Hi guys, looking back at this month I feel like I have achieved quite a lot with the horses. I always find that this time of year is great for a tidy up for the horses to get them ready for the busy show season and looking good for when their summer coats come in. Both Maisie and Dino have had their manes and tails trimmed and also had their feathers either removed or trimmed. I actually tinned Maisie’s feather out with my new thinning scissors for the first time to tidy her up for her working hunter final show (which I’ll talk about more later in this blog). In fact I even managed to give her first bath of the year thanks to this mild weather we’ve been having recently.
Training wise the horses have been absolutely amazing. Dino has been a little off the last few rides of this month so he is getting booked in with the physio to see if we can find the cause of this. Me and Maisie have been getting on really well as well, her flatwork is coming along nicely and starting to feel that she is working over her back a bit more which is good. Going forward into April I have decided to book myself onto some lessons, you’ll know if you’ve read my previous blogs that I am well over due a lesson!! I have a jumping lesson planned and need to find some flat/pole work lessons to book into.
24th of March: Working Hunter Final…
The working hunter series me and Maisie have been competing in over the winter came to an end. Its been a series I have enjoyed even though I’m not a fan of showing, I have enjoyed the challenge of doing something different. I had a bit of good feeling about this show as me and Maisie had been going really well at home but unfortunately we didn’t end on a good note.
Maisie was great in the warm up, a little strong at times and pulling but I quite like her like this as i know she ready for the round. We entered the ring and didn’t get the greatest start as it was quite hard to get a good line to the first jump but she done a nice jump otherwise. Clear up to fence four where we had a stop going into this strange line which was an upright landing going into the corner of the arena and then jumping out over an oxer. It was a really tight line and i have never ridden anything like it on a course myself never mind Maisie. She jumped out much better than going in which I didn’t expect. She then jumped the net two jumps clear before having another stop at the second last jump which was a horse shoe which she hadn’t seen before. I was a little disappointed with the round but on a positive we got over everything.
The second class was an absolute write off however. Even though it was over the exact same course Maisie had clearly decided she’d had enough. She jumped the first two jumps not too bad and then decided to stop suddenly at fence three which she didn’t even look at in the first class, fence four was also a problem again. Then we hd a stop at fence five, again this wasn’t an issue in the first class, I think she jumped the horse shoe fence without a problem but I can’t really remember. The final fence she didn’t stop but it also wasn’t our most stylish moment. Then onto the show which I think by this point we had both given up totally by this stage. She really wasn’t responsive in the upwards transitions so we done our best.
It was overall quite a disappointing day after a great week of preparation beforehand. I was most disappointed with myself as I feel I could have ridden a lot better and handled the round better when it started to go wrong. On a positive note we didn’t go home empty-handed as we received a petty finalist rosette for qualifying.
After being in a bit of a crap mood for the rest of that day and a few to follow I started to read the Diary of a Wimpy Eventer books that I was so lucky to win through one of Vic’s Instagram competitions. I find Vic truly inspiring any way as she always tells it how it is which I think really help others to realise its ok to have a crap day and help people to handle those days. Well it sure did for me. Reading the first part of the trilogy (I’m only about half way thorugh now) has really helped me especially with Maisie as I ca really related to some of the stuff Vic has written about. I really can’t wait to read the other two books after I finish this one! If you are or ever have struggled with confidence or just need a good kick-start these books are fantastic.
Thankfully we have got ourselves back on track after our litte show blip the other week. Its bee really nice to concentrte on Maisie whilst Dino is haing a break until he gets the physio out as I am feeling like we are getting somewhere. We had a technique jumping session at home on Sunday (31st of March), working over a bounce. This really helped her to get more confident over the jump, keep her going forward and stopped her from getting too deep or having to take a flyer, therefore building her confidence. It was brilliant to feel her really picking up her legs over the jump! I could also focus on following her movement and leaving her to figure out what to do once we met the first part of the bounce.
I’m now looking forward to the light nights and being able to get more jumping practice in at home with the weather slowly improving! Thank you all for reading, I’ll leave you all with some pictures with the horses taken over this month. Have a brilliant April everyone XX
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Jumping Dinosaurs 