Yesterday we had a yard outing to Knights of Middle England to have a go at Stunt Riding 💪
I cannot express how much fun we all had! This video is just a tiny snapshot of what we got up to, and everyone attempted each exercise in walk, trot and canter. There was so much laughter, some swearing 🙊 and a real appreciation gained for the display riders who make it all look so easy (and elegant 🤣)
A huge thank you to our awesome instructor James, and especially our noble steed for the afternoon Toby. He was the kindest, most patient pony in the world whilst we hung off him every which way 🥰🦄
It seems I have created a bit of a monster 😈🚀🤣🙈
She’ll spook at the banners, and she’ll spook at the various jumps dotted around the arena, but put her in front of one and she absolutely wants to jump the **** out of it 💪
Truthfully though, Dilys was really rather fabulous (if a bit keen at times!) today. She’s erratic, and still clearly has a long way to go in her training, but she’s certainly on the right track. I love her boldness, and particularly how she thinks about the question in front of her. She doesn’t always get it right (for example she thought she had to jump the puddle on the step up, as well as the step itself, which had me absolutely cackling whilst her legs went every which way 🤣). She sometimes puts herself in to trouble by running through the bridle, but she’s clever at getting her legs out of the way regardless. It’s SO tempting to put her over bigger stuff now because she feels so game -and I confess I gave in to this once when I pointed her at the arrowhead triple brush out of the water which is where we had our one and only issue/runout. Entirely my fault, I’ve not done nearly enough skinny training with her and she didn’t have the tools to deal with the question, even if she did eventually figure it out.
However, right now she needs to continue chipping away over smaller jumps in order to continue to build her confidence whilst also learning how to deal with the less than ideal stride/approach/angle, and to get us both out of trouble without the risk of frightening her or having an accident.
Though I do so love that she absolutely thinks she’s the dog’s 🍒 right now. Long may it continue 💪😈🖤
Dilys CT @ Cherwell
Guess who’s at her first competition 🖤🥰 Mane Focus Photography
I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about her, but I was SO proud of the little black pony last night 🖤🥰
Yesterday we had another yard outing, this time to Moreton Morrell for their Clear Round evening. It was an awful lot for Dilys to take in, and she got rather worried by the little ponies wizzing around in the warm up. However we snagged a lead from livery Liv and her lovely horse Tigger which got her going and she soon settled.
Eventually it was time for Dilys to go in to the ring, and whilst she was suspicious and unsure, she kept going and jumped round clear albeit in an interesting fashion 🙈 Quick break and then she was back in again for round two. I think the video speaks for itself, look how much more confident and stylish she was 💪🤩
We also had fabulous clear rounds from Liv and Tigger, Julie and Star, and later that evening Emma and Secret 😎
Dilys SJ schooling @ Cherwell
Another outing for Dilys ( and friends) yesterday when we went show jump schooling at Cherwell 🥰 SO impressed by the little demon pony’s behaviour, we had one little wobble at the first fence she encountered with fillers, and then she was away! We’re still keeping everything tiny for now, particularly as her technique goes a little out the window when she’s unsure, but I just loved how much more willing she was to attempt jumps/fillers she hadn’t seen before, and how hugely confident (and quite frankly cocky💪😏) she felt at the end!
I think two months late is a new record for a belated event report- better late than never though, ey 😉
Secret smashed the dressage at Barbury, for which I can take very little credit seeing as I had ridden her maybe four times in the weeks prior, and majority of those were jumping sessions. It’s very nice to hop on to a well schooled pony and get to push the buttons 😇💛 A 21.3 had us miles ahead of the rest of the field, and even after an unusual two down in the SJ we still held the lead. The poles were annoying, but it was a nice rhythmical forward round and whilst I know she’s more careful off a shorter, deeper spot, with our sights set at stepping up a level we need to learn to jump just as well with more pace in order to make the bigger oxers!
XC Seek set out rather backwards, and had a stop at fence 4, a basic house, for no real reason I could discern 🤷♀️ However she jumped it boldly on representing and then gave me the best XC round of her career. She was super bold and straight over everything, and if I thought Billy had jumped the hanging log on the hill big, Seek by comparison went in to orbit! We then very much came down to the big skinny box brush on the buckle, which she again jumped huge and then galloped on home over the final few fences feeling very pleased with herself.
The stop was frustrating, but I was so thrilled with the rest of her round that there was no need to dwell on it. A bit of homework to be done and then onwards and upwards 💛
Positive heart beat scan for Lucky today 💗
Billy @ Barbury
Chalk, aka Billy, aka Billy the hunt horse who did his very first dressage test last month, three days later was introduced to the concept of show jumping and then that weekend wizzed down to Elmwood horse trials for his first taste of eventing. You’ve really got to hand it to this horse, he has done literally nothing but hunt all his life and he’s entirely the wrong shape for this game. But what he lacks in leg length he truly does make up for with his big heart and Irish approach to everything.
At his second attempt between the white boards at Elmwood Horse Trials he led the dressage, tipped a couple poles SJ and then stormed the XC clear for 12th. So we popped him up a level to 90 at Waverton a few weeks later where he did another sub-30 dressage, admittedly ran off with me in the SJ for four down but once again rose to the occasion in the XC, skipping round a very influential course for another clear and 9th place. So I was feeling pretty confident for our third spin at Barbury!
Sadly our dressage was a bit of a disaster- a morning spent watching the XC (in full view of the lorry park) meant Billy really wanted to be elsewhere for a 38. Show jumping I thought we had a nice enough *controlled* round, he just failed to pick his legs up over the smaller uprights for three down. I came out a bit disappointed but on reflection I really can’t hold the poles against him, especially when more than a few horses were balking at the flags and fillers. SJ is a very different game to hunting, and what a good boy he was going in to that bright, busy ring and not taking a second look at anything.
We of course had the best time XC. Knowing we would be well out of the placings I thought we could take a few risks by not baby him in to any of the fences and see what he really thought of it all. With the handbrake off Billy had an absolute blast and I really did do little more than steer between the flags. I was particularly proud of him at the hanging log to big skinny b
Dilys first canter
Don’t mind me, just having a first canter on my homebred 😈🖤🤩
