Saturday, August 30, 2008
i've got some great news!!
WE'RE BACCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!
so... i signed up for Big Bears schooling show this weekend... was planning on schooling the training jumps the night before and then riding novice... to get our confidence up and give us a happy run since we crashed and burned the last two outings. Well..... we got there the night before and schooling the training course and fleck was GREAT!!! it is a very move-up friendly course..... until recently!! it still is, but they've added some pretty big tricky stuff to the training course. (Atleast big and scary to me!) So... we schooled it. and we've schooled it before but it was before the two crash and burns so our cnofidence was much higher back then... Fleck did great! the tricky parts were a big log slightly downhill to a ditch (which fleck...used to be a son of a ditch but seems to have gotten over it finally!!!) and he looked, but he went!! Next was a very vertical wall with brush... which they added a log in front of so it wasn't too vertical, but... big and at a fairly odd angle. Fleck chipped it a bit, but...better to chip in than take the flyer!! for us anyways... and when he chipped he didn't roll over his shoulder, so i was thrilled! So then there was these double down banks to a ditch!!! totally HUGE!!! freakishly huge!!! like should be prelim in my mind freakishly huge... but he went down. it took him a few "are you sure mom?!" but he finally did it and then it became fun!! like a roller coaster!! then there was a jump into the water/water drop type fence... which i don't like and fleck was great for! and..yeah..there was an in and out trakenher type fence and a HUGE ramp which i used to hate, but dang that rides soooo well, it might have just been my fave fence.
So.... that night at dinner i talked to my friends and dressage coach and they helped me decide to just switch and run training... so we did... and WE WON!!!! hee hee. granted there was only two of us and it was the other girls first training, but still. it was EXACTLY what i needed...and what fleck needed... it was a HUGE confidence boost, a big fat ball of fun, and... we went double clear... even had almost a minute of time faults for being too slow!! which was actually a goal of mine and we usually just careen around!! so my new coach (still have dressage coach as dressage coach but have new jumping coach as dressage coach has kicked us out of the nest for jumping!) has me working on rocking him back on his haunches and getting that bouncy canter when needed and keeping him up even when i let him move out a little. And he was AWESOME!!!! after the double downs i actually yelled out "you're FLECKEN AWESOME buddy!!" hee hee. i'm such a geek. but yeah... he was soooooo good. I felt bad though cause we schooled XC for almost an hour and 45 minutes or so and he was getting a little tired at the end... though it did take til the end!! and then saturday we did the three phase and added a second dressage test! So anyways... saturday dawned hot and sweaty! We started with our dressage...which was SWEET!!!! the turn-out was pretty low so they cancelled the judge and had the barn manager do it.... so i'm sure she was a bit more generous than a rated judge, but MAN that test felt GOOD!!! and we didn't even ride it until that test... course i've ridden it twice before in shows, but it had been awhile. But he was SPOT ON!!! hee hee. it was great... and we freakin scored a 30.5!!!! totally my lowest score EVER!!! so we got a blue ribbon for that. Then i went almost right back in and rode 1-4 test because i thought it was going to be GDCTA rec. for scores, but... it wasn't. but that's okay. our test was pretty good and pretty bad... we had some really ugly moments, but he also felt much better than the norm when he was being good. so i was pleased. and turns out...judge was too. we got a frickin 67.8!!!! again..totally my highest score ever! So i think there was 3 other rides in that class - not sure if it was first level test of choice or they all rode first level four...i think one girl might have ridden it twice maybe... but anyways... we got first on that too :) Sweet...so far two blue ribbons! So then we go out for XC and totally ROCK IT!!! i had to do two little "respect my authority" circles... mostly cause he was cross cantering and off balance and getting "runny" so... we fixed it. "GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE BOY!"! hee hee...and he was jumping great!! my trainer said he was loping around like a school horse... not the usual freight train :) so he was soooo good. he wiggled just a bit on some of the scary banks and ditches but totally listened to my seat and went (as my reins were ready to slip and i had grabbed the ohcrapstrap). So we finished almost a minute and 10-15 seconds too slow. which...again... was my goal! and...actually, we only trotted a little bit and had those two circles so i really think my canter must have changed dramatically from the downhill runny flat canter to the up and bouncy and impulsed canter. shweet. so then..stadium time! it was a pretty neat course!! It was a single, to a single, turn across the center of the arena to a one stride, sharp bend left to a single, around to a bendy line, sharp turn to a single, sharp bend left to another single, then roll back to a single to a one stride... oh..some were oxers too. but fleck was great!! cross cantered just a bit, but... much better than we used to. so we went clean and ended up winning!!! and then...turns out... i had the highest dressage only score of the day so we won a teddy bear!!!
it was awesome!!! i had so much fun. it was also great cause i went with three awesome people!!! one girls horse ended up pulling his shoe while we were schooling...it sucked so bad!!! cause he has toe clips and the clip totally went into his lamina a bit... so she did the good thing and scratched. but i felt so sad for her. then my other friend had a kid and was out of the saddle for most of her pregnancy and is just back into it and totally won her tadpole class!!! i'm so excited for her. She even beat my trainer :) hee hee. granted my trainer was on her just 4 year old, but still. trainer got 3rd cause she had one rail in stadium but her greeny was awesome too. So it was such a good weekend.
so...chatt hills training schooling show here we come!!!
sorry if i blabbed... i'm just excited :)
WE'RE BACCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!
so... i signed up for Big Bears schooling show this weekend... was planning on schooling the training jumps the night before and then riding novice... to get our confidence up and give us a happy run since we crashed and burned the last two outings. Well..... we got there the night before and schooling the training course and fleck was GREAT!!! it is a very move-up friendly course..... until recently!! it still is, but they've added some pretty big tricky stuff to the training course. (Atleast big and scary to me!) So... we schooled it. and we've schooled it before but it was before the two crash and burns so our cnofidence was much higher back then... Fleck did great! the tricky parts were a big log slightly downhill to a ditch (which fleck...used to be a son of a ditch but seems to have gotten over it finally!!!) and he looked, but he went!! Next was a very vertical wall with brush... which they added a log in front of so it wasn't too vertical, but... big and at a fairly odd angle. Fleck chipped it a bit, but...better to chip in than take the flyer!! for us anyways... and when he chipped he didn't roll over his shoulder, so i was thrilled! So then there was these double down banks to a ditch!!! totally HUGE!!! freakishly huge!!! like should be prelim in my mind freakishly huge... but he went down. it took him a few "are you sure mom?!" but he finally did it and then it became fun!! like a roller coaster!! then there was a jump into the water/water drop type fence... which i don't like and fleck was great for! and..yeah..there was an in and out trakenher type fence and a HUGE ramp which i used to hate, but dang that rides soooo well, it might have just been my fave fence.
So.... that night at dinner i talked to my friends and dressage coach and they helped me decide to just switch and run training... so we did... and WE WON!!!! hee hee. granted there was only two of us and it was the other girls first training, but still. it was EXACTLY what i needed...and what fleck needed... it was a HUGE confidence boost, a big fat ball of fun, and... we went double clear... even had almost a minute of time faults for being too slow!! which was actually a goal of mine and we usually just careen around!! so my new coach (still have dressage coach as dressage coach but have new jumping coach as dressage coach has kicked us out of the nest for jumping!) has me working on rocking him back on his haunches and getting that bouncy canter when needed and keeping him up even when i let him move out a little. And he was AWESOME!!!! after the double downs i actually yelled out "you're FLECKEN AWESOME buddy!!" hee hee. i'm such a geek. but yeah... he was soooooo good. I felt bad though cause we schooled XC for almost an hour and 45 minutes or so and he was getting a little tired at the end... though it did take til the end!! and then saturday we did the three phase and added a second dressage test! So anyways... saturday dawned hot and sweaty! We started with our dressage...which was SWEET!!!! the turn-out was pretty low so they cancelled the judge and had the barn manager do it.... so i'm sure she was a bit more generous than a rated judge, but MAN that test felt GOOD!!! and we didn't even ride it until that test... course i've ridden it twice before in shows, but it had been awhile. But he was SPOT ON!!! hee hee. it was great... and we freakin scored a 30.5!!!! totally my lowest score EVER!!! so we got a blue ribbon for that. Then i went almost right back in and rode 1-4 test because i thought it was going to be GDCTA rec. for scores, but... it wasn't. but that's okay. our test was pretty good and pretty bad... we had some really ugly moments, but he also felt much better than the norm when he was being good. so i was pleased. and turns out...judge was too. we got a frickin 67.8!!!! again..totally my highest score ever! So i think there was 3 other rides in that class - not sure if it was first level test of choice or they all rode first level four...i think one girl might have ridden it twice maybe... but anyways... we got first on that too :) Sweet...so far two blue ribbons! So then we go out for XC and totally ROCK IT!!! i had to do two little "respect my authority" circles... mostly cause he was cross cantering and off balance and getting "runny" so... we fixed it. "GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE BOY!"! hee hee...and he was jumping great!! my trainer said he was loping around like a school horse... not the usual freight train :) so he was soooo good. he wiggled just a bit on some of the scary banks and ditches but totally listened to my seat and went (as my reins were ready to slip and i had grabbed the ohcrapstrap). So we finished almost a minute and 10-15 seconds too slow. which...again... was my goal! and...actually, we only trotted a little bit and had those two circles so i really think my canter must have changed dramatically from the downhill runny flat canter to the up and bouncy and impulsed canter. shweet. so then..stadium time! it was a pretty neat course!! It was a single, to a single, turn across the center of the arena to a one stride, sharp bend left to a single, around to a bendy line, sharp turn to a single, sharp bend left to another single, then roll back to a single to a one stride... oh..some were oxers too. but fleck was great!! cross cantered just a bit, but... much better than we used to. so we went clean and ended up winning!!! and then...turns out... i had the highest dressage only score of the day so we won a teddy bear!!!
it was awesome!!! i had so much fun. it was also great cause i went with three awesome people!!! one girls horse ended up pulling his shoe while we were schooling...it sucked so bad!!! cause he has toe clips and the clip totally went into his lamina a bit... so she did the good thing and scratched. but i felt so sad for her. then my other friend had a kid and was out of the saddle for most of her pregnancy and is just back into it and totally won her tadpole class!!! i'm so excited for her. She even beat my trainer :) hee hee. granted my trainer was on her just 4 year old, but still. trainer got 3rd cause she had one rail in stadium but her greeny was awesome too. So it was such a good weekend.
so...chatt hills training schooling show here we come!!!
sorry if i blabbed... i'm just excited :)
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