Back with a bang!

Finally longer days are upon us and there is a glimpse of Winter being over.  We had fabulous weather there for a blink of the eye, which ended in a return of rotten wintery weather - actual hailstones!

Blue skies

The hour is just after springing forward so our evenings are about to get even longer! It has been a long and arduous winter. A never-ending cycle of muddy fields, then drying out, only to become muddy again.

I haven't been able to go jump schooling this year, as that requires having someone with you to lift poles and as a safety precaution too (I once fell off while jumping by myself and knocked myself out!). So the easiest thing to do is just go out to a competition.  Luckily for me, this year a league was being run only 5 minutes down the road, the only trouble being that it was on a Wednesday. In January I managed to squeeze in a quick lunch time jump at it, but had barely even ridden Cu Chulainn since. 

I booked a lovely spa day for my aunt & myself in Centre Parcs for Paddy's day, and not longer after a new Spring league in Connacht was announced, with the local show taking place on Paddy's day.......darn.

I took an executive decision to fly in and jump before we headed off to a luxiously self-indulgent day, so I rejoined SJI and entered. The weather was horrific the night before, crazy wind and rain. The wind didn't leave but it was dry at least.  The warm up was pretty windy, but not too bad. It was a different story in the main arena though and I thought I would get blown off him! I went in first so that I'd be done pretty quickly. We knocked the second jump but he absolutely flew around! I was completely out of breath as if I'd done the whole round on foot! I was delighted with him and myself as I was feeling nervous that morning, normal show nerves even though I wasn't trying to be competitive in it. 

Boing!

I had a fabulous day after that and avoided all parades! The weather got even worse, so it was great to not have to go outside except to feed them later. They all stayed in for the day and were more than happy to.

I was working from home the next day so I managed to squeeze in a quick round of 90cm jumping. He flew it and we went double clear. I also brought Misneach for the spin. Get her used to being at a show and being in the horsebox by herself.  She was grand, chilled out eating hay, watching it all. Cu Chulainn's next show was the following Saturday in Glenamaddy.

On Thursday I did a riding club lesson with Misneach. We did our first jump over poles in it. She was so good. No dramatics, she just wasn't sure what I wanted her to do. We got a few sticky ones in and a few lovely and smooth. Happy days.

I just entered the 90cm on Saturday as although it was our third show in 5 days, we were still only really a week back at jumping. Unfortunately we had 1 pole down but becuase there was no pressure, I decided to try a few shorter turns for the second round of jumping, just to get my eye in again. He absolutely flew around and it was such a pity we had the knock! It was actually the first fence that we hit and I put it down to the fact I wanted to jump it on the right rein as you would be staying on the right rein for the next few jumps, but everyone was jumping it on the left and I went with the majority, always trust your gut!

The next week I jumped the 1m class in the league, to get used to going up to the next height. He flew it and it was a great boost to the confidence. I also schooled Misneach around in the evening over the 60cm. Her first full course. There were a few stops, which were no big deal. Lots of fillers and some were at the sides of jumps and there were people around. But by the end we were cantering over the final double! Big pats for Misneach she is really excelling at everything she does.

The next night Misneach was back again for our riding club lesson.  This time it was a challenging pole work lesson. 2 triangle shapes, with bending lines, straight lines and doing them in walk, trot and canter (striaght line only). She really got the hang of it, but was so tired by the end, as was I! It took a lot of concentration and focus from both of us.

I entered the 90cm and the 1m class for the next leg of the Spring league in Duffy's on the Saturday. As most people, I have struggled with a cold over the winter, I can't remember the last time I could breathe properly through both nostrils! The cold decided to come back with a vengence this week. I was nearly floored on the Thursday. Then on Saturday when I arrived in Duffy's I was feeling very shite. I couldn't warm up at all, even after our first round of jumping I was still wearing my big heavy coat (and while jumping). Today I was just aiming to go double clear, and we did! Double clear in both the 90cm and the 1m. He saved me in the 90cm, we didn't get as much of a flow as I would like, but he did his job and got over them.  The 1m was much nicer, a good steady rhythm and flowing turns. We had to hit the road straight after to get home to watch the local musical Shrek with my family.

So, as the title suggests, we were back with a bang! 5 shows in 2 weeks! And 2 lessons too for Misneach. I very much enjoyed the morning off on Sunday to chill.