Pet Plan and a break through?

Our next outing was the Petplan Area Festival. Never in my life did I think I would be competing in a dressage festival! But we qualified so I figured it would be rude not to!

The stress of my life situation had been getting to me and we didn't have a great session the day before. This coupled between not having ridden an elementary test for 4 months did make me rather nervous!

It was a warm day but I decided to press on with my warm up test as she needs the ring experience at this level - I stalked all the others and we have the grand total of 8 results at elementary, compared to everyone elses 40+!

She did a nice enough test in our warm up but the mediums were stuffy. I was pleased with 67% and third!

Our festival test was next to the flags and we had an almighty spook at them in the trot round. Thankfully I managed to get her attention back on myself and set off down the long centre line. She didn't quite open up enough in her first medium as had half an eye on the flags which flustered me so I went and did a circle in the wrong place. Standard!

However, the rest of the test was lovely. Her leg yields just happened, her second medium was better, her medium canters were good, I actually managed to collect her quickly again afterwards...I finished feeling very pleased. It was certainly her best test at this level and I was kicking myself for going wrong!

As it was, it was good enough for over 67% and we were in a qualifying position! It was a long, boring wait for the results, but we held on and stayed in 9th place despite some wonderful competitors. This earnt us a mounted prize giving and a ticket to the next round!

The following week we were back at Ascott under Wychwood. I had originally planned to do the 100 but decided to drop back to 90 as I had a couple of ideas up my sleeve for the xc and I wanted to feel confident myself.

Lexi did a lovely test to score 24.5 - 5 marks into the lead! 

I was very conscious of the hard ground in the show jumping so didn't warm up enough. I also had my head in the clouds and due to ground not riding very forwards. It wasn't the nicest of courses and after I yanked her into an oxer at fence 3 off a tight turn with no leg, Lexi had a cheeky run out and told me to actually ride!

So I did and she jumped the rest well, but 4 faults and 4 time was expensive.

Cross country....I had wondered whether I had simply been chasing her forward too much in previous outings and just letting the front end go completely. As a result, when she becomes spooky, I end up on her neck rather than sat behind and supporting. My aim was to go steady and really really hold her between my leg and hand.

Lexi set off okay and not particularly spooky. I really held her and she jumped well. This technique needs refining - I did get her in deep a few times so it wasn't as flowing as some previous rounds. However, when we came up to the water and she did a double take, I was able to sit behind her, leg on, held her in my hand and she jumped! Her confidence grew throughout the course and we finished clear within the time. 

The show jumping lost us the win and we came 6th but I couldn't be more pleased. Thats the first time in a long time where she's hesitated, backed off and then jumped. One swallow doesn't make a summer but maybe that's where i've been going wrong.

I pondered this as after her stops, I end up with her much more together between my hand and leg and after that she jumps really well.  So a new technique to play with! She's a funny mare, she's very sensitive and I just HAVE to get it right.

I'm now bowing out of eventing apart from my regionals until we've had some rain. Hopefully not a bad decision given we seem to be alternating events of stops and not stops!!! However, the ground is rock solid and her legs are important so I will save her for the big ones. 

Ups and downs

To continue;
Our next trip was Borde Hill. I love this venue. Squirrel gave me the ride of my life round a big meaty novice track here and gained his BE point so I have fond memories.

It was very hot and muggy but the course looked nice.
Lexi was super chilled in her warm up and did a beautiful test - bar the jockey trying to get too much walk which resulted in a jog! However she scored 29 and was up there with the leaders!

The show jumping was on its usual slope and causing its usual problems. After our recent stops, I rode like a demon and Lexi delivered and went clear!

This put us into the lead so I just needed a clear cross country...
It was a Lexicorn day and she sailed!  No hesitations at anything, she just gunned round and I managed to stay within the time by the skin of my teeth. It was a win for us!

Our next outing was Ascott Uunder Wychwood. Another baking hot day.

Not much to say about the dressage and SJ apart from that she was fantastic, scored 28 in the dressage and popped a lovely clear SJ without as much hard work from me.

I hadn't ironed my shirt so had to sweat it out in my jacket and I was really feeling this by the time I went cross country. I felt rubbish! I'm not sure whether Lexi picked up on that or whether she was seeing ghosts, but she set off from the start box spooking at every blade of grass, fence judge, leaf, everything. I managed to keep her going until the fence before the water where we ground to a halt. She jumped it second time and then completed feeling far better!

Following this, we went to Rackham. I felt the cross country was quite strong; few skinnies, fence from sun into woods, and an interesting combination which was a half coffin to a mound to a big skinny log!

Again she warmed up well for the dressage but I lost the connection a bit trotting endlessly round waiting to start. Halfway through our test, a couple of helpful people burst through the hedge next to my arena, resulting in a spectacular half pass. Not in a BE90 test Lexi! We finished with a 32 in a harsh section.

She was fantastic in the SJ, possibly more out of control than perfect but she was keen and felt fantastic. 

We were in a strong position but still needed to get through the cross country. I needn't worried - she was a superstar. No spooky demons, it was a point and kick kind of round and she really delivered. I love riding her through the trickier combos as she's so quick and clever about them. 

In the end we finished 4th so bagged a THIRD regional final!

Our next outing was Offchurch Bury. They had done a beautiful job on the hardening ground and watered it! It was fantastic.

Lexi warmed up well for her dressage but the judge wasn't keen and only scored her a 34.8 which left her in about 10th. I guess she can't be up there every time! She stormed another great clear show jumping.

Cross country started off tragic. She was seeing demons again and spooking and not moving off my leg. I managed to get her over the first fence fences although it felt awful and can't of looked pretty. Finally we ground to a halt infront of a shiny tube fence. Again, like Ascott, afterwards she was fantastic. This did set some cogs whirling in my brain - what changes that makes her so much more forward and confident? It can't be the kicking....

Long break

One day I will get my act together and blog consistently. In fairness; I've had a break up, been working 10 hour shifts and trying to get my life together. This season has also been quite up and down and frankly, its hard to write when things go wrong.

So I will catch up...Likely fairly slowly!

Our next outing was Cricklands. 3 days of show jumping, sun and booze. What's not to love?!

It wasn't our weekend. At first, I thought it was due to their new shiny terrifying show jumping. Unicorns....Zebras....Everything.

In the first warm up, Lexi had a stop at fence 2 and then again at fence 7. So that was that. She felt amazing going in so not sure what happened there!

The next morning was on grass. She jumped a fast, cracking clear and I took a bit risk on a turn but thought why not?! And she did it. And won!

Unfortunately; that afternoon we came to grief at the unicorn fence. I still felt it were the fillers at this stage as she had jumped so well in the grass ring that morning.

The next morning, however, when she stopped three times at the first fence (which she had already jumped), I realised there was something amiss and I took her home. She had physio and we found she was really sore through her back. Lesson learnt - treatment before a big show!


We went for some show jumping in between and had a silly stop at the first fence in both classes, but she jumped the rest easily, including a pretty meaty discovery!

Our next trip was back to Wales for Mount Ballon! I was very relieved to see normal show jumps rather than a zoo!

Lexi warmed up well for her dressage but unfortunately struggled a little with the slope in our arena which the judge took as tension and we scored 32.5 which was disappointing.

The show jumping went well but I relaxed a moment too late and we had a silly stop at the last which also cost us 8 time penalties.

I was a little concerned about the cross country; it was bright in places, had a very narrow unwinged fence at the bottom of a slope and another fairly large skinny on top of a big slope down but I felt it was a good course. Lexi set off well, why I thought she would spook at bright XC fences, I don't know! She was brilliant!  A bit wobbly down to the skinny but held her line to it and jumped it.

The water was murky, weedy and muddy and unfortunately she did stop, took a look and a step back then hesitantly went through. Then flew the rest of the course home.

It was a disappointing result and I was a little tearful on the way home - feeling I've truly ruined my cross country machine!

However my grin in the pictures tells a different story!

Larking at Larkhill

I felt very grateful to get a run at Larkhill on Sunday after every other BE event in the country fell foul to the weather.

Getting ready was a major faff as I had an early time and was working until 9pm the night before but Lexi’s mudfever was bothering her again so it was fairly good timing really as I could keep her in once she was bathed and plaited!

She warmed up a little tense for her dressage and stiff to the right but came softer as we went. When we went to do our test she froze in horror at the sight of some flowers by the arena. She got over it and did a decent test. It wasn’t as soft as some of the tests she’s done but good enough. I was happy with a 29.8 given the vast majority of the scores were in the 40s!

Show jumping was on the side of the hill and on the soft side. Lexi jumped well but unfortunately pecked in a muddy spot from the day before and we got a digger of a stride and had an uncharacteristic pole down. 

Then off for the cross country! She surged out of the start box and stormed over the first fence fences. It was a fair course with all the questions. She was a little spooky through the bright farmyard complex but I kicked and she went. Stormed through the coffin then leapt off the drop a bit too boldly.

At this stage I realised I had to slow down as we were going far too fast. The next few fences were simple and she jumped well, before splashing boldly through the water and the corner combination. Despite my best efforts to slow down, we were still looking at coming in about about 30 seconds too fast. Unfortunately the last fence was a big owl hole and we ground to a halt a few strides out.

Owlholes are Lexi’s nemesis and she was good to jump it second time and still finished within the time!

I have now come up with an idea of how to build one. Apologies for the late post, life gets crammed a bit full sometimes!

Flying changes and rain

Is anyone else fed up with this sodding weather?! I’ve spent at least half of my week off looking at livery yards in California and the other half researching how to build an ark.

Lexi had to spend a few days in last week as her mudfever got out of control and I couldn’t even pick her foot up. Mare doesn’t do boxrest and stopped eating completely, promptly lost about 17 stone (wish I had her metabolism!) and thus went out again after not one but TWO vet visits. For bloody mud fever. 

Thankfully she’s started eating again. Top priority next time I buy a horse; does it like eating?! I have 1 complete fat-face who eats anything including but not limited to Dog biscuits, lemons and rose wine, and one who’s secret ambition is to be a catwalk model. No prizes for guessing which one costs £10 a mont to feed and which one costs £90. 

We had a dressage lesson the other day. I ADORE my dressage instructor. Not only has she brought our dressage marks down by 13% in a year and a half, she has a sense of humour, loves my horse and despite having far bigger fish to fry than me, always remembers to text and ask how my be90 dressage test went, even when she’s abroad coaching at the Europeans. 

We decided it was high time to introduce flying changes. I had wanted to wait until the counter canter was established as it will be a long time (if ever) that I need to do changes in a test. (Not so long if super duper dressage instructor gets her way...considering I registered BD this winter, she might be winning). Unfortunately we did this a little too well as Lexi can now do 10m circles in counter canter and frankly never bothers to change anymore when show jumping which is a little awkward.

So basically we just do a half 10m circle, leg yield back to the track with lots of bounce then ask for the change. And amazingly, she got them pretty much right away. 

We had a couple of really good sessions then a seriously cranky one where she was bucking to the point where she hit my actual foot. Which is quite impressive. 

Marvellous Munstead

Finally FINALLY out event season started.

On my birthday, none the less. I had slight heart palpitations when I saw the course photos and saw a rather bushy owl hole which is our archille’s heel. Lexi just doesn’t quite ‘get’ them. This led to an impromptu last minute xc school instead of an SJ lesson (god bless my instructor) so we could actually jump one. She had a stop the first time then was class and was perfect over everything else although we didn’t do too much.

The day dawned, dry if not particularly sunny. My civilised times became less civilised with the clock change so I dragged a slightly begrudging partner up at what felt like 4am. We arrived slightly behind schedule (4am starts not being partner’s strong point) and hustled round the course. There were a couple of things to think about and of course, the dreaded owl hole.

We racked up and rode to the dressage before I realised I’d left my number bib at the lorry to had to hurtle back and grab it then had a quick warm up. She felt fabulous in the warm up and we trotted down to our ring. Of course we had the wettest one with a very soggy corner. Lexi went a little tense (Weee we are on grass!) but overall did a good test. She relaxed as the test went on and did everything where I asked, including one of her best free walks. Walks have been emotional for us in the past as Lexi is very sensitive and pretty sharp so keeping her relaxed and avoiding jogging can be tricky. I was pleased and felt in another outing or two she would relax to being back on grass.

We went on to the show jumping. The ground was very soft and getting pretty cut up in the ring. Thankfully, possibly because our fields are pretty wet and our school is a bit deep, Lexi wasn’t fussed at all. She warmed up well then we went in. Towards the end of last year, she’s become very consistent in this phase and produced her customary clear. Show jumping was causing a few problems so I was very pleased! 

I was equally pleased when I heard our dressage score of 22.8! I checked the results after the SJ. The judge was using a full range of marks; the leader was on 22 and a few more in the 20s but equally plenty in the 40s so a real mixed bag.

Time to set off for cross country. My heart was in my mouth. I was excited but also nervous - after last season, I wasn’t sure what I would have coming out of the start box.

Lexi warmed up well then off we went. She started jogging as we went over to the starter and frankly flew out of the startbox.

I kicked on as we set off as I know from previous experience she goes far better if ridden forwards. So over fence one. By fence 3 I was smiling. She was galloping and jumping, not at all looky, just galloping and jumping. Fence 5 were a couple of angled palisades on two strides so I got her back a little but she was as straight as a die and knew what to do.

We had a great shot to the trakhner and the hay wagon then rounded the corner to the water. She did grind her brakes here and stopped to sniff it then went in. Bit naughty as she has done plenty of waters and been fine but I’m sure she’ll get back into the swing of it. Popped the fence coming out.

Time for the owl hole. We came round the corner, I sat deep and leg on. We got a bit deep to it but she never hesitated and went straight through. At this stage I glanced at my watch and realised we were going far too fast so I applied the brakes a bit and tried to steady our rhythm. Next was a step up, stride across and a step down. Not an issue for this mare.

The next fence was the only other fence I thought could be a bit tricky for us. It was a step down then 1 stride to a hanging log on an angle. The trouble was the 80cm fence was straight on from the drop and there have been times my steering has gone a little awol in my bitless so I was slightly concerned we would lock on to the wrong fence. Didn’t happen - popped down, turned and over the log.

Popped a couple of easy fences then a double of relatively narrow hanging logs. Again no problem. At this stage I felt a bit like I was playing one of those eventing pc games - press spacebar and horse jumps. 

Tried to slow down and pop the last and cantered through the finish line 22 seconds too fast 😳

Sadly the too fast pens cost us the win but we came 4th in a competitive section and with 41 starters, our first regional Q under our belt!

I couldn’t be more pleased (or had a better birthday present!). In 2016 she was an xc machine. She would need a bit of encouragement over the first couple then cruise control would come on and I would point and she would jump.

Our fall lost me my nerve which ended up coming through to her and most of last season was spent retiring or eliminated with stops either SJ or XC. We dropped down the levels and regained it but after a break I wasn’t sure what we would have. Just need to go a bit slower next time! It’s hard with her, she isn’t unsafe when she is going quick - she doesn’t need setting up for the easy fences, just jumps out of her stride and her stride is very long. And she goes better when ridden forward. But we will figure it out.

And yes it might not be socially acceptable to post pictures of a dressage sheet but I’m proud of it. Pity about the awol quarters, this isn’t our strong point. I usually manage in trot but I came into the arena on the right rein (all my tests recently have been track left at A and instructor said to enter on the rein you go into but I wonder if she finds it harder to stay straight in the R rein so I couldn’t correct her? And walk I would always struggle with as she can be inclined to jog if I apply leg).

How to not do dressage

Preperation is key right?

So 3 days off due to sodding snow that came AGAIN was not ideal. 

I hate snow. I work for the emergency services on the front line for a start so snow = a death defying 40 mile commute which I really HAVE to make because with me, all the people who crash don’t have anyone to call.

My car is not suitable for snow, it’s a convertible and I love it but it’s built for warm sunny days, not snow. 

Then the horses can’t go out. I’ve tried everything to stop snow balling up and after I read an article about balled up snow resulting in fractured pedal bones I gave up trying.

So they get mad. 

Then you can’t ride because again, snow balls. 

Then when it finally melts everything is soaking wet AGAIN. What is it with this winter?!

To be honest, in a way it was good as it forced me to keep Lexi in for 3 days as she’s got some nasty mudfever which didn’t want to shift. I’ve even had the vet..twice...for antibiotics as it developed a bit of a secondary infection. Then as she hates being in she starts to not eat...all good fun. It’s almost there though and yesterday the vet said we have to balance the legs with her gut as if she doesn’t eat much that will trigger her ulcers and so on and so forth.

Anyway I digress.

I managed to ride Tuesday - if I can say one positive beyond totally unrestricted turnout on my yard, it’s that our school is quite deep and actually very rarely freezes. So I managed to school Tuesday.

I hate schooling the day before a competition because I feel it has to be perfect and then obviously it goes wrong. Combine that with 3 days box rest and there you go. Actually she wasn’t too bad. She’s a bit stiff to the right at the moment but she has physio due on Tuesday so I think she’s likely a bit tight.

I got to the yard with tonnes of time spare then ended up running late as I had a pellet delivery which almost ended up with me meeting my maker under a tonne of pellets.

I then set off. We arrived in time and I tacked up and warmed up. I didn’t have quite enough time warming up as I was loitering by the full warm up instead of just forcing my way in.

First was elementary 40. One of the simpler elementary tests in my opinion. She went very sweetly in my opinion up until I managed to ride into a dressage board, in walk no less, pull it into the arena which resulted in a leap and a canter and a lost stirrup and ALMOST a rider on the floor.

We very coolly put ourselves back together and finished the test. I thought it was a pity as she actually produced a nice test.

Next was elementary 57. I prefer these types of busier tests and I find she tends to go better. I was pleased. I fluffed up my canter serpentine a bit as I had a mind blank how to ride it but she did her simple changes correctly. There is also a cross over the arena from E to B in canter with a change through trot. With the numerous canter to walks in this test, I knew we would struggle a little here as she can sometimes suck back and try to go directly to walk. We managed it but it wasn’t the most beautiful of movements.

I was pleased with the test. I felt it was one of her better BD tests.

We found we came third in the first test on 67% which I was thrilled with given the dismantled arena but only a 62% under the other judge which left us 6th. I was a bit disappointed with that mark as it’s her second worst Mark literally ever and the test felt good. However there were a couple of tests which were marked significantly lower which I felt looked respectable enough. That’s how it goes with dressage!

My membership now expires and I was pleased to end on that note.

I might renew sooner than the winter, just depends on money and show opportunities. Eventing is still my summer love.

Now it’s time to perform a sun dance as we’re meant to be eventing on Sunday which is also my birthday!