Beauty and Rich

[raingodz]

I took Bea to her frist competition of 2010, which was also our first jumpcross competition too.

I did some jump training last week over show jumps and working hunter jumps and she went very well, so we decided to enter the jumpcross on saturday. I was told the novice horse and the novice rider course would be the same so I entered the novice horse class (partly due to the person who was giving us a lift was entering that class too).

Showday morning, and I realise I have nothing to wear for XC, so quck run up to the tack shop, apparently I was the 4th that morning needing somthing to wear for the competiton, the selection wasnt great, infact black and purple was the only colour scheeme that didnt contain pink, so I ended up with that!

Bea travelled and warmed up well.  And then we saw that there was one jump differnce between the novice horse and novice rider course was that the novice horse course included the drop jump.

Bea jumpped really well, we got over the first 12 jumps well.  then going in to the next one she slipped a bit which not great, then the next jump was the drop and she refused.  She refused 3 times and we were eliminated.  I was allowed to complete the course which she did really well, even jumping the bath with out a second look.

So, was a little annoyed since we could have been placed had we entered the novice rider class rather than novice horse.  But I guess its all part of the learning process.

Anyway, here are the photos:

[epona]

great pics  and Bea is a bold jumper    You both look FAB!

[raingodz]

And note to Heather.... No whip and no spurs and nicely forward going round the jumps!

[Heather]

Hey shes got a nice little pop in her Rich! Looking great! I think she will jump a lot bigger than that if you want to progress to bigger competitions. She is bold and looks like she is really enjoying it!!

[Mandeigh]

 

[raingodz]

Hey shes got a nice little pop in her Rich! Looking great! I think she will jump a lot bigger than that if you want to progress to bigger competitions. She is bold and looks like she is really enjoying it!!

yes, she seems to have come back in to work with a new spark.  We had a bit of a play with the jumps at home and she seem happy with jumping 90cm, not going to push it more than that yet, but hope to go to the local riding club on saturday to do the 65cm and 75cm classes and see how we cope with the fillers and other excitments of competition day.

[Erin's mum]

Brilliant pics there    good luck for saturday

[ukica]

Lovely photos.  Well done 

[winnieandben]

Looking good 

[shoveltrash]

very impressed - GREAT photos!  well done, and good luck saturday (today! )

[raingodz]

Thanks everyone, and things are getting better all the time for us!  Bea and I won our first showjumping competition on Saturday over a 65cm course - we were the only horse to go clear so didnt even need to have a jump off lol.   

We then went on to compete in the 75cm class, went clear, but in the jump off we had a bit of a spook incedent caused by a fizzy drinks can being opened as we aproched the first jump, so to avoid crashing in to the jump wing I her circled round.  We jumped all the jumps fine, but had picked up 4 penalties for a refusal and ended up 6th.

On Sunday we did a working hunter class for the first time and ended up 6th.  I found it quite a challenge, and looking back I think that competing twodays in a row was maybe a bit ambitious.  We ended up 6th and the judge said "you need more practice, but I like the way you are nice to your horse".


Here are the photos:






















 

[Greybaby]

Well done!  You're looking fab together!

And what a lovely comment from the judge about being nice to Bea (not that we'd expect any different from you  ), nice to see that some judges still appreciate these things 

[Amanda1950]

Well Done 

Great photos 

[raingodz]

On sunday we did our first ODE.  It was advertised as a begginers competition - Intro B dressage and 2ft jumps.  We were a bit under prepared, but looking forward to it.  My dressage performance was medioka, and yet again we fail to score over 60%, although I think we were only 4% behind the highest score (which was by Ponylover88 ).   Then I kind of screwed up and didnt get to the showjumping section in time, as I arrived they were calling my name, so I stupidly just went streight in rather than asking if I could pop over the warm up jump.  The good thing is there were no refusals at the new fillers (which has been a problem in the passed), but had a silly one down after we jumpped a filler that I was sure she would stop at, and I kind of forgot to ride in to the next jump lol.

Then there was a long break before the XC, so I ate a sausage sandwhich and walked the xc course.  The course was quite long, very hilly, and potentially wet and slippy.  We set off, telling the starting steward we would take it slow.  Went over the first jump, and then walked down a steep bank to jump 2.  Not the best start lol but we cleared it.  the first few jumps went fine, then we came to a down hill slope and refused, I think because I was a bit worrid about riding on confidantly in to a jump on a down hill slope where is was slippy.  the next few jumps went well.  then we got to a mini sunken road, and that took some convincing to get her to jump down in to it.  But I was so pleased with the way she jumpped the steps up, she just bombed up them very confidently.  We then jumpped though a jump I thought she would stop at (see pic below), but again the next jumpwas on a steep down hill and I did not ride in to it well, and she refused.  over that and then we had a good gallop up hill until the very last jump where I think she had just run out of steam a bit and I did't push her on enough.

So elimination, but over all a good first ODE, only 3 riders didnt get eliminated in the XC, so maybe not such a bad result, but I will always want more than elimination!

This is my favorite photo from the day, I thought we would have a problems with this one, but she jumpped it like a star:

[winnieandben]

  Well done!!

I love the last pic in the showjumping prize giving.  Bea with a snaffle and no noseband and the horse next with gag and flash and martingale