A positive Portman

So  Lexi went for her first BE90 at Portman today.

We staggered off the yard at 5am and had an interesting journey with my satnav giving us a lovely guided tour of the Wiltshire countryside. Eventually after wedging the bottom of the lorry on the road trying to do a 3 point turn in a narrow lane on a slope, squeezing through some insanely narrow lanes and ending up on the wrong side of the estate and having to drive through a golf course we got there.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ground - soggy in places but compared to my paddocks it was great, and the XC looked pretty good. It asked a few questions and given she went green on me a couple weeks ago, I wasn't too sure what to expect.

She was a bit sluggish warming up for the dressage and pretending she didn't know how to bend so worked her in for a while until she was softer. I was pleased with the test - no jogging, I think I kept her straight on the centrelines although her walk was pretty backwards and there were moments of unsteadiness in her head. I was disappointed with a score of 34.5 - I was able to justify it at Aston but without glaring errors and several on the board with 29, I admit I'm a bit confused where we're missing the marks. I'll get my sheet in the post in the next couple of days so will see then, and will show Warren my videos - she's capable of better marks so I want to start producing them!

She was far better in the SJ than at Snowball last week, although spooked at a white filler and was good to jump it, but had it down, then I held her into the skinny planks which we had too. So finished on 8.

I was feeling a bit grumpy at this point - annoyed with my dressage score (although she was good) and annoyed with my poor SJ riding so hoped we would get a decent run XC.

She had a stop at a house in the warm up (scary green roof?) which didn't exactly fill me with confidence but she was bouncing around the start box...then started off very slowly, took a pony club kick to make her realise we were supposed to be cantering....and then we were  OFF.

She suddenly realised oh yeah cross country, I kinda like this, and ballooned over the first fence. Which almost had us eat dirt because she hit some deep ground landing and stumbled a little, but we were fine. Over the next few simple fences and I had to take a bit of a hold because she realised this was FUN and she rather fancied a good gallop. Little spooky over fence 4 which had a drop on the landing but over....then slightly faster than I fancied down the steep hill but I regained control to jump a decent roll top.

Next was the first combo, 2 slightly angled houses which could be done on a curving 3 or slightly angled 2. I went for the angle and she was great and roared off up the hill that followed. Easy pop over a brush fence, tried and failed to gain some control up a step to a house, then a decent corner. Got a little close but over. Took a stride out to a 'fake' trakner, then it was a double of hanging logs with the second one at an angle which she never doubted.

Two more plain fences which she sailed over, followed by the water. I grabbed my neck strap incase of a leap of faith but she dropped to trot but went in bravely and popped the house coming out. Finally a couple more fences then home and dry.

We won't talk about the pedestrian we almost murdered whilst I was trying to pull up.


She really felt great. I didn't intend to go fast as our SJ put us out of the rosettes but we only had 0.4 time faults which was nice as I know I won't need to push to get the time next time out.


Our next outing is Ascott under Wychwood BE90 in a week and a half, so intend to do some gridwork (her SJ shape wasn't great today) and a dressage lesson.

Onwards and upwards!!

Scans and lessons

So Lexi had her scan on Tuesday. It's exactly as we thought - a grade 3 holosystolic heart murmur. She has a moderate leaky heart valve basically. At the moment there are no changes to her heart and we have no idea at what rate it will progress because this is the first time its been picked up on.

In 6 months, someone will come listen to it again and if its still grade 3 then in 6 months from then we scan. If the heart hasn't changed shape yet then we still scan every other year. Meanwhile we can continue as usual, eventing ect, and hope for the best.

I took her for some canter work Friday afternoon and she just filled my heart with how wonderful she is. She really is a dream to ride, feels like a Ferrari and so responsive and so gutsy. I also got a little taste for just how fast she is...I don't think I've ever really asked her to go flat out, but she made my eyes water at the pace she tried to go on Friday and even then I held her a bit steady as the ground was just a little soggy and I was in a dressage saddle.

I had a lesson bright and early at 7.30 yesterday. We did a lot of polework, working on encouraging her to correct her own stride to a fence. Basically I prefer a more forwards, momentous canter because that's how Squirrel always jumped best. A nice balanced canter felt a bit backwards to me.

Up until now  I've given very little thought to striding for her - I didn't want to get stuck into fiddling too much, and jumping 90/1m she has plenty of scope to adjust herself if she's a bit off.  Warren reminded me we're trying to produce a top end horse, and whilst that technique will work safely at Novice, especially on a horse as scopey as her, it won't help us get further.

So we set up 3 poles on a distance which made her reach and lengthen her stride to make the distance, and I had to focus on sitting up/back to support her and not let the canter lengthen. Also had to ensure I didn't let her fall in round the corners. She really got it by the end and I have homework to do lots and lots of it, with different variations.

Schooling this horse delights me, she learns so fast....its just me who needs to keep up now!

We're off to Portman for our first BE90 on Wednesday which is very exciting...

In other news, my partner has suddenly decided she wants to learn to ride and Squirrel has been teaching her this week. Unfortunately he went lame yesterday morning...the right fore. It happened intermittently a few times last year so I sent him to the vet for a work up in September. Although he was slightly lame in both fronts on a small circle on the hard, he was great the rest of the time and x-rays showed nothing. At his age they felt it was pointless to go further on something so small so we didn't pursue it. He was very lame on a small circle on the hard...I'll see how he goes for a few days. I guess he's just a bit old and creaky now and sometimes things go ouch. If it becomes more regular or isn't better in a day or two then we will investigate further.