Little Archie storming through the water on route to his 3rd place
Millie giving the fences plenty of height at her first ever event.
We just took Benvolio (Ben) to Aldon feeling that the others would benefit from an Intro first run and after last year, I wasn’t confident that the weather or going would oblige for a good confidence building run. However I couldn’t be more wrong; with the sun shinning and a light breeze the going was perfect on the cross country and in fact a little hard in the show jump warm up.
Ben arrived and unloaded like a seasoned pro and stood quietly whilst he was tacked up. He seemed so chilled I opted to leave out the customary lunge but did concede to Anita, his owner, to wear my body protector for the dressage warm up, as this is where he usually gives his repartee of spinning and bucking. However Ben was pretty much angelic and I got some lovely work in the warm up. He behaved in the test apart from getting a bit tense. The result a respectable score of 38, which was in the top half with the leader being on 30.
On to the show jumping and again he warmed up well and it was only while waiting at the ring entrance he suddenly seemed to realise where he was and we had a couple of spins and squeals! Once in the ring I could feel his excitement rising and after turning to the first fence I thought hang on, he was just so eager to get on with the job. As a result there was some bunny hopping around the corners, but once he reached every fence he jumped them beautifully, giving them feet and making it feel so easy. However I did leave wondering if perhaps this year I want manage to do all phases in a nathe snaffle! As a result I decided to put the rubber pelham in for the cross country course which was quite similar to the course he did there last autumn, except that after the first loop the course came back up the hill towards the start before turning sharply back down the hill into a wooded area through a gateway which I realised would be a prime spot for Ben to have a napp. He felt rather sharp warming up, but left the start box fine and was going well, but as expected wasn’t too keen to go down the hill. I did coax him down but then spooked at the water and although he went in with no penalty just didn’t lock on to the jump out and I had to circle for 20 penalties. The rest of the course was fine including jumping into the second water without a second thought, but I finished thinking that perhaps my extra breaks actually made him too sensitive to the leg and slightly less focused so back to the snaffle next time if I’m brave enough!
So all in all a successful first event; it was great to be back out and about, although we would have picked up a place without that silly blip on the cross country.
Moreton was the first outing of the year for Bellindene Archdene (little Archie) and Archidamus (big Archie) and Amy Howe my head girl riding her own Unchartered Territory (Charlie). The plan was to enter them all in the intro or BE90 as its now called, but Amy got slightly confused with the new names and entered the BE100 instead and wasn’t allowed to change. Whilst she and Charlie are more than capable at this level jumping Novice BE fences at Stockland Lovell, Charlie is not quite so confident at courses he doesn’t know and can be quite spooky, so strong riding was the order of the day. Big Archie has come to me having spent most of his early years doing dressage and whilst he has schooled at cross country and did some show jumping in January, a bruised foot meant I hadn’t jumped cross country away from home or at a competition before and so it was a case of putting him in at the deep end and see how he coped. Little Archie was the seasoned pro of the three having competed at intro and prenovice last year, but he had been behaving rather widly from excitement since coming back in January so we decided a couple of intro runs would be good to get him back into the swing of things. At only 14.2hh the jumps seem a lot bigger from him and he tends to jump everything a foot too high anyway!
Arriving slightly late little Archie and Charlie had a rather rushed warm up and I was pleased that little Archie did a relatively calm test for 35. Charlie didn’t quite produce his best deciding to neigh through most of his test for 41. Big Archie who stands a big 16.2hh is currently finding it hard to keep in self carriage and balance around a 20 by 40 arena and his poll tends to go too low. However for his first attempt ever on grass he tried his best for 41.5. The show jumping which was relatively straight forward in the all weather arena caused no problems with three clear rounds although little Archie was rather strong!
The cross country is nice and inviting with good going on sandy soil, although with the trade stands situated by the start this can be distracting for some. Charlie was very spooking and whilst Amy did a very good job of getting him almost round the whole course, she had to walk the very last bit home due to accumulating 4 refusals. However she got him over each fence on the second attempt and I am sure will get over this issue with a few more runs.
Big Archie was totally stage struck by the whole experience and I found it very difficult to get him to focus on the practise jump in the warm up. On going through the start box he stuck his head in the air and refused to look where he was going a and as a result had a stop or circle at the first three fences, but then finally decided to take the plunge and cat leap over fence 4 and then jumped clear. He felt he was getting the idea what cross country was by the end of the course. In contrast little Archie was virtually unstoppable in the practise arena and on the course I had to be very careful not to take a pull as this just resulted in extreme acceleration! However he was neat and careful over the fences and came home with a nice clear easily inside the time which resulted in 6th place, a great start to his season.
A busy weekend with 4 horses competing over the 2 days did not get off to the best start when I came down with a nasty cold on Friday evening after a very hectic week. Very little sleep and an early start meant I wasn't on the best form arriving at 8am with Ben and Archie both entered in the BE100 on Saturday.
Ben unfortunately hasn't felt quite right behind for the last few days with just the occasional stride not coming through and as I got on to warm up I immediately felt this and it was compounded by firm, uneven and rather sloping ground in the warm up. He is such a sensitive horse he immediately tells you when he is not quite right and he was very difficult to keep in an even contact and even rhythm and was reluctant to take his weight behind. However to be fair on him he has grown up a lot as last year he would have promptly dumped me if he felt at all uncomfortable! Without really managing to get him truly through we fumbled through our test in a tight and tense outline and once we cantered he decided he didn't really want to go back to trot and so I was not surprised by our disappointing score of 44. Archie next and whilst he felt more at ease and active than at Moreton, he struggled in a very sloping arena and as expected got a bit overbent and on his forehand and was fairly marked for a score of 41.
It was straight on the show jumping. With the decision made to pull Ben up if he felt at all uncomfortable, he pinged around the track with ease despite his rather ill jockey turning the wrong way in the middle of the course resulting in a dramatic wiggle to avoid crossing tracks. I gathered my wits together for Archie who also produced a lovely clear which was his first time jumping on grass and he felt like he really enjoyed himself.
On walking the cross country it was similar to previous years and relatively straight forward, although the first three fences which were shared with the Novice course came up quickly from the start and I knew I was going to ride Archie positively not to repeat his performance at the start of Moreton where he didn't really understand what to do at all. I decided to try Ben back in his nathe snaffle having found him too sensitive in the rubber pelham at Aldon and it was the right decision as he felt so much happier with me having less control and flew round effortlessly. On to Archie and having watched Matt Ryan in the warm up I set off riding each fence like my life depended on it with my lower leg securely fixed forward 'a la Matt Ryan' so I wasn't unbalanced by any awkward jumps. With a bit of verbal encouragement we overcome baulking and spooking at the first few and he began to jump increasingly boldly as he went round and I finished exhausted but elated to have gone clear round his first Prenovice albeit with a few time faults. I am sure he will have learnt a lot from this and soon will be taking me round rather than the other way round. So with two double clears we went home happy.
Back the next day with Bellindene Archdene (Little Archie) and Ramillie (Millie) in the BE90, unfortunately I was feeling even worse. Doing her very first BE event and my first outing outside Stockland Lovell Millie warmed up well but unfortunately went a bit behind the leg in the test to score 41.5. In Contrast little Archie decided it was hilarious to try and run away with me every time we hit the downward slope in the arena. However I kept him in control just about and he scored 42 in a section where only a few scored below 40. Two clears followed in the show jumping with Millie needing strong riding in her first attempt jumping on grass but was careful as she always is and little Archie needing the opposite as he was incredibly bold, but also careful; he has really starting to show a copybook technique over a fence having been a bit wayward last year. The cross country was up to height and quite spooky with fence three bigger than that in the Prenovice and Novice course! Millie as expected was very suspicious of all the fences and gave a few some spectacular leaps, but with lots of encouragement we got round with just one stop at an easy house where I mistakenly relaxed slightly. All in all both Fiona her owner and myself were both very pleased and relieved for a first outing. Having had to wait due to a hold on the course little Archie was bursting to get through the start and gave a little rear as we were counted down and then stormed round so strongly that I was slightly worried I may have gone too fast! Luckily I hadn't and he finished 3rd, which qualifies him for an IRF to the delight of his owners, Kieron and Suzie
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Little Archie storming through the water on route to his 3rd place |
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Millie giving the fences plenty of height at her first ever event. |
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With Ben needing some easy days after chiropractor /vet David Watson found him quite sore in his lumbar region it was just the two Archies that made the trip to Larkhill both to contest the BE100. Archidamus (big Archie) felt the best ever warming up feeling more active and relaxed now he has done a few tests. Unfortunately he did again go a bit low in his head carriage in the arena but he was accurate and ridable so I was a bit disappointed to get the same score as always 41.5. However there were several on much worse scores and as the judge noted, I can definitely feel there are much better scores to come. With a very rushed warm up little Archie went in to do a really nice test feeling more relaxed in his canter to score 33.8 and well up the order. The show jumping was up to height with an upright of poles turning away from the entrance catching a lot out, as was the double. Big Archie felt fabulous cruising round effortlessly clear putting the pressure on his stable mate as his round meant I had done 8 successive clear rounds at BE events this year! He was jumping out of his skin put rather took hold after number 3 and despite all efforts just tipped the nasty upright to leave him on 4 faults and ending my run of clear rounds. Oh well…
An old fashioned course on perfect going the cross country was substantial but inviting with the main questions a corner just after the water complex and then a rail to brush arrowhead on one stride after a long straight run. Big Archie proved he is really getting the idea of cross-country and was much bolder. For the first few fences he did lean rather left, but once he had done some combinations felt straighter and was lovely over the corner and arrowhead double. As usual Little Archie was raring to go and was pulling his head down a bit between the fences. On exiting the water he really grabbed the bit resulting in a slightly uncomfortable jump over the corner. Having regained my rhythm I checked before the arrowhead double and in hindsight probably did not get him back enough, as although he jumped in straight as a die he cheekily nipped out at the arrowhead, his first ever cross country penalty in 13 competitions! He finished well but I think we may experiment with bits before the next event at Bickenhall as now the jumps are getting bigger I need a little more control. All in all though another good day although the bank holiday traffic made it a long journey back.
Bickenhall 3rd and 4th of May
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The South West Eventing horses now travel in style in our lovely new lorry! |
Sunday morning saw the first outing of our new lorry above which has been sprayed bright blue with my new sponsor 118499 prominantly displayed in yellow and white which means we now certainly get noticed! It behaved as good as it looks giving the horses a lovely smooth ride and everything worked perfectly.
Ben and Archie its first passengers were both entered in the BE100. Archie's dressage is improving every time out although we did lose a couple of marks as dippy jockey rode the wrong size loops for a mark of 40. Ben warmed up really well and then suddenly realised he was at an event as he went down the centre line and became a coiled spring ready to explode which meant we muddled round for 42. Both of them jumped lovely clear rounds in the show jumping, finding the course very easy. On to the cross country which had definitely been beefed up a bit from last year with some decent combinations including a beautifully dressed water fence where you jumped in and out over brush ducks. Running first Archie set off really well, jumping very boldly and so much so he struggled to get 3 strides into the combination on a curved line at fence 4, but was agile and honest enough to get out. However this knocked his confidence slightly and he spooked violently at the next fence the lime kiln which, going into the woods on uneven ground, was probably the most influential fence of the course, picking up an unfortunate 20 penalties. However after that we both got out act together and he was absolutely fabulous around the rest of the course jumping beautifully out of his big ground covering stride. Ben felt incredibly excited waiting to start and flew round effortlessly although he did spook momentarily as he turned to the brush duck before the first water until he realised there was a fence there to jump. Letting him jump out of his stride he picked up just 1.2 time penalties to finish just out of the placings.
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Ben concentrating in the dressage warm up and in action on the cross country |
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Archie looking confident and stylish on the cross country |
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On Monday we were back with Little Archie in the BE100 and Ramillie and Charlie (ridden by Amy). Both Charlie and Millie did good tests for score of 38.5 and 35.5 respectably followed by nice clear rounds in the show jumping. The BE90 course which was largely a smaller version of the BE100 with lots to look at. Charlie set off very positively from the start box but unfortunately stopped up a few times around the course which was frustrating for Amy as he always goes on teh second attempt. Millie also started well but then point blank refused to go over the ditch which was just before you turned onto the home straight. Very frustrating, but she just needs a bit more mileage over different courses as she can be quite stubborn on occassions!
In contrast having had to wait in the lorry Little Archie was completely wild in the dressage arena for a score of 41. Show jumping was going well until he just touched the second last fence causing him to rush at the last and knocking that as well. Trying a new bit, a kimblewick, on the cross country I warmed up in total control, but he still managed to pull my arms out on the course. It did however keep his head up a lot better and the resulting jumping was pretty spectacular. He felt incredibly focused wanting to jump anything in his path to come home with a couple of time faults.
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Little Archie show jumping and having great fun on the cross country |
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Millie in full gallop and jumping the duck out of the water |
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