Solihull JAS - Cloons Master Plan 24/01/2010
We arrived at 8:30 and I had to unfreeze myself from the lorry seat! It was perishingly cold on the way down, and no heating with a draft old lorry was not fun! I walked the course and I have to say, I didn't like it. The SJ part was fine, but the XC part had some rather difficult things in it, considering that this was supposed to be BE90 level. There was a triple around a corner, so you did the first element jumping into a wall, turned 90 degrees and out over a double. There were only two strides between A & B. Horrifically tight, and loads of horses in the BE90 baulked at it because they didn't want to jump directly into a wall! Oh and part B had a water tray with foliage on it underneath the rail, so that (plus the fact that horses turned a corner and were immediately faced by it) meant it caused problems! (The first four people all had stops here). There was also a double of meaty skinny's and a corner on a horrible angle - not many strides after a double and on a bend with a jump in the way so you had hardly any straight strides. BE 90 - He warmed up well. Went in, spooked dramatically at a banner on the edge of the area - not a good sign! The bell went, we popped number one nicely and number two - starting to feel better, he was jumping well and we had got over some fences! Round to three the double, nicely through that, four was an upright, that was fine. Five was a skinny upright, 6 and 7 were both fine. Then onto the cross country part. He flew fence 8, then a handbrake turn around the skinny's to a skinny brush, leaped that - this is a horse that team chases, I mean really. If he was going to pretend there were aliens, couldn't he at least do it at something that I could forgive him for spooking at! Popped the wall at 10, nice over roll top at 11. Trotted into the triple combination at 12, popped over turned, managed to squeeze three strides in - no idea how!! Then out over the next elements fine. Then onto the double of skinny's which I messed up! Ross doesn't do long ones as a general rule, and isn't reliable with skinny's etc anyway, plus he finds then scary and I stupidly asked him for a long stride. Cue a stop, then he took off out of fear wasting loads of time!! Anyway clear through on the second attempt. Then around to the road closed double, clear there. Very steady round to the corner, he thought about running out but we got over. Finally the last, which he flew! So I stupidly cost us a nice double clear. We also ended up with THIRTY TWO time penalties...opps! We got a style score of 18. Had we finished on 18 or even had 8 time pens we would have qualified for the championships. BE 100 - Well I was determined not to get time penalties this time! He popped around the SJ very nicely, but had the style at fence 5 down, not entirely sure why, but I must have done something to upset him. A bit rushed off the corner maybe? So onto the XC bit, I pushed on to try and make the time, flew the first jump at 8, tight turn, kick on over the brush, going for a forward stride. Ross was not amused and put a little one in. This horse likes to show jump in his steady pingy rhythm and does not appreciate being pushed out of it and make to go faster. And as he also doesn't like to go on long ones, this forward pace caused a few issues. However I was determined not to get 32 time pens again so I kept it up, this meant that we had some very sticky jumps. He put a little one in at the roll top too. Nice through the triple. Really pushed on down the long side. Then came to the double of skinny's...ahem...me very much thinking forwards, Ross a bit unsure and a dodgy stride = an extremely messy jump! We managed to get over the second part nicely though. Poor Ross, I don't think he liked the moving on business. He jumped the road closed things nicely, scrambled over the corner (very nearly ran out again) and absolutely flew the last beautifully! I was very happy to hear the words ''inside the time'' but quite embarrassed with how messy the round was. I was very concerned as to what horrific mark we would get for our style, in the end we got 20. Plus 4 faults for the pole, leaving us on 24 for finish. We came 20th in the BE 90 and 18th in the BE 100 (about 60 in it). So not too shabby, but it would have been nice to qualify for the BE 90 championships.  The photos from the BE 90 and BE 100 can be seen here - Solihull JAS Photos I apologise in advance for the dodgy lower leg position! I do quite like the picture in the BE 100 over the second element of the road closed double though!! Add Comment Updates on Belvedere... 22/01/2010
Well for the past few days Belvedere has been at Hartpury Therapy centre where he has been ridden by local eventer Tor Brewer and evaluated by Liz Launders and Chris Rea. From what I can gather the conclusion is that the main problem is somewhere between his shoulders and his loins. When Belvedere had physio sessions with Sarah Price in july-october she said that ''despite a lack of muscle in certain areas and some weakenss he has always been symmetrical both skeletally and muscularly''. Both Liz and Chris noticed immediately that he was most certainly not symmetrical... So to try and find the route of the problem he is having x-rays on Wednesday also because Chris says there may still be something nagging him in his hock he will have that x-rayed as well. We are hoping that the x-rays will show something up because other wise the next step will be a bone scan, which will be highly expensive. Unfortunately Chris did say that even if they find anything it may not be something treat-able.. So **fingers crossed** for my baby. On the plus side, Tor said that she really likes belvedere, that he is a very nice horse and she hopes we can fix him.  Belvedere winning Goring Heath JON - 2009 I have upgraded to Pro!!!! 13/01/2010
No, I haven't decided to become a professional event rider....I wish. But I have upgraded my weebly account to pro! This gives me lots of sparkly new things to play with that I couldn’t do with my original account.
 Katherine Begley Eventing 'Favicon' Here are the other images I was playing with. (Click to enlarge)    I have to say, I do rather like this little image. Even though it doesn't work as the favicon I think I am going to have to find another use for it! Hope you like it!  If you can't beat the snow - Join it....!! 10/01/2010
Seeing as England has suddenly become like Iceland and is covered from head to toe in snow (see picture below) we decided to have a play!  Photo: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response The snow has been so frustrating because it has resulted in having the horses sitting in their stables bored and not being able to do anything or go anywhere. Belvedere was supposed to be going to Hartpury Therapy centre on Saturday to start the diagnostic process, but we couldn't get him there. Which means that is it getting closer & closer to the eventing season and we haven't sorted his problems. So we followed the principle, if you can't beat them - join them! (Click to enlarge)       Belvedere has an 'MOT' with the vets 07/01/2010
Well, as you may remember, at Weston Park Belv's dressage completely fell apart. It was like there was something wrong with him. It had been going downhill for a few months and was just horrific at Weston. So we decided to start the winter off with some show jumping and hunting to keep him happy and take his mind off the dressage. However, recently I have started doing some schooling, and in just a plain snaffle I cannot get any degree of flexion in the poll out of him. So we took him to Tor Brewer's (eventer based in Hartpury) for a lesson to see what she thought. She got on and found him exactly the same, she also said that his neck did not look like that of a 1* event horse. As she continued to walk him around more, she couldn't believe just how in submissive he was and came to the conclusion that there must be something wrong in his neck. So she recommended we get out Liz launders and Chris Rea from Kearns and Rea Three counties equine hospital to have a look at him. They came on Monday 4th January and to begin with we just talked about what the problem was, any incidents in the past few months etc. I then trotted him up and down the drive, turned him on tight circles and let the vets prod and poke him. They said that he had some very odd muscle on his neck, and that generally all over his body his muscle tone was very uneven. We then went and lunged him in the school in trot on both reins. And then I got on in my dressage saddle and nathe snaffle and attempted to school in. This was to allow them to see what he was like. Liz got me to do various different circles and things with my reins to see if anything changed his way of going. Finally to finish we put him in the Pelham, as per usual this gave us a nice flexed horse. However, what Chris & Liz noticed was that belvedere NEVER used himself behind, not once during the whole examination. They said that there was no change between lunging, riding with the snaffle and riding with the Pelham. Liz said that this was most surprising, as the Pelham should have set him back on his haunches more. They also said that he has a subtle lameness in his off fore and near hind. Neither of which they were hugely worried about, but just that it was something that we may need to look into if we find nothing else. They said that they think that there is something wrong with his neck and something else wrong in his back end. E.g. some arthritis in his hock, preventing him from using himself. So instead of launching into hundreds of full body scans the first step is to put him on an intensive course of Bute. This is not as a treatment but as a diagnostic tool. The idea is that Tor rides him whilst he is on Bute and she talks to Liz about whether there is any improvement. Therefore if while he is on Bute he becomes more easy to flex, then it will show that there is something physically hurting him in his neck. Or, if the Bute makes his back end work better so that he uses himself more, it will confirm their suspicions that he has a physical problem in his back end/near side hock. Therefore allowing the vets to determine that there are problems in his neck/hind end and investigate further and take x-rays etc. If the Bute doesn’t help him at all, then it may indicate a neurological problem HAPPY NEW YEAR! - Roll on 2010! 02/01/2010
I realise this is a few days late, but I was away for New Year with some fellow Eventing friends! We all met up in Lincolnshire for a meal and frivolities around town/home etc. Had a brilliant time, and shockingly managed to escape a hangover - Oh I love being young! So Happy New Year to all my readers, supporters and sponsors! Hope we all have a fantastic 2010!  | SponsorshipDo you have a high quality product or business that you believe in?
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