Competition Report [12.5.13]

Today, Me and Pea ventured over to Long Drove Dressage Centre, Huntingdon for a spot of dressage. I decided to enter us for both prelims as his canter is really starting to come along and so I felt he was ready for two prelims. However, when we turned up there wasn't much space to park and the warm-up arena was about 20x30m so I couldn't give him a canter beforehand as he's a bit funny about cantering with others around and definitely wouldn't manage in such a small arena so I made the decision to leave canter until the test and just see how he went rather than wind him up and me get flustered trying to canter in the warm-up arena. 

Prelim 7:
He went quite nicely overall for this test. We've had issues warming up with picking up canter on the circle and this was half shown today. For his first canter he broke into trot a few times and was really unbalanced, but this was his first canter so it was to be expected, but when it came to the second canter I lengthened my reins a fraction as he works better with a slightly longer rein and he went really nicely. His trot work is really coming along nicely and he's coming a lot rounder, in fact in the warm-up arena for both tests he rode like a dream so I'm really excited about the rest of this year as I can't wait to see what it brings us. Overall we came 6th with 60.5% so I was really pleased and the judge's comments were: "Lots of potential but now needs to work more consistently into the contact to help transitions and balance and develop paces. Quietly ridden."

You can watch the test here.

Prelim 14:
After waiting around for an hour it was time for our second test. Again Pea warmed up really nicely and went straight into a contact which I was so shocked about! We went in and he went nicely with some nice movements. For the first canter, typical Pea form he decided to throw in some bucks - not on the agenda! However, he did keep moving forward and settled down again afterwards and his second canter went a lot nicer though he broke just before the trot so fell into trot a bit. His halt was really nice and he was obedient which makes a change as in practise we were practically at C before he decided to stop! Overall, despite the bucking I was really happy with him and got some nice comments from the judge: "Some very promising moments but he was rather naughty for you! Lots of potential but needs to be working more into the contact to start developing his work now. Well sat!" He scored 55.83%.

You can watch the test here.

Overall I'm really pleased with how today went considering the lack of warm-up and the long waits. He got some really nice comments from the judge, and she put some nice things about my riding which I really need to learn to accept! I'm hoping to take him to Crowland Show at the end of June for the dressage and depending if I can get the day off work maybe another before hand. 

Thanks for reading, 
Laura & Pea x

Lesson [4.5.13]

Apologies for the late post, but here's a post about how my lesson went last Saturday. I was hoping to have a jumping lesson, however the weather wasn't the greatest being very windy and rainy so we popped inside and did some flatwork for the majority before venturing back outside to where the sun was making an appearance again to pop a few fences. 

For the flatwork we mainly focused on parts that are in my dressage test this Sunday, in particular our centre lines and canter circles, especially for Prelim 7 where you do a 20m circle and in the second half ask for canter which Pea has been finding a bit difficult. I always feel that our centre lines aren't very straight, however my dressage results and my instructor beg to differ, so fingers crossed they continue that way - though our halt at the end has gone a bit rubbish but we're still working on it and hopefully Pea will eventually understand to just halt straight and quit fidgeting! The first canter we tried was rather shocking, but when we tried again it was much better. He tends to rush down the long side but then finds it hard to keep going to my instructor suggested keeping my outside leg back a bit to help it along and it worked really well and he's been managing a lot better. When we then do a downward transition back to trot it goes a bit wrong as he rushes in the trot or just falls to walk as he's no energy so I've been working on keeping my leg on for the downward transition and to keep the energy there but contained. 

We then popped out to do some jumps and he jumped so well! Think that over the past year all our hard work with the flatwork has really helped our jumping and i'm riding him at jumps more effectively and not holding too tight which caused him to get in too deep and scramble over the fence. He's now really starting to get the striding right and jumps unbelievably and I'm starting to get my confidence back so fingers crossed we get back into the jumping again soon and maybe do a few show jumping competitions next year! We finished by jumping the planks which I was a bit worried about as he's not too keen on them but I decided to be brave and just go for it and remember to ride and he had a look but jumped it (hence in the photo he's giving it a funny look!) so we finished on a good note and I can't wait to jump him again for a change.

Thanks for reading, 
Laura & Pea x

Brain Work to Help Combat Spring Grass.

I found this picture on pinterest and decided to use it for my latest blog post as i've hit a bit of a bad patch with Pea. As of last week he's started to be a bit naughty again, and with all that i've had on (a lot of uni work, job, family matters) I think it's hit a bit harder than usual, along with the added fact that he had been going well! But, as the picture states, either 'give up, give in or give it all you've got' and I plan on giving it all I've got as I'm not a quitter with things I'm passionate about! His canter is coming along, it's still a bit patchy which is to be expected as he has only just started again, but we are managing near enough a circuit round the arena and slowly incorporating smaller shapes, ie turning up the 20m line rather than staying straight as if in a dressage arena. 

Pea has lately started bucking again, and bad, although to be honest he has so far only done it once or twice and then settles, but when he does they are pretty big and cheeky! On Thursday I had a lesson and it nearly started badly as I was upset with how he had just been (he ran off twice in the field, the second time almost kicking me, then bucked refusing to go to one arena before trying to get me off in the other arena in front of a group of people who decided to stare!), however, Pea being the horse he is was so good in his lesson (he bucked before it started) and it was almost like I was lying! My instructor being the amazing person she is soon cheered me up and thought it was most probably the spring grass coming through giving him extra energy and with me being at uni during the week he wasn't getting to use it up so instead played up. This resulted in him being chucked out over the weekend with no rug on but as it was warm in the day it wasn't so bad, but during the night he would have to shiver some energy away (and hopefully slow down him getting a summer belly!). 

So with his naughtiness in mind, Emily suggested doing some 'brain work' with him to get him really thinking about what he's supposed to be doing rather than what he wants to do and I thought I would share the exercises with you. They really helped him to open up and slowly start coming into a more consistent frame.

Firstly, on a 20m circle I collected his trot up really short and slow so that he was really on his hocks. This is a lot harder than it sounds as you have to really use your legs and seat to keep the energy and the trot, but not too much to increase the speed, whilst also using the contact to try and bring him back! Once he was collected, I then pushed him back into a working trot. Once in working trot he started to stretch down and come into the contact, and the more we did, the better he got. We carried this out on both reins, although the left rein was harder as that is his worse rein so we spent a little more time carrying it out before moving onto the next exercise. 

The second exercise was quite similar to the first but instead of collecting the trot I brought him back to a near halt before sending him off again. This is like a good, strong half halt and really makes the horse come back onto their hocks before moving off again using their back-end, something Pea often forgets to use. At first it took quite a bit to get Pea to come back onto his hocks, but after a few attempts he soon got it and then when he moved on he went really nicely and I could definitely feel the difference as he stepped out more and stretched over his whole frame. 

Just when I thought it couldn't get any harder, it did. For the final exercise we incorporated leg-yield; so when I asked him to move forwards after the near-halt, I also asked him to move over. On the right rein this was relatively easy and he really stepped under, however on the left rein he found it a lot harder so it took a lot more leg and seat to get him forward and stepping over but he eventually started getting the hang of it and slowly started to stretch and give some inside bend. 

I now plan on keeping up with these as well as other exercises we have used over the past in the next couple of weeks to get him to soften up and stretch into a more consistent frame as well as starting to incorporate circles into his canter in preparation for the second round of trailblazers in May where we are branching out and entering both Prelims :)

Thanks for reading, 

Laura & Pea x