Achievements this Year

[tazzybear]

Just curious to know what you've acheived this year so far with your horse/pony?
Have you done what you set out to do?

I had a plan in my mind of what I wanted to do this year and am so far really chuffed with what i've done with my girl.
I really wanted us to have a go at ridden showing after a season of in-hand showing in 2008. We braved it back in May and entered 2 classes coming home with ribbons and big smiles!
My next aim was to do a Walk Trot dressage test. I moved yards to somewhere with a school to work on our flatwork, this went pear shaped when Tawny realised that there is a field of pigs at the bottom of the school and refused to go in! Still managed a bit of a practise before the day. The day itself was a disaster and we flew around the arena like nutters and had comments that i'd rather not mention!:o:D We ended up with 48%. But we did the test so acheived that one!!
We also started doing a little bit of jumping at home in the field. This is something I've always wanted to do but am not the bravest person so thought I never would.
Last Tuesday I hacked over to our local RC with 2 friends as they had a jumping evening. I hadn't intended to enter anything but something came over me and I entered the clear round. I know this isn't a big deal to a lot of you and the jumps were probably around 2ft but I can't tell you how chuffed I was when we got around and were handed our rosette! The lady on the ringside said Tawny had a fab jump. She took me around the jumps with no hesitation and seemed to love it and I've now got the jumping bug.

[Doeylicious]

Well done you! That's really good :) and well done for the rosette!

Well this year I had three aims for my horsey life:

1 - Get Doey hacking nicely, at walk, on the heath if possible
2 - Do a W&T test and win a rosette
3 - Learn to jump

I am VERY pleased to say I have done all three :D

She still has her moments hacking and we still would rather do it all as fast as possible, but she is much much better.

We came sixth in our W&T and got a lovely purple rosette, now looking forward to the winter series!

And ILurfSmurf very kindly (madly) let me loose on her donkeypoos (Doey doesn't jump) and got me over a 2ft5ish straight pole (is that an upright?! I am not up on the jumpy lingo!). Now I am looking to have regular lessons once a month and have at least three options for this so far ;) keeping schtum til I know more tho!

[Aimie]

Well done :D

Didnt really have a plan for this year but so far...
With Chanelle we did our first BSJA and got a 3rd in the 90cms and also got 65% in our first ever dressage test which got us 1st (it was a novice test which in my opinion looked easrie than prelim :o ) we have also done various other unaffiliated SJ and always been in the ribbons :D and we went to the beah for the first time too :D :D

With Bod...
Where do i start lol she is only 2 so so far this year she has been on long walks accross the fields. She now happily has a bit in and wears a saddle. She now stays in a stable all day and night (if needed) without jumping the door after 10 mins. She can now be bathed with the hose and have her mane pulled and plaited. And she got 2 seconds at her first 2 shows :D :D so really pleased with her :D

Quite a good year so far i think :D :cool:

[cloudandmatrix]

from apony that was barely schooled, left in a field and in the wrong bit having done pretty much nothing apart from a few jumps and hacking, cloud has,

gone to pony club,
won an endevour award,
gone to pony camp,
won best first time camper,
come 6th in a dressage test,
helped me pass my d test,
been to her first show and jumped a clear round,
done her first oneday event,
done her fisrt cross country course,
done mounted games with manic horses and remained calm and collected
been reschooled and had a canter transformation and generally achieved all i have asked from her and proved me right to keep going. ive only had her a year and i could not ask for a better pony. she has boosted my confidenceand i feel we have achieved so much. i love cloud!

[xRobyn]

Aims for the pair of us:

1. Get him working in a nice outline in walk - done
2. Get him working in a ncie outline in trot - working on
3. Canter confidently - done
4. Get him jumping more - done
5. Do more roadwork - done
6. Stay fit and healthy - done
7. Have fun - done!

I am VERY please with his progress this summer :)

[IrishDQ]

With Rolo, I've just been working on his groundwork and I'm very pleased with how it's going, he can now lead nicely most of the time, trot in hand (and most importantly halt when he's told!) lunging nicely even in a headcollar, we're working on moving away from pressure too. (so stuff like backing up, stepping sideways etc) I've also long reined him a couple of times and even though it was my first attempt ever and probably his, he did very well!
The next goal is to get him back riding at some point (whenever I find a saddle to fit him!) and I'd also like to teach him to drive too in the future. (i.e. when I can afford the gig and harness!!)

As for Charlie, I just want him to gain condition and generally be healthy and see how he does the next time he's vetted.

[Keket]

- Did our first major show
- Won our first championship
- Improved on last year's show results
- Won a first in Equitation
- Had our highest ever placing in Trail (2nd)
- Won a Pleasure class (actually, we won five Pleasure classes for the whole season)

And we're finishing it all off by returning to jumping and then breeding her. A good year so far!

[Tazanne]

aim 1: get my own horse. done!!!:D

more specifically: get a baby friesian. done! :)

more specifically again, get my new best friend for life. done. he is completely perfect for me & is a little angel.

my next aim was to start my path to creating a great relationship & start our working life together. i have chosen parelli NH to help us on this quest. we are getting along very well. so i think we've done more than id hoped for this yr already, just because its going much more smoothly than i expected!

[leah&lydia]

I havent done as much at all as id of liked tol.

But i rode Lydi by myself for the first time the other day.

I really wish the summer holidays were still alive.

[leah&lydia]

*sorry posted twice x

[tazzybear]

well done everyone:) I love finding out how people are getting on with their horses

[4_white_socks]

Wow, you've all done so well! :D

My goals this year:

1. Start Harley's schooling. Done!
2. Get my confidence back. Done!
3. Do our first endurance ride. Done! :D
4. Win Harley's first rosette. Done! :D
5. Ride in the school alone. Done!
6. Overcome Harley's fear of water. Doing! - just yesterday we went through our first puddles in a long time.
7. Jump Harley. Not done. - we tried, but he went through rather than over! :o
8. Hack alone. Not done. - will start trying soon, I should think.

I'm so pleased with my boy. Two years ago he was a difficult, unbacked poo-face. :p I backed him, and was unable to ride in the school until this summer (for various reasons, including being lame for the best part of 6 months :().
Happy 4ws, and happy Harley! :D

[lobeliaoverhill]

Last year I wanted to get fit enough to start riding again, and I did.

This year I wanted to buy a horse, and I did.

:D




Dunno what I'm going to do next year now LOL

[Lot1983]

Well so far this year with my new lease horse I have…
1. Entered our first dressage test- and didn’t fall off and/or die
2. Galloped in a group on grass- and didn’t fall off and/or die
3. Jumped our first few jumps together- and didn’t fall off and/or die
4. I can now put brushing boots on him when he is loose in the stable

Oh and I am now officially leasing him:D:D:D:D (well, as of the 17th of September) and we’re entering our first combined training next month, hoping to score a little higher in dressage and for us both to be more relaxed and for me to maintain a light constant contact and keep my leg on all the time, in regards to the jumping well I’m just hoping he enjoys himself, we’ve not done much but I think he’s got a natural talent for it (the biggest we’ve jumped is some haybales so far but he just perks up and once he’s going nicely he’s got a good little pop on him and it really helps his canter to as he bounces nicely) and I’m also enjoying hacking him out too although I haven’t yet hacked him out alone so that’s our next aim. But he’s amazing in company and will go first, last or in the middle with no problems, this weekend he hardly batted an eyelid at the bunting flapping about for the village fete!

[Clava]

I bought a horsebox and have driven it:)

Belle and I entered our first show and got a third and lovely comments from the judge about doing County level:D

We also eneterd our first dressage competition (walk trot) and won:D:D

We had a go at cler round and did it twice successfully:D

On the down side I've not ridden her out as much as last year, we've had an abscess:eek: and gone back to shoes on front at the mo.

[FeatheryFeet]

I have achieved falling off more times in the last 6 months than in the whole of my riding career put together :eek:

[Howengold]

In January this year I would never have dreamt we would have done so much!

We had plans to compete the ponies this season, we ended up not just competing my three but buying a new pony to rehabilitate and Tori got the showjumper she always wanted on short term loan!

Sovereign was not a plan or even in my future decisions, she was bought because hubby knew I loved her to bits and was sad to see how retirement had affected her. She has now been qualified for the Royal London (something I never imagined in MArch) and is 100 % fit and ready for the final half of the show season.


My stepdaughter Lizzie has done really well at RC shows and looks like she could win the Annual reserve championship in the Handy Pony and Veteran classes with Mon-ami, not bad for her first seaon on her and her first season ever showing. Tori has been placed in the top three every show we have taken her and Charlie to so again a good result considering I wasn't expecting so much so soon!

[jsr]

This year so far has been a fab year! A year ago I moved yards and it was the best thing I ever did! So far I've entered a show and got first in one class and 2nd in the other!! I've entered a combination dressage and jumping comp and came 3rd in that! Did a Le Trek training course and then a fun comp afterwards and came 3rd in that (out of 20 so I was VERY impressed!!), I've been having jumping lessons and am now confident to jump fillers and combinations!! And finally on sunday I'm doing my first jumpcross comp which I'm so excited about!! I've also got planned a training day at a local XC course which hopefully will lead to taking part in a XC event!!!!:D Just wish the lottery fairy would visit me so I can buy myself a box and then there would be no stopping me!!! I hate relying on other people for lifts.

All this on a horse I was told to have PTS when I first got him and someone who has only ever hacked!!! I love my horse!

[Kc..]

Lantern's gone from being able to get to about the third fence in a SJ course before refusing etc to being able to get round a whole course admittedly not smoothly just yet!

[Trewsers]

Have managed to hack Storm out every morning before work! What a great way to start the day - and not had jelly legs each time we come home!

[naurarwen]

I had a few achievements I wanted to do but my main one was to jump Tillie higher then 2ft in more then one session. I have now had three sessions where I have jumped 3ft 3in, 3ft and 2ft 9in. Quite proud of myself cause after the 3ft 3in I never thought I'd jump remotely that high again and I did a few days ago hitting the 3ft barrier.

[ponyzrule]

1. Go to more shows this year Done!
2. jump some of the bigger jumps on the xc course Done
3. get a 1st rossette Not Done (got a couple more chances)
4. jump my highest Done!
5. get into a championship Not Done (got another chance)
6. Go to the beach Not Done
7. Do working hunters Done!

[Fabio's Filly!]

Fabio:

Now jumping well over 2 1/2 ft without refusing - even the scary shark teeth! And jumping a full course

Done our first Prelim AND got placed (even though he jumped the guttering!!)

Random bits - leg yield in canter, shoulder in.

Miro (although this is really what i've learnt on him as he knows it all already and is way more advanced than me!)

Travers and Renvers

Flying changes (working on tempi changes!)

Half pass

And.........................Piaffe!!! Only few steps at a time but so chuffed that a pleb like me can get him to do it!! :D Although don't think i'd stand a chance if he hadn't done it before!!

Biggest achievement with him is getting him out hacking though - when we first got him he wouldn't go 100 yards without napping and rearing trying to turn back - we can pretty much now go anywhere with only a couple of brief few second stops.

Nice to have 2 at different levels as always something different to do with each of them and helped me learn loads!

[Fabio's Filly!]

I have achieved falling off more times in the last 6 months than in the whole of my riding career put together :eek:

Lol!!! I too have also fell off this year for the first time in about 14 years - was mortified at the time but happens to us all!!!

[Lonestar]

My aims for the year were all changed around may, when Honey went, Robbie went and Blu became part of the family.

But the aims with Blu were/are:
Walking/trotting in a straight line : done
Cantering/cantering confidently: done
Jumping/jumping confidently : doing so
BSJA : getting there
Do a walk/trot and a prelim : done

very pleased with his progress within the space of 4 months :)

[8-legged-pony]

My aims for this year were:

1. to help my friend overcome her hacking fears
2. do some XC comps this summer.

For the first aim, we've managed to progress to cantering out on hacks (started out with me cantering ahead and her waiting then trotting to catch up, and eventually progressed to her being brave and cantering too!), and we also managed a 2 1/2 hour hack the other week which was great fun. Just need to help her keep her confidence over the winter so we can have more fun next summer :D

Second aim, I've done a few competitions on my riding school horse this summer. The first XC comp I did, I came 6th out of 16 or so riders, but was disappointed with myself as had 2 refusals which wouldn't have happened if I'd have ridden her more positively.

Second comp was a SJ class, we were eliminated due to multiple refusals at one fence, again was frustrated with myself for not riding positively!

Third comp, eventers challenge pairs class. Managed to really ruin our chances by knocking down 1 in the SJ and then losing my stirrup near the end of the XC and having to stop to get it back, resulting in being given a refusal at the jump beacuse I had to circle :(. Again, felt very frustrated with myself as I know full well I can jump with only 1 stirrup, but just wasn't brave enough to do it!

Last comp which was yesterday, ODE, again on riding school horse. FINALLY I rode well! Dressage score 61%, clear on the SJ and in the time (YAY!), and clear on the XC (managed to get her over the jump she refused before 1st time, and even jumped 1 jump with only 1 stirrup as lost the stirrup before the jump and made myself jump without it!), I was talking to her the whole way round and it really helped me ride positively. We got 15 time faults on the XC but dont' think I could have ridden it much faster! Ended up with a 4th out of 12 which I was sooo pleased with, especially as all but 2 of the other competitors were riding their own horses, whereas I was riding a RS horse who I only ride once a week :D yay, go me (finally!)

[Heucherella]

I published my New years resolutions in January, which were, if I remember rightly:

1. Get my first rosette Done - twice! One for dressage, and one for Trec
2. Learn to drive Jack's owner's horsebox Done, but box now sold :rolleyes:
3. Box Jack over to Wibble's for a hack Not possible now, but am sharing Wibbles pony instead :D

I am happy with that!

[bonni]

I won a showing class yesterday! Complete with trophy! And I am so pleased (I would have been happy to get just a rosette) and she behaved perfectly. We also got a clear round in the jumping even though she used to refuse everything, and shes even improving her hacking out alone too. Her canterwork is much better, when I first bought her she wouldnt cnater at all and now she struggles on the left leg but is constantly improving! Very proud of her!