Triumph and Tragedy at Felbridge

Felbridge Combined Training, a set on Flickr.

Funny old day and bit of a roller coaster of emotions. We went to Felbridge Combined Training with Gail Stephens and Beanie. We took Glimpse and Yara and met David and Will there.

Yara (Laraghlee) absolute superstar 27 dressage and clear show jumping, we won! She felt really good. Bit of a naughty girl on the lorry but there was a lot of waiting around, still I forgive her anything because she tries so hard.

This was Glimpse’s first ever Combined Training and first ever dressage test. Glimpse is our retrained racehorse who is 6 this year. I was so proud of her, she was so quiet and well behaved, she just stood on the lorry and did not get over excited in the warm ups. She really is the easiest horse to take out. She warmed up beautifully and then went in the dressage arena. She’s never seen white dressage boards before and she thought they were jumps, she properly locked on to them! She didn’t quite have the focus but I was so pleased with her she got a 38 dressage. We had a couple of show jumps down, which is unlike her but it’s a big arena with lots of spooky jumps. She was looking at everything around her but she never refused anything and my goodness has she got a lovely future ahead of her.

Do I have to talk about the BE100 with Yara? Excellent dressage when we left we were leading in the dressage not sure what happened to the jumping, we had a few poles but to be honest when you read my last paragraph you will probably understand why.

Just before we were due to go into our jumping tragedy struck, there was a lady riding a very exuberant horse, she did a clear round but just as she finished, the horse staggered sideways and had a heart attack. There were not many people around and Mum and David ran into the ring but by then the horse (Ron) had fallen over and rolled on to his rider, I handed Glimpse to the boy who was stewarding and went in to help. It was obvious he was not going to make it. We made him as comfortable as we could and I stroked his head as he passed away. He didn’t suffer and I understand the rider is going to be ok. It was a horrible experience, everyone at Felbridge acted very quickly. RIP Ron.

Dancer's first jumping lesson

Dancer's first jumping lesson, a set on Flickr.

After a discussion with Liz Geldard who owns Dancer the other day, I thought it was about time Dancer had his first jumping lesson.
As you can imagine poles and wings are not something you would easily find in a dressage yard, but find them Liz and Mum did and we headed out to the lovely outdoor school.
I started his session by schooling round random poles on the ground, he was a bit lookey at first but soon got used to them and he wouldn't go near the wings at the side of the school. Then after about about 15 minutes of schooling on the flat and through the poles, we gently went over the first. He didn't want to but with some encouragement he went over, eventually we managed to trot over all the poles in the school in a very relaxed way. Then we put the jump wings in on their own and just got him schooling between those, gradually we added a pole on the ground, then two poles and then a little cross pole. He looked at the cross pole but I told him to go and he trusted me. We jumped that cross pole a handful of times and finished on a good note without over doing it. I was so so pleased with him, very little resistance and he learned so quickly.
Another bonus of going over to Fiona Bigwoods to jump Dancer was to see the two beautiful foals born this week. Pictures above.

Goring Heath Horse Trials Show Report

Goring Heath Horse Trials 0312, a set on Flickr.

Eventful journey! It took us 3 hours as we did a few detours, this time it was Mum's navigating. We arrived with not as much time to spare as we had planned but enough time for a coffee and we were ready for the off.
I think I can safely say that Yara was not focused and took a lot of warming in. My dressage test was also done in my jumping saddle as we are waiting for her dressage saddle to be adjusted and the jumping saddle helped free up her shoulders more. Not sure it does much for me though!! She wasn't the easiest to handle and contain but there was some nice stuff. It didn't flow as I would have liked but there is so much to work with, it will get better and the mark was a 35.5. Dressage judge comments stated three correct paces, she just needs a bit more through from behind in some of her work. Fair comments and fair marking.
The show jumping was awesome. She pinged round the course and I was so so pleased with her, she learnt so much over the past couple of months and really put it into practice at Goring Heath.
We thought the XC course was a fair test, it was up to height, she had some sticky little moments but nothing that made me think she was going to stop, it was if she was just looking to me to tell her it was ok.
She is a horse that you need to set up for every fence but gradually she is trusting me, listening to me and riding to my aids.
So I finished on my dressage score, double clear inside the time and we were placed. Very chuffed! Good girl Yara.