Beauty and Rich

[Mandeigh]

Awe great relaxing pics...she is such a beauty...well named eh!

[raingodz]

Thanks it is a good name for her. It is not her registrered name, but the previouse owner called her Beauty, I tent to call her Bea lol  And this is what happens when you shout "Brakefast time for Little Beas",  What a good girl she is

[sarasfly]

What a sweet girl! 

[raingodz]

and a random photo too as she looks so nice in it:

[raingodz]

well... since I last updated you several things have happened, and I am left trying to find a new stratergy!  We had a good dressage cmpetition at Barlow Show back in June, but my mark sheets all said the same thing - need more bend, need consistant outline, needs to be more forwards going and beautiful mare.  The last one kinds of annoys me a bit as I know that already hehe

So, I decided to take some time off compeating and sort a few things out.  So we have been working hard and things seemed to be coming together.  Not only that but with all the canter work we did in October we could suddenly jump, and jump 80cm corse out of canter too.  So, I decided it was time to try another dressage test.  And it was a disaster, she was very unsettled, hard to get and keep her attention and so I ended up not riding the test, more going through the motions while I sat there on her back wondering where we went wrong.  Scores were 47% and 42% for the two novice tests we had done.   Back home we were doing well - OK I was not expecting to get a good mark for our medium trot or canter, but we tried and the rest was feeling good.

A couple of days after the test, after hours each day over analysing what had gone wronge I came up with several things.  1) We are not as good as I think we are at home - this is entirely possible as it is very hard to see yourself and be self critical in a constructive way. 2) 5 months with out compeating meant that  Bea was not feeling as at home in the competition environment as she was in the summer. 3) I forgot to eat lunch that day and the competition was in the afternoon - this is a fundemntal mistake and was never going to help.

After going through the self anaysis I was reminded by a friend that when we did the smae competition last year we lost control in several palces including right infront of the judges box in the warm up and jumping over the boards twice during the test. And we only scored 38%.

So not as good as the summer but better than a year ago.  But I am still strugling in my mind with how to adapt my thoughts and riding between doing a dressage test at home and doing one at a competition.

So no conclusions as yet... instead here is a slide show of photos I have taken over the last couple of years, and for those of you with sound I hope you enjoy it!

[Mandeigh]

  loved the slide show

[shoveltrash]

"yogurt stealing horse hating harpie"
LOVED the slide show!!!! Bea is such a striking mare - and that AUDIO!
what is that from?

[raingodz]

The audio is from That Mitchell and Webb Sound from a few months back.  I suspect Webb of owning a horse lol

[Greybaby]

I shan't comment on Bea, because you already know she is beautiful 

Cool audio - it could be from my household if you reverse the male and female voices 

[winnieandben]

  love the pics

[epona]

OMG!!!!! The Audio is HILARIOUS!! 
and Bea of course is bea-utiful 

[Heather]

Haha!! That is surely an unusual role reversal, normally the wife would be throwing the husband out and keeping the horse, rather than the husband throwing the wife out!! Bea is certainly a very pretty mare!

Heather

[Wendy]

   Brilliant audio, and lovely pics, thanks for sharing.

I have to admit I haven't read all of your blog, but is it possible that you ARE doing great work at home but the excitement of the excurtion to the dressage competition just made her tense and distracted so it wasn't really a fair assessment of your/her level of training.

If you can I would suggest having a lot more days out, not necessarily doing a dressage test, just to get her a bit more used to being out and about. Then try doing a test again see if she's any better after doing a few more.  Does your riding club do any training sessions at the test venue? Do they do lessons - a private lesson at the venue would give her a chance to get used to it (you don't have to do what the teacher tells you if you don't like it  ).

[raingodz]

Probably abit over due with this post, but things are changeing... more of that after the other news.

I decided to enter Bea in adressage competition at Smeltings Riding School on newyears eve.  It was to be Prelim 7.  We started work on the test, and it seemed like a not too bad one.  And then it froze and snowed.  I kept expecting it to melt but it did not.  It soon became apparent that we would not be able to take Bea off the yard.

But Smeltings to the rescue!  I was allowd to use on of there horses to compeat on.  And the final restult was.... 5th with 61%!  So with 10 hours left of 2009 I managed to score over 60% in a dressage test in the year!  It was a pitty it was not with Bea, but will try with her this year.

So... The big change is that I have decided to move Bea closer to home, at the moment it is a half hour drive to get to her and with changes at the yard I would have to start going at least twice a day which would mean 2 hours a day driving and £40 a week in travel.  So after a few weeks of sleepless nights looking for a new home we have found one.  It is less than 5 miles from where I live, great hacing (out on the moors in one direction and woods in a nother), small indoor and large out door school, round pen, and then all the things I dont have at the moment like light, hot water, dry stable, etc, etc.

We move on the 31st, and I am still loosing sleep over worring is Bea will fit in OK, but I am sure she will.  Will get photos of her in her new home for you all once we have moved.

[Peaches]

New yard sounds brilliant - and well done on the dressage test too (although I think I read about it elsewhere and said the same).

Can't wait for more Bea pics .

On the note of your previous post, have you got anything you can record on? If so, why not set it up in the corner of the school when you are working at home, and recording your home sessions. That allows you to then see yourself at home and assess what is good and bad, and gives you something concrete to work with, and compare with competition days. Just an idea (especially seeing as with an indoor at your new place, camcorder won't get wrecked in the rain ).

Good luck with the move, hope it all goes well