After time off due to a strained muscle, then brilliant but quite radical re-shoeing which made Soap ‘footy’ for over a week (cue me franticly dunking his feet in buckets of ice at every opportunity!) we ended up with just 3 days to prepare for our first ever PN level ODE! Not quite the run up to it I had planned! I spent the 3 days running through the BE Novice 111 dressage test we had to do which included counter canter, medium trot/canter, and rein back (none of these movements Soap is established in or has ever done in a test situation!) and practising some up to height SJs at home. I had very late times on Sunday which gave me the whole day to worry about the lack of prep we had done, the weather, the ground, the SJs, and anything else that popped into my head in the 9 hours before I got in the saddle!  Soap's homework a 1.05m spread the day before! We arrived and I quickly hopped on after a ‘stud situation’ as the new studs I had bought wouldn’t fit so had to resort to plan B. Soap warmed up very sweetly for the dressage, much better than his last test, so just hoping for a calm accurate test I went in. He was fab really soft and calm, needing to go forwards more, and not producing enough medium trot for the judge’s liking (probably because I haven’t taught him what that is yet!) but very well behaved gaining 5x7’s. He broke his second counter canter as he decided he should probably poo mid movement and he can’t manage 2 things at once, but his first one was super, and we ended with 43 which put us 15th out of 37 and I was over the moon as I thought with the test being so much harder than Intro we would be last!  Soap looking baffled at being plaited at 9am and not traveling till 3pm! Went to walk the XC and got soaked! Got to about fence 4 and the heavens opened and I was drenched. The course looked meaty compared to the Intros we have been walking all season, but not too technical so I was looking forward to it, I just had to get through the SJing! Soap warmed up super for the SJing waiting and listening and not rushing to the fence, and I didn’t fire or override once honest! The course was indoors, and had a couple of horrid turns not helped by Soap’s determination that he knows best! He popped fence 1 sweetly and then decided to bugger off! Cue me trying to get him back for 2 but too late and he had it down. Set him up again and he popped 3 and 4 very well behaved and did a lovely turn to the double at 5 but decided on the last few strides that he would snatch and had the first part down, then he tanked off again! I had to hold him into a line of 3 and he took the first part but cleared the last double, then a horrid turn to planks which came off, and over the last clear. We ended with a cricket score of 4 down and 5 time but I was beaming as the ones where he waited and listened felt fab, and the height hadn’t made him even think about stopping because he is just so genuine, if a little opinionated. Back to SJ camp for us where we will be working on control after the fences, and establishing who is in charge!  Sun came out for 10mins, but more rain on its way behind me! There was a brief sunny moment amidst all the showers so off we set on the XC. He popped the first 5 fences really bold, and by this point he had realised that he needed to raise his game as the jumps had got bigger! 6 was a bank with a step up on top of it and a drop off which seemed steep as it was already on a hill but he just launched himself off it bold as brass, then onto 7 and 8 which was a choice of open ditch to roll top or hanging log to ditch. We chose the latter and he didn’t miss a beat and flew it. Then onto a flower box at 9 and the owl hole at 10 clear to 11, 12 and flew the step bounce drop fence at 13. He romped home and had a great stride through the water in step out and over a roll top to finish. We had 8.8 time, but I didn’t put my foot down as we weren’t out to compete just to get round a PN track clear so mission accomplished. I was so pleased with him for tackling the tricky dressage and not losing his cool, for showing some real glimpses of control and ability in the SJ, and for being such a brave honest jumper in the XC. Off for some SJ practise at Hoplands before our next event, oh and videos from yesterday to follow! click images to enlarge   Local showing success and dressage for Soap 07/05/2009
There is a lovely local show held every year by the Tedworth Hunt and even though I'm not a big fan of showing I usually go to do the odd class and a dressage test because it's such a friendly and well run local event. My other half came along to take pics, and my friend took her young horse too for the experience. Here we are getting ready searching for the correct studs, and meticulously applying my quarter marks! Check out my Mountain Horse togs, very snazzy, but far too 'look at me' for the show ring!   Into the ring... There was a pretty large turn out for the ex-racehorse class all different shapes, sizes, and levels of obedience! Soap was being a bit 'fruity' because he had decided he was now desperately in love with my friend's mare who travelled with us, and should keep one eye on her at all times if possible! We walk, trot, and cantered round the arena, and the judges pulled us in 4th. We then did our show, unsaddled and trotted them up and went back out large. Happily we got pulled into the final line up in 3rd, and were given 2 lovely rosettes one form the venue and one from 'the ex-racers club' and £5 prize money! click images to enlarge   off for some dressage... They were calling for dressage competitors so I came straight out my class and started to make my way to the dressage arenas. Soap had other ideas and decided to try and nap, he got swifty told that I would have no such behaviour, and off we went! He was really naughty warming up bucking, hollowing, and rushing off, falling out on the left rein in canter. I was sure something was wrong as he had been fine in his earlier class, and having put his studs in myself I had a pretty good idea of what it was. I hopped off and checked his left fore and as I guessed his stud had gone awol. I always put studs in for him to work on grass as he isn't happy otherwise , and he was finding the missing stud too much. I walked over to the judge and asked if it was ok if we omitted the left rein canter due to the stud loss and he said it was fine he would just give us 0 for that movement, I agreed that was fine and just wanted to let him know what we were doing so he didn't beep us. Soap did an ok test with some really nice bits of trot and canter but with one gopping transition! He was very distracted and wound up by the absence of his new love interest so I just did the best I could to get some decent work out of him as I couldn't really expect too much from him with only 3 studs and a thumping great crush hindering his performance! The black clouds were on their way, and it didn't look like the sjing was going up much bigger any time soon so I left an envelope for my test sheet, and we set off home, just in time to catch some Wimbledon action on the telly!  Halt salute - hopefully our shinyness made up for our wonky halt!  Road testing my new checked breeches and stirrup irons I got home the other day to find a huge brown box with my name on it waiting for me! I was worried at first that maybe I had begun 'sleep shopping' and had been indulging in some nocturnal bidding on eBay, but thank fully it was a whole host of goodies form my sponsor Mountain Horse! Angie at Mountain Horse had posted me a load of lovely summer products including lightweight breeches, t-shirts, baseball cap, zippy top, and best of all some gorgeous leather long boots and the corresponding stirrups!   |
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