Another Weekend Update

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

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

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

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

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

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.....

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.....