Well this was a mixed day. It started off brilliantly with the dressage. Tor was riding at the same time so threw some comments to me when I was warming up and Belv went really well. He did a very sweet test but I felt it could have been a bit better in places. However we ended up with 32.5 which is a brilliant score for us and our best ever BE mark together, so I was thrilled with that!
Unfortunately we did rather ruin this in the Show Jumping! We only had one fence down which would have been okay in itself, but we unfortunately picked up a further 4 pens and 5 time faults at fence 4 which gave us a bit of a cricket score. However he flew the XC clear inside the time which pulled us back up the order somewhat and we finished 8th. A double clear would have seen us win and even with the 4 faults we would have been second so that was very irritating and has most likely cost us a place on the JRN team this year. However onwards and upwards to Hartpury CCI* next week!!
Well it was Belv's second event of the season on the weekend but we did exactly the same as we did the week before at the first event of the season - 40 dressage, 4 faults SJ and clear XC with a few time!!
It was a strange event, because Tor took Belv down for us, so me and mum drove down separately in the car (well actually I drove, can you believe it!!)
He warmed up really well for the dressage, but unfortunately in the ring we had two ''moments'' that dropped our score from 33.7 to a 40.0. So that was very disappointing, however it just goes to show that the good work is in there and we will get those low 30's very soon!
Next up was my nemesis, the Show Jumping! I was nervous because quite a few people I know were watching, however he had warmed up really well. Popped fences 1-7 really well, just tipped fence 8 and then got very deep to fence 9 but he tried really hard and cleared it. Then clear over the final double. So just an annoying four faults again!!
Pictures below (Click to enlarge)
Finally, the best bit! Needless to say, he absolutely flew around the XC for a fabulous clear with just 3.6 time penalties because he isn't all that fit. I do love him XC, he just takes everything in his stride, which is clear to see from how he jumped through the water! Totally foot perfect! All in all a slightly disappointing day due to the mistakes in the dressage and the pole SJ. It would have been nice to do a double clear and get a point, but hey ho!
Wow, what a week! I had both horses at Glanusk from Wednesday last week until very late on Sunday evening. Jack was doing the Junior National Championships CCI* class and Belvedere was doing his first event since Weston CCIJ* in October, a JRN class.
The full report of the week can be seen
here (click for link), but in short I had a brilliant, but quite emotional and trying time! Jack did a fair dressage test but got a disappointing mark of 59.2, which equates to 39.5 in British Eventing terms. Pictures are below
(click to enlarge).He then proceeded to do a fantastic XC round clear inside the time, doing all the direct routes over an incredibly big and technical track. However, later that day he became lame and although he was much better the following day, he was sent to the hold box during the trot up and I withdrew him from there. He had a slight sore point on his tendon, and although there was no heat or swelling there was no way I was going to run him and risk breaking him. So that was very gutting, but it doesn't take away how good he was on the cross country. Below are some pictures of him on the XC and of the course.
Finally, on Sunday it was belv's turn to party. The dressage was very dissapointing, he got slightly freaked out by the competition atmosphere and the test was below par. We ended up with 40.0 - not quite what the last 6months of hard work has been aiming for. Anyway he redeemed himself by jumping well in the SJ and just rolling at unlucky pole. As expected he romped around the XC and just had 5.2 time penalties because he is not very fit. We ended up 8th so it was nice to get a rosette!
Below are some pictures of him earlier on in the week.
Well it has been a while since I have talked about how Belv is doing. A few months ago he was seen by a chiropractor and had a few weeks just walking and trotting in a long and low outline to re-build up his muscles etc. He came back very well from this and was very supple and submissive. However he suddenly became rod-like again and we went back to Tor for help and in her words we were ''back to where we were six months ago''. Needless to say I was absolutely gutted by this and it meant that we had to withdraw him from Longleat JRN. However, it's not all doom and gloom! We got Sam Smith to come out and give Belv some treatment and this has helped hugely. We think that Belv just needs regular appointments to keep him in shape! Anyway, he has been going fairly well and is entered for Glanusk JRN next weekend which I am very excited (and nervous) about!
Yesterday morning, in preparation for Glanusk, Tor took Belv to Summerhouse for an SJ schooling round and I came up before school to ride him. I was very pleased with how he went, he felt good over the fences and was generally being very careful! Although I often fired him at the fences making him flatten on the last few strides, so I need to work on that.
Jumping
Finally, I travelled up to Tor's after school today and had a play with him on the flat. He was going okay to begin with but a bit stiff in his neck and was being a bit argumentative. Tor then got on and had a play and got him going really nicely and then plonked me back in the saddle! I was quite pleased with how he went but I don't think he was as soft and submissive in his neck as he was before his most recent 'episode'. It didn't really feel like he was consistently round and relaxed, however I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked on the video, so we shall see how it goes in the next few days and at Glanusk!
Well seeing as Jack was no longer competing on Saturday at Weston we decided to take Belvedere to Allens Hill for some BSJA. We decided only to do the Discovery (1m) because Belv hasn't done any competitions for ages and I haven't jumped him much at all over the past two months. We had a really nice time, the weather was fantastic (actually it was too hot!) and we bought some nice things. A fly rug for Jack and a very smart leather head collar for Belv and Jack to share! Anyway, back onto why we were there - Belvedere did a lovely sweet round and went clear. I missed him to fence four but he picked up and other than that it was really quite acceptable. Pictures from the first round can be seen below.
(Click to enlarge)
I was secretly hoping for a clear in the jump off too but I knew it was unlikely because Belv has never been good once he has already jumped a round and although I don't think either of us did anything particularly wrong we had two down. I think the last fence was my fault due to our approach but the earlier pole was possibly just him being a bit lazy. But it was a sweet round nevertheless. Videos from both rounds a photo from the jump off can be seen below:
This morning we took Belvedere to Tor's for a dressage lesson. I was on him to begin with and although the walk wasn't brilliant he was doing some very nice soft trot work so that was good. Then Tor got on him for the first time in over two weeks and had a play and softened him up nicely. Put me back on board and did some work in walk, trot and canter trying to keep him soft and relaxed but up together and working from behind. He went very well and Tor seemed very pleased with it all. So that was all quite successful. Afterwards we then showed Tor the BSJA video and she said I should be very happy with it.
Video of me and Belv in our lesson today -
And just to finish of Belv's very busy weekend we took him to Gadbury cross country course for a little play after the lesson. Tor was also heading over there with some horses so gave us a pelham with normal metal mouthpiece to play with (we think the Vulcanite pelham may be a bit too chunky in his mouth). In fact one of the horses Tor had belonged to a friend of mine who was there watching, so it was nice to see her! Belvedere went really well - better than he normally goes when XC schooling actually, I think he was quite happy to be out and about! Tor also got to see what an epic XC machine he is!
Finally, on a good note Jack looked sound trotting about in the field earlier so I am going to give him a little ride in the school tomorrow and see how he is. If all goes well I will enter him up for Hambleden ON and Aston Le Walls OIU21!
What shall we do first, the good or the bad. Let's start with the good. Well last week I took Jack with me and went to work at Tor Brewers. Unfortunately the week was slightly disrupted as Tor had had a fall the weekend I arrived and knocked herself out! So she wasn't feeling on top form. However she helped me with both Jack and Belv everyday and they went really well. We mainly concentrated on jumping as I had yet to jump Belv and Jack's canter needed work. On Thursday Tor drove me and my ponies to an arena in Gloucester and I jumped courses on both of them. They both were FANTASTIC and Tor seemed genuinely thrilled with how they went. We now have Belvedere at home and even though Tor hasn't sat on him for about 2 weeks things still *touch wood* seem to be going okay!
Here is a video of me riding Belvedere yesterday morning.
Onto the bad news. On Thursday afternoon Jack was shod, the following day he was lame with heat in his foot and leg and some swelling around his tendon area. The shoe was taken off and hoof tested and it was clear he was very sore on the inside of his foot. So we left it off, tubbed and poulticed it for a number of days but he still seemed very lame and the heat and swelling was still in his leg. So we went to the vets and they nerve blocked his foot, but he was still lame after that thus suggesting his foot wasn't the problem. So we scanned both his front legs looking at all his tendons and ligaments etc but thankfully they all seemed fine and dandy. However that leaves us with a bit of a mystery as to his lameness. We have him on antibiotics now in case the heat and swelling is from an infection in his foot that has gone up the leg. The action plan is to leave his shoe off for a few days, put it back on, give him a quiet week and see how he is. However that means we will have to withdraw from Weston on Saturday!
Well just a quick updates on Belvedere's re-training with Tor. It has been going extremely well! I went and rode him on the last week (on the 7th) and Tor said it was the best he had gone! Here are some videos from last week (including some hissy fits!!)
Then today (after show jumping on Jack) I went for another session and I was THRILLED with the way he went! Although it probably doesn't look much different from the session last week it felt so much better to me. I felt much more in control and I felt his outline was much more consistent! Although my arms need to strengthen up a bit as we now have quite a strong contact!!! Excuse the jumping kit - Tor popped him over a few jumps afterwards! I am going to jump him with Tor on Thursday and then I think she wants to take Belv to a Dressage/SJ competition at some point!
Yesterday I went to ride Belvedere again. It has been two weeks since I last rode him and wow he has completely changed once again! Last time he was very soft and relaxed but everything felt very fragile. Like at any moment it could all fall apart. We were also not asking much from him, but over the last two weeks Tor has been continuing on with him and it has all become much more established and she has been asking him to work properly. This does mean that he sometimes resists it because he finds it hard, but it is clearly on the right track. It was very different to what he was two weeks ago, but in a good way. It didn't feel like it was about to fall apart and I could actually ride him from leg to hand with a strong contact like a normal horse! He is clearly much more uphill and collected than he ever has been before so I am hoping that with time he will get used to using these new muscles and will find it easier and therefore will have a more consistent and relaxed outline. However I think it all bodes well for the future!
How exciting. I rode Belvedere for the first time in quite a while yesterday! He has been at Tor's for his re-training, and wow what a good job she has done with him! He is so much more relaxed, chilled and soft to ride. I only rode him for 5/10 mins or so on Wednesday because we are introducing me to him gradually! It was very strange though, he feels so so different, in a good way of course. But it has made me realise that I am probably not going to be eventing him in March/April because he is still very fragile and it isn't going to be a quick process.
I also rode him today (in the snow) and rode him for about 10 minutes again, but I was approved to canter him this time! Tor was very pleased with how we went and said that I looked much more relaxed and confident today. I suppose that is because I knew what to expect!
Here is a video from Wednesday, Unfortunately I have no video from today as my Gran drove me over to Tor’s.
