High Maintenance

RIP Cobs

2011-12-28T13:47:00.000+13:00

On the 8th September Cobs was PTS. He was sore more often than he was not so it was decided that the right thing would be done by him & make him pain free.

It has taken me this long to get the courage to write this update but I am still finding it incredibly hard.

I miss him more than I ever thought I would.

RIP buddy - it actually sucks without you :(

Lesson with Kirstin 25th June

2011-06-29T09:57:00.000+12:00

Despite still being in pain I want to try & keep going as normal so booked a lesson with Kirstin while she was coming up too Woodhill.

We only did walk/trot as I still can't canter yet and wow I got so much out of the lesson!

As you will be aware if I have always had issues with lateral movements on this horse & have spent a considerable amount of time beating myself up about it...well it would appear that my horse actually can't go laterally when he isn't straight....so all these years of frustration were fixed in half an hour!!!

Cobs unfortunately was a bit of a tool to start off with but worked through it okay. Only thing on my mind was too not fall off again! Kirstin had me taking a far more firm hold of the reins that I normally do so when he started to go crooked I could feel it faster. He is worse on the right rein so we did a lot of work on this rein - did a lot of leg yielding on the circle & every time he bulged the shoulder I lifted my outside rein as a half halt & that brought the shoulder back into line. By the end of the lesson I had even contact in both reins...something I have not had with Cobs for a long time.

We then did some shoulder in & leg yielding off the 3/4 line and although it was rusty we could actually do it so was super stoked with that.

Now I just have to try & remember what we went through & practice it! I hope to have two lessons with her next week as she is going away for a while. Not sure if I will be up to jumping by then but more than happy to stay doing flat work.

Winter Schooling

2011-06-28T15:34:00.000+12:00

Have been out & about doing schooling every weekend I can - our jumping has gone completely with Cobs deciding he no longer knows how to canter nicely away from the fences....sigh...

He was jumping super at Raider Lodge (19th June) and we seemed to have got some brains back when I pushed for an insanely long stride, we landed & the next minute I know I am flat on my back in the sand/soup mix. Feck it hurt. Not sure what happened - I think it hurts him to land that heavy so can only guess he bucked or something.

Not ideal & over a week later I am still in a lot of pain with brusied ribs & a sore back.

Grr. Not the start to the season I wanted.

Kind of back on track....

2011-05-29T16:26:00.000+12:00

After Rosedale Cobs never really came right & it become apparent that he was still fighting the damn virus that had been lurking round for a few months. He went onto some cough medicine but was no better within a week so had the vet out.

By then he had dropped a ton of weight & lost a lot of topline :( The vet said there was nothing we could give him to make him better to just give him time off. By this time it had been a few weeks so decided to give him another few light weeks & see how he felt.

Unfortunately Cobs is not the sort of horse you can just turn out so I was road riding him every three/four days trying to keep his sanity.  First few rides he struggled but by the end of the second week he felt a lot better. I went down to the showgrounds for a walk out and he felt good down there too.

On the 24th took him down to my friends arena and he was a little snot - typical winter Cobs crap but at least he had the energy to be naughty so that was good. Went back down there yesterday & he worked SUPER - was so lovely & soft.  Felt amazing.

So plan is now to try and bring him back into work as much as I can by only riding on the weekends. Would like to think we could do some winter jumping end of July but will just see how he is feeling.

Rosedale Training ODE

2011-04-13T19:49:00.000+12:00

Off we went to Rosedale for their Training ODE. I walked the course the night before & it was quite a hard training course I felt. There was one jump in particular that I emailed them about that night to be told to suck it up basically.

Cobs warmed up nicely for the dressage & then got told that they had changed our dressage times....awesome. So hopped off him and stood round for almost an hour. I hopped on again as the judge came and he went all tense & stupid. Tried to warm up but he just got worse. Because they had mucked us round there was no-one to do the dressage so I offered to go in. Thinking they would at least give me one trot round the arena but NO. Soon as I left the judges car she rang the bell. Went to go in the ring & he just went dog and was all tense & sideways. Got a growling in the corner and after about three movements finally relaxed & did some okay work. Was pretty disappointed as he had warmed up so nicely & if we had done our test at the time we should have it would have been a nice test.

Anyway...walked the xc course again and the jump I was most scared of didn't look as horrendous so figured I would give it a go if things felt okay. He was an absolute idiot in the warm up ring which was....exciting I guess? Maybe it means he finally has the idea of xc??

So the first jump was a nice jump up a hill, he stood off that and pinged off. Next the dreaded #2 - it was a hedge that had been grown over a normal fence - was max brush height etc. Came into it and the take off was all fugged up from others stopping so I stopped riding into it. I could NOT get my head around doing that jump - I was most scared about him dragging a leg through it and getting caught in the wire. So I made the decision to just flag it & went and did the intro one instead. MUCH nicer. Third was a big roll top which he did okay, fourth log which he jumped nicely. Fifth was the water complex - had to drop in, canter through (long water jump!) and then jump out and then a stride to a skinny. He jumped in really well and cantered through but half way through just died so we jumped out & missed out the skinny, I came round to do it but there was no way there was enough room so just cantered round it. Next was quite a big table top but that jumped okay. The the sunken road - big vertical, one stride to ditch then one stride out over another vertical. I just jumped the ditch & last vertical. Then was probably the coolest jump on the course - skinny in between two Jeeps. That was wicked & he jumped that really nicely. Next up was a palisade, then tyres then out the back to a big corner. Did all three really nicely. Then a nice big long gallop round to a max height oxer with flax bushes - got a hugely long stride off that one but was cool. Next up was an big upright with hay bales stuck down the middle of it - was worried about this one with it being so upright but he flew over it. Next was another ramp thing - easy. Then there was a very gappy oxer with a ditch under it. Wasn't worried about this one but as we came up to it he was all disunited - I half halted a bit too harshly so he went down to trot & then just died in front of the jump. Came round & did it again & again he trotted into it but had enough bounce in his step to launch over it. Then the last was a ramp which we absolutely flew over.

Was SO super happy with him. Yeah sure we got eliminated but I don't want to push him and if I am not riding confidently then there is the potential for things to go wrong. On the upside though from about number 8 through to 14 he really took me to the jumps & felt super confident. Of course there are no photos from that side of the course damn it!

I didn't do the SJ as there wasn't much point. Save his legs for another day.

Some XC Footage

Woodhill SJ 3rd April

2011-04-12T13:48:00.000+12:00

Back down to Woodhill for the first day of their winter SJ series. I know I need to work on our SJ so its my aim to go down there as often as I can & just PRACTICE!!!

Again did the 80 as our first round. The course was lovely & the double was a two stride so that was good. Cobs got faster & faster as the round went on - wasn't really listening to me so had a few good half halts to be reminded what manners are. He did a super round - backed off the double so he got growled into that (more for me I suspect LOL!). Got into the jump off & we went as fast as I am comfortable with. He was great - they had a fake liverpool etc and he didn't even look at it so that was awesome. The double was in it as well so even more practice! We got a 5th for our effort so that was great!!! I then proceeded to fall off after we had finished our round :( He got a fright from something & unfortunately the person making him spook didn't stop doing what they were doing so he kept leaping sideways. I stayed on for two spooks but the third unseated me & I landed on my bum. OUCH. That actually hurts.....a lot.

I was worried that the fall would affect my confidence so went into the 90 as quickly as I could to get over it. Cobs was SUPER in this round. Had one rail as he came off the corner on the wrong lead but other than that was absolutely thrilled with it. He was listening a lot more & we got the right spots etc. Just felt great. I came out the ring & my friend told me I was doing the metre round.....hmm.....this is a bit of a mind block for me with it being in the 100's rather than the 90's LOL! I told her that I would start but if I felt it was too big then I would retire.

WELL shouldn't have worried about that. SUPER STAR OF THE DAY!!! One rail (same jump as the 90 for the same reason) - thats it!!!! The round was AWESOME. I felt like I rode it really well & Cobs was wicked. Came out with the hugest smile on my face so thanks Michelle H for your support & encouragement. Would not have done it without your help!!! So all in all a fantastic day. Super proud of the both of us :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNg3cMqysoI

90 round (with a sandy bum!)

Metre round

Twilight SJ 31st March

2011-04-12T13:44:00.000+12:00

Took Cobs down to Woodhill for their last twilight SJ just to get back into the groove of things after not having done much since Puhinui.

I just entered the 80 round. He was pretty good. Got all the right leads etc. I rode like a nana coming into the double so he stopped at the first one, spun him round & growled him into it the next time & he flew it.

Was pleased with the night - good to be out there jumping again & he wasn't too crazy LOL!

Puhinui Horse Trial :)

2011-03-07T19:52:00.008+13:00

Riding at Puhinui has always been a dream of mine so I thought stuff it, strike while the iron is hot & away we went!

The weather was shite Friday night/Saturday morning but I was determined to just get out there & make the call. No point flagging it and then find the weather fining up when I am stuck at home!

Got there pretty early as they had decided to run the Training classes all one the one day which meant it was pretty full on.

Our dressage test was actually pretty nice but we got slammed for it & had some very interesting comments.....in the test you had to trot/walk/trot over the short diagonal and in both movements had "halted before walk" which didn't happen. And then in the canter you had to give over the marker on the long side away from the judge - did these movements & got the remark "give not shown". Whatever. LOL! So we were 17th which was disappointing.

We rushed over to do the SJ as the rain had started & I wanted to give him as much rest before the XC as I could. I didn't get a chance to walk it which put me off as I like to walk things so they are sorted in my head.

Our SJ round was one to be forgotten....yet again....I HATE SJ. He took four rails which is unusual for him but the ground was so wet & deep in front of the fences that I think he just struggled. We did the double (YAY) however he took the back rail on the 2nd part so I loosened my reins and then didn't get my shit sorted out before the next jump so I circled & regrouped. I know people will roll their eyes when they read that but I did what I thought was right at the time and we then got a lovely jump over the fence so my point was proven. The last fence was just yuck & he got stuck on take off so just took out the fence.....poor Cobs. Not ideal at all. I want to go to some more SJ shows soon and just give him a nice run....famous last words.

I went & walked the xc course again & it looked just as big the first time I walked it....the first jump was a big box thing and was definitely max height. The next few were also quite big but then the fourth was tiny - go figure! Six a&b then jump a white ramp into the main arena, through the water & out and over a ramp then came the first fence I really didn't like. It was a brush jump on a fenceline with the take off sloping down the hill. Cobs doesn't brush those fences so knew he would be making a huge leap over that! Then onto 11 a&b, 12 was a nice house thing and then came a HUGE corner. It had a black flag option which was a skinny but was a fair distance off course, then off a drop and down the back to 15 a/b/c. A was offset to B and they had strange distances between all three of them. Then the last two jumps were nice.

Soooo got on to warm up for the XC & found the warm up fences were pre-novice height so had no interest in jumping them. A lot of people were stopping at them, even had a few falls which made me dislike the look of them even more!!! So just decided that we would have to warm up out on the course which was not ideal considering how slippery the ground was & how big the jumps were!!!

He jumped number one, two & three great but was getting a bit behind my leg & started to trot into them from number four on which was not the brightest idea he has ever had. I was too worried about the ground to really push him on out of this so I am lucky that he is clever enough to get out of shit spots. He jumped 6b awful - blurgh. Jumped nicely into the arena and then we found ourselves literally knee deep in mud. I hadn't walked this part of the course as people were doing dressage so didn't know how bad that was. Trotted into the water fine & cantered out over the ramp. Then came number 10.....he trotted into it & did a huge jump LOL! So by now I was getting a bit worried about the whole trotting thing but still not confident enough in myself or him to just get going. 11 a&b were good and then 12 we almost flipped over as he was gawking at something else. I was thrown over his shoulder but managed to carry on. There was no way I was going to try the corner after that so did the long option. Jumped off the bank sweet as - in fact that was probably our best jump LOL! Then coming into 15 I decided I would do a straight on & circle to b&c. I knew this would give me a 20 point penalty as I crossed my tracks but to be honest he didn't feel that confident and would rather have 20 than a crash. Glad I made that decision as he did them nicely. Last two were fine and then we had finished!

YAY!!! Not only had we done my dream but we did pretty damn well too. Again the scoreboard looks like utter shite but I don't care. He went clear in the XC - the rider deserves the 20!

So super, super happy with him. It was so good to go out there & give it a go. I would love to go back out there next season if he is still going & really go for it.

Not sure what is next for us - he is going to have some time off to let his leg that he has cut in three different places (playing in the paddock) heal properly & then go from there :)

Lesson with Liz Feb 2011

2011-03-07T19:46:00.004+13:00

Had a great lesson with Liz - its been so long since we had one so we worked through the movements in the test for Puhinui which was great as it was quite fiddly.

Cobs was good - worked really hard and was generally in a good mood!

Lesson with Kirstin 2nd March

2011-03-07T19:34:00.003+13:00

I thought it best to try and get a lesson in with Kirstin before Puhinui so went out to Massey PC.

Just when I left work the rain started & pretty much didn't stop the whole way to the PC. Luckily during our lesson it stopped so that was good.

It was really good to jump on a slippery surface - I don't ride in the rain and normally ride on arenas in winter so haven't really had the chance to see how Cobs feels in the wet conditions. Kirstin showed me so handy tips to really get him straight on the corners etc and he didn't feel like he was going to slip once so that was good to know.

He warmed up really nicely and was jumping well. Then we went over to the double and thats where the fun began....I honestly feel its me that puts him off so now he just starts backing off them straight away. Anyway he stopped a few times and Mr Whippy came out and he didn't think of stopping again LOL! In the end he was doing it really nicely.

We then did some lines getting the right amount of strides in etc so that was great practice. Cobs was jumping out of his skin so we had a fantastic time.

The last round of jumps we did were about 1.05-1.10 so that was wicked! They felt huge coming into them so am no-where near comfortable at that height but it was a great confidence boost and with another show in a few days was exactly what we needed.

Woodhill Sands Horse Trial

2011-02-11T13:39:00.021+13:00

So I finally made the decision to go out & try Training. Thought Woodhill would be the perfect place for our first one as we know the grounds etc.

Cobs warmed up nicely for his dressage. The arena was over the other side so luckily we didn't have too many horses warming up round us. We went to go into the arena & he got very tense but then settled down again. The test was okay - could have been more forward however I wanted to keep in sane so didn't push it. He went above the bit a few times which is unusual so I must put some extra work into our flatwork as I haven't really done much of late.

The night before the Dressage/SJ it had rained A LOT and the SJ was on the grass so I was a little nervous at doing our first 95cm round on the grass. Although it has sand underneath it was still a little slippery in some places.

Fair to say that I well & truly stuffed up the SJ......the course was actually really nice & I wasn't worried about anything...First jump was awesome then I started to crush the canter a bit so he trotted into the second. He then went on the wrong leg coming out of that jump so I brought him back to a trot to change leads, he did a funny leap thing and I lost total concentration for the third jump and just sat there. Cobs bless his heart jumped it from a stand still but it was an oxer so he took the jump with him. Poor boy. Then the double was next & I got rattled so he jumped huge over the first and then ducked out at part B. Came round & did it again and we did not but not nicely....rest of the course was okay but my riding had gone to defensive mode so it wasn't pretty. Then the last jump was an oxer and I saw a long stride so pushed him for that and he took the back rail.

So very disappointed in myself for being a dick and losing it. The height of the jumps didn't scare me though so that is good I guess.

Went and walked the xc course & for our first training I thought it was a good course with different things we hadn't seen before.

The first question (for me) was number 5 which was a ramp back into the main arenas. That is where most people stand so the horses tend to get a bit distracted so knew that would be a challenge. Also the landing was quite a drop too and as Cobs bucks on landing sometimes I was wary of that! Coming into it I rode him into it from a fair distance away & he jumped it really nicely. He did however buck about 20 metres after it & scooted away LOL!

The first combination was a ramp, corner onto an oxer jump made of broken trot poles. I trotted into the ramp so he could have a look at the corner - I know he can do this sort of thing from a trot so it didn't bother me. He did it really nicely & cantered away to the oxer. Did another nice log jump & then had to jump a ditch. Like normal he leapt over it but did it nicely. The next fence was a wide quite flat jump - we have done it before but for whatever reason he decided he didn't really like it this time so stopped at it. I think I had probably stopped riding him as we had just done the combination!!

Then up over a few more jumps and onto the hill. Jump 18 was a narrow horseshoe type jump with a ground rail which was a fair way out. I hated it on sight & had already decided to go round it. As I jumped 17 all I could hear was my friends/parents yelling JUST GO FOR IT so tried to do it. Amazingly we got over it from a trot!!! It was by far the ugliest jump we have ever jumped so pretty proud of him. I was also worried about the last jump but we completely nailed it and no-one got a photo LOL!!

So all in all I am absolutely over the moon about our first attempt at this level. SJ is always going to be my weakest point & I am going to go out & try & do some SJ shows to get lots of practice in. Cobs was freakin awesome over the XC and tried his heart out.

I have been told by a few people that I should have pushed for time, done this & that but to be honest I am STOKED with how we went. I am not competitive - this is just fun. Five months ago I didn't think I would be riding this horse again let alone attempting our first Training run! At the end of the day as long as I am happy that should be enough for anyone who has an opinion. Although I shouldn't have to explain myself the weekend was a huge one of "firsts" for us - first round of 95cm, first time we have done round that height without doing a smaller round first & definitely the first time we have done XC jumps like this!!!!

I adore my pony & it makes me a little upset that some people just can't accept that I had an awesome time even though the scoreboard doesn't reflect it! Hey we didn't get eliminated!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlMbk_g5H8

Lesson with Kirstin 25th January

2011-01-28T17:47:00.004+13:00

Kirstin had a clinic at Woodhill this week which was AWESOME timing as we have entered Woodhill HT in the Training class....eeekkkkkkkkk.

Lesson was fabulous. Started off doing some flat work getting him to move off my leg more etc. He was absolutely lazy and then suddenly he went freakin mad & started hooning off everywhere! Dick.

Warmed up doing a vertical then halting, turning back around, jumping then halting etc until he started to listen to me a little more. I will try to do this at the practice fence at competitions but think it will be a bit hard with lots of others around.

We did heaps of related lines & courses which was exactly what I needed to do. I can't believe the difference that counting out loud makes - between that and looking at the ground line its pretty hard to stuff it up. Although I still manage too its no where near as often as before.

We then worked on some doubles - two strides this time. We actually nailed these pretty quickly so was super happy with that.

The last course we did was probably round training height with one red oxer at least 1.05. I thought I would ride it like a nana but it came up really nicely and Cobs did a great jump over it (photo below).

On the last round I could really feel he was struggling as the sand was quite deep so glad we did a good round and we left it at that.

I really feel that we are the most prepared we have been to give Training a good go. I have no other goal but to finish on a happy, sound horse. If we stuff up we stuff up but I feel we need to at least give it a try. We can always go back to pre-training if its too daunting anyway :)

Wish us luck for the weekend!

Updates

2011-01-28T17:34:00.003+13:00

Holy its been a while! Xmas Holidays seemed to fly by very fast!!

I haven't really got much to update hence the non-blogging. Cobs has had some down time with the ground being so hard. I am very aware of his issues so trying very hard to not hammer him. Problem being is that now I can't keep him as fit as I would like so he is breathing VERY hard but seems to come back very quickly. So he is obviously fit enough - but I hate him sounding like a steam train.

Went to Raider & Limbury park a few times over the holidays. Cobs was just SUPER one day but I had a few thoughts reappear so got in touch with Kirstin again to help me out. Had a dressage lesson which went well - Cobs was a little flat so was quite hard work but he did everything that was asked of him.

So yeah - nothing of any imporatance to say really!!!!

Schooling Limbury Park

Hill work at home

Schooling at Raider Lodge

Waitemata SJ

2010-12-12T18:59:00.004+13:00

Waitemata had one of their mini circuits on down at Woodhill so thought it would be a good idea to get down there & get over this SJ block I have! Was a bit indimated as some big SJ'ers come to these days but I only did the baby classes LOL!

Cobs warmed up nicely & I only did three practice jumps before I went in. I was super happy with his 80cm round - the course was nice & rode well. I conquered my double fear and we did it really nicely & even got just one stride in LOL! We got into the jump off & did that clear as well but we were way too slow.

Decided to do the 90 while things were going well - by the time it came to do that the sand had completely dried and Cobs was finding it quite hard going unfortunately. However we did an awesome round - I circled once so that was counted as a stop but the rest of it was awesome.

Super proud of him and myself for going out there & doing it. I actually feel confident now and just happy that I have proven to myself that we CAN do it.

Link to our 90 round:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Y_cUBI8D4

80 cm round

90cm round

Massey 2 Day Event

2010-11-28T19:34:00.007+13:00

Unfortunately I have been having some issues with Cobs soundness but this week he seemed to be okay so put in a really late entry for Massey 2 Day.

Cobs warmed up really nicely for his dressage test but unfortunately he got overcooked a bit as the judge was taking a while between tests. By the time I came to do the test he was a bit over it so wasn't as relaxed and flowing as he can be. It was still an okay test though & we got 30 for it and was in 5th place.

The SJ course was nice - one silly line down a hill to a right angle so just trotted that bit. Cobs warmed up really well - I only jumped the practice fence twice as the ground is too damn hard to do heaps of jumps!!! In the SJ he did the first three fences really nicely and then came the silly corner which just didn't flow so jump 4 was a bit messy. The next line was a vertical, five strides to a one stride double. Part B caused a fair few problems and sure enough Cobs backed off it too. As he was too busy gawking at part B he took a rail at A but still jumped B so that was good. The rest of the course felt nice & I was wrapped with it. As normal we got time faults LOL! Whatever.....doesn't bother me!!

Only eight of us went through to the XC. I felt it was a good course - some jumps looked on the higher side of PT but as a whole it was nice.

Cobs stormed around it - had such a great ride. We ended up with .8 time faults - we did go a lot faster than we usually do between jumps so we are getting there!!!

In the end we ended up 1st overall which was a HUGE shock! So proud of my boy :)

Unfortunately the girl that was placed first was eliminated as it appeared she had got lost on her XC and her friends were yelling at her about missing some jumps so she was eliminated for outside assistance. We did not put a protest in as obviously I was super happy with coming second but we asked the TD if outside assistance was allowed - he knew about it already by his reaction so unfortunately she had to be eliminted. How gutting for her! Bet her friends don't ever do that again :)

Mangere Pre-Training ODE

2010-11-03T19:46:00.005+13:00

Yay our first ODE of the season! Was so looking forward to it - until I got up to go LOL! Then the nerves kicked in.

We got there quite early as I was ready early and it was a good thing I did - Cobs took a while to settle in. Was okay when we got there but they had a loud speaker so it took him a while to get used to that. After an hour he was okay with the whole thing.

I decided to do what I did last season and rode him round for a while before going back to the float to get ready. He was okay to ride round - had a few spooks but on a whole was pretty good. By the time I got back over there to do my test the other rings had finished so I warmed up round one of the arenas - seemed to work! He warmed up beautifully & I even asked Mum if he looked as nice as he felt - she agreed with me so all we had to do was get it nice in the test!

I was REALLY happy with the test - I came out and said it was the best HE had done so was super stoked with him. Well I never expected the result to be quite as good.....we ended up on 16.3 and won by 7 points!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!! SO proud of him!! I knew it felt nice but definitely wasn't expecting that kind of mark!

The SJ was done on the sand arena & the course was quite twisty but nice. Cobs warmed up okay - the warm up area left a lot to be desired but you were allowed to warm up in the arena when the horse before you was jumping so that was good. I wanted a chance to trot Cobs past the crowd & mirror but they rang the bell as soon as I went in so that didn't go quite to plan.

First four jumps were pretty good then came the double. Not to make an excuse for him as he should have jumped it but on the video it looked like he just didn't see it as he was looking at the people/club room that suddenly appeared on his right side LOL! So he got a smack for that stop and then my counting went out the window so we took a rail on number 7. Was happy with him though - if I had ridden a bit more postively it wouldn't have happened. The counting definitely worked - just have to keep it up next time & not get distracted!!!

We had to wait a while for the XC so went & walked it again. I felt there were a few bogey jumps on the course - unfortunately I should have made more use of doing their practice day but too late for that now! The first question was jump 5 which was a bank two stride to a small oxer. They actually changed it so you didn't have to jump up the bank which was nice as it was a big ask for PT. Then the next jump was a pallisade - tiny but we still hadn't done one before. The next ask was the ditch combo I had the meltdown about a few weeks back. They had flagged it so you could do the small log, ditch & then the upright but on a slight left angle. Right round to jump 15 which was a corner or A/B which we did at the practice day. I decided to see how he was going and make my mind up on the course. Then the water was just jump in/out.

So I got a tad nervous before the XC....Cobs was a fruit to warm up with all the horses galloping round him! The first jump was offset from the start flags & to be honest I just sat there like a dick and what do you know - he went past it. UM thats what happens when you don't commit!!!! So I got angry with myself and off we went!!!!

He did everything so nicely! I trotted into a few of them to give him a look etc but on a whole was absolutely stoked with our round. We are never going to be fast so we got some time faults - more important to me is that we did all "my" hard stuff perfectly. We did the corner rather than A/B and he flew it.

So yeah - we didn't get a place overall. I never thought I would be able to do an ODE on him again let alone EVER win the dressage so overall it was a brilliant day :)

The dressage sheet:

Lesson with Kirstin Kelly 28th October

2010-11-02T19:36:00.004+13:00

After Woodhill I knew I needed help with our jumping before Mangere ODE - if I had gone there without a lesson I think we probably would have been eliminated fairly quickly as I was beginning to wonder if I should just become a DQ.....nah LOL!

So I took the day off work and went out to Kirstin Kelly in Pukekohe. Man what a trip!! I went in convoy with another friend of mine and it seemed to take AGES to get there! My friend had two horses so she had the first & last lesson.

Kirstin warmed us up and first thing she did was put my stirrups up a hole. Felt extremely short to begin with! She liked Cobs rhythmical paces so that was nice feedback.

Then we went onto the jumping - first jump same thing happened as it did at Woodhill - I got left behind. Kirstin asked where I was looking & I said up and she said how are you going to know where the jump is if you aren't looking?? True!

She suggests that you look at the ground rail coming into the jump & count out your strides. As I can normally only see my strides about three out I started really early until I become comfortable with the whole thing.

WOW what a difference! I can honestly say that we didn't stuff up the strides once. It felt SO good - I was absolutely beaming!

After doing some related lines & roll backs we moved onto the double knowing that this was our sticky point on Monday. Came into it & I had the perfect stride & Cobs stopped dead at it. Kirstin said I did everything right so he got a whack for that. After that he didn't even think about stopping - it was a long stride double and he got it right every time.

Well by then I was so stoked with how things were going! It made such a HUGE difference - now I just need to pratice heaps so it becomes second nature for me to count the strides out and actually look at what I am doing.

Well worth the day off :)

Woodhill Sands Mini ODE 25th October

2010-11-02T19:17:00.004+13:00

Woodhil had a Mini ODE on the Monday of Labour Weekend - nice low key day!

Cobs did a nice test - nothing flash but was consistent. We got a mark of 28 which left us in about 6th place.

Went to warm up for the jumping & I couldn't jump to save myself - kept getting left behind etc. Just could not get it sorted out at all.

I probably should have gone away for a while & come back to it to see if it got better but instead I went into the ring to do my round.....first fence was nice however a kid yelled out WHHEEE when we went over it so Cobs took off and we almost missed fence two! Next few were okay but I was still not totally with him and he kept tanking off as I was mucking things up. Came into the double & I just froze so Cobs dribbled down to a halt in front of the jump.....kinda happens when you don't ride into it! By then I was rattled so he stopped a second time but the third time he did it nicely. Then he jumped HUGE over number 7 and the last was hideous too.

Went out on the xc and its fair to say that didn't get much better. He felt SO heavy & awful. I stopped him before the last jump just so I felt like I had some control!

When I watched it on video it looked better than it felt but I really feel like I let the side down - just couldn't get anything right.

Never mind - despite our two stops we still ended up 4th so that was a nice surprise!

Mangere Practice XC

2010-10-17T18:17:00.008+13:00

As I still can't find anything to do over this side Mum & I made the journey over to Mangere PC for a practice XC Day. The trip was actually quite fast - however we did take the wrong exit as stupid google didn't name the offramp correctly but we found it.

Cobs was relaxed from the second he hopped off the float so that was awesome for our first trip out for the season. After taking our time to get ready we went over to warm up and found Jannine & Dana over there so stopped to talk to them for a while which was cool. Cobs warmed up quite well but was a bit behind the leg so took him for a fast canter round which he seemed to enjoy.

We started off by doing a few little jumps & he was jumping quite nicely. We made our way up the big hill and was surprised to find Cobs isn't as fit as I thought so I just walked him round for a while. Did a few jumps in that paddock and then went into the main jumping paddock.

To get into that paddock we had to do a jump in the fence line - which to my horror looked pretty damn huge when I came up to it! But we did it and Cobs jumped it really nicely so that was good.

Next up was a vertical/ditch/vertical combination. I did the ditch a few times & he was pretty good. However I went into total meltdown mode when it came to putting all three together - just couldn't make myself do it despite three people telling me it was fine! Poor Cobs - he must have wondered what the hell was going on as I just stopped riding him into them about three strides out.

We then went over another ditch then practiced doing some banks which was fun as I haven't done banks with him before.

Then we went & played in the water jump. He was such a good boy. Jumped in over logs, jumped out onto a bank, we ended up doing the training option which was a chicken coop, two strides over a log into the bank and out. Was STOKED with him and was my total highlight of the day.

We then finished on a tricky combination which the more we did the worse it got LOL!

So all in all a great day. Was so good to go out and try a challenging course. Really shows how easy the courses over this side are compared to South Auckland ones.

Thanks to Sarah & Kristal for meeting me there & yelling at me to do things :)

Video of some of the round:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4QHHS6whCo

Another Weekend Update

2010-10-10T19:22:00.002+13:00

Yet another fine weekend in Auckland.....two in a row is a bit of a miracle!!

Had a great horsie weekend - took Cobs down to Woodhill Sands on Saturday morning for a ride. Unfortunately they hadn't harrowed/wet the grounds down since the SJ show last weekend so the going was quite hard.

Cobs just didn't feel right at all - he was really mincing and just wouldn't go forward. I know him well enough to know when he is just being naughty but it didn't feel like that at all. I didn't ride him for long as there was no point pushing it.

Today I met Michelle up at Limbury Park for a jump session. Cobs was actually wicked - I sucked LOL! Michelle got us to do bounce to a one stride....she thinks I don't see her put the jumps up but I do :)

He actually went really well and didn't feel sore/short or anything so that was great after yesterdays ride.

Michelle ended up putting the jump up huge and that scared the crap outta me so I rode like a moron (see below photo) but he was cool! So she took it back down for me & we jumped it nicely again.

Very pleased with the boy today :)

Woodhill Saturday

Limbury Today

Henious huge jump LOL!

Weekend of Sunshine...at last

2010-10-03T17:15:00.004+13:00

And we definitely made the most of it!

Had a dressage lesson on Saturday with Liz. Cobs was rather full of himself & actually being a bit of a brat. When he did stop mucking around he actually worked really nicely. Nailed our walk to canters on both reins which is good as we tend to get them a bit mucky on the left rein.

His canter was actually okay considering its been two months since our last lesson. If he had the other half of his brain on he would have been great!

Today I met up with my friend Rach & went jump schooling. I was THRILLED with how he went today. We got the right canter and everything came up really nicely. He was being an egg after the jumps though...typical him but it was fun! We didn't jump high but for the first time jumping for a while it was great.

Long Overdue Update

2010-09-11T08:00:00.006+12:00

Well not much has been happening since the last update....the weather has turned absolute shit and we are the wettest we have been for a LONG time.

I have had a niggling feeling that something has been going on in Cobs off-fore so decided to get some x-rays done to see what it was. Well the news was devastating - he has navicular. My vet basically said oh yep, not much can be done. Well this wasn't the news I was expecting so was absolutely distraught about the whole thing. I decided to get a second opinion as it was a life/death situation and I wanted to know I had done everything I could before making a decision.

The second vet said yep he definitely has navicular changes but they are totally manageable....well I could have cried with relief! YAY! So now we are going to see how Cobs goes with the management programme and just take each day as it comes.

After hearing such exciting news I booked us in for a lesson with John while he was back - no time like the present LOL! Cobs was actually REALLY good. We did a lot of sj & xc combined and really worked on my forward canter. Seriously after two years of working on it I still can't get it - waste of money these lessons are LOL!

So I went back down to Woodhill to see how our canter was going & Cobs was an absolute madman and taking off & bucking after the jumps.....awesome! Nearly got me off twice the little snot.

So obviously he is feeling good which is great on one hand but not on the other!!!

The new area calendar has come out and I am SO disappointed. There are hardly any ODE's this season so looks like we will be making the trip out to South Auckland every month instead. Not ideal but I have some serious goals to achieve while I can still ride Cobs so needs must!

Here are some photos from Woodhill - off the video and it was almost dark so they aren't the best :)

Update

2010-08-14T08:55:00.003+12:00

Well before I lost complete motivation we had a FANTASTIC dressage lesson with Liz.

I only get to ride four times a week at the moment if I am lucky and 99% of them are just hacking out on the road so considering all this we haven't gone that far backwards.

We got some super trot & canter today - I was very proud of the both of us & for once I was not getting yelled at about my legs etc so maybe, just maybe things are improving.

I still have a mental block with lateral work & unfortunately its now becoming an issue as Cobs is getting really confused with what I am asking him to do as its not making sense.

Because of this I am going to try another instructor just to see if a different approach will help. I love Liz and will still go to her as well however this needs to get sorted now as I would like to do some elementary unregistered stuff on him this year if possible.

As I type this the weather is shite outside but at least its not cold! Spring is definitely in the air if my rides of late have been anything to go by as they have been VERY bouncy.

We have also put our house on the market and found a house we want to buy so things are pretty stressful so I am hoping thats why my motivation levels have gone. Not long till the season starts though so they had better come back damn quickly!

Lesson with John

2010-07-17T19:16:00.005+12:00

Managed to get another lesson in with John before he departs the country - SUPER stoked I did as it was the best lesson I have had for a long time.

We started off doing poles etc again and to my surprise I was actually better than last week so that was good. Then did a small jump to get us both in the right frame of mind etc - no mucking around from Cobs today so that was nice!

We then trotted into the wall and got him in deep so he started to use himself properly.

Then onto the same related line we did last week....however I have been going over & over this in my mind all week and what do you know.....we actually did it bloody well. Unfortunately I was making the mistake of riding the first jump in a line to get to the second so Cobs started to bulge out his left shoulder again so we had to stop & regroup and get my focus on what needed to be changed.

It worked really well & by the end of it we were jumping the straighest we have ever done. John wants me to continue my focus on getting him on my outside leg on the left rein so that will make the whole bulging shoulder thing go hopefully.

We ended up doing three lines and got perfect strides in all three & conquered the stupid related line like it had never been a problem so totally thrilled. I still drove him into a few jumps but on a whole I feel my riding has got better since having lessons with John.

Damn him for leaving!

My friend came and took a video of the lesson for me as well - this is our final round of the day:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CobsHighMaintenance#p/a/u/0/OnaMb87xGCI

Woodhill Sands SJ

2010-07-11T20:09:00.004+12:00

With SJ being our total weakest link I made the effort to go to Woodhill today. Was absolutely FREEZING and the closer we got down there the colder it got. Was -2 when we hopped out of the car!!

Cobs warmed up quite well despite all the horses down there. He felt really sticky though and I actually couldn't get him to get a big enough canter so we warmed up jumping quite deep into the fences.

We did 80 first. Got an okay canter into the first fence, right spot, etc and Cobs just didn't see it until he was almost on top of it so did a HIDEOUS leap over it LOL! Luckily the next fence was a nice small vertical to get our flow back! Third was an oxer which he did quite nicely, fourth was a green wall which he got a growling into as he started to back off about eight strides out! Then clear round the rest of the course. I hadn't really walked the jump off course as we never get through but managed to find my way round for another clear.

Was super happy with him despite a few hiccups. He did some super jumps as well so came out beaming.

Decided to give the 90 a crack - it looked HUGE. Maybe cause we haven't done it since last season as a course I don't know but it was yuck anyway LOL!

Once again fence one got us however this time he stopped at it. Got a right crack on the arse with the whip and then next time we came to do it he jumped it so bloody big. Dick. Came round to the fourth fence & he did that nicely so decided to retire.

Again disappointed in myself - just need to get the hell over it. Never mind! Still looking forward to next season & I hope by then I will be more aware of how to ride to spots in SJ :)

80 cm round

90cm jump three

Just when you think you are getting there.....

2010-07-11T19:49:00.005+12:00

Had another lesson with John yesterday - again go so much out of it but man nothing like a wake up call LOL!

John hopped on Cobs first to have a squizz at how he goes etc. Was good watching him ride him - Cobs got very confused with what John wanted so just trotted/cantered/trotted till he understood what was going on. Was hilarious!!

We started off just doing a small x and getting my position sorted out again. Didn't get ANY comments on my hands/legs so that an achievement!

Then we trotted down to the wall and for once Cobs didn't jump it like a spoon so that was nice. Then onto the dreaded related lines....F*CK. I wish I didn't freeze up over these stupid things!!!

Where we should have got six nice strides in we got eight nana strides LOL. Oh and funnily enough when you have a shit canter poles tend to drop...who would have thought!!!

So we had to work through that for some time as I kept freezing up when I couldn't see a spot which meant Cobs was like WTF where has Mum gone and started to get all worried etc. But we finally got there. Then we did a straight line - liverpool to the oxer.

Coming into the liverpool I had everything totally right - could see my spot & everything & Cobs jammed on the brakes. Was NOT happy so he got a right bollocking for that. Snot. Then the next time I over rode it despite knowing I had done everything right the first time.....So came back round to do it again and then we got the right strides to the white oxer.

We ended the lessons with pole work - so what I need to do a LOT of as I can only see my spot three strides out which is far too late to be able to adjust anything. So we did six/five/six/four strides etc. Was really good & I can't wait to go down to the track & practice doing more work with it by using the posts etc on the fenceline.

Disappointed in myself more than anything as I seem to be getting stuck on the same things - one day we will get there.....

Lesson with John 30th June

2010-07-04T12:24:00.003+12:00

Well where do I start....

Had my first private lesson with John today and WHAT a difference...worked through some major issues I have and now I am crystal clear on what to do to fix things.

Cobs has ALWAYS jumped to the left & I have just accepted that this is what he does etc. Tried different ways to work through it but never anything that has really worked.

Well we did a lot of flat work today and on the right rein John got me to counter-flex him to get him straight. I have a habit of pulling back on the right rein so he curls & his quarters swing in (no news to anyone reading this blog - its on almost every lesson update!!!). So this worked really well and John got me to over give with my inside rein so Cobs was finally sitting on my outside rein.

When we got to do the jumping I had to counter-flex him round every corner and make the square so then our approach to the jump was dead straight. And guess what??? Cobs jumps straight. DUH. John said what I have been doing in effect is shortening his right hand side so he has to jump left as its the rein that allows him to jump. I mean for freaks sake - I have been struggling with this for HOW long & its something this simple???

So wish it was summer so I could put this all into practice!!!

We worked an awful lot on my legs (as per normal) and keeping my left hand up as I have now got into the habit of turning my hand over. By the end of the lesson my horse actually felt even in both reins and awesome!!!

So super stoked with Cobs - he was quite feral in the jumping leaping about after the jump etc but thats just him and we aren't doing enough of it for it to become boring again.

My aim is to definitely do Training level this season - I really feel that we are actually ready for it. I have no doubt we will have some issues etc doing this but there is only one way to work through it & thats to try. Roll on September!

Lesson with Liz 26th June

2010-07-04T12:02:00.003+12:00

Had a great lesson with Liz - I am surprised that we haven't gone that far backwards considering our rides at the moment consist only of a few road rides during the week & thats if we are lucky.

We worked HEAPS on transitions and getting him to step forward into the trot rather than ambling into it. By the end of it he was doing this really nicely.

Our canter is still rather hairy but we got some okay work. Worked a lot of shoulder fore especially on the right rein as I tend to curl him (still).

We then did heaps of lengthening on circles at the trot to try and get him to go more forward. He did this REALLY nicely so was super stoked with that. Our lengthening across the diagonals seems to have gone with summer so we did it this way instead.

So overall a great lesson - hope to catch up with Liz every fortnight over winter to keep us going but this all depends on weather etc. So far so good though!

Mini ODE Woodhill Pre-Training

2010-06-07T13:26:00.006+12:00

Off to Woodhill for their Mini ODE. Cobs warmed up awesome however when we were going round the arena he was feeling lazy so I growled & kicked him on and then he went nuts - started groaning and going sideways. Bad Mum LOL!

So the first half of our test was absolutely terrible. The entry was great though LOL! Then as if a flick had switched the second half was really, really nice. Dick.

I was a bit nervous before our jumping as I haven't done a proper SJ course on him for what feels like forever. I tried to remain sitting up & thinking about what I was doing the whole time. Unfortunately the round got messier the more we went round LOL!

He jumped great though - super proud of him. I was very lucky that my friend Michelle videoed us so that is the first time I have seen us jump for a long time & I can definitely see some improvement.

Our xc was a bit wiggly/woggly but he tried really hard. He backed off jump three so got a growling into that one but the rest of them he was fine. I was actually pretty proud of the both of us.

Just need to sort this dressage shit out - sigh. Nothing for us for a while I don't think as I am finding it too hard to ride during the week so will just take things one day at a time.

Here is the video link to our SJ round :

http://www.youtube.com/user/NZhorsesforsale#p/a/u/0/qhQ4ENMKf3w

XC Lesson with John 5th June

2010-06-07T12:56:00.005+12:00

Had a XC lesson with John down at Woodhill - shared with Vanessa again.

He started us off trotting into a PT mobile thing which Cobs thought was fabulous as then he could jump like a goon & be naughty the other side. He got over that after the first few times so that was good.

Then we went out onto the XC course. John told us which ones he wanted us to do - Vanessa the big ones and me the middle ones LOL!

I went out and did the first jump okay & then pulled him off the second as I froze. I am SO SICK of doing this. I think it was because it was slippery or something - I don't know but its doing my head in. So represented him and felt better so off we went. Cobs got a bit excited by the whole thing and was trying to throw his legs round after the jumps but was too slippery for that LOL! We had to drop into the water & jump out. Again I froze on the jumping out bit so we did that a few more times and by the end of it I felt more comfortable. Was just not keeping the connection from landing through the water but once we got that sussed he was a really good boy.

I went out & did the xc course again & this time we stormed round it so that made me feel a little better about things :)

We then went and did some sj starting off with a single jump and practicing staying sitting up etc which is something I need to work on. We then went into related lines and roll backs etc. I was actually quite happy with how this went and Cobs jumped super. There was one time where I gunned it but knew I had done it straight away - one jump out of ten is good for me though LOL!

John then got us to rollback onto a white vertical - didn't realise how big it was until I was a few strides out & luckily didn't panic so Cobs leapt over it. Measured it later & it was a good 1.05-1.10 so pretty proud of that effort :)

The thing I like about John the most is the whole time he gives you suggestions on how to fix things. He said he doesn't say the word "don't" when he is teaching as its too negative a word and the brain fixates on this. All little things to think about which really cement into your brain & make you think about things.

Another great lesson - got a lot out of it again. Not sure when the next one will be but this has given us a lot to work on until then anyway.

Lesson with Liz 4th June

2010-06-07T12:54:00.003+12:00

Had our first dressage lesson in what seems like ages - I was actually pleased with how things went.

I have found since I have been going to osteo/pilates that I must be sitting straighter as Cobs has definitely changed on the left rein. I am acutally finding it a bit difficult to be honest but at least I know things must be changing.

Today we got some super trot work out of him - really nice & forward and up in front. Our canter was a bit hairy as always but eventually came right.

All in all very pleased with how it went.

Lesson with John Twomey

2010-05-29T15:47:00.004+12:00

With Jaime going overseas for the winter the hunt has been on to find a new jumping instructor. I heard that John was going to be teaching up at Jaimes so asked Vanessa if she would mind doing a shared lesson to see what he was like & if we both enjoyed it could mean we could afford regular lessons from him rather than paying for a private.

Well....pretty much stoked with the lesson! John is a great instructor & really explains things so well. VERY encouraging and I learnt a hell of a lot.

He had many helpful tips of which I am now struggling to remember: think about opening your knees rather than putting your heels down, if you knees are open then your legs will be tight against the horses side & your heels will come down; think about opening your chest which will make your body straighter over the fence (I tend to dive so this was a good thing for me); if things do go wrong just forget about them & concentrate on the next job at hand.

So yeah pretty awesome lesson. Cobs wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought he would be as we haven't really jumped since Woodhill HT.

We started with a small cross so John could see what was happening etc then moved onto cantering in with a pole either side. The moved onto the barrels which Cobs jumped.....lively a few times LOL! It was more me though driving him the last few strides so John talked me through what I was doing etc so I concentrated on that. Then moved onto a two stride double - first time we went through Cobs backed off a bit so again my bad habits set in but the second time after John had put them up we did it really nicely. Was super happy & it felt like our jump had slowed down which was good.

Then we went onto related lines....my favourite...not. We had to go over the wall then six/seven strides over a vertical. The first few times we did seven as I was holding him back a bit as he normally jumps the wall stupidly. The last few lines we did we pushed & got the six which was great.

So all in all a great lesson. Was actually really good having a shared one as you can listen & learn on what the other person is doing etc. Hopefully we can keep getting lessons together :)

Woodhill Sands Winter Dressage 23rd May

2010-05-24T18:50:00.003+12:00

I decided to do three tests at the Dressage - last weekend we had to retire in our test as I managed to completely stuff up a great warm up when I saw the judge was someone who has HATED me for a good 20 years. Yes I know I shouldn't have let it get to me however by the time I tried to talk myself out of it Cobs was completely wound up as I was hanging off his face. Poor horse - you can't turn the over-sensitive button off unfortunately!

So our warm up this time wasn't as good as last weekends. He decided he didn't like the spurs so they came off. He was a bit jumpy to start with but finally settled in quite nicely.

Our first test 1.4 was in an arena that was not anywhere near other horses which suits him down to the ground. He did quite a nice test - came out smiling so thats always a good sign! I think we ended up 6th (TBC) out of over 30 so stoked with that.

Our second test was 2.2 which unfortunately was in the arena that he always behaves badly in & he did just that. First half was shit but the second half was okay. The judge was more than generous with her scores.....

The third test was 2.4 & to say we were both absolutely shattered is an understatement. There is SO much canter in that damn test - by the middle of it we were just ambling along LOL! He was so behind the leg etc - however I was happy with him as he tried & thats all I can ask for. This judge was not quite so generous with her marks LOL!

So all in all a good day. I have no idea what I can do to try and stop him from panicking when a horse comes up behind him like that. The arenas are so close down there which is a shame. But he should be used to it by now so its no excuse.

Not many photos as it started to rain so they came out a little blurry.

Woodhill Sands HT

2010-04-26T19:46:00.007+12:00

After our not so successful run at Greenhithe I put a late entry in for Woodhill Sands Horse Trial.

We were number one for dressage which is great as it always suits him to not have many horses warming up around him. He warmed in really nicely & did a nice test. He blew two movements by shooting forward for a few strides but on a whole I was stoked with it. It appears that the judge didn't like it much so we got what I consider quite a harsh mark. We were lying 14th out of 28 so not too bad I guess.

I got myself into a complete tizz for the SJ. I don't know what is going on but I really feel like I have lost heaps of confidence with it. Our warm up wasn't that great and included him slamming into the practice fence. I know its something I am doing so I really have to get on top of things before he starts to lose his confidence as well.

He went clear in the SJ. Wasn't the nicest round he has done but it was good. They penalised me with 13 time faults which I thought was insane but however. This later got changed to 10 which I still think is on the steep side as we cantered the whole way round the course etc. Never mind shit happens! Just made me more determined to have a good ride on the XC on the Sunday!

The XC course was nice - didn't think there were many hard fences but you just never know what they will take aversion too!

I didn't have to worry - Cobs just stormed round. Had such a wicked time on him. I was still hanging onto his face a little as the photos show - think it was more nerves than anything as I can't remember the last time we did a full on xc course. And jesus what the hang is going on with my legs! I need to tape them to his side or something. Poor pony.

We went clear with no time faults so ended up 13th overall. SUPER happy with this result. Shame about the SJ time faults but never mind - whats done is done. Kind of gutted that the season is all but over!

Sorry loads of photos!

Busy Weekend

2010-04-19T18:16:00.004+12:00

Had a very busy weekend - had a jumping lesson with Jaime on Saturday then went to Greenhithe Show X day on Sunday. We are both pretty tired today!

Lesson with Jaime was good. We warmed up over trot poles making sure I kept him straight etc. Then just did a small x on a 20m circle and again correcting him when he started to drift.

I was pleased that Jaime saw a big difference from last week as we have been working really hard to get this habit knocked on the head so very happy with that.

We then did loads of grid work with me trying to keep my upper body super still. That was quite hard for me but the difference once I really concentrated was amazing. One thing I can say are my legs are HEAPS better. Yay.

Once we got the grid sussed we then worked on our canter down to an oxer. Pretty proud to say we got the right spot every time :) Super super happy with that.

No photos from the lesson as it was videoed for me to see the difference in my riding etc.

So off to Greenhithe we went on Sunday. I entered the 85cm and was thinking of doing the 95 if things went well.

When they were setting up the double they could not figure out the striding at all so I got myself into a complete tizz about it - it was either going to be a hugely long one or a short two so I thought I would go for the short two.

Did the first three jumps nicely and then came round to the double. I just didn't ride him & dropped him into it so he stopped. He came round the second time & did it nicely but the striding was way off so the second jump was not pretty. Then did the last & went out onto the XC course.

He absolutely stormed round that - I was a bit worried about the last fence as it was rather ugly but we got the right spot & he flew over it. Yay! Back into the SJ ring and we dropped the rail on the first fence.

Although we had a stop I was very happy with him as I know why it happened. I honestly believe that if the striding had been right I would have had no issues with it at all.

I decided to try the Training class. Our warm up was very unusual as he felt SO tired. I guess three lessons in 7 days has taken it out of him. First three jumps were fine - I came round to the double, he stopped and I just went past it then. I was not feeling confident enough and it was all just training to me & I don't care that we eliminated ourselves at all!

So the first xc jump was nice but Cobs was too busy paying attention to something far more interesting so did a hideous jump over that. I cantered past the second fence as it was HUGE & went to do the sunken road. Jumped in nicely, out great, lovely forward canter to do the jump out and then WHACK. He flew straight into the jump & I fell off and landed on my feet! I have no idea what happened - we have photos of us coming out of the sunken road & everything looked good? Who knows.

Anyway I jumped back on, went round and did the pre-training sunken road and then galloped over a little intro jump just to get our rhythm back. The last jump scared the beejesus out of me but I thought what the hell, already fallen off LOL! He absolutely FLEW it - I was so stoked with him!! I then stopped as I thought that was the best note to finish on. Definitely the biggest jump we have done XC and he did it absolutely super!

So yeah - mixed day. I have to remember that it was our first XC since December/January and not to loose too much confidence over things. I am gutted that I let myself get psyched out about the double but its too late now to do anything about it! I am pretty proud of myself for even giving Training a go. Although we only did a few jumps its still a start.

85 round

Training Round

Lesson with Liz 15th April

2010-04-16T19:50:00.004+12:00

I booked a lesson in with Liz to see if we could possibly try to work on my straightness issues before I have another lesson with Jaime.

I have been doing a lot of work with him this week so I really hope there is a difference this weekend when we jump again.

Lesson with Liz was fantastic - started off on the lunge etc again to see what I was doing & the effect it had etc. Then once the lunge came off we did LOADS of squares in every pace. By the end of it we were doing pretty well. My left shoulder is the main issue - I keep bringing it forward which twists everything else out of place.

I am getting rather frustrated that I know what I am doing wrong & how to fix it however I need someone constantly reminding me to change it. GRRR. Fingers crossed it will become a GOOD habit soon and we can actually move onto other things LOL

Cobs was a freakin star tonight - first lesson with spurs and he was great with him. He was so tolerant of me changing things the whole lesson. Couldn't have asked for more from him.

Not many photos as my camera has died (sob).

Lesson with Jaime

2010-04-11T09:27:00.003+12:00

Went up to Jaimes for our first lesson with her since January. Cobs was actually pretty damn good so stoked with him.

Unfortunately all our bad habits have come back to play. Cobs has this hideous habit of when he is mid-air he veers left. I feel I am taking off in the middle of the jump however every time we land we are landing left.

As my left side is painted on I guess I am just not strong enough to catch this and fix it. This is why we have so many issues in combinations as he isn't straight and then our striding is wrong for the second part of the element.

We worked on that HEAPS and eventually got it. Although once I got that sorted my canter had gone backwards again as I was concentrating too much on getting things straight. Sometimes having a lesson makes you feel like you don't know a bloody thing!

Jaime hopped on and worked Cobs for me to see if it was me causing the left side issue - unfortunately this was confirmed LOL! She also jumped him and was surprised at how quickly he went from being straight to diving left. She worked him through it though and has given me heaps of exercises to try and get this issue sorted out.

I love watching people ride him - he went so nicely for her. Now I know he can go like that WATCH OUT COBS LOL!!

Woodhill Sands Dressage 4th April

2010-04-05T13:25:00.004+12:00

Finally I found a competion to do! Unfortunately I have only ridden twice this week as have been struck down with a hideous stomach bug so we were not prepared but I was determined to give it a go.

We did tests 2.1 & 2.3 so nothing too hard in them.

Cobs was SO unsettled in the warm up - took a while to work through & eventually kind of relaxed. Our tests were always going to be tense & the first one was no prize winning test!

He leapt around and shied at things etc - normal bring back into work, haven't been out for ages crap. I made a course error as well which didn't help our dismal % but never mind!

The second test was a little better - I was pretty exhausted by the end of it though so I didn't have the strength to push him on when he needed it.

Its his first dressage test since middle of December so with that in mind & the fact we couldn't do anywhere near the amount of preperation I normally like he did quite well. I knew he was going to be a bit of an egg to take out again - maybe not as bad as he was but it was expected. Overall I am happy and thats all that matters :)

Lesson with Liz 27th March

2010-04-02T17:54:00.004+13:00

Off to see Liz which was awesome - I can't wait to get into a routine of fortnightly lessons with her as we improve so much with her help.

Cobs was pretty good though - we haven't really gone backwards after our break so that was a relief. My position has gone to the pack which is pretty normal - decided I am going to buy a new dressage saddle and that will fix all my problems (tui advert anyone??!!)

I have entered the next Woodhill Dressage day so we just did some movements out of the tests. Our canter is pretty hairy so not sure how we will fudge the tests but we have to start somewhere again.

Cobs tried hard but got a bit pissy with having to do some proper work so threw a few tricks in (see photo below) - normal stuff for him but doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Unfortunately I have been sick since this lesson and our dressage is in two days - not sure if I will manage both tests but we will go down there & give it a go. Bad timing!

Jumping at Raider

2010-03-21T19:03:00.005+13:00

Due to my dismal start back jumping I asked my friend Michelle if she had time to come & give me a lesson at Raider Lodge today. She agreed and off we went!

Michelle started with place poles & a small cross - Cobs got a bit excited to start off with but settled in really well so the jumps went up quickly. I was surprised at how quickly I felt back to normal so that was great - has made me feel a lot happier about things now so was well worth doing.

By the end of the ride we were trotting into 1m oxer and cantering off & doing a course. Was great & I am so grateful for Michelle coming down to give us a hand. Thanks!!

Wainui Practice XC

2010-03-18T17:48:00.003+13:00

Cobs has been back in work a few weeks - he has been pretty full of himself as we have NO grass so its getting huge feeds twice a day so that energy has to go somewhere!

In the two months its been since I jumped I have lost some confidence - intro jumps now look huge! When I saw Wainui advertising their practice night thought it would be a good idea to take him out & see how things went.

I was a bit concerned at how he would be going out again but he was absolutely fine. So thats a relief!!

Jumping.....well he is pretty excited to be doing it again and I am a nana again so that combination never bodes well! However we did do a few good jumps but on a whole it was pretty damn messy. I want to really concentrate & do a lot of jumping over the next few weeks to try and get us back even to half way where we were before I turned him out.

Unfortunately we still have not had any rain so the ground is absolutely no better than it was two months ago which sucks. Never mind - he seems to be coping fine with it so will just play it by ear. It has to rain soon right??

Dressage Lesson with Liz 11th February

2010-02-12T19:35:00.004+13:00

Although Cobs is meant to be turned out due to the hard ground I decided to have a lesson with a top dressage instructor last weekend....what a total disaster that turned out to be.

Too much pressure got put on Cobs and he just didn't cope with it. At all. By the end of the lesson he was just stopping in the arena and wouldn't move. Was SO upsetting & I was worried that all the hard work I have put into him would have gone out the window so I organised to have a lesson with Liz so we could work through any issues if they arose.

To say I was a bit apprehensive would probably be an understatement however I shouldn't have worried. Cobs was a really good boy. Could definitely tell that we hadn't had a lesson for six weeks but he tried really hard.

He got a bit tense however once he figured out that things were just normal he relaxed again so super happy with him. My riding on the other hand.....lets just say legs were the word of the day LOL!

Cobs is now on a holiday until the ground softens up. Will aim to do the winter stuff with him again like last year to keep him going.

Lesson with Jaime

2010-01-13T15:04:00.011+13:00

Had the day off work today to take Cobs to the dentist so managed to fit in a lesson with Jaime.

Todays lesson was good but man I rode like a muppet. About half way through the lesson things just went totally wrong & I kept stuffing up so had to stop and regroup. Just over thinking things AGAIN (for something different to do...not).

Cobs tried really hard and when I rode him properly he was great. He was a little bit behind the leg today so I needed to ride him the last few strides before the jump - you know the habit I have been trying to get myself out of! I give up LOL!

But it was a reminder to me that I have to ride him differently depending on what mood he is in - not every ride is going to be the same & I have to adjust to that. Just when you think things are going better things just remind you that actually they aren't!

We did quite a few courses which is what I need to practice on so that was good. Also did a bounce everytime which I didn't freak out at so thats got to be a good thing!

We managed to get our strides right in a four stride line - Jaime told me when we had done it once that it was good that I managed to get the striding right as it was a really long four for him which he normally struggles with so at least something good came out of the lesson LOL!

SJ at Woodhill Sands

2010-01-10T16:53:00.011+13:00

Woodhill had on one of their low key casual SJ/SH days so Jo & I organised to meet up for the day and have some fun!

I entered the 80 & 90. Need to do 90 as often as I can now.

Cobs was rather full of himself in the 80.....leaping round after the jumps which he hasn't done for the longest time & generally just being an egg LOL. He was going super until jump 7 where we had to go past the judges box....well he got sight of them & leapt sideways so then we missed our line for jump 7. Circled & represented and he was great. Did our first triple line too - four strides to a two stride. We nailed this both times we did it so I guess we got our canter right. YAY!! I am guessing thats why he was a bit pissy after the fences as he was out of his comfort canter LOL!

90 looked pretty big but was looking forward to giving it a go. Came round to the first fence and a wind tunnel full of leaves came shooting towards us so Cobs leapt sideways - can't say I blame him LOL! We had to circle and represent and then we took the rail which was sucks! The rest of the round was great - I froze to a few fences but on a whole was stoked with him. Again he tried really hard so can't complain!

Not sure what was wrong with the last fence of the course but both times he leapt over it LOL!

80cm round

90cm round

Dressage Lesson with Liz 6th January

2010-01-09T08:23:00.010+13:00

Had a great lesson with Liz - a real pony club lesson. On the lunge with no hands or stirrups LOL!

It was a lesson where we really focused on what I was doing and how I was making him go. Was very interesting to see that as soon as I got on the lunge with no stirrups how my legs just hung in the right position however when I am riding they keep going backwards.

So lots to work on like normal - I could hardly walk afterwards I was so sore but man I actually really enjoyed it. Cobs was awesome - first time we have lunged him with me on him and he slowed his trot right down so I could do my stretches etc without falling off him.

Will try to do this once a week and see if it helps me out at all - I really want to get rid of these bad habits. As it is on our right rein because I draw my inside hand in so much he is compensating by swinging his quarters in which is now unfortunately a habit of his and is very hard work to get straight.

Never mind - that will be our aim for the rest of the season before he is turned out for a VERY well deserved break!

XC Lesson at Coatesville

2010-01-03T16:41:00.012+13:00

I organised a lesson with Karley today & Vanessa VS came as well - man what fun we had!!

Started off doing some SJ with bounces, corners etc and then Karley made a SJ look like a trakenher & a pallisade so that was great practice.

When we went over to start the XC we warmed up over some nice roll tops and then a roll top onto a narrow fence. We started off doing the pre-training height fences but after a few times I felt confident enough to do the training ones. Cobs jumped great over these fences - was good to finally do some XC jumps at training height as we haven't done many before.

Then went & practiced a corner which was also good as the only times I have done them in XC is at a comp. Cobs did that really well & we got our line each time.

We then went & did a small pipe, cantered round to a log down hill and then up some banks. Was surprised at how well Cobs did this actually as he doesn't jump up banks very well but he did this combination quite nicely.

Went down to the water jump next which had no water in it so just practiced jumping in/out etc.

Then went down to the ditch....this ditch is yuck. Downhill, in the dark, not a very good line to it. Yuck. Cobs didn't want a bar of it at first but went over about the third attempt - by over it I mean he sproinged and landed on the other side on all four feet LOL! We decided to do it again and he just didn't want to go over it at all! Snot. Eventually he did it and we left it at that. Totally my fault as he did such a horrible jump over it the first time I think I just got a bit worried and by then it was an issue so we had to just get over it. Blurgh.

Then went onto some logs on a related line - we did the training ones of them too so that was good.

Off to the trakenher....I hate these jumps. Always have. I stopped riding the first time we came into it so Cobs stopped....funny that. Then I got my game face on and he did it really, really well after that. Was super happy with him. Didn't try the training one as it was u.g.l.y. I finished after that as Cobs was stuffed & the ground is so damn hard.

Super happy with him - its great that training doesn't terrify me as much as it did but I will leave him in pre-training for the rest of the season.

Waimauku SJ

2009-12-28T17:15:00.025+13:00

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:

Twilight Dressage 17th December

2009-12-19T07:44:00.010+13:00

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

2009-12-19T07:40:00.002+13:00

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!

Lessons Update

2009-12-13T10:46:00.012+13:00

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 :)

Kumeu 2 Day Event

2009-11-22T16:27:00.015+13:00

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

2009-11-15T14:11:00.016+13:00

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

2009-11-08T20:56:00.012+13:00

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

2009-11-01T16:07:00.013+13:00

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

2009-11-01T15:54:00.006+13:00

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 :)

Huapai Practice XC Day

2009-10-26T16:13:00.009+13:00

Took Cobs down to Huapai today for a practice XC day - however by the time I got there the sheep had been let through to the paddock that had the most jumps in and the take off/landing on all jumps was pretty much trashed.

We went and had a play in the water which was fun & a total breeze for him which is good. Did a few XC jumps however my position leaves a lot to be desired so they were all deleted!

Cobs was a pain in the arse to warm up again so really not sure what is going on. He is normally quite tense but he is just acting like he is really, really unhappy and then give him half an hour and he is fine. Not really sure what to do about it apart from taking him out everywhere to see if he gets better. If it continues I will get the vet out to take bloods or something as its just weird.

Few photos from today:

Woodhill Sands Show Hunter

2009-10-25T17:11:00.013+13:00

Woodhill had a nice casual Show Hunter day on today so I organised a day out with Jo and her young pony Isis - was great as hardly see Jo now she does lots of SJ :)

Day started badly - for whatever reason Cobs got completely beside himself and just wouldn't settle. Tried to work him through it but kept spooking so I just flagged warming up & went into the warm up jumping ring. He wouldn't go into canter and was generally just being a shit.

I jumped him a few times and he wasn't happy so came out the ring & undid my girth & moved my saddle a bit - went back into the warm up ring & he was fine. ??? Strange.

I did a 70 round just to see if he would get over himself - he jumped well but leapt round everywhere in between LOL! His 80 round was better and his 85 was even better however I stuffed up the 2nd to last fence so he got really deep and pissy. Gutted as it was such a nice ride up until that jump.

He jumped well so happy with that. Who knows what was going on before that - don't want a repeat of it anytime soon thanks!

70cm round:

80cm round:

85cm round:

Twilight Dressage 22nd October

2009-10-23T20:46:00.011+13:00

Every year Woodhill Sands have a twlight dressage series which is AWESOME for putting all the practice into place and also getting us out every few weeks.

Last night was the first one in the series so I asked Liz to come down & warm us up. It was good as we did lots of transitions etc where as when I warm up by myself I tend to niggle and make things a whole lot worse than they need to be. We went through a few movements of the tests we had to do which was good also. Unfortunately Cobs is a little smart so soon cottoned onto some of the movements so tried to do them in the tests. Brat!

Our first test was 2.3 which was the harder of the two tests we had to do. Not a great test! He was really spooky and didn't listen throughout most of the test. When he was listening he got really good marks so that is encouraging.

Our second test was 2.1 & he was much more settled thank god! Still had a few spooks but no-where near as bad as the first one. He kind of gave up in it though and a few movements that we normally get really good marks in we didn't which irritated me. But I couldn't get after him like I normally would as he was in a rather explosive mood so who knows what would have happened!

We ended up placing 1st & 1st= in the tests - however the number of people in them was three & two so the placings don't really count!

I was happy with him for our first dressage outing in a few months. Was great to be out there doing it again. Liz stayed behind to watch the tests so now we all know what we have to work on next lesson!!

Warming Up:

Tests:

Jumping Lesson

2009-10-11T20:26:00.007+13:00

First jumping lesson in over a month - he wasn't as bad as I expected actually!

We warmed up over some canter poles adjusting our strides which was a great exercise - we actually nailed that pretty quickly so that was good.

As he was fresh we started with a small cross on a canter circle and just bored him to tears basically until he stopped trying to be a brat after the fence. That took some time LOL! I think in the end tiredness won :)

We then went on and did a few courses getting me to concentrate on just having one canter - I tend to gun him the last few strides which then gets him all rarked up when we land. So that was good. Where I thought we had horrible spots he actually jumped really nicely so just have to sit there & let it happen (yes I know, continuing theme). Also he is jumping & landing left so I have to really make sure I keep him more to the right than normal.

We then did a two stride double with a filler for the second jump - Cobs decided he didn't much like that jump so ducked out to the left (like normal). So Mr Whippy came out for a visit - needless to say I think he may think again about the whole left running out option :) It was what he needed and I was happy that it happened with Jaime there so I know how to ride him into fences I think he will back off from.

We didn't really do much as the both of us are terribly unfit - the weather has been crap and we haven't been able to ride at the showgrounds for various reasons. Fingers crossed the weather is on the improve so we can get back into the swing of things.

This horrible jump is the result of me gunning him at it :

Dressage Lessons 8th October

2009-10-10T12:17:00.025+13:00

Todays lesson was HARD! Was great though - three days later I am writing this & I am still sore!

Did heaps & heaps of canter today which is just what we needed to do. Got our transitions up & down pretty damn good. Practiced medium canter and giving the reins over X which we have to do in the Novice tests. Did lots of counter canter etc. All in all was great canter work! He was a bit dead on the left rein but think thats because my leg is flapping in the breeze so he just takes the mickey!

Then we did lots of sitting trot - my abs ache! I used to do only sitting trot back in the days so was really good to practice it again. Cobs has a habit of sucking back when I go into sitting so we just did loads of work at keeping him forward etc.

Pretty basic stuff but I am stoked with him. He tried so hard - all I ask for!

Dressage Lesson 1st October

2009-10-02T13:25:00.000+13:00

Back up to see Liz today - unfortunately I have only ridden once since my last lesson so Cobs was rather fresh....didn't help with the wind blowing us over LOL!

Today we did HEAPS of transitions - mainly halt/trot/halt to try and stop him from stepping back to square himself up. He got it a few times so that was great.

We worked mainly in the trot today doing shoulder ins, leg yields, sitting trot, 5 metre circles in each corner, medium trot across the short diagonal then back into a 5 metre circle in the corner. Was really good just to keep his mind active & me thinking ahead.

We didn't do any canter work - there wasn't much point as he was quite spooky & we had more than enough to work on etc.

I really enjoyed todays lesson - although we had a few spooks here & there on a whole he worked pretty damn well considering we still haven't practiced anything.

Hope to catch up with Liz again before the twilight dressage comps in the middle of October.

Dressage Lesson

2009-09-27T20:49:00.007+13:00

First dressage lesson in six weeks....and didn't it show!!

Jesus I am getting so angry at myself that I just can't seem to make improvements with my heels, stop blocking with my left shoulder and actually sitting straight on my horse! Grr!! But luckily I have a few lessons booked so fingers crossed we start to make progress.

Cobs was great today - have hardly ridden since last week and had a horror ride on Tuesday so thought he might be a bit of a brat but he wasn't thank goodness.

We started back to basics and did a lot of transitions etc - getting me to think about things and prepare better. Was good to do all of it again as when the showgrounds eventually become dry enough to ride on I will remember what we need to work on.

Our canter was a bit hairy today. As I have said before with us its always the first thing to go pear shaped so was to be expected.

We did some medium trots and some leg yielding but by then Cobs was abit over the whole thing so started to look for things to spook at. As soon as we got some more nice work we left it at that as he tried really hard & on a whole was great.

So what to work on.....lots of squares, transitions, faster responses from the both of us....and me riding properly!

Liz showed me a great way to stop him from leaning on me and it worked really well so can't wait to practice that a bit more :)

Photos from Woodhill Sands Mini ODE Sept - from Marie Richards

2009-09-21T20:37:00.006+12:00

Lesson with Shelley at Woodhill Sands

2009-09-16T16:20:00.008+12:00

I discovered Shelley was having a x-country lesson at Woodhill yesterday so quickly organised to have the day off with work and went down today.

Was a good outing for Cobs - I didn't get as much out of it as I hoped but every bit of help is beneficial for the two of us.

He jumped well today - was a bit hard with all the stopping then going again as there were four of us in the group but he coped pretty well. Concentrated on my position and straightness coming into & over the jump so that was good.

I went more for the XC as we haven't had a practice run at it since Greenhithe in January. He was pretty good. Started with some logs then a log onto a training log which managed to get me flustered and in turn Cobs started to get flustered! Once Shelley started to yell at me we got together okay - did it a few times & unfortunately didn't do it as nicely as I would have liked but you get that! We still did it.

Then we went off to the water and had a play round with jumping in & out. I rode like a nana with my reins long after dropping in so Cobs ducked out to the side....always my riding that causes the issues (or lack of riding as this case was!). However once I rode it like I meant it he was great.

He coped marvellously well working round the horses with them jumping around him so that was fantastic. Shame its still an issue for him - however I am sure we will work through that this season.

Not sure of when our next event is - don't think its till November so thats aaagggeeesss away :(

Very messy log jump - but its training height LOL!

Final Results for Winter Dressage Series

2009-09-06T18:19:00.002+12:00

We finally got the results for the Woodhill Sands Winter Dressage Series & we got third overall in the Novice Level Accumulator :)

We got a lovely rosette & two ground vouchers which will come in handy.

Cobs with his rosette as we don't get them very often LOL!

Woodhill Sands Mini ODE Pre-Training

2009-09-06T17:33:00.009+12:00

Well it was fair to say that I was EXTREMELY anxious about today after my lesson yesterday...thanks to everyone who rang & sent lovely supportive texts encouraging me to get the hell on with it!

We had a good warm up for our test - there was hardly anyone down there which suits Cobs down to the ground so he was far more settled than he has been down there for a while.

I was stoked with his test - we lost our forward button a few times but on a whole he did pretty well. Kept his head together the whole time and listened. Came out beaming as it felt like I had the old Cobs back :)

Then rushed back to the float to get changed for the jumping - as it was a Mini ODE we did a round of SJ's and then picked 10 x-country fences you wanted to do. I walked it and rode it differently to most as I wanted to practice jumping down into the water rather than just trotting through it.

Our SJ was okay - one run out at a jump I thought he would spook at so just sat there like a nana.....we will get there one day LOL! He also dropped a rail on a jump I thought we got a good spot at so not sure what happened there. Was happy with him though as it felt like we both knew our job and I felt confident so slowly making steps forward!

He was great XC. We had one miscommunication where I thought we should go long but he tried to chip in & then ducked out to the side. Stormed round the rest of it though & dropped into the water nicely so was wrapt with him!

Then we looked at our scores and we won the dressage and won overall. YAY!!!

What a great day out we had. He will now be turned out for a few weeks as I think we both need some time to just sit back & relax :)

Jumping Lesson

2009-09-05T18:13:00.007+12:00

Went up to Jaimes today to try & sort out what went wrong last weekend....well that was simple....I need to stop mucking around with my horse & hey presto he goes better.

Was a great lesson but I am feeling a little frustrated truth be told. Totally at myself as I just don't seem to get it. I KNOW he goes better when I just leave him alone yet I can't help myself and then wonder why things go wrong.

So today Jaime made me go over a line of two jumps and look at something else so then I couldn't muck round with him. Was a very good exercise to do albeit rather scary! I can see her reasonings behind it though so will have to work on it.

He jumped okay - few hairy moments like me getting totally in front of the movement and he did two HUGE bucks afterwards.....not sure how I stayed on. All I remember thinking was I am going to fast and it will hurt too much so don't fall off.

So yes so many things to work on......really feel like I am letting us both down. Thank goodness the season hasn't started yet so hopefully I can gain some confidence again.

Jaime set up a scary jump for us - he stopped at it the first time as low & behold I was riding like a nancy but once I actually rode him into he he did fine.

Thats it for lessons for a while as the SJ season has started so Jaime is off doing her thing...hope we don't go too far backwards!

Practicing looking away from the jump:

Jaimes Fundraising Show

2009-08-29T16:40:00.008+12:00

Jaime has been chosen to represent NZ in Aussie so she ran a SJ show for her clients & friends to help fundraise.

I walked the 70 and came to the conclusion that it was too small so just entered the 80cm.

It started off well - got my canter all sorted however he backed off number three which was a white wall thing - I then pulled him off to represent but he thought we were still going for it so it got a little messy LOL! Then we did the part A of the double quite awkwardly so decided to pull him out & do it again properly. Next time we did it okay.

Decided to do the 90 - did the first five jumps however the double terrified me so I pulled out before then. He jumped so well though and 90 didn't seem as huge as it has done previously so thats saying something!!

So was happy with that - doing today highlighted some things I still need to work on so looking forward to my jumping lesson next weekend to iron them out.

80cm round

90cm round

Jumping Lesson

2009-08-22T17:19:00.010+12:00

Such a gorgeous day to ride today - just stunning!

Today was a mixed bag - started off great, went pear shaped in the middle & ended well. Guess thats the main thing!

We did a lot of work to try and get him using his back properly - I can't wait for it to get dry enough to do some stuff at home with raised poles etc. We started off doing slow/big trots & canters which was great as I haven't practiced them much recently.

Then onto raised trot poles again then cantering after them and doing a tight roll back to a vertical. I stuffed this up numerous times but once I started to turn earlier we were away laughing. Then went onto some courses etc.

I can get the right canter pretty much straight away now so happy with that. We did a lot of work on me seeing my strides (you know fairly basic stuff LOL!) and I am confident that most of the time I can get it and then ride appropriately.

Cobs started to tank off today between jumps which doesn't impress me at all. I don't like tanky horses and he doesn't normally do it. Whether its just a new trick out the book who knows but it can bugger off :)

I am feeling more & more confident jumping higher now. Definitely don't freak out like I used too when I turn the corner and Jaimes has snuck it up!!

So all in all a great lesson - throughly enjoyed it and came away thinking we are actually improving.

Dressage Lesson

2009-08-16T15:19:00.010+12:00

Managed to fit a lesson in with Liz on Saturday. Was meant to have gone to a fundraising SJ show however it got cancelled due to the weather.

Todays lesson was good. I am SO unfit though. Seriously can't wait to be able to ride for longer at night.

Cobs went well - tried hard at everything we asked. Mum videoed the lesson for me - it felt better than it looked. Hate that :( His trot just looks a little rushed to me. I will watch it again and try and get some photos off it as well.

Did lots of transitions, lateral and trot work today. Just gutted it didn't look as fabulous as it felt!

Some photos - not the best quality due to it being from the video camera:

Jumping Lesson

2009-08-08T17:16:00.014+12:00

Didn't expect much from this lesson.....had a very bad ride on him yesterday. Very bad.

However up we went to Jaimes and he was overall pretty good. Few spooky moments (someone cutting trees down is scary apparently) and one huge buck when he took a flyer at an oxer.

Started off with trot poles then raised them up to get him working over his back etc. Works really well with him....when he got the gist of it (see photo below!).

Then did some courses etc. Was really interesting as the first time I didn't have our canter quite right and it showed then every other time we got the spots perfect etc. Was stoked. Not sure what is going on with my elbows today.....something to keep an eye on next time! He refused at the liverpool which was surprising as he hardly ever stops - then proceeded to boing over it next time!

So yes very pleased with him. Still not as settled as he should be but daylight savings isn't far away so lets hope the weather stays as stunning as it has been lately so I can get some decent riding in!

How to not do trot poles :)

Finally figured it out!

Horse eating Liverpool

Dressage Lesson

2009-08-01T14:30:00.011+12:00

First dressage lesson in a month & to be honest I didn't have high hopes. He has been so full of himself so have been going down to the track a few times a week just to trot/canter him out to try and get rid of some of the excess energy he seems to have at the moment!

He was a superstar today :) Tried so hard and was so good. No schooling for ages and we pretty much picked up where we left off.

We did lots of circles, serpentines, changes of reins etc to get him listening and just basically worked on getting everything right. He had a super trot today - really full of life and going forward nicely.

Our canter wasn't that great but its always the first thing to disappear with him. We ended up getting some nice work though although at the end of the lesson we were both stuffed!! Amazing how quickly you lose your fitness only riding 20 minutes at a time a few times a week.

Hope to go back in a fortnight just to keep working on what we have got. I have got no comps coming up for the foreseeable future as we have done so much in the last few months. Be good just to take a step back from the whole thing.

Jumping Lesson

2009-07-26T19:55:00.006+12:00

Went up to Jaimes yesterday for a jumping lesson....got what I expected which was us not going well LOL!

He is just so hyped up at the moment with the amount of feed he is getting & lack of work so everything has gone out the window. It was good to work through it though with Jaimes help as I need to know what to do etc.

We just didn't really get it together - I was riding defensively and he ended up jumping like that as well so wasn't good!

However we did end up working through it & by the end we were doing okay. We are both so unfit though :( Today I took him to the forest for a two hour ride - hope to do that most weekends to just keep him going & giving him some variety.

Photos from Woodhill Dressage Day 4

2009-07-25T20:51:00.008+12:00

Lovely photos from Marie Richards Photography of the last day at the Winter Dressage Series :)

Jumping Lesson on 8th July

2009-07-11T08:30:00.002+12:00

Went up to Jamies for a jumping lesson - was a few weeks since we have had one & funnily enough I was a bit nervous....dumb!

Lesson was great - we really worked on him jumping straight and no more superman jumping. So what is happening is we are starting off the jump in the middle but he is veering to the left over the fence. Then he is getting in a bit deep and is throwing his legs out in front of him to get over the jump etc. Basically not using himself properly.

So we worked on me lots to try and stop him from jumping left - my left side is painted on (thanks Tracey for that analogy - is fabulous!). So when I am coming into the fence I have to counter flex him so that I am riding properly which in turn makes him jump better.

I SO WISH I COULD RIDE.

Then Cobs got all unsettled as there were lots of horses warming up for a clinic in the arena beside us. Jamie showed me what she would do when this happens and after about three attempts it finally worked & we got some more great work out the both of us.

I don't really know how to describe the lesson - I got so much out of it yet nothing significant happened. I guess there were a few lightbulb moments for me and thats why I feel like I got so much out of it. We didn't jump high - we know he can do more than what I am going to compete at so now its time to just sort me out and then I think we will be absolutely sweet.

Was going to do the SJ this weekend at Woodhill however Cobs has pulled a shoe and the weather forecast looks horrific so a quiet weekend at home for us.

Woodhill Sands Winter Dressage Series Day 4

2009-07-05T20:32:00.005+12:00

Off to Woodhill today for the final day of the dressage series....have enjoyed it but must say I am glad that its over :)

Cobs was very unsettled today. Didn't get a great warm up as two people in front of me hadn't turned up so we went early. Not sure that would have made any difference though LOL!

We did 2.2 first. We got an 7 & 8 for our leg yielding YAHOO!! So happy with that. The test had moments of really nice work and then some crap stuff which was a shame. We had to halt at A for five seconds but he came into it all spooky so I circled and did the movement again. Meant we got a course error but I don't care. I wasn't happy with how he halted & wanted to correct it. As it was we got a 7 for that movement and I am positive we would have got a four for our first attempt so was well worth doing again. However we nailed the movement I was more concerned about so that is great.

We then did 2.6. Again moments of good work & some crap work. Our medium canters were great and our medium trot showed good progress too. His tension spoilt the overall look however if I look at how far we have come since the series started I can't really be disapointed.

I think we ended up fourth overall in the accumulator. Who would have thought! Never expected to even get placed but we got two seconds so I am very happy with him.

Mum & Dad were there so Mum videoed & Dad took some photos :)

Update

2009-07-04T12:10:00.003+12:00

Had another great lesson with Liz down at Woodhill on the 1st July. Worked on our leg yielding again (still suck at it!) and our walk to canters as these are in our next test. Looking forward to seeing how we go this weekend at the dressage - focusing on our trot still so be interesting to see what marks/comments we get.

Went down to Raider with a friend and practiced some canter serpentines etc....we are not going to ace this movement but at least I feel way more prepared than I did.

So we will hopefully have a full on July. Got things planned for the next three weekends all going well - provided I find a job to fund them :)