So after a few weeks of no competitions we got ready for the Eventers Trail which was held on Thursday at Hopetoun International this week.

While not competing we have had some really good lessons – one flatwork lesson with Corky’s old owner Olivia Wilmot – she certainly put us though our paces but it has made such a difference to our flatwork already. We have to practice lots of sitting trot to stop him (and me) anticipation transitions; I also need to correct the imbalance in my contact. As I have an old injury in my left hand and find it harder to hold the reins I have been hanging onto it so tight I have been very uneven in the contact. By thinking more about the contact in my right hand things seem to be improving and our overall contact is more consistent. Off to dressage this Wed evening so we’ll see if it makes a difference to our marks!

We also had our regular jumping lesson with David Harland– it seemed to go well, David said I just need more consistency now – probably going out to the schooling nights practicing courses and more lessons.

Anyway – back to the Eventers Trial. I was very excited to find out we were parked in beside the stabling for all of the wonderful horses competing in the CIC*, CIC**, CIC***, CCI* and CCI**. We saw lots of famous riders and some beautiful horses. When we headed down to walk the course the trot up was in full flow which distracted us a bit as they were warning up in the middle of our show jumping lol. I wasn’t sure what to expect for the eventer trial – it ended up to be a course of show jumps which were set up round the outside of a dressage arena, and then straight out onto the XC. The XC was all in one large hilly field – all portable jumps so very different from the course at Belsay. Most jumps looks absolutely fine, there were two very chucky brush fences which would require lots of leg and then a combination of two skinny barrels on the angle second to last to watch out for. All in all it looked like a fun event – just what we both needed.

Corky warmed up well, really listening and coming back as soon as I asked. We headed in to start – the show jumping area was surrounded by spooky tents, caravans and a TV van with satellite dishes on top. Fortunately Corky didn’t seem to care! We jumped a nice round and only knocked one pole – lazy back leg on one of the smaller uprights L That done, we headed out onto the XC and he seemed to gain confidence with each jump. Nothing caused us any problems which was great and Corky was super keen. The commentator said it was a shame about our one pole as we rode one of the fastest times. I didn’t care though, I was pleased with such a positive and confident round.

To finish the day we walked round the proper XC course – wow, some of the jumps were crazy, so big!! Others strangely looked like we could jump them – pity the don’t offer a pick a fence option J We spotted some skinny logs like the ones we have a home but they had poles added on the top to make them a bit more inviting to jump. I took a photo, showed them to Bryan back at the yard, and hey presto on Friday morning our logs looked them same, a little bit of Hopetoun for us at home :-)

This week it’s all about flatwork! I have my regular lesson at home with Aimee on Tue, then off to ride a prelim at the SDG op on Wed night. On Saturday I’m being brave and am going to learn up to ride a text in the long arena! The ESDG are running a clinic with Gwyneth Lewis, she is going to spend 30 mins coaching in the long arena. As I’ve never ridden in one I think we’ll probably spend time learning how to ride them movements and then run through the test at the end. Fingers crossed Corky is in the mood!

So this week has seen me finally crack what canter lead I'm on on landing, pass my LGV theory test and Corky manage his first flying change!

Canter leads - so after riding for almost 30 years I have finally cracked it. It was quite embarrassing to admit I have no idea what canter lead I'm on while jumping half the time (if not more!). I brought it up with David at my show jumping lesson this week, he had me cantering round with my eyes shut to make sure I could 'feel' what leg I was on - which I could thankfully. He then had me jumping a small jump, closing my eyes on landing and the turning right or left depending on what leg I felt I was on. I would say I got it 80% of the time. It wasn't helped by Corky always wanting to turn right no matter what leg he was on! David then hopped on to see what he thought - straight away he said it was really easy to feel which leg he was on, but if I still needed a little help, just to look at the two buckles of the breastplate and see which one was further forward. Then just to make me feel even worse, he cantered over the school, asked and got a flying change. Kerry and I spent Saturday teaching changes to Corky but could only get him to do it over a pole. Turns out you just need to ask him correctly and he knows how to do it! We ended the lesson jumping some sizable jumps (for me), all over a meter. David said it was the best be had seen us jump but that we needed to make sure we came for regular lessons as I needed the practice!

At the weekend we went along to the unaffiliated jumping at Rockrose to practice our canter leads. I decided to drop down a class so I could concentrate on the lead leg and not the jump height. It was good fun jumping a smaller course and lead legs were better but still not 100%. Lots of work still to do.

We are off to the BE at Kirriemuir next weekend so are heading over to Luffness for a lesson with Aimee to put Corky through his paces. I have just had my jump saddle flaired which is taking Corky a little getting use to so I'm hoping he will have settled down after our lesson.

Not any photos but do have a wee video of the class on Sunday.

Video http://youtu.be/CEMOgJ1gcKk

So we headed off down to Belsay on Sunday morning full of new ideas – lunging, no spurs, change of bits, saddles and bridles. Some ideas worked, and some didn’t!

As you know our dressage has been steadily getting worse all season. We started with a super 33 in April and declined to a horrific 48 in May. This time I lunged with side reins to start with, then rode in my jumping saddle, changed from a happy mouth and micklem bridle to a NS verbindend bit and flash bridle. Things definitely felt much better than the 48 at Floors, we ended up with a 33.8 (though I think the judge was a kind marker in all honesty). I think it was the lunging that made the biggest difference as instead of having a fight with me about taking up the contact, he had a fight with the side reins! When I got on he was quite happy to work which was a nice change. I also think the change of bit helped too as he was listening to me more. All in all, a massive improvement. 

We have been away show jumping a few times in the last few weeks with RC and Corky has been jumping great, only taking a pole here and there. I was looking forward to this phase and felt quite relaxed…….but it turns out I should have been worried! After a great warm up we started our round – Corky spooked at the crowd and shops which was very unusual as even at Blair they didn’t worry him. The first 4 jumps were lovely but as we approached 5 (jumping into the crowd) he backed off and ended up cat leaping – I almost hit the deck and lost a stirrup (classy!). The next combination (a double then an upright on a related distance) came up so quickly I hadn’t managed to get my stirrup back so we took most of the poles – not very slick! I then managed to balance and get my stirrup back but the damage was done – 16 faults. Not my finest moment. In hindsight I should have circled, got my stirrup back and then presented at the next jumps. Oh well – onto the XC which I was looking forward to. 

There were lots of challenges on the course – jumps over waters/ditches and brushes in-between fields. It was not like any course we had jumped before and I underestimated how challenging it would be. I had gone down to a little pair of spurs which was a mistake. I presented at the warm up jump and I’m not sure what happened but Corky stopped – it was almost as if he wasn’t sure if he was meant to jump it or not. I think I got a fright at the SJ (and he did) which caused a bit of a crisis of confidence. This continued out onto the course a bit – I had to ride really positively into most of the jumps on course to give Corky the confidence to jump everything. Kicking into lots of the jumps did put me off balance a bit so it wasn’t the most graceful of rounds but Corky did listen to me and jumped everything in a super-fast time. On reflection I think I take his braveness for granted sometime and in future I need to make sure I presently him correctly in the warm-up and not assume he will just jump. As you’ll see from the photos he looks like he is having a great time flying over the jumps so overall (apart from the SJ blip) I’m very pleased with the wee man.

Learns – lunging helps, new bit helps, spurs required for XC!