Ed and I ran Keysoe BE ODE at Pre-novice yesterday.
To sum up the day it was dire then brilliant then promising.
So the detail
Dressage.....
Took a lot of time to get him light and forward in the warm up but eventually managed it. Just before the start of the test he went completely flat and resistant on me and nothing I did made any difference so not a great test by any standard. Sadly the result of hardly working him during the 2 months I have been doing up the horsebox so cant blame him.
Here is the vid if your really bored.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqmPCYaZ_M
Showjumping.
They use the areana at keysoe for the showjumping. Loads of jumps make it look very crowded. Course was up to height (1.05mtr) and proved very problamatic. Out of 70 odd runners there were only 6 clears. Ed was one of them
His SJ is really comming together
Heres the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owusxzyz0dY
XC
The course was big and complex. Not what I would really have wanted for Ed so early in his eventing career. More a novice course than Pre-novice. A lot of the fences were the same for both courses.
Well for the first time Ed really took hold and went for it from the start. I normally have to push him on but not this time. He wanted to fly so I let him. The first 4 fences he took out of almost a gallop without the slightest check and he was loving it. This produced our first little hiccup. fence 5 was a corner comming off a corner. I had to steady him for this but he had other ideas. Result was we were still discussing it when we ended up sideways at the fence. Re-presented and he was fine. Then off again at top speed. First water complex was no probelm (normally his major hangup). The next few are on the vid. He was starting to tire at this point so let him slow up a bit. The chair was at a very strange angle given 2 strides to a steep drop and step down in to second water complex. Not pretty but he tackled it which was very encouraging. The bit where you hear my daughter say "I dont want to see this" is because of the previous 5 horses that had gone through the rail ditch rail complex, 1 had fallen off, 1 horse fell and another charged off in to the ropes. The vid doesn't show the real difficulty of this combination. I had to steady him right back on approach but he slammed the anchors on at the last second when he saw the ditch (still working on that). The rest he completed beautifully including the 2 steps which strangely have a big ditch in front of the first step.
This is what the brush you see on the vid looks like from the front. First time he has seen on of these.
And the Vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfQ_gPDGVhg
Have decided to end the season there. We have a couple of hunter trials soon then the winter doing BSJA and BD with a couple of drag hunts for fun.
Next season should be real fun.
To sum up the day it was dire then brilliant then promising.
So the detail
Dressage.....
Took a lot of time to get him light and forward in the warm up but eventually managed it. Just before the start of the test he went completely flat and resistant on me and nothing I did made any difference so not a great test by any standard. Sadly the result of hardly working him during the 2 months I have been doing up the horsebox so cant blame him.
Here is the vid if your really bored.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqmPCYaZ_M
Showjumping.
They use the areana at keysoe for the showjumping. Loads of jumps make it look very crowded. Course was up to height (1.05mtr) and proved very problamatic. Out of 70 odd runners there were only 6 clears. Ed was one of them
His SJ is really comming togetherHeres the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owusxzyz0dY
XC
The course was big and complex. Not what I would really have wanted for Ed so early in his eventing career. More a novice course than Pre-novice. A lot of the fences were the same for both courses.
Well for the first time Ed really took hold and went for it from the start. I normally have to push him on but not this time. He wanted to fly so I let him. The first 4 fences he took out of almost a gallop without the slightest check and he was loving it. This produced our first little hiccup. fence 5 was a corner comming off a corner. I had to steady him for this but he had other ideas. Result was we were still discussing it when we ended up sideways at the fence. Re-presented and he was fine. Then off again at top speed. First water complex was no probelm (normally his major hangup). The next few are on the vid. He was starting to tire at this point so let him slow up a bit. The chair was at a very strange angle given 2 strides to a steep drop and step down in to second water complex. Not pretty but he tackled it which was very encouraging. The bit where you hear my daughter say "I dont want to see this" is because of the previous 5 horses that had gone through the rail ditch rail complex, 1 had fallen off, 1 horse fell and another charged off in to the ropes. The vid doesn't show the real difficulty of this combination. I had to steady him right back on approach but he slammed the anchors on at the last second when he saw the ditch (still working on that). The rest he completed beautifully including the 2 steps which strangely have a big ditch in front of the first step.
This is what the brush you see on the vid looks like from the front. First time he has seen on of these.
And the Vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfQ_gPDGVhg
Have decided to end the season there. We have a couple of hunter trials soon then the winter doing BSJA and BD with a couple of drag hunts for fun.
Next season should be real fun.
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