look what we can do.......

piccies

how clever is my horse!

banzai!

I have felt for a couple of months now, that my horse was a novice horse doing elem work. everything was nice and supple and easy, but lacking that bit of power and uphill balance.

tonight it felt like a elem horse and gave me a super ride. love my boy!

cant wait for 5yo classes next year!!!

Harry lesson today...

worked mainly on getting him to carry himself more uphill, so lots of quick transitions, encouraging him to take the hand forward and up as he pushed in to the upward transitions.

Harry very complimentary about how the medium trots are comming along and generally pleased with progress.

finished up working the leg yields, making sure he didnt dive out the outside shoulder, again Harry pleased with these so confident he should be ready for elem next year.

piccies here, but very blurred as camera not so good in the drizzle!

incidental passage....

despite feeling rough as hell witha suspected throat infection, and having the energy of a limp lettuce leaf, went out and rode the pony.
after working though the flexing exercises i did with andrew he felt a lot looser in the neck, like he was really reaching to the bit andnot holding himself in a frame.
then worked on medium trot on a half 20m circle, then collecting him up and going straight. the new looser neck meant he came back to me softer and quicker, and that i could push him on again straight away and not lose the quickness of the hind legs. got 3/4 steps of passage randomly!!! wont be chasing that, but good to know its in there.

canter work felt amaxing, much more over the back and through the neck, just worked on sharpening the transitions and going on and back without los straightness then gave up as i was pooped!

harry lesson wed afternoon, hope he sees an improvement.

training my butt off...

took star to meet uncle andrew on sunday.
he was very complimentary about how iv bought him along so far-he was pleased with how striaght he is, and that he is nearly equally supple to both reins, so a good start.

worked in trot and canter going down the 3/4 line medium-collected, really making him come back from one half halt and go from one touch of the leg. the go part is great, he just needs to learn to wait for me a bit more now.

did some circles flexing and spairalling out, making him softer and looser in the neck.

got sent away with the one and back, and canter leg yields as my homework, going back in 4 weeks as andrew said no point any sooner as he's only going to tell me to do what im already doing!

pics here

so, worked a bit on and back tonight, picked up a whip to help with keeping the activity through the half halt, just a soft tap to keep the hind leg quick.
rode the canter leg yield from 3/4 line to just off the track so he doesnt learn to run out his shoulder, and also did some give and re-takes during the leg yield so he doesnt balance on my hands.

finished off doing some sharp trot-canter transitions on a circle, making him really spring off the outside leg and not suck at it. after 3/4 really pissy explosions, he settle and started to jump off the leg.

clipped him last night so he is super bald and shiney again!!!

last show of 2009 and a red one at last!!!

N22 63.1% and 3rd
N38 64.5% and 1st

so no regional qualification chasing for us, not worth it as im not going to thrash him round for the next month to try and get 2 wins with the right score, no point-he's got nothing left to prove, may as well spend the £££ on training.

was such a good boy today, ignored the shit weather, flapping flags etc and just got on with the job, love him to bits!!!

sneaking in..

so once again iv been royally craptastic at updating this......

....Area Festival went really well, out of 42 we ended up 17th on 64.5%, and as he was the only 4yo in it, i think thats a great start! He wasnt bothered by the atmosphere, flowers, banners etc, just went in the ring and got on with it!

piccies are here

3 weeks later we have just returned from Vale View with a 68% and a 67.8% and a 2nd and 3rd place! That was with a few bobbles too (wankiest canter transition ever seen, and 2 uber goat halts, seriously what is with the crappola halts at shows?!), so a lot more to come.
If Hargate goes to plan next weekend, i might finish the season with a bash at E44 in nov at VV-whaddya all think? its basically a novice with a leg yield in it.....

todays pics will follow once they are up on photgraphers website.....

so sorry mr blog!!!!

im rubbish!
so.....in order of importance..........star has qualified for the are festivals.......and ed and i have a house!!!!

most important bit first:
on home turf at vale view, pony easily got his second sheet with a 6th in N25 on 64.8%. was also 4th in N30 on 60.8% but we can discount that as judge was a miserable old sod and out of about 30 people not one got a qual score and winner was only on 64% then 2nd on about 61% so total stingey old git. it felt comparable to his first test so im going to award myself a 64/65% lol!!!!

so off to patchetts we toddle on sunday. its going to be a sparrow fart start as need to do the warm up class.really looking forward to it. debating on whether to wear my topper?!

house: as of 3rd oct ed and i are renting a teeny tiny cottage just up the road from his parents and right next to their pub! so shall be broke forever, although ed bless him is paying most of everything, but now want to go house bling shopping!!!! will more than likely be at home a lot in the week as horses here and will be lonely being at home alone all the time.

just waved ken off until the spring, last clinic was a cracker-great weather and everyone chuffed with their lessons.
pony demonstrated his grumpy toad side a bit, got very pissed off with being told he cant do canter transitions crooked and sucked up, and started his bronc at the leg when sent forward act, so we had a few cowboy moments, but the actual canter and trot work was great and on sat particularly on sat the trot was really carrying himself.
played with the shouder fore a little more, its better on right rein than left and i need to be careful of mad left hand on left rein (as well as floppy shoulders).

off to egypt on hol on mon, cant wait :)

sneaking in with a show report...

sorry, iv been uber crap at updating this, so bloody busy as a demented bee chasing its own tail(if it had one).....

.....pony has been fabulous since i last blogged, trot is now starting to feel as good as the canter, contact is more stable and balance is much better.
have been concentrating on trying to keep the rhythm a little steadier but with the same sharpness off the leg, and have got some really good powerful work with him pushing up and out not just forward.
introduced some shoulder fore after the last 2 tests were judge said he needed to be more supple and also did the trotting to each corner then walk leg yielding really deep in to it and trotting out exercise, and now feel he is really stepping under and bending better round the corners and certainly this weekend i was able to ride deeper in to the corners and keep the same rhythm and also in the 10m circles keep the forwardness and rhythm better.

have pinged off a few changes again, usually the first one goes with an almighty buck and a squeak and then the next one is fine, he's such a good boy though, will go from changes to counter canter with never a thought of anticipating or changing before he's asked,such a clever pony :)

so..show....warm up was rank as new surface has only been down 3 days!!! its turfloat ( i think) and will be fab when settled but is currently like porridge. most people were sticking to the edge so that was marginally less gluey, so thats what i did too. did one leg yield each way and one medium each way but really only did about 50% of my normal warm up as was thinking of his legs and at only 4yo theres always another day.

had been very fresh and naughty to hack on saturday-leaping and broncing when asked to go out of a walk and generally being quite wild.....and he was still OTT and fresh in his first test, containing himself until the canter when he let rip and bucked and farted his way through the entire right canter section!!! the walk didnt really happened either-jogged and was very tense, but im not so worried about that, id rather he was keen to get going than grinding to a halt.

second test was much more settled and being busier (N37) also suited him better than easy N22 as it keeps him thinking.
walk was better but still not as nice as it can be and the halts were awful-Harry we need more help on this!!!!! but everything else was on the aids and felt lovely.....very pleased with 65% and just beaten in to 2nd place. so 3 points for baby pony and a huge £13 for me!!!!

have ummed and ahhed and think ill got to Vale view in 2 weeks to see if i can get another area festival sheet and then Patchetts area festival if i do.I really dont want to pressure him, but then im quite good at riding area festivals/regionals etc like "just another test" as Rubi taught me well that theres no point building it up!!!!will then take a break from competing and try and tidy up the walk and halts and get more power in to the trot and canter, and do some shows at VV at end oct/nov as much closer to home.

pony is having a couple of days chilling in the field now.

have just clipped fuzzy bruce, so he is now bald as a coot and have turned it out in a fleece and lightweight-you will NOT grow any hair back for at least a month you hairy sod!!!!!

show pics here

show report...

much mad grinning here.
warm up was no where near as hairy as i thought it would be, he felt far more settled from the off and we only had 2 dramatic episodes of belly showing and a few gawpy grinding to a halts!
when he got going my god did he move! gave me some amazing work, so uphill and off the floor, felt fantastic.
unfortunately he did drop off the leg and contact rather in N25 and hence the overall effect was a bit stuffy and not that forward, however in terms of confidence and lack of gawping it was comparable to his last test at college so nice to feel that he picked up where he left off and hadnt regressed for not having been out recently.
second warm up was absolutely fine, really chilled, and second test he stayed up to my hand and off the leg the whole time except comming out of the rein back (bit predictable really, he kind of shuffled off instead of stepping off) but other than that it felt lovely and if im honest im bloody pissed off with 59.8% as it truly felt more like a 62/63% to me.hurrumph.

however if he comes out in 2 weeks and again picks up where he left off ill be chuffed to bits and he made a huge improvement between the 2 tests so really lots of positives in today.

HP was on trucking duty and was pleased with our efforts, and as star would only accept his grapes from him, now thinks they are best buddies and share some special grape eating bond!!!mad.

really annoyed that horsense didnt have my noseband in stock and that my schumacher belt hasnt arrived yet,grrrrr, but we should be properly dressed by our next outing!!!!

mucho excited about next show :)

piccies

i do love my pony!!!

Left the floor!!!

Because he was so good last night, i decided to do something different tonight, so pulled out the jumps.....

....huge huge improvement from last time, really trying to clear them. came in trot to give him more time to organise his legs and tried to keep my shoulders back and legs forward but my god its hard in a dressage saddle!

anyway, piccies here.

once we've cracked comming in canter will go and jump a few tiny xc jumps with lili and kev.

yay!

we are SO getting these canter transitions now, can ask for them on the straight now and we get them straight away, felt so off the leg tonight.
he's beginning to feel much more balanced,i can use the corners to set him up now, canter was bouncing feet off the floor after a few shoulder fore to mediums.
did a fair bit of sitting trot and he stayed swinging through so thats a good indication he's strengthening up nicely.

really excited about my BD outings now :)

click............................fart.............................GO!

one mild kevin the teenager moment today, when fuzz left the menage just as was starting trot work, star decided he couldnt possibly carry one and downed tools in the corner and started ping ponging around.......i actually remembered to kick like buggery (instead of just sitting quiet) and lo and behold it does actually return to earth much quicker when i do that!
then spent ten minutes teaching it that if i drop my reins and click it is to LEAP in to gallop and shoot off sharpish, which it got the idea of pretty quickly, launching off with enthusiasm, kicking and farting its way down the long side.
this got him really in front of the leg and he didnt think about dropping behind it again, also got him a bit more playful about it all instead of in serious work mode.
when i got him too hot in the walk we even got some very baby piaffe steps, such a clever baby pony.
canter transitions were bang on again, i think iv been bringing my leg too far back, this week iv been doing it a la carl hester in one of my favourite training vids, and just pull the leg off and *tap* it back down again to get canter-works like a charm.
let him finish by having a good blast round with me up off his back, having a buck and a snort and then stretching down in trot.

we have lost the finesse a little, but i dont imagine it will take that long to get it back, and i do feel today has made a lasting impression so will be interested to see if we can pick up tomorrow, where we left off today, forwards wise.

ah good baby pone...

bored of lunging, decided to ride tonight.

pony had totally reverted to a wobbly baby not quite in control of his legs bless him, but got it together after ten minutes.
didnt do a great deal, just stretched him down, few small flexions, mainly letting him flow forward.
got fab canter transitions(when i remember to sit!!!) so left him after 20 mins as he was sweetly forward and didnt want to over cook it.
pleased with that!!!

half time is over.......................for star................

first day back in work for lord Star.
was deeply unimpressed at being lunged in the rain and stormed round scowling and swearing. had a minor nap and when i tapped him, sat down and piaffed with a properly "check me out" expression, arse, but at least we know he finds it easy!!!

good to see he looks loose and supple and tracks up equally on both reins now.

so more lunging tomorrow, and then tues will have a little sit and see how he feels.

ken lesson avec more pics...

piccies

worked on my 2 issues de jour-lateral reaction to the leg and the dreaded canter transitions!

my sneaking suspicion was that the lack of sharper reaction might be a combination of dullness to the leg but also lack of strength, which ken agreed with, so did leg yield out of the circle and counter leg yield on the circle to loosen his hips. and am to intro some shallow shoulder in to help with this too, and only use leg yield on straight lines as a test of how its improving.

canter-someone suggested to me last night to think medium trot just before the transition and ken suggested the same, and also not to pull the outside leg so far back, and after one lurch and a leap, we then got some really nice fluent ones, so fingers crossed we have at least worked out a way to sort this.

got some lovely medium canter on the circle and medium trot down the long sides.

points for me-shorter reins and hands more forward, bloody well look up, and firmer core.

pony on his holidays now, just gentle hacking a couple of times a week to keep that stifle moving as per vets instructions not to let him down completely.

Harry lesson and pics:

pics here

Mostly pleased with him, there was a horse finishing off as we started to warm up and when they cantered we leapt in the air and then bucked and then leapt and stood up, nothing too dramatic and just excitement. i can tell when its excitement and nto naughtyness as all his veins come up and he rolls his eyes, he did settle very quickly though, and then his veins went back down and he blew his nose a few times and was then very soft and settled.

sat here watching the racing and thinking that whoever rode him with jockey stirrups was a braver bastard than me!!!!!!!

mainly worked on getting him straighter and stopping me drawing back with the inside hand and thus ruining the straightness! really pushing him to the outside rein, and then going large in medium,before back on to a circle and checking the straightness.
Harry was pleased with his medium trot..." not bad is it, you wouldnt know it wasnt foreign..." so praise indeed!

canter transition are still our weak point-he curls up and drops me a bit, so did a few pushing the hands right forward and if he ignored the leg he got a click, a tap and sent forward in to a gallop. much better after that but really need to be black and white about this.

finsihed up working on the leg yield, need to think outside elbow to hip and keep my toe in so heel doesnt draw up and back, then tap if he ignore the calf aid. def getting there but does need to be a bit more sideways now.

so....ken lesson tomorrow, then a week or maybe 2 off for Star, to relax and think about things! will then get him registered with BD and get cracking :)

wub my pretty pony. oh please note sparkley bandages in pics!!!!

feeling a bit nothingy:

dunno really, pony is going really well, and im curbing my desire to do twiddly bits,just feel im lacking a bit of direction???? oh well, have Harry the sheep on sat and ken on sun, so will get bollockings and homework to think about!!!!

did a bit without stirrups yesterday, pony was fine with it, carries me very easily but ohmygod am i out of practice, had to work so hard to stay with him, he's got a much bigger trot that Rubi, abs were killing!!!! oh well, good for me(i think, im sure anything that hurts that much must be good for you!)

have worked a bit on walk-canter-walk and rein back this week. both are getting more on the aids but are still a bit cautious, kind of going.....going......gone.will come with practice.

mum bought me the coolest present back from Scotland-she managed to find the only tack shop for 100 miles in the wilds of scotland where they were staying and bought an amazing pink grooming back which has a waterproof pocket for a damp wipe down sponge, cooler bag area, whip holder, pink hoof pick attached and an outside waterproof pocket for bandages etc, so will be uber useful for shows when she takes off bandages and does last minute polish up.she also go a variety of pink sponges and brushes etc to go in it.
tack shop assistant apparently cooed "ah, is it for your daughter?"
mum: "yes:
TSA: "ah, sweet,has she go a little pony to use it on?"
mum:"erm,a 16hh TB"
TSA:"errrr......................................................."
mum: i should probably clarify that she is 25, matchy matchy obsessive and loves pink."

apparently TSA laughed her head off!!!!!

stubble bashing and important shopping Q...

all the hay has been bought in now so we have acres of lovely stubble, and with todays rain on the sandy soil, the going is perfect.
not wanting to upset/wind up baby pony we didnt go totally mad, trotted round a bit to warm up, and he was sprightly and up to the bridle but relaxed.then cantered right handed all the way round at a school canter, again very relaxed.
then went left handed and let him run on a bit.....wow......the feeling of power is amazing, didnt dare let that great long neck all the way out for fear of no brakes, but he did pull up easily and settled to walk off on a long rein straight away so maybe next time i can go up another gear.........

now.....do i want petrol blue horse heaven set or ANKY set in orchid pink?!

results from college-so very chuffed!

we got 33.

40 won it, 39 second, 38 third.

we beat a whole 5 people!!!!!!

pleased with him, and we had a fab session tonight, back to his usualy sharp,light self.

rein back comming on nicely,just needs to be a bit sharper and more engaged.

hooligans!

have just had a proper teenage hooligan hack, cantering up the verges giggling like mad.
baby pony was fab, no hint of wild leaping, ears pricked and keen but controllable :wub:

ken clinic report::

piccies here

fri-was really disappointed with this lesson, pony was a bit of a turd and decided that canter was no longer in his repetoire and took to violently kicking at my outside leg, managing to kick himself and a hole in HP's fence at the same time.git. i did give him the benefit of the doubt and a thorough check over but couldnt find anything, it was muggy and past tea time and he didnt want to play, but tough tits pony, you dont decide when we prance and when we dont!!!!!

sat i didnt have a lesson as i decided three in a row was too much in the end, so he went cantering the field and after one minor nap to the sheep(!!) went nicely forward, ears pricked etc.

today was our second and final lesson and he was a different pony. i had made a few minor changes, added a gel chin pad,and carried my short whip (pink glittery!!!) as opposed to a long whip, which he seems to get pissed off with, and he was swingy and forward and lovely, thank god.
worked on making him straight and even in the hand, being careful that i push him to whichever hand is lacking and not take the rein back to make it, which i can sometimes do with my erratic left hand
did a bit of stretching him down and pciking him up from the leg to a lower or higher hand, and making him engage the inside hind and be straighter in the canter, so a little leg yield and shallow shoulder fore to canter.

i think i have eaten several million greenfly this weekend, we are just infested, its gross!!!

was so pleased *the grey girls* were all good mares, am so pleased and proud of them and their riders :)

really sad day

today was the funeral of one of Ed's friends,who was killed in afgan last week.
over 500 people turned up,and it was incredibly moving.i just about held it together until his best friend came to the end of his speech and stumbled over "he wont be best man at my wedding anymore, but to me,and many others, he will always be the best man"and then broke off sobbing, and the last post was played.i just dont want this to be real. He and Ed were going to live together in Catterick and i was so looking forward to it, it was going to be so much fun.
RIP Merv, we will always love,remember and talk about you.

Badminton Young Dressage Horse report....

it was fine, it was good........and then there were loudspeakers...........and we leapt like a reindeer on LSD!
but after we got over the loudspeakers, he warmed up pretty well for Novice 22, much more settled than our last outing to vale view anyway.
the actual test was pure comedy-3 rings running side by side meant he just didnt know where to look, or what to gawp at first.this meant that approx every 10 steps we ground to a halt to have a good old nosy, until i pony clubbed kicked him in to action again.....i think we were technically eleminated about 5 times but kindly judge person let us bumble and bimble our way though.the good bits felt great and there was nothing he struggled with, but the grinding to a standstill kind of spoilt the overall effect-we actually got a 0 for something were i just gave up on a circle half way through! he got his first rosette-4th!(out of 4 i should add!)

he felt much much more relaxed when he came out for the young horse class, well until some tit leading a 17hh 4yo in a headcollar joined us and promptly lost control, then it all went a bit LSD reindeer again.......retreated to the indoor warm up and he felt amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing-so up, so light, really powering like a micro warmplod, canter was about 4 foot off the floor,so he's shown me just how much he can move when he's relaxed.
obviously lost that a bit in the actual test but still gave me a super nice ride round, felt really on the ball and much less baby wobbly, and no grinding to a halt, hurrah!!!
no scores up when we left so no idea how we scored, but im really pleased with him.
clever wubbly baby pony!
no idea what the plan is now.......area festivals at vale view are in october so half heartedly thinking i might try and get 2 novice sheets before then....hmmmm.....ken next weekend, will see what he thinks.

pic courtesy of the goth! piccies

its working.....

never let anyone tell you that nagging does not work.....slowly but surely HP is resigning himself to lorry shopping.........
back to school for star today, worked on square halts, and we now get the front legs square 99.99% of the time, but i do often still have to tap the left hind up, im sure its something to do with me as its ALWAYS the left hind.will have to get ken to scrutinise and bollock me!
did lots of half transitions in the trot-bringing it right back virtually to walk then sending it forward again, to really develop the pushing power, like a huge half halt. that got him a bit sharper of the leg and more up in front, which is what i need for sat so will utilise that in my show warm up.
riding some smaller(15m-10m) cirlces showed up that he isnt yet strong enough to keep the suppleness and rhythm through that size of circle, so need to do more spiralling in and out of slightly larger circles and really concentrate on keeping him active and even in the hand in the smaller ones.
canter was basically good, transitions are a ton better, more instant and barely any tightening in neck, but just need to keep the bend a bit better.
got after the inside hind and got him a bit more off the floor which lil complimented us on, so again will do a bit of that on sat.i dont want to force him before anyone gets worried, just want to get him to show himself off to the max of what he can give.
finished up with a bit of counter canter-taking it right round the school so he doesnt anticipate stopping in the corner etc, only broke once, so pleased with that, for a 4yo he's so bloody balanced!!!
lots of suppling and stretching tomorrow, nothing too strenuous, dont want him tired for sat.

fun in the sun @ Turner Towers.....

Decided to take a day off from prancing in circles and go for a whizz round the field, as HP hasnt been here to buzz cut the winter field, its like a wild flower meadow, and horses always do that hilarious boingy canter through long grass, so i spotted an opportunity for arty farty pics!
Star was initailly not too sure about this idea, and set off napping madly to the sheep in next doors field, not his chums in the house paddock, oh no, the bloody sheep!
Brain back between ears we then had a good boing around whilst the goth took pics, and was molested by many bees and flies, she loved it.....bless that goth, she is a genius with the camera.
Pony got more in to it too and seemed to enjoy it, he was so good yesteday i dont see the point in hammering him in the school.
pics are here- let me know if photo-bouqet link doesnt work!

I should hire out my grandfather....

If Star can cope with schooling whilst reckless eric the lawnmower maniac is about, he can cope with anything.
if anyone needs to spook proof their horse-eric is your man!!!!

so...new blog post saddle-up gate......!!!!

Hello everyone, saddle uppers and non saddler uppers!
As i have now been evicted from saddle up, a few people have asked if id be blogging anywhere else, so thanks to Cassie for pointing me in this direction.....

Not a huge amount has happened in the land of bling since my last blog on the *other place*!!!
Oh no hang on i lie (lets start this off on a controversial footing..), on thurs night i was practicing walk-trot-walk transitions and Star pony got a bit hot,and a bit bouncy and was basically offering semi-half steps.Being the evil person i am (rolleyes needed here, do we get emoticons over here?!),i just gave him a tiny tap on top of his croup and hey presto-actual half steps. much patting and then let him walk on a long rein.clever boy.I dont think thats really pushing him too fast?take what you're offered an all that?

I also sat for about 5minutes, before i remembered i wasnt meant to sit(and of course as soon as i remembered it all went to hell in a handbasket), and he stayed up under me and soft and swinging, which points to him getting much stronger over his back, hurrah!
College Badminton young horse next sat,cant wait, mainly because i get to wear new shiny boots.which, incidentally, have eaten half my right knee, ouch.

Feel free to pass this blog address on to any saddler uppers who ask :)