SJI......the beginning
After Crecora Cu Chulainn took a well deserved few days off. Fred was back in the limelight again. We had a lesson booked for Thursday with our dressage instructor so he needed a bit of work before that.
On Monday we hacked out, just walk and trot to work on fitness. As the folks were away I needed to give Rusty a run too, so that helped the motivation factor. On Tuesday we did the same, but it was lashing rain so we literally bombed it down the road (in trot) and back again. Wednesday was a much nicer evening and we managed to practice some lateral work on the road, so that he wouldn't be rusty for the lesson. He was feeling great, plenty of energy and delighted to be back in work again. He doesn't like to be off for too long. I changed his saddle as well which has made a big difference to him. He's stretching down more now.
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| The King is back |
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| Raining |
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| Rusty for scale of rain!! |
On Thursday we headed off for our lesson. We were put through our paces and by the time I got down I was walking like John Wayne!! We did a lot of the same lateral work as I'd been doing with CC, but he's such a different horse. CC is forward thinking and wants to please, whereas Fred is like, I'm the Dressage King, I know what I'm doing, this is not how we do this........so it takes a bit more encouragement to get him to do new things. Then we go away, work on it ourselves and he gets used to it. Typical man, ya gotta let him think it's his idea!!
Friday I brought the two to Creagh EC. CC was doing a jump lesson and Fred was putting his lesson into practice. Had a great session with Fred, doing a few bits of the lateral work and doing some extended trot. Then it was CC's turn. He was in flying form and a bit yee haw ish. But he hadn't been ridden since Sunday, so all in all he was great.
We've joined Showjumping Ireland (SJI) now and I had a show in Galway eyed up for the bank holiday Monday. Unfortunately the jeep did not co operate and we had to give that show a miss. It is so irritating to have your horse fit, have all the work put in and then have your stupid vehicle let you down. It's nearly always some issue with the horse, so to have them in perfect nick and good to go makes it extremely vexing.
Bank Holiday feels
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| Photoshoot |
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| Committee meeting |
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| Snoop doggy dog |
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| Meeting the neighbours |
I couldn't do my lesson on Thursday because my jeep actually broke-down. 😡😡😡 I got home too late to ride then. On Friday I still didn't have my jeep back and was stressing over that and more, but it was a lovely evening so myself, Rusty and Cu Chulainn hit the road, again, we just walked.
Saturday was a belter of a day and too hot to ride. I got my jeep back all fixed up, so Claremorris was on the cards as our first SJI show!! That evening I gave Fred a nice spin, working on our lateral work and pirouettes again. Then I tacked up CC. We had done nothing more than a few steps of trot all week, so I figured I better try give him a canter. We went down the lane at home and did a small canter. Then we turned around and did another one, which quickly turned into a small gallop! He loved it and was quick to come back to walk again. We walked as far as the gate to the road that I'd opened earlier when out on Fred. CC has gotten so good at closing gates. He positions himself beside the gate so i can pull it closed and then we walk to the pillar to put the rope over and he'll stand there quietly as I do it! A big turnaround which helps his overall mentality. Getting a horse to wait while you close a gate is a hugely important educational moment for the and so easily done.
Sunday we were up early (and delighted to be!). Cu Chulainn, Rusty and myself headed off for the hills of Mayo. Between the stressy week and not having jumped in a week I was feeling EXTREMELY nervous. I mean more nervous then I've felt in a long time. I thought I was going to have to pull over to get rid of my breakfast (beautiful thought I know). It was all getting to me and I was letting it. Usually I only get this kind of nervous when I see them putting up the jumps -purely psychological, as it all is really.
We got there with plenty of time and put in our entries and then went about walking the course. It was due to start with 80cm. I was planning on doing the 90 + 1m. As I was walking around I was thinking these are meaty enough 80s. But telling myself not to think about it...........just walk the course. I don't do strides or any of that craic while I'm walking them, because I'm just about able to remember a course and get over the jumps, never mind think about the technicality of it all!! As I was asking someone about the speed round and what jumps they were, I noticed on his paper it said 90 + 1m class. I asked him was this the 90cm. It was!! OOOhhhh crap. I ran off to get CC tacked up and plonked Rusty back in the jeep. We got down to the warm up and he was Mr. Chill Bill. Took it all in his stride. Walk, trot, canter and change rein, no pulling, no being strong. Then we did a few practice jumps. Still all good, not over excited. That put my mind (and stomach) at ease. The fact that I had no time to overthink it either helped. Another factor that helped (although I wouldn't recommend it) was that I didn't have a big breakfast as usual, but only two slices of toast and I hadn't had enough water to drink. So I wasn't feeling very strong. This helped me in that I left CC alone. He knew his job and I didn't argue. He was good and forward to the jumps. For the speed part I took turns that others didn't take - this is where your flatwork really comes in to play!!We were double clear and into the lead according to the announcer!! Delighted!!! Walked him off and put him back in the box to chill out. I got him some water. I watched a load more of the jumpers. It went on for forever. I had 3 bananas and a load of water so that I'd be good to go for the 1m. We watched the last 2 riders and then the announced the top 6 starting from 6th place. I thought we'd been beaten, turns out we hadn't!! He announced us as WINNNNNNNNNNERRRRRRSS!!! I raced back to the box to get him. Threw on his tack and we trotted down and into the arena. We got a cooler, a rosette and (most importantly) some moola!!
It was time for the 1m after that. So the bananas and hydration hindered me here. I was more focused and therefore there was more over-thinking. I didn't ride him on or just let him at them, so we had one down. We still flew the speed round, but unfortunately we had that pole. I watched some more of the riders and then we hit the road. Absolutely delighted with my Jumping King!! What a ledge
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| The Ledge |
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