GP follow-up

[blueequestrian]

Well thanks everyone! I'm very excited about the competition, and to whoever ask where I would be I believe it's somewhere near Dallas, there are actually 2 different shows and I'm not sure which one I'll be in....I have a trainer here and one in Alvord Texas and she is who found out about this show for me and is taking me. So far as being 16...I guess in some shows you do, however, there are plenty of USGPL Prix's that are open to any age, or at least as young as 14 (as there is a girl who just did her first GP at our last show, and she is 14) I don't know if you could do it any younger, but I guess I don't have to worry about that....

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back, been on vacation!

Stroller...........quite the horse huh?? Thats amazing for an animal that small to jump like that, had to have a heart of gold!

So far as how long it takes people to get to different levels I would say it varies, some people don't want to get to the highest level, some people are naturals so catch on quicker etc. I still have a ton to learn, but I'm very happy to have made it to this level at 15...yes jumping for 8 years (I think someone asked how long, not sure) But I am very fortunate that I have the benefit of jumping every day, as we have the stables here, we breed etc. so it's not like I'm just going to practice a few times a month.

Have a nice day everyone!!!!!!!
:D

[T-bred]

I believe you, and it is possible to be at the level your at if you dedicate yourself and have the resources.:) I hope your show goes well!!!:D

Anna

[blueequestrian]

Thanks, I'm very excited about the show (which ever one I end up at) I hope it goes well and as long as we make it around I'll be happy, being my first GP I'm not worried about placing high or anything.

We go down to my trainers in Texas in a few days to stay a while and practice tons! YAY.

Do you jump?

ttyl!

[IrisSilverMoon]

so how do you train for GP jumpers?

I am primarily dressage...:)

[blueequestrian]

Well that depends on what exactly you mean, would have to be more specific. so far as practice..... w/ the horse that I have right now that I'll be competing on... I ride him 6 days a week and only jump high fences and big courses every other week.... other than that I jump smaller fences 1x a week and work on anything that needs be. In this case, (working on this GP) we are jumping 2X a week. It is more wear and tear on him....which is why I hate putting so much into it twice a week but we do have to practice, once we are doing the Prix's a little more regularly, then it will be back down to very minimal jumping.....and mostly just riding to keep him fit , supple and happy.

[IrisSilverMoon]

^^^^^^yeah, that was it...I was just wondering what sort of stuff you did in your regular workouts to keep a jumper like that fit for competition. thanks...:)

[blueequestrian]

ah ha! Well on the days that I just do flatwork, usually 3 of those days I take him out into a pasture we have a 300 acre pasture that is about 1/4 mile from the barn, we keep a few of our horses there (retired horses who just need to be out and be horses for a while) which has a big section with lots of hills.....I work him on those, hill-work does wonders and he really enjoys it, we canter up and down across the pasture, let him gallop some to enjoy himself and do a lot of trotting & cantering on and around the hills. the other 2 days that we are doing flat work is usually done in the arena...do some basic lateral work and 10 meter circles, canter pirouettes (sorry can't spell that well) etc.... just to keep him supple and good in those turns! I always end arena work with a gallop in our hay meadow right by the arena, it's great, just let them open up and run after a nice workout, and then a long walk around the perimeter of the pasture cools them off, thats basically the whole workout! lol.

(now of course with my shires....they don't get a run after a workout, lol they are ready to go to bed!) :D

[IrisSilverMoon]

ahhhhh...sounds like a fun sort of workout to me!

:)

definately different from my standard workouts for the horses at my stable. Its interesting to see the difference in training for jumpers vs dressage. Though we do some hill work as we have some very good trails for it. I'd like to get a little more into the hill work for the horse I'm working with right now, i'd like to see his back muscles develop a little more as well as his hindquarters.

[T-bred]

Do you jump?

Yes I do jump. Not as big as you do though!!!:D :p My new horse that will be here next week will be trained to jump and my swedish warmblood who is 3 will be trained to jump when she is older as well. My older thoroughbred has been retired to flat work.:)

Anna

[blueequestrian]

T-bred - thats cool! I love Swedish Warmbloods!!! :D want one. Do you show? hunters or jumpers?

ISM - Yes, definately a different type of workout....lol. My drafts are the ones who do dressage (of course low level as they are big horses) but still they have such a different schedule. Louie (my GP jumper) has such a different schedule even than my dressage/jumper Celti (2nd level dressage & level 4 jumpers)

Louie was trained to Int. 1 dressage but he really hates it now so I don't really incorporate much of that into his workous, especially since I won't be showing him in any dressage.

[T-bred]

Currently I don't have a horse to show. Caesar is too old, Sukhoi is too young and Rock doesn't get here until next week!!!:p Hopefully I will start showing next year though.

Anna

[blueequestrian]

Well thats cool and good luck with your new horse! And your shows... what level will you be showing at when you do next year? Will it be your first year to show ever or have you done it in the past?

[T-bred]

When I was nine I used to show up to 3'3 on the horse we used to lease and we did really well together, and then when we stopped leasing him I basically stopped showing.

Anna

[blueequestrian]

Well thats cool that you used to show! Bet your excited about getting back into it huh?

[T-bred]

I am really excited!!:D I have two more years before I leave for college where I will study equine business so I am really happy to get back into it.

Anna

[Cochise]

What date is your GP show?
Sounds like you will be well prepared and very lucky to have those facilities to train on!
Have my first show jumping of the upcoming summer season on 19 September, and it keeps bloomin' snowing making motivation to get out and ride diminish even further!
I mainly just road ride and school once or twice a week, maybe jumping once a week or so, the ground is either too hard or too boggy.
Once I move to Wellington in February it will be a show jumper dream (to me!) with 3000 acres of hill trekking land for fitness and muscle, an outdoor all weather arena with jumps and an indoor floodlit arena, very very excited!
As for the height we jump, I hate it when people go, oh I can jump such and such a height and I am competing in such and such a class, but I would rather jump something confidently and competitively and well within mine and my horses scope. I mainly compete on National breed points level aiming to win high points show jumping for appaloosa horses. :)

[blueequestrian]

Well sounds like you are ready for the move (I would be too, lol)

On the jumping...... I think jumping confidently and correctly at any height is great! and an accomplishment..... even a 2'6 or 3' fence takes skill. I was just really excited about being in it and wanted to share....so far as the date I'm not sure cuz I'm not sure which one I'll be in..there are two or three (just talked to my trainer in texas) and the show bills still havn't arrived (yikes!) they sent them out 2 1/2 weeks ago so I hope they aren't stuck in the mail.... I dunno. But I'll have one soon and get you the dates ASAP. I'm either doing one at the Los Colinas shows in Texas or somewhere in Dallas.

Good luck with your points!!!!

[Cochise]

I will be finishing up the season competing 1m10 to 1m20, and starting it at 80cm to get him into his stride again.
Sounds expensive to show in the USA! I like it here in New Zealand, its fairly reasonable and one of the reasons I love show jumping, you don't really have to fork out for designer show clothes and tack!
There aren't too many apps out in NZ doing straight show jumping, I have a friend who is aiming at the eventing points and another for hunting, another in dressage etc. Most are there for halter and western....would try western if Cheeky didn't have such a powerful and energetic trot and canter! Plus I love jumping too much!
Do you have any photos of you jumping?
This is Cheeky (Cochise) and myself earlier this year (95cm):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/smaugthegreat/cheekyjummainland.jpg

[blueequestrian]

Oh how cool! I like spots....heehee. Good luck w/ your showing, I don't know how those heights come out in feet and inches, so not sure what you are jumping, but looks good! Well so far as jumpers go you don't have to have designer stuff either, hunters usually do but it's all different stuff. Show entries though are pretty expensive unfortunately...

I do have a few pics of me jumping in practice and stuff, the bad thing is...anytime I'm jumping anything pretty high nobody has a camera, lol. But yes, I'll give you the album so you can see a few.

A few schooling jumper pics. (http://community.webshots.com/album/178937351kQEhxc)

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by Cochise

Sounds expensive to show in the USA!


hehe...schooling shows aren't very expensive, but anything rated will be. Your horse has to be registered with USEF and then you pay a huge amount for just a few classes because the show is rated...:rolleyes: sounds silly, but there are a lot of extra fees and regulations they have tacked onto rated shows. then you toss in thing slike stalls and trailering and it goes up some more.

I think rated shows in my area are about $300 or so per show depending on what classes or how many classes you are doing.

schooling shows run me about $40-$60 per show, dressage is always more expensive though since the classes are more time consuming. hunter/jumper schooling shows in my area are more like $10-$14 per class.

[blueequestrian]

All I can say is I'm SO glad I have a sponsor cuz if I didn't there is NO way I could do all these shows...I'd just be going to a couple per year otherwise, luckily though, there is someone to help w/ costs. $300 - 400?? I know that is a lot of money but how do you do it for that? Where are you located? My average "A" jumper show ends up around $650 - 800 and the "AA" & "AAA" shows are closer to $1200 :eek: crazyness :rolleyes:

If anyone has any help on my "Need Help Please!!!" post in the Cafe Area that would be great!

[blueequestrian]

Hmm well I posted a link to some schooling jumper pics BUT....... it isn't working for some reason. odd, I'll fix that problem in the morning and get you those pictures okay Cochise? THANX THey show up on my webshots assitant thing but never came up on the public site....odd.

[Cochise]

The album has shown up! Thanks :)
As far as I know, we don't have rated shows, mainly like local pony club shows, training classes run at NZEF (FEI) shows, A&P Shows which run under NZEF and straight show jumping shows which I do under NZEF. The grades you go through are mainly according to the height you jump.

Just waiting for your pics to load now, my internet is playing up a little so most of them are the dreaded red X but it should come right!

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by blueequestrian
All I can say is I'm SO glad I have a sponsor cuz if I didn't there is NO way I could do all these shows...I'd just be going to a couple per year otherwise, luckily though, there is someone to help w/ costs. $300 - 400?? I know that is a lot of money but how do you do it for that? Where are you located? My average "A" jumper show ends up around $650 - 800 and the "AA" & "AAA" shows are closer to $1200 :eek: crazyness :rolleyes:


hehe...our local A shows are somewhat few and far between. Washington isn't a really big horsey state. dressage also seems to be a tad cheaper since most people only do about two tests at a time. At the hunter/jumper shows you may end up paying a lot more if you decide to enter more than one division, it would probably be paying about the same as you.

we can pay this much (at dressage shows at least, i've never done the hunter/jumper circuit in my area) because there are probably six shows in a season in this area, none of use are going for dressage horse of the year and you only need two shows to qualify for regionals! :p

you're lucky to have a sponser though! that certainly makes things a lot easier!

[blueequestrian]

Oh well thats understandable! (about your costs) I guess it wouldn't be as much also if I DID only enter one division, but usually I do childrens and Jr/Ao or something, (level 3 in childrens and then 5-8 in all the other stuff) so that adds to the entry costs the higher the level usually. My schooling shows are the samethough, $40 - 60 or so just depending on how many classes I enter.

I am very fortunate and glad to have a sponsor. I have another one interested, I sure hope they will be my sponsor in addition because then more shows like the Harrisburg show etc. would be "do-able" lol. I know w/o a sponsor I would be just doing small and schooling shows all the time! heehee.

[IrisSilverMoon]

so how do you go about getting a sponsor?

I would totally love to get something like that, in addition to riding for other people (which my stable won't let me do for anyone else at the stable).

[CityGirl]

Wow - a prix at 16. Is it a mini-prix or a GP? Who do you train with - what horse are you showing (one of yours?) I'm not familar at all with your barn & would love to hear more.

[blueequestrian]

Iris... well, so far as the very first steps I don't know as my trainer kinda set it up...then they wanted to see my show record, watch me show, etc. I'll get you more detailed information on it soon though! Sundowner (I believe thats the brand) trailers is who is thinking of sponsoring me next. I"m excited.

CityGirl - Well both actually, but Grand Prix. I'm going to be riding my new TB gelding jumper, he is little, 16.0 hh but he sure can jump, run and turn like no other, lol. I ride with a small stable down here in Oklahoma the most, my trainer used to show jumpers and eventers very competitively but then was injured so now just gives beginner to advanced lessons english and western, she took me as far as she could so I now train w/ someone in Texas and am getting ready to add another up here at either Bonham/Aberdeen stables or train w/ Joey Brumbah. Don't know if you could find anything out about them on the internet but I think aberdeen has a website and I assume Joey does. I'll get some pics and try and figure out exactly when this is going on. Kinda clueless right now, I'm also preparing 9 shires for upcoming shows (starting in one week) YIKES, ..oh and 5 of those being stallions...time consuming, I'm so busy right now. Not usually this bad but the new guys are going hard. Talk to ya later!!!! THANKS

[blueequestrian]

OH NO!!!!! Bad news! *cry* Im so upset.... I guess you guys can forget about wishing me luck on a GP until Jan.

The last couple of weeks I had noticed that Louie (my jumper who was going to be shown in the GP) has been a LITTLE off, but then again there have been tons of new horses come in to the stables, horses moved, he was now in a different stall w/ a different routine and he doesn't like that.... well when it didn't get better I got worried and now come to find out....he has stomache ulcers, he isn't feeling too well now and isn't keeping his weight on as good recently, he is a pretty young and very healthy horse otherwise, but also a very competitive show jumper who was just sold to me, so that alone put some stress on him, along w/ all the shows and trips he has been on (he had been off showing for a while until I got him) SO.....he is off completely now until he is fat shiny and ulcer free again, and in 6 or 8 weeks I'll begin getting him fit again through the winter...than in January he should be ready for the National Western. YAY, I guess wish me luck there and if anyone else here has had horses w/ Stomache Ulcers and have anything to tell me about it........please do!

[casey]

Nice photos, you must have loads of GP photos. It would be great to see some. Pics please.:)

[blueequestrian]

Actually, no, lol sorry but I don't even have any of me at shows (well like one but thats cuz my trainer took it) and my trainer isn't usually at shows w/ me so I never get pics. I do have some from a "B" show that I took him to just for fun but my video camera and computer aren't working together so I can't capture still frames for some reason (which is how I get all my pictures on the computer) I'm so bummed....worried about him, I hope he is okay and also we won't get to do any of the winter circuit as we had planned........ugh. Oh well, I plan on started him back up in mid-Jan (showing) and then take a long circuit next year (thinking Delmar or Florida HITS) hmmmm. or maybe Los Colinas.... I dunno, guess I have plenty of time to think about it now. At the moment I am busy also getting ready for a bridle-less jumping demo, on my shire gelding, of course the jumps won't be over 3' cuz he can't jump anything higher but I'm going to present the first one at the fair and then possibly one at Equine Affaire next year when we take our stallys.

[casey]

Originally posted by blueequestrian
Actually, no, lol sorry but I don't even have any of me at shows (well like one but thats cuz my trainer took it) and my trainer isn't usually at shows w/ me so I never get pics.

Wow thats strange, a professional photographer is at 90% of our GP or major shows.

[blueequestrian]

Well I do know what you are getting at, and sorry if you think that.. but anyway, a pro photographer is at at least 90% of all our rated shows too, but I never order pictures. I havn't been in a GP in a show yet either, I WILL get pictures of that....but so far I'm just waiting to find one at the right time to go to (since he got these stomache ulcers) Anyway, I'll talk to ya later.

[Elvengirl]

In our shows in Alberta, Canada, we have a company that comes out and takes photos of everybody. It's so cool! Then you can go look through their little "mini" shots and pick out the best one (they usually take about 5 pictures of each competitor). They then print out an 8X10 right there at the show that you can take home. They should get something like that down where you are, it's so handy and quite cheap!