Walliston Combined Training
Sunday we were up bright and early for the combined training day. Husband was judging, Henry was doing his first competition, a prelim 1.1 test and a 40cm SJ round and Coolie was doing the novice 2.1 and 100cm SJ for him combined training plus a 90cm SJ round.
Hen was up first with his dressage. 3 people before us had scratched so I thought they were going to be running early. Instead they were running late pretty much straight off. This did not set us up for success! I got on way too early. Hen was such a good boy for the first little while but the more we did the more frazzled he got. There was a lot going on a round and a lot of people warming up including zoomy little ponies and it was just all too much for his baby brain.
He lived up to his name! The first little moment was when he spooked at a dog in the bush behind us. A couple of other horses spooked too and Henry did his characteristic dolphin leap, very much impressing those spectating. Then he again had a moment when another horse kicked some sand on to a barrel and he heard the noise. The last time was when the bunting flapped and gave him a fright. Poor boy! Each time I just rode him through it and kept my leg and and talked to him. He calmed after each time quite well. In the end we gave up trying to trot and just walked around. He was perfectly happy to do that.
We went down to do our test (I had really debated it!) and I told the judge we wouldn't canter. We went in and he kept himself together and we got through without incident. We even cantered a tiny bit! It was very much a triage situation, just doing our best to get through in one piece. I think we were both relieved when we were done!
I chose to scratch from the jumping. You never know quite what you will get with baby horses. Over all it was a positive experience for Henry but next time I will have a shorter warm up, about 15 minutes I think, and we will go somewhere quieter! His test actually scored ok-ish so obviously there are glimmers of something better to come?
Coolie had his dressage next and he warmed up super. Again his warm up was too long but he usually needs about half an hour, not the 17 minutes he needed!
I was very happy with this test. There was so much positive about it. A few little mistakes but Coolie was forward and not tense! The judge wrote some very constructive comments and overall I agreed with the scores. He has really come on in the last few weeks and he feels so much more rideable during tests. This test felt like I could really push and ask him for more without losing anything.
Jumping was obviously the best part of the day, we put in 2 nice rounds though neither were clear. our 90 round as a bit too slow and we just tapped a rail but we had a really super rhythm and it felt lovely. Our 100cm round was much better in terms of impulsion but we got one rail because we came in a little too fast and the second we got a tad too deep to.
I ended up with a placing in each class, and Henry won his class.... because we were the only ones! Ah well, a ribbon never hurt! Coolie also won his combined training against my friend Cassie by like less than a penalty and Cassie beat my in the 90 by a rail.
I was super proud of my friend KT too. She jumped her first ever 80cm round and did it with great style. I think I was more nervous than her though and I certainly rode every fence with her!
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| When the ribbons don't tell the whole story! |
Hen was up first with his dressage. 3 people before us had scratched so I thought they were going to be running early. Instead they were running late pretty much straight off. This did not set us up for success! I got on way too early. Hen was such a good boy for the first little while but the more we did the more frazzled he got. There was a lot going on a round and a lot of people warming up including zoomy little ponies and it was just all too much for his baby brain.
He lived up to his name! The first little moment was when he spooked at a dog in the bush behind us. A couple of other horses spooked too and Henry did his characteristic dolphin leap, very much impressing those spectating. Then he again had a moment when another horse kicked some sand on to a barrel and he heard the noise. The last time was when the bunting flapped and gave him a fright. Poor boy! Each time I just rode him through it and kept my leg and and talked to him. He calmed after each time quite well. In the end we gave up trying to trot and just walked around. He was perfectly happy to do that.
We went down to do our test (I had really debated it!) and I told the judge we wouldn't canter. We went in and he kept himself together and we got through without incident. We even cantered a tiny bit! It was very much a triage situation, just doing our best to get through in one piece. I think we were both relieved when we were done!
I chose to scratch from the jumping. You never know quite what you will get with baby horses. Over all it was a positive experience for Henry but next time I will have a shorter warm up, about 15 minutes I think, and we will go somewhere quieter! His test actually scored ok-ish so obviously there are glimmers of something better to come?
Coolie had his dressage next and he warmed up super. Again his warm up was too long but he usually needs about half an hour, not the 17 minutes he needed!
I was very happy with this test. There was so much positive about it. A few little mistakes but Coolie was forward and not tense! The judge wrote some very constructive comments and overall I agreed with the scores. He has really come on in the last few weeks and he feels so much more rideable during tests. This test felt like I could really push and ask him for more without losing anything.
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| So fancy! |
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| The pony is fancy, rider seems to be struggling with the fancy concept at this point |
Jumping was obviously the best part of the day, we put in 2 nice rounds though neither were clear. our 90 round as a bit too slow and we just tapped a rail but we had a really super rhythm and it felt lovely. Our 100cm round was much better in terms of impulsion but we got one rail because we came in a little too fast and the second we got a tad too deep to.
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| Gosh he looks amazing over 100 |
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| easy over the 90 |
I ended up with a placing in each class, and Henry won his class.... because we were the only ones! Ah well, a ribbon never hurt! Coolie also won his combined training against my friend Cassie by like less than a penalty and Cassie beat my in the 90 by a rail.
I was super proud of my friend KT too. She jumped her first ever 80cm round and did it with great style. I think I was more nervous than her though and I certainly rode every fence with her!
congrats on the positive and constructive outing even if Henry had some spooky moments! he'll figure it out ;) Coolie looks freakin fantastic tho!
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