This post is being written over various days.....I'm that busy I can't even write it in one go!! It's almost 4 weeks since my last post I think, and time is just flying by!!
In my last post we were in Claremorris for a Dressage Ireland competition. We had 2 full weekends off from competition after that - amazing! Time to chillax and sleep in.......or travel around Ireland and take lots of pictures!! I went for option 2, I would like to have option 1 now though!! In one weekend myself and Groom-in-training (G.I.T.) managed 10 counties in 3 days..........an epic trip to the most northerly tip of Ireland; Malin head.
Fred had a nice 2 weeks off in which he worked on expanding his girth area mostly. Cu Chulainn had a few days off but then we were working towards the Tullamore Agri show and then of course there was the Dublin Horse show to attend. So rather than sit back and chillout, we've been busy out.
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| Fred does not share food...... |
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| King Rusty minding his castle |
On Wednesday myself and CC went over the road to do a spot of jumping. He was in flying form and strong as an ox. When he hasn't been jumping in a while he gets very strong. We warmed up with the draw reins so that he's still learning how to use himself properly. His topline is coming along nicely.
Thursday evening I was really tired but convinced myself I'd take CC on a nice chilled out hack as I needed to ride him because I'd be gone all weekend. I brought him in and he was really reluctant to come in, which was unusual. I figured out why when I got him in and found one of his shoes half off and twisted. I tried to pull it off to no avail. I sent a photo to my old farrier and Fred's old owner and he said I needed to get it off. In the meantime I did a bit with Pablo, but unfortunately fell over and twisted my knee. Then I'd to call my neighbour down to help me pull off CC's shoe. It took us ages and I have every respect for farriers (not that I didn't before)........how the hell do they do it?! CC was an angel and stood quietly, if it was Fred I don't think he'd be as good!
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| Half twisted, the other half nailed in for life |
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| Waiting for help 😊 |
That weekend we had an important job of reuniting a lost shoe with it's owner, a year later! Also to see my best friend who's home from New Zealand for a few weeks and try to steal her passport so she can't go back..........
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| Athlone |
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| On the road |
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| Loughrea |
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| Kilrush |
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| Ennis |
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| Limerick |
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| Reunited!! |
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| Delighted 😂 |
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| Be rude not to tell the world I visited..... |
On the Monday, myself and CC went for a nice hack out down to the river. It's nice to change it up sometimes. He only has 3 shoes, so we kept it to a walk.
On Tuesday evening we rode out over the road and practiced our jumping. We
were jumping barrels and cans as well as poles, so a nice mixture. I brought the boys in for some grub after and I got G.I.T. to give Pablo a groom. He has improved hugely, you can groom him, walk around him, pat him, etc.
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| No head collar & all relaxed....a big improvement |
Our entry details for Tullamore show arrived in the post Wednesday morning...........eek. I collected a trailer load of hay that evening. The first thoughts of winter creeping in.....
Thursday evening we went down to Flowerhill for some XC fun. It had rained a small bit so it was a bit slippy and I was late, so didn't put in studs. He was a bit fresh and wary of everything. My friends were ahead of me, so we worked on our own and he was fine on his own. Because the ground was that bit slippy, I had the catch 22 of not riding him forward enough, but still expecting him to jump.....which meant we jumped some too slow, including a drop, which is not advisable!! We were coming for a nice log cross type thingy and out of nowhere came a mother fucking pheasant. CC had a heart attack and headed for home and I headed the opposite direction and straight down on my ass.....so then I was thankful that it had rained and the ground wasn't rock hard!! It's my first fall in a year, probably much needed! Caught him and got back up. Naturally he was still weary after getting a fright, but we carried on and finally found our path. There was a sunken road with a narrow log about 1m coming out. I did the sunken road without it twice and then tried it on him. He popped it no problem! So we did that a few times. He did everything I wanted to him to do. At one stage we were going back into the forest, towards a small enough jump and he was backing off, I was squeezing my legs and there wasn't a difference, so I just clicked my tongue and he was like oh ok, we're doing this? Ears pricked and straight over the centre of it! Towards the end he wanted to go for a swim in the lake, I was a bit reluctant though because I thought it might be deep enough! We'll leave that for another day......
I had Friday off so I decided to bring him over for some more pole work and to ride outside where the big course of jumps were. I hadn't noticed how much leg I'd used the night before and they were a bit jellyish from it. The memory of falling off was still fresh and again I wasn't riding him forward enough. But then we popped a few and sure he'd give anyone confidence. He just knows his job so well when it comes to jumping. So we had a great session, I didn't do too much with him and he was nice and tired after last night, so he wasn't being strong. Then it was off home to pack and get ready to head off up North for another adventure.
On Monday I gave both the boys a spin. Holidays are over Fred! I brought Fred on a hack, he was feeling very fresh, like a 4 year old! We saw 3 stags in the barley field right beside us. Fred promptly shat himself then did his half walk/half trot 'I'm a big deal around here' prance. They went off in the opposite direction when they saw us.Cu Chulainn and I did some flatwork in the field. A bit of a tense session, but it all worked out in the end. I built my lunge arena with some used tyres I got. It worked like a charm with Pablo and he lunged well on both reins, he no longer has a fear of the right rein!!
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| If you zoom in you can see their horns! |
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| On the road again.... |
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| I just can't wait to be on the road again.... |
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| Attempting long and & low |
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| Eventually got some relaxation.. |
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| Used tyres for my new lunge arena! |
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| Rusty sussing it out... |
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| 40 winks after their sessions... |
On Tuesday I brought Fred & CC over the road for some practice. They have a fake crow on a string to keep birds away from the silage......Fred took exception to this 'crow' and decided he was again a 4 year old!! We did as much as we could before I threw the towel in. CC was up next and he had a quick look at the crow, decided he wasn't going to kill him and carried on! My friend Caroline was there to take some videos of us 😀 He was a complete star and we didn't do too much as everything was good. He wouldn't be ridden again till Saturday at the earliest.
I headed up to Dublin Wednesday evening for the annual Dublin horse show trip. I managed to catch up with loads of friends & family, always an added benefit. On Thursday I watched a Lucinda Greene demo which was really interesting and had some exercises I'd love to try. I watched the ponies jumping - so impressive! And the jump off was great! I love watching the international warm ups, it's a great learning tool to watch them get ready. I caught the end of the future event horse class, some of the international jumping and finished the day with the side saddle class. I also managed a spot of shopping. I don't think the shopping was great this year, I scored myself a pair of long leather boots, the annual socks purchase, a belt with horse bits on it and some leather gloves. I have to say I thought it was quieter in there than previous years. There was no issues with crowds at any stage of the day, it was easy to look at shops or classes. I was absolutely dead after all the walking and got some taco fries on the way home. They were epic.
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| Ponies jumping |
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| Ponies jump off |
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| International warm up |
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| Future event horse final line up |
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| Easy pop....😆 |
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| International warm up |
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| Side saddle |
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| Side saddle |
On Friday, I headed off a little bit later, because I'd done all my shopping the day before and there was nothing on early that I wanted to see. There was a masterclass with Nick Skelton which was interesting, particularly because the horses didn't always play ball and it's so much better when you see things go wrong and how to deal with that, because that's reality for most of us......I enjoyed the masterclass a lot. I then watched a good bit of the coloured class. For once the horses were almost all sport horses, and a similar enough build. Watched the riders warming up for the Aga Khan and various other classes. Had a quick look at the shops again and got some bargain bling browbands for the boys. I splashed out and got two Haas brushes. I'd been looking at them online for awhile and thought with Tullamore on Sunday, now is as good a time as any.
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| International warm up |
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| Masterclass with Nick Skelton, he's on the left on horseback |
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| Coloured horses warming up |
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| Coloured class |
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| Aga Khan warm up |
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| New mode of transport!! |
Saturday morning I got up early and hit the road. I rode Fred down the road and he was fresh as a daisy, keeping me on my toes. I rode CC over to the yard down the road and we meet everything and anything on the road; numerous tractors, jeeps & empty trailers, cyclists, children screaming on a bouncy castle, lorries....and he was great. I had to give him a big wash then for Tullamore. I rugged him and let him out with the others, it's the easiest way to keep him clean. I lunged Pablo as well and he was grand. I was really not in the form to do a competition tomorrow. I was tired from the few days in Dublin and all the going from the previous weekend. I went to bed at 9 to try and have energy for Sunday.
Sunday morning the alarm went off lovely and early 😞 I made a fry to keep me going. Then I got CC and plaited him and gave him another quick wash on the legs. We hit the road after 9. We ended up going all around the world to get to the show and then were directed in to the wrong car park, a million miles from the horse section. Luckily a guy on a quad lead us around to the right carpark. I'd timed it nicely. I'd time to give him a good groom and really test out my new Haas brushes, because someone had grass stains on their neck!! Ok, so like Ronseal, they actually do what they say on the tin! It took out the grass stains. CC also decided that today he would have numerous nervous poos which would all hit his white legs - the joys of a coloured. First class was the coloured class. He was his usual tense self in the warm up, but we came to an agreement and he started going nicely. The class itself went fairly well, although after the gallop (which he loved) he was strong, which is fair enough. He came 2nd and I was delighted with him! I let him have some grass then put him back in the box and had a load of water myself. It was sooo warm up and wearing tweed does not help. I was feeling very dehydrated. I went to go walk the working hunter course. It was 10 jumps, so a fair bit to remember. I tried to find a toilet but the one I found had a padlock 😢 It was time to tack up again before I knew it. I'd managed to have a banana. This is when being by yourself is troublesome. The jumps in the warm up were up high, not huge, but not nice for a first jump. I asked a girl to put up a cross pole on one and we did that a few times and then the opposite vertical. He was in flying form and cleared them all. It was our turn then. A crowd had gathered around the ring, wonderful..an audience. EEEkkk. I hadn't time to put in studs so we had to wing it. He lost his footing coming in to the first but we straightened up and he popped it. He absolutely stormed it (probably a bit too fast for working hunter) and I was so proud of him. We came in too close to one and knocked it, but bar that he was all clear. We had a little walk around the warm up to cool down and then headed back to the box. I got my numbers for the next class and went back over with him to watch the end of the class. I hadn't head the steward, we were called back in. Shiiiitt. Tighten up the girth pronto and up I got! We had to walk, trot, canter & gallop again. He was sooo strong. It was a fight. He was first to be ridden by the judge. She gave him a lovely spin and was sympathethic to him, which was so nice to see. The confirmation judge was lovely too. CC was not a fan of the crowd. It was ok when he was jumping, because he had the jumps to focus on, but he wouldn't stand still for the showing part. We went out as a group after all had been ridden and looked at and they called in 1st. Then they called in 2nd place and the lady behind me said 'that's your number'.....'huh'. Shock. Oh my god, he came 2nd!!! Big pats, very big pats......Wahooooooo
I had to quickly change my number and hop back up again. I literally jumped the two jumps once and went in to the arena for the Open working hunter class. This time he jumped even better, he really took them on. Unfortunatley we knocked one, but he still did fantastically. There were only 3 in that class, so it was over quickly. The judge only had to ride one horse. We were lined up and I was in 3rd. The confirmation judge said 'ye can stay like that' and I thought, aww ok, still soo happy with him. But then the riding judge said no, you two swop (myself and the girl in first) and it dawned on me, oh my god, he came FIRST !!! oh my god..... oh my god......I could have screamed!! Big hugs, lots of pats..... then we had the championship, he is now the Reserve Working Hunter Champion!!! Whoop Whoop!! Then after that we had another championship, another gallop. I was sooo tired!! It was during this section that I noticed the big line of toilets right besdie where I was....too late now!
We left Tullamore with 4 lovely huge rosettes!! Such a pity we've no photos from the day, but I got some of him with his face covered!
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| Yeah baby!!! |
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| My good side!! |
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| Insert carrots here! |
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| My champion! |
Monday, as usual we all had off. But it was back to work on Tuesday. I rode the two horses out in the field in front of the house. Both boys were on great form. Pablo declined to be caught so I didn't get anything done with him. There were a few looks from both Fred & CC when a sheep randomly appeared from nowhere.
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| Shaun the sheep, a mysterious new addition |
On Wednesday it was the same again. Flatwork our in the field. Nothing majorly exciting. Fred was not impressed with Shaun still being around.......
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| What the fliuch?! |
On Thursday I set up a long arena with markers (used linseed oil cans and buckets). Well, CC was not impressed. Not at all. So our warm up was a case of 'stay on'. He snorted, he did 360s, he did not want to be anywhere near them. Eventually we managed to get some work done, but not what I had had planned....don't make plans with horses eh? I was too tired to ride Fred, so said I'd ride him on Friday evening and get G.I.T. to video us. I have music for the two of them and CC has a test from earlier in the year, but I need something new for Fred because Stradbally was a disaster really.
Shaun the sheep had found his owner and was now at home.
Friday G. I. T. came over and I rode Fred out in my makeshift arena. He had a good look at the markers but calmed down once he decided they weren't going to move. We practiced a few movements along with the music and decided on a test, or at least for maybe 3/4s of the test. G..I.T. had headed off with his camera to take some shots of CC & Pablo watching from their field. I heard a lorry slow down and then start using its horn. I was looking at G.I.T. to see if he was in the middle of the road and somehow hadn't heard the lorry coming, but he wasn't........then it became apparent what was the cause. Shaun trotted in the avenue, went around the house and into the stables and started eating my soaked beetpulp! The f***er......I'd only enough soaked for tonight! GRrrrr
We kicked him out to the field and went back to business. G.I.T. recorded us and Rusty decided to join in our test half way through.
I fed Fred and we went to go get the other two. It was bath time for the show on Saturday. I gave G.I.T. Fred and I took CC. We rugged them and threw them out. Fred had a cooler too and CC didn't need a full bath, so he wasn't that wet.
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| He has adjusted well to his new role 😁 |
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| Elbow grease.... |
It was an early start on Saturday for the show as we had to be there early for G.I.T. to enter the photography competition. I got them both plaited and we locked 'n loaded. The judging for the horses stated a bit late. CC was up first with the in-hand coloured class. He came 2nd and was good. Then it was Fred's turn in the in-hand over 15.2 hunter. He also came 2nd and was very good. The class started earlier than I thought and I'd to drag him over when he really needed to pee. I realised after that I'd forgotten my girth and hat, so we couldn't do the lightweight hunter class. But we'd a good day. And then to top it all off G.I.T. came first in one of the photography categories. Wahoo!!😁
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| Game plan chats.... |
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| 'I will be a good boy' |
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| Keeping him sweet with snackage |
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| Eyeing up the competition....I got this mom! |
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| Game face |
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| Run for your money! |
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| Just after coming 2nd 👌 |
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| Rouind 1 over... |
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| 'I'm so pretty, check me out' |
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| Judge likes what he sees |
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| 'Who's a good boy?' |
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| When you know the camera is on you....... |
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| I made a joke here, hence his face 😀 |
Sunday was another early start for me. Today it was just me & Rusty heading off. Hopefully set for Hurricane Gert 😕 We were off to the AIRC Dressage Nationals. Fred had qualified and CC was doing the non-championship to redeem himself and getting eliminated last year - to be fair it was only his 2nd ever show, I threw him in the deep end and he did well in his first test.
Fred was up first at 10.20. I forgot to put my spurs on for my test with him and he was a bit lazy, he did a good test but he could have been much better. I was annoyed at myself for forgetting. I had loads of time till CC's first test so I plaited him there. He was filthy since yesterday and he'd stayed rugged...grrrr. Time for the Haas brushes again. They are magical, but there's only so much they can do unfortunately. Someone was talking to me while I got tacked up and I got distracted so I forgot to put his flash on and by the time I remembered it was too late. He took the absolute piss and I was so irrritated with him. You'd think he'd be tired after spending the whole day in the box the day before, but oh no, Mr. Energizer bunny. So our test was tense as hell and a real battle, the judge commented ' not an easy ride today'. I was fuming with him after. I put him back in the box, we'd a good 2 hours before we needed to do anything. So myself and Rusty had a nap in the car while it lashed outside. Looks like I was finally going to get to use the prize I got from the Western Region AIRC, my Bucas rain rug. It was the business! Although I didn't have it quite on properly, it covers your legs too. So we were snug as a bug. I took him out to the field and we did a lot of cantering to tire him out. Then we went back to the warm up arena and did walk and trot only and lots of leg yielding, because he really likes it and it makes him focus. His next test was much better and he redeemed himself, so we ended on a good note.
Fred's 2nd test was at 5.20 and he'd been in the box all day, because it lashed during the only real free time I had to take him out. He was a little stiff initally but did some lovely stretchy trot and walk ( you'd think he could have done that for me in the test in the morning when he was supposed to!!). He felt really good and he did a much better afternoon test. We were the very last test in the whole place. I brought him back to the box and unplaited him. I went up to see my results but I was waiting so long I decided to hit the road before tiredness fully hit in. I left my house at 8.20 and returned at 8.20 that night!! It'd be ok if it was an enjoyable day, but it really wasn't. There's no real atmosphere in Mullingar. I met loads of people, chatted to loads and still I felt that it was a mediocre day. It rained like it nearly always does when I'm there, and there's nowhere really to congregate if it rains. So I spent the day in my jeep. Having little naps when I could.
Someone I know got my tests for me and I found out my scores which was great. Fred scored 65% in the morning and 70% in the afternoon. He came 8th overall so I was delighted with that. And CC scored in the 50%s which wasn't bad at all. We will get there. Some day. Maybe. After more banging my head against a wall. At least he can jump!!
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