be honest - what happened wasn't his fault and he still jumped really nicely round the course. And we got second in the dressage which for him is fantastic.

Win some you lose some - part of owning horses isn't it! And from now on the stirrups will be my number one thing I check!!
























Sunday, November 15, 2009

Woodhill Sands Horse Trial

Woodhill Sands had their HT on this weekend - their first Advanced course down there so was great to walk round & see the new jumps on the course they have built.

COBS WAS AWESOME - pretty much all I can say about the weekend :) Not one hint of being naughty, spooky, cheeky nothing. In fact in the dressage we were rather flat LOL! Can't win :)

His dressage test was nice - it was a funny test to ride with lots of movements being very close together. I was first on so had a great warm up with only a few ponies in the warm up ring. Not sure it would have mattered anyway as he just couldn't have cared! Such a nice ride. Our test had a few good moments in it but on a whole was very flat for him so he didn't have his normal spark but I was super happy with him. Was great to relax into the test & not worry about him spooking at something.

Our SJ was great - he warmed up really nicely (again) and did a nice tidy round. The paddock we were jumping on was quite rutted & slippery so we just took it easy so we got time faults. I knew we would & to be honest I don't care - this season is about getting our confidence back so a no jumping fault round is awesome.

We had our XC today - again first out which in a way was good. Had THE BEST xc round. He was so much braver than even last weekend so thrilled with him. We had a life at jump five as I couldn't see as my eyes were streaming from the wind so had to just sit there like a muppet LOL! We also didn't do the jump from the water very well as we lost our forward momentum but on a whole he was just awesome. Again we had time faults as the slopes down were very steep & quite slippery so we just took it easy.

Had an absolutely brilliant weekend - to have my nice sane pony back is great however I am more happy with how we are getting our confidence back jumping :)