interesting weekends

[TB]

well....
last sunday i competed at a BEAUTIFUL place in a gorgous valley, the place used to hold world cup events etc so the jumps were just amazing too!

but... i wasnt so amazing.

i went in the 1m-1.10m class first on both horsies, it was an absolute shocker! i was eliminated on king at the 10th jump... we just wernt jumping well! getting really deep spots and clobering rails (and wings). I went back to my old jumping self and started looking down at the jumps, clinging with the knees etc and that was just it for king and he refused to go on with the course..., but he was also bolting for the gate every chance he got and it was just a mess...

then it was Mo's go around the course, I sucked it up and went back on in there.. i tried so hard to relax and fix my position but i just couldnt stop looking down at those jumps and knee clinging.. we knocked two rails but we finished the course -phew- but jeez it was ugly. really long spots, deep spots, wrong canter leads and way too fast, sometimes way too slow wrong striding between combos etc.. but poor old Mo just kept on jumping, he was so kind and it was almost like he was saying to me "okay, i know your scared, im scared too but we can do this!" and he did it.. i just clung for dear life. I dont know why he puts up with me!

so then I thought I would enter into the smaller classes to get king feeling better.. and to get me feeling better too. well... the 80cm round on king was just nasty! really really ugy, way too fast and way too many deep spots etc... but this time we managed to finish without refusals -sigh- then i put him in the 90cm course and he settled down, we got strides right and went well in the jump off but didnt place (but i didnt really care about placing at the time lmao). i figured i'd put Mo in the 90cm too and he went well, but had a rail in the first round so no jump off.

it was all up a really stressful day because at one stage king pulled away from me as i was fixing up a fallen warm up jump and he bolted back to float >_< argh he is such a hot head at times, you wouldnt think he was 19.
here are some pics...

Mo in the 1m - 1.10m class, look at those pretty mountains!!


King in our shocking 1st class...


Mo over the water in the 1m - 1.10m class, they made the water jump really small... but i didnt release enough and im pulling on the poor boys mouth!


me and king literally FLOPPING over the 80cm course...





but then this weekend it was a very diferent story!

Put king in the 1m class and he was very good boy!!! the 1st round he was kinda fiesty but he settled down for the 2nd round and we got 3rd over all by the end of the day!
now.. after having such a shocking time at the previous comp no one in their right mind would go any higher than 1m for their next comp.... well, Im never in my right mind. i put mo in 1.20m class (coz i couldnt have two horses in the same class). and holy crapola he was AMAZING! we knocked three rails out of the entire day and we even got a double clear round in a jump off! Mo never goes clear but boy he did that day! we got the ocasional deep/ long spot because i dont usually jump over1.10m so i dont have the "eye" for it but we survived! we ended up 4th in every class making us 4th over all for the day! i am so happy with my boys! i asked someone to take some pics of us and they will email them to me soon so i can share pics with you guys.

well done if you got to the end of this

[spotti]

Holy Moly - those jumps look huuuuuge! No wonder you were holding on for dear life! Well done for not falling off AND for being placed at the end of it ;D

[TB]

hah lol thanks.. the pics I've shown are from the "bad" day and i am yet to post pics of our "good" day.. still waiting on getting them and yeh.. when you walk the course they dont seem that big but jeez when your actually riding it they feel massive lol

[maximum]

well done!! it shows that you musnt let a bad day set the tone!

Am sure King thought ' what the heck these are tiny' in 80cm class - hence the yeeha! he maybe needs the height to back him off a bit and stop him getting too deep to it.

Its funny I always think jumps look huge from the ground but when I am on a horse its fine!

[TB]

yes you are so right maxi. king just doesnt respect small jumps anymore, but i find them a good training tool to keep his mind (and my mind lol) active... maybe just not in competition though! lmao

[fimacg]

WOW! makes my 65cm course look tiny - I wish I could train my mind to think 1m was small, I thgink you look fab!

[TB]

thank you, but remember fimacg, its not how high you jump, its how well you jump it. whilst a 60cm course might be small it is by no means an easy task, especially if you want to ride it correctly! and as you can see.. especially from the last two pics, that I am not jumping well! but if you look at some of your jumps in the other threads you look poised and have reasonably correct balance and position! i belvie it is far far a greater acomplishment to have a nice smooth round of 60cm jumps than an ugly and perhaps even dangerous 1m+ round lol

[duckles]

Agree with the points you are making TB ie better to do a good 60cm than a bad 1.10m but it does take a lot of skill to do a good 1.10m so well done. Your horses are beautiful by the way.

[haffyfan]

Lovely pics, georgous horsies and I totally agree with Duckles.
The venue looks amazing!

[racaille]

That's riding for you: cr@p one minute, brilliant the next! Wonderful location and I loved your description of your lovely GG just going for it!

[jane]

Well done on the good day, and well done for not letting bad day get the better of you.

The scenery is beautiful, I would love to ride in those mountains! Your boys are really lovely too.

[florence]

Well done TB. I think you're really brave. Not just 'cos the jumps are massive but because you just kept going and never let any of it stop you. And it really paid off.

It's funny, though, isn't it that we can recognise exactly what we're doing wrong i.e. clinging with the knees but no matter how much you tell youself to relax, you just can't! Argh

[TB]

hahah yeh thanks guys hopefully soon i'll have the pics from our good day....

and lol at florence's comment, it is soooo frustrating!

[brigadier]

Looks amazing TB- the venue, your horses and your tenacity! Well done!

[fleabitten]

Great pics Well done for ploughing on!!