To tidy up our SJing I am having lessons with SJer Rosie Moss and last night was our 3rd lesson. Bit wise we took out his Happy Mouth Pelham and tried Soap in a KK Ultra Universal, which is a very pricey bit! I had brought along a whole selection of other bits but typically Soap went best in the expensive one! Even though he is fit and well muscled for fast work and finds XC a breeze he lacks the muscle to maintain an active canter and SJ for any length of time. To build up this muscle I…
We trecked off to Bovignton BE90 today, an event I have never done before. When we arrived I collected my number and took a quick glance at my section, lots of low 30’s dressage marks eeeke! I thought that’s either a generous judge or some stiff competition! Turns out it was the latter as despite what I thought was a nice 35 maybe 36 mark test we got 38 🙁 A little harsh I think, and some rather picky comments on my sheet for an intro, but hey ho… Sj warm up was horrid, hard and on a hill. We…
My brilliant farrier just came out and put Soap’s shoe back on. No abscess was found, and he is 100% sound so we have put it down to a little soreness from treading on a flint. So we are Bovington bound with just 4 days of prep prior to the event. I have a SJ lesson that was booked with Rosie Moss for tomorrow so that can now go ahead. I hope this little ‘hoof holiday’ won’t have done him any harm, so we are hoping for a dressage mark somewhere between our last 2 scores 37 and 31. I…
Typical! I plan an exciting weekend for Soap and I and he goes lame 🙁 He has a suspected abscess in his near fore. My farrier investigated for an abscess, corn or a bruise but couldn’t find anything except tenderness on the inside of the foot. We are treating it as an abscess and poulticing to see if that draws anything out, but there is a possibility that he is just a little sore after treading on some flints whilst out hacking. Poor old Soap now has 5 days on box rest before he can (fingers crossed) have a shoe…
I booked a lesson with local SJer Rosie Moss on Tuesday. I really wanted a pure SJer to give us their point of view on Soap, my competition warm-up and how I ride a course. We started off doing our normal warm up as we would at an event, and she watched. After a total of about about 25mins warm up I said that we would then usually jump the 3 warm up fences a max of twice each, and then that was it, she looked a bit surprised! She said it was all too relaxed and that I needed…
On Friday I dressage stewarded for Larkhill ODE. I thought it would be nice to give something back, and it was. I watched 30 or more BE90 tests so well and truely knew the test for my section on Sat and chatted to other lovely stewards, event organisers, and competitors, and was treated to an Easter egg for my troubles. After last weekends stilted and disappointing dressage I really focused on letting Soap go forwards and produce bigger bolder paces, and it worked despite him trying to stare at the XC start all the way through his test we got…
I took Soap to a little prelim test on Sunday I had intended it as Jack’s 1st outing but I think he needs a few more weeks schooling until he will be ready. We got placed 5th which was nice, but the test was really under par for Soap and I. I think I got too anxious in the warm up about being accurate at the detriment of his paces. I came away with a rosette but feeling disappointed in my riding. So not exactly brimming with self confidence on Monday I went to Catherston Stud to be a guinea…
Sologroom has kindly sponsored me with a sologroom 4 piece grooming kit, in return for pictures of the results. Soap’s rug has eaten a big hole in his mane so he wasn’t a contender, but Jack was certainly in need of a tidy up. The kit has a nifty clip on pouch so you can wear it all on your belt which cuts out all the getting on and off of buckets to pick up the right grooming tool. I used the rake to pull Jack’s tail, and the brush and comb to do his mane. It was my first…
I came over all Blue Peter this weekend and decided to make a SJ training paddock. I scrounged some fences, that were lying about unloved in the back car park, and cobbled together this little lot! Skinny with guide rails that doubles up as a corner, and the skinny can be made even trickier by taking the rails away and/or bringing it down to just one barrel! Double upright to spread, gate spread fence, and an upright planks. I also paced out a dressage arena and marked that out, it’s a little on the small side which should be an…
Mr Jack Fry is now ready to rock and roll he has had his shoes done, physio checked, and is now about to start his re-schooling. Yesterday I hacked him out for the first time, and he was a poppet. We walked out round the farm, and had a short trot on the way back and he felt great really bold and keen to be doing something again. I plan to take him to do a prelim dressage test in a few weeks to see how he adjusts to less exciting outings! Soap was given his 6 monthly once over…