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 :)