SJ Training at Rectory Farm Arena

This morning we set of to Rectory Farm arena to hire the show jumps for some practise.  Thankfully we beat the rain and it was the first time Socks had been jumping on her lonesome and managed to cope very well, she's growing up!!!  She seems completely unfazed by fillers and takes everything on but a bit more work is needed on her canter to get her stronger so thats our homework for the next couple of weeks then we'll be back to get some more practise in. 

A month of '1st's (but not in the rosette sense!)

Wow its been a hectic few weeks and Socks has been one busy mare!  Picnic the Showjumpingshire on the other hand has been enjoying her leisurely strolls and schooling sessions but not so keen to see the lorry keep leaving the yard without her.  We are hopeful that now she is on a new joint supplement and her workload has changed that she will be able to go for an outing soon and I get the feeling there may be a 'sit tight' moment or two as she is feeling very well in herself.

Socks has suddenly grown up and progressing very well, coping with lots of new situations and in the space of 3 weeks it has been all systems go!  Socks has so far done her first fun ride, first cross country jump, first full course of show jumps, first warm up in the school with the door open and first run though of a prelim dressage test.  I am very proud of her and here is a quick summary of everything she has managed to do.

Fun ride - We went to Barbury Castle on the autumn fun ride organised by the Vine and Craven Hunt.  This was the first time Socks had seen so many horses in one place and the first time she had ever seen a cross country fence.  The first log was quite funny as she stopped with all four legs spread apart snorted took a minute to work out what i was asking her to do then lept it landed and shot off towards the next one with ears pricked, only problem being that she kept collecting her canter and showjumping them!  By the end of the ride she managed logs, tyres, rails and even a steeplechase fence when we were feeling brave although she still kept showjumping them all almost jumping me out the saddle each time!!!

Course of Showjumps - We hired Rectory Farm arena with a full course of BS show jumps, there was a course set up complete with fillers so we thought we would do a mock competition and just warm up over one fence then have a go at the course.  Socks was bursting with confidence and although a little wobbly into some of the scary fillers she took everything on and managed a course of 11 fences clear!  Good pony!

Schooling away from home - we have been out to 2 different venues for lessons, the first with Tessa Thorne in an indoor school on her own and the second at AM Dressage with Matt Frost in an indoor school sharing with one other horse.  The lesson with Tessa was great as there happened to be lots going on and horses being lunged next door so she had to cope and other than a few baby moments of calling out she coped very well.  We went to Matt for two days and had one lesson on each day, the second day we ran through a full test and managed a warm up with the door open and didn't disappear  out of it!  She worked beautifully and it really felt like we had a breakthrough in our training - the best feeling ever and probably equals a win out competing.  After working so hard I cannot stop smiling at the fact I now am starting to have a grown up horse that is beginning to enjoy her work and we are becoming a partnership (with the odd disagreement buck - she really does know best!)

Now we need a little rest before we are off to hire out the showjumps again then I think it may be time to try our first competition... watch this space!

Its great to be back out and about

Well its June and we have managed our first outing of the year, the lorry finally passed its plating, my saddle is fixed and even more importantly I have horses to ride!

At the beginning of June the Showjumpingshire had a super time at the Unicorn trust on the Senior Instructors Clinic, Picnic was however slightly confused on entering the indoor arena to find not one single jump in there!  Yes much to her disappointment she was away for two days to work on her flatwork, we managed to work on her suppleness and contact both of which cause her to lose concentration and become a little opinionated so we spent time setting the boundaries which took a little convincing but by the end she had much more power to her paces and also softer and easier to ride.  By day two I even got tanked off with in trot as Picnic found she could use her hind legs in a way she thought she couldn't and showed off how far underneath her she could get them!

After the first outing of the year we couldn't wait for another and so hunted around but I just wanted something quiet to attend and everywhere has qualifiers at the moment so decided instead to hire out the fabulous Rectory Farm Arena nearby to get some jump practise in.  We were working on popping round a course keeping our rhythm and power in the canter.  After warming up I was surprised to find Picnic a little spooky and sticky at the first few fillers, then I realised its been nearly 8 months since she's seen a full set of show jumps!  It didn't take long before she was back full of confidence and we were both thoroughly enjoying ourselves, she's definately back on form and made the bigger jumps and combinations effortless.