Post by racaille on Nov 1, 2013 7:11:15 GMT
I can't believe this nonsense, but they worked! 
Even the teenager said: I kept looking for your signs of stress ... but you were cool! I was too! Right get a cuppa, it'll be long ....
The ODE training day was held at a club about an hour and a half away which has lovely facilities, including a XC course that, although in a pine wood, has had sand laid on the pistes. It is fantastic.
We were divided into two groups: the competent teenagers plus the farrier's son (more later) and my group - the dad of one of the teenagers, a beginner lady and two little girls
This was the wuss group which suited me fine!
We started with dressage (while the teenagers went to the SJ arena) working on our own level tests. I'd been given a Club 2 test and had decided to be 'mean' to Paco after his last dismal outing, so he was back in a bit and I was in spurs. He was obedient but in a 'I'm doing it because I have to' way. He was a bit supercharged and since I wouldn't let him gallop around as he wanted to, he was a bit bad-tempered and brought out quite a few of his evasion tactics.
We then went into the proper dressage arena and the test was all right but the judge's comments afterwards included the fact that although he didn't look especially tense during most of the test, the fact that he visibly went phew during the buckle end walk showed up that he wasn't relaxed during the rest and I lost a lot of marks for submission. She also said he looked 'tiring' to ride, a reference to my 'flagrant' legs.
The things to learn were that I am not schooling him enough and he is stiff and I need to work on stronger but more discreet legs. Neither of us enjoy schooling so we are lazy (and it's difficult without an arena) but I need to work on this now.
Then we swapped with the teenagers and attacked the SJ. Our coach was very good at making us work at our different levels and the dad and I were working over some biggish spreads (they felt huge to me anyway!) I really enjoyed myself and we ended up doing a course at Club 3 level (75cm) and I was especially pleased as I realised I hadn't done any SJ since last January. We got two poles down, both my fault: I didn't get a good enough canter in front of the whopping spread of the spa and he just clipped the final bar and the other was a double that I didn't balance him enough for.
Then we broke for lunch and had a very convivial picnic before booting up for the XC. I was surprised to find that I wasn't nervous; I think I thought that because I was in the novice group it would be easy. We started out with some easy stuff and I just found I was loving it!
The farrier's lad then joined us from the other group. He is only 12 and rides this very beautiful black PRE stallion. And if anyone ever needed 'proof' that the old saying about iberique horses not jumping, this horse was it! I have never ever seen a horse more clueless. He'd go up to a small log for instance that he was supposed to walk over and then just leap all four feet 100 miles into the air. The little lad has balls of steel because he was thrown into the air time and again and even fell off once when the ruddy animal leaped down a small contre-bas like a sheep. But he was funny about it and just got back on. I have got a wonderful series of pix of the horse trying to figure out how to get over a miniscule log: He reared up fully and then, still vertical, hopped over like a pogo stick.
Just as I was getting blasé, the call came and the dad and I had to join the big group. Now it got interesting! In at the deep end, literally, with my bete noir. We had to go through a gué (water) jumping out over a log and downhill to a brush jump. I don't know why but jumping downhill really freaks me. But, after a battle to get P into the water and a run-out at the log, we managed it.
I was very proud of one element: a bright blue house set to one side of the piste (easy to skip out) followed immediately by a hillock with a wall and log on top, landing on the downhill. I felt Paco look askance at the blue thing but I was so focused on the wall that I just kept riding and he sailed over. But my favourite was a steep hill with a big log on top - I got P into a good gallop up the hill and was positive about the log and he was so stunned that he popped it like a real horse!
We finished with two mean, very narrow log combinations on a curve with a dip in between. Very easy to run on past the second one and P did it twice but by bringing him back to trot, balancing him after the reception, dip and curve and then asking for a canter again, we did it it on the third try.
I felt Paco really enjoyed the XC, he was willing and listening. Got some lovely walk/canter transitions and some super shapes over the jumps. And I really loved it!
The teenager and Racaille did very well too. R had just two 'moments', due to excitement but was otherwise very good indeed. He did a very nice dressage test, jumped the SJ like a horse instead of a sheep and then was fearless over the XC.
It was a fantastic day and I'm still flying, feeling full of confidence! I'm even thinking of having a go at a derby cross competition next week. Get me!!!
Rosé and olives if you got to the end .....
Even the teenager said: I kept looking for your signs of stress ... but you were cool! I was too! Right get a cuppa, it'll be long ....The ODE training day was held at a club about an hour and a half away which has lovely facilities, including a XC course that, although in a pine wood, has had sand laid on the pistes. It is fantastic.
We were divided into two groups: the competent teenagers plus the farrier's son (more later) and my group - the dad of one of the teenagers, a beginner lady and two little girls
This was the wuss group which suited me fine!We started with dressage (while the teenagers went to the SJ arena) working on our own level tests. I'd been given a Club 2 test and had decided to be 'mean' to Paco after his last dismal outing, so he was back in a bit and I was in spurs. He was obedient but in a 'I'm doing it because I have to' way. He was a bit supercharged and since I wouldn't let him gallop around as he wanted to, he was a bit bad-tempered and brought out quite a few of his evasion tactics.
We then went into the proper dressage arena and the test was all right but the judge's comments afterwards included the fact that although he didn't look especially tense during most of the test, the fact that he visibly went phew during the buckle end walk showed up that he wasn't relaxed during the rest and I lost a lot of marks for submission. She also said he looked 'tiring' to ride, a reference to my 'flagrant' legs.
The things to learn were that I am not schooling him enough and he is stiff and I need to work on stronger but more discreet legs. Neither of us enjoy schooling so we are lazy (and it's difficult without an arena) but I need to work on this now.
Then we swapped with the teenagers and attacked the SJ. Our coach was very good at making us work at our different levels and the dad and I were working over some biggish spreads (they felt huge to me anyway!) I really enjoyed myself and we ended up doing a course at Club 3 level (75cm) and I was especially pleased as I realised I hadn't done any SJ since last January. We got two poles down, both my fault: I didn't get a good enough canter in front of the whopping spread of the spa and he just clipped the final bar and the other was a double that I didn't balance him enough for.
Then we broke for lunch and had a very convivial picnic before booting up for the XC. I was surprised to find that I wasn't nervous; I think I thought that because I was in the novice group it would be easy. We started out with some easy stuff and I just found I was loving it!
The farrier's lad then joined us from the other group. He is only 12 and rides this very beautiful black PRE stallion. And if anyone ever needed 'proof' that the old saying about iberique horses not jumping, this horse was it! I have never ever seen a horse more clueless. He'd go up to a small log for instance that he was supposed to walk over and then just leap all four feet 100 miles into the air. The little lad has balls of steel because he was thrown into the air time and again and even fell off once when the ruddy animal leaped down a small contre-bas like a sheep. But he was funny about it and just got back on. I have got a wonderful series of pix of the horse trying to figure out how to get over a miniscule log: He reared up fully and then, still vertical, hopped over like a pogo stick.
Just as I was getting blasé, the call came and the dad and I had to join the big group. Now it got interesting! In at the deep end, literally, with my bete noir. We had to go through a gué (water) jumping out over a log and downhill to a brush jump. I don't know why but jumping downhill really freaks me. But, after a battle to get P into the water and a run-out at the log, we managed it.
I was very proud of one element: a bright blue house set to one side of the piste (easy to skip out) followed immediately by a hillock with a wall and log on top, landing on the downhill. I felt Paco look askance at the blue thing but I was so focused on the wall that I just kept riding and he sailed over. But my favourite was a steep hill with a big log on top - I got P into a good gallop up the hill and was positive about the log and he was so stunned that he popped it like a real horse!
We finished with two mean, very narrow log combinations on a curve with a dip in between. Very easy to run on past the second one and P did it twice but by bringing him back to trot, balancing him after the reception, dip and curve and then asking for a canter again, we did it it on the third try.
I felt Paco really enjoyed the XC, he was willing and listening. Got some lovely walk/canter transitions and some super shapes over the jumps. And I really loved it!
The teenager and Racaille did very well too. R had just two 'moments', due to excitement but was otherwise very good indeed. He did a very nice dressage test, jumped the SJ like a horse instead of a sheep and then was fearless over the XC.
It was a fantastic day and I'm still flying, feeling full of confidence! I'm even thinking of having a go at a derby cross competition next week. Get me!!!
Rosé and olives if you got to the end .....
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
Iberians can jump though, I've jumped a few including a Lusitano at Los Alamos who has an amazing ping in him! Some of them just take a bit longer than others to work out how to get all four legs over though 
