Teresa- February’s fun.
It’s been a month of ups and downs, us going up and the fences coming down.
OK I exaggerate is hasn’t been that bad. There’s been fun along the way.
Corky’s new bit (a tom thumb) as recommended by my instructor has been in full use and I’m really impressed with how well Corky has reacted to the change his ‘steering’ has definitely improved and to date we’ve stopped the tanking off after fences.
We’ve jumped several rounds of Showjumping at Rodbaston and although none of them have been double clears he’s working so much better. It’s annoying to ‘feel’ an improvement but then to not get the results.
A severe case of four-fault-I-itus which I will continue to work on.
The last round we jumped was going very well, his rhythm was lovely and his attitude wasn’t present, he wasn’t getting too close to fences or taking off a stride too early but then . . . . . . He lifted up to jump a fence but then put down again with one front leg infront of the fence and the other behind it. Then spooked and dragging the fence backwards with him.
It was re-built and he jumped it no problem without even looking at it. We completed the course with 4 faults . . Again.
Just when you think he can’t throw anything new at you !!!
The funniest thing to happen to us this month was turning up to Rodbaston to Showjump and noticing the lorry park was unusually quiet.
On walking up to the warm up arena I noticed there wasn’t any practice fences so I walked up to the arena to see White Boards !!! It was dressage oops.
But we weren’t disappointed there had been a cancellation for prelim12 so I quickly warmed up still not actually knowing what was in the test which of course I hadn’t practiced for.
So in we went eeeek !! and as they say, fortune favours the brave.
Sally the organizer read for me very loudly and in advance of the movements and to my surprise we came joint 3rd !! With a very respectable 68.12% consisting of lots of 7’s
I don’t know who was more surprised me for the score or Corky expecting fences and getting flatwork as we haven’t ridden a dressage test together since last September.
Tim’s exercise this month was to use V Poles and is a useful excises to any horse and rider jumping at any height. It is ideal for horses that ‘drift’ left or right’ or are less than careful with their front legs when jumping. You will need a single upright fence with ‘v’ poles ( often referred to as an ‘A’ frame. Corky found this exercise fairly easy as I do this exercise occasionally especially if he’s been tapping poles. My main objective was to keep him straight on the approach using both legs for support and having soft hands. Sometimes but not always we got to the fence on the ‘right’ stride but as you can see on the video when we got too close he had to snap his knees up sharp-ish to clear the fence which of course is the purpose of the exercise. I also put a filler under the fence just to give him something to look at and back off from. This is definitely an exercise to try with your horse or pony its easy to build and do but is very effective and only needs a small amount of equipment and can be done on any arena or flat ground.
Until next month
Teresa & Corky