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!!

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 :)

Te Atatu Derby Day

Te Atatu had their annual derby day today so I entered the Pre-Training class to get a run before the ODE's start.

Cobs was great at the float etc so hopefully we have worked through that issue :) He threw a tantie when a girl galloped right behind us while we were warming up so that unsettled him a bit but worked through it okay.

They ran the day so that you did four show jumps then do a full xc course then back into the sj ring & do another four jumps. I went into the sj ring and as soon as the bell rang he decided that he didn't really want to do it so leapt sideways and wouldn't go faster than a trot forward. So I made him do the jump from that as I didn't want him to get away with it. Then once he realised what was going on he was fine....odd.

The xc course was really good - he was too busy looking at the people walking up and down beside the jumps for the first four jumps but then got into an awesome rhythm and just stormed round the course. Was so pleased with him. He didn't really back off anything at all and was just a really neat ride round. He jumped the corner great and did a HUGE leap over the ditch (just like last time LOL!).

We then went into the sj ring to finish our round however the jumps were basically on a 20 metre circle so I just trotted him round. Didn't want him to slip over after doing such a great xc round.

It ended up we got third - YAY :) We were allowed to choose a prize so I chose a voucher for Warwick Behrns the horse dentist for the value of $90 so that was fabulous!

Very pleased with him - obviously still a lot to work on but the way he did the xc round was great and very encouraging :)

No I am not picking my nose LOL!

Greenhithe Combined Training Day

Made a late entry for Greenhithe CT day in the hope that getting him out & about more will settle him down. He was a bit anxious when we got there but chilled out really quickly and was great for the whole day :)

We worked out that I would be on about 10.15 so warmed up ready for then (as best we could with the way the grounds were....absolutely shocking). What they didn't tell us is that they allowed ten late entries in and we were in the second class so I didn't end up riding until well after 11. By then Cobs was over it so the fact I was on him for way too long & we couldn't really warm up well our test wasn't great however we still got third so that was good.

We had to do our test on their arena so that meant that once we got down to the corners of course everything was scary as we hadn't had a chance to walk past it. He was very hesitant about going into the far left corner the first time we went down there but eventually got over it.

His test was okay - wasn't as nice as I was hoping for but we got some great marks and looking at the photos it looked better than it felt.

I then entered the 80cm round SJ just to get our confidence back up again. We literally had time to do the practice jump twice at the trot & once at the canter before I was called in. Insane!

He did a good round - I stuffed up the striding by holding him back a bit much but he was good. Had to crawl his way over the first part of the double as I sat there like a munter but the rest of the round was great. Unfortunately knocked the last jump so we had a rail there but he was so much happier - no mucking round after the jump and just felt great. Very happy with him!

My goals for today were to go out & have a stress free day with him. We definitely achieved that so super happy and glad I made the decision to go :)

Riding at Liz's 31st October

Liz very kindly let me hire her arena out yesterday which was great as the showgrounds STILL aren't open so was good to go somewhere and give him a proper work out.

Well I am not sure what changed but man was he AWESOME today! Was the softest he has ever been & just felt amazing.

We did snippets of our tests coming up and practiced straight lines etc. All in all was super stoked with him :)