First lesson in a while!

Well, the past two weekends have been absolutely disastrous in terms of getting out competing. Last weekend I had every intention of doing an Elementary test with Ceaser to prepare us for our first affiliated event in a couple of weeks, but unfortunately a day before the competition I somehow managed to get the dreaded 48 hour sickness bug. So, whilst I should have been competing I was stuck in bed listening to others from the yard trotting past my window as they went out on a lovely hack.

That knocked me out for a few days and after work and university it was suddenly Thursday and I hadn't had chance to ride once, which meant Ceaser had ended up having 10 days off - not something I wanted. After endless internet searching I found a local dressage competition that I could enter just to get him out and booked us in.

I knew he would be a little hyperactive when I went to get back on after his time off but little was an understatement! After five minutes of spooking, planting all four feet firmly on the floor and then spinning around at 5 o clock Thursday evening after a full day at university I accepted defeat, got off and went in search of someone to lunge him for me! I work Mondays and Tuesdays and then have university Thursdays and Fridays so if I want to ride those days it means I can't do so until 4/5 o clock when its pitch black and Ceaser thinks its dinner time, not work time.

Thankfully, a livery kindly offered to lunge him for 10 minutes for me on Friday so he would at least be a little more prepared for dressage on Sunday. Apparently he was as good as gold and didn't put a hoof out of line.

Saturday I had every intention of riding, then plaiting - until about 11am I got a text saying the dressage was cancelled due to predicted high winds. Just my luck, you can tell its winter again! So, I quickly popped down to the arena where our riding instructor was teaching some of our riding school clients and asked for a lesson. If Ceaser was going to be a pain like he had been recently then he may as well do it in front of a crowd!

Sharon, our instructor sussed Ceaser out instantly and why I have been having a few issues with him taking off and spooking a lot recently. Just 2 minutes in to trotting she noticed he is tending to over bend and locking his neck and taking hold of the bit when I'm asking for something, meaning that I have no control over what he is doing.

So for the first 10-15 minutes we spent time on getting him moving forward and working from behind a lot more. If he went behind the vertical and sped up without me asking then I was to half halt him whilst pushing him forward. It worked and after a little while he was working a lot better.

When Sharon asked me to canter on Ceaser wasn't as up-hill, which we have been having problems with in our dressage tests. She noticed that he is quite forward and referred to him as a "coil spring waiting to go pop!" which he definitely felt like! So we worked on getting my legs correct and pushing my bum into the saddle more to try and keep him up-hill so he couldn't take a hold of the bit and pull me forward out of my seat. It was definitely easier said than done as I was only riding in my snaffle bit but eventually after some leg-yielding in and out of a 20 meter circle on both reins he began to listen and respect my aids more.

I always find that once we have a had a canter in a dressage test he clicks on and gets strong. Sharon said he definitely gives this impression and because of his thick set neck and shoulders he would be strong if he wanted. It was quite funny that within just a few minutes Sharon spotted exactly what Ceaser does to try and test me and make me work twice as hard - which makes me feel even more confident about her as an instructor. She gave me some homework of doing lots of transitions and keeping him busy so he doesn't get bored and have time to think about being a challenge. We need to work on keeping his brain ticking the whole time I am riding as if I switch off for a slight second he finds something to look at and spook at!

Obviously for an Elementary test where you need to do lots of collections and give the impression of being a lot more up-hill, so I have now ordered a double bridle to use to see if it makes a difference in getting him more up-hill and just that little bit less strong. He is simply too strong in the snaffle so we need to look at other options.

Overall I had a fantastic lesson and have already been practicing the pointers Sharon told me to work at today. It just goes to show that what she said to work at actually works as we only had one spook at some pheasants today despite it being very wet and windy. I have taken him off his electrolytes and cut his high energy feed down whilst he is spending more time stabled during the winter as I am pretty sure that is not helping matters!

Hopefully we will get out competing soon, but if not I have a dressage clinic in two weeks so that will have to do! I hate winter, roll on summer!

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A fantastic end to a season of firsts...

Last weekend saw Ceaser and I competing at our final showing competition of the season. It all seems to have come to an end rather quickly and it doesn't seem that long ago I was discussing how excited I was for the showing season to start.

On Friday of last week a group of us from the yard traveled to Arena UK in Grantham for a full weekend of showing and all things equine (there may have been a bit of alcohol thrown in the mix too!). We also met some friends there and spent the weekend laughing lots and talking about our plans for the winter. Mark was in Estonia on a stag weekend so it was a great opportunity for me to have some much needed girly and one-to-one time with Ceaser, but did also mean I didn't have someone to carry my belongings around the showground!

Ceaser had been rather full of it the previous week and a few times I had had some near misses where I found myself thinking "this is it, I'm coming off!". He has been on some immune system boosting products and although I was warned they would make him feel 'very sprightly', I didn't expect him to turn in to a youngster again!

So, after allowing him a few hours to settle in to his home for the weekend I tacked up and decided to pop on for a quick ride around. Surprisingly he worked lovely and was listening to my every move - which was a far cry away from a few days before! However, he usually does this and always pulls out all the stops for me once we're at a show. Its one of his traits that makes him the type of pony he is. Forever the cheeky boy at home, but a true showman once we're out competing.

Saturday saw a 5am start (I know, there ARE two 5 o clocks in one day after all), a grumpy me and a confused Ceaser as to why the sudden early rise. I don't know where the time flew but suddenly it was 9am and I was walking into my Competition Pony class. I had barely warmed up and I knew I needed more time. The ring was very tight due to the amount of competitors in the class and I felt like I didn't have chance to show Ceaser off properly in the go-round.

This didn't set us in good stead for the individual show where I had manged to stress myself out and not been quick enough to get close to the beginning so I could be one of the first to do my individual show. Ceaser is the type to switch off very quickly if there is a long line-up and he did just that! We were about 10th to go and I knew as soon as I kicked him out it wasn't going to go well. However, he surprised me, did a lovely show piece and popped the jump required with ease. Unfortunately though we had an unlucky mistake when changing the canter lead and he popped on to the wrong leg. Although it was a minor mistake and I corrected it straight away it still costs us a fair few riding marks because of the standard of horses in the class. It was entirely my fault and I knew as soon as I had asked for the canter that I hadn't set him up correctly. I seem to panic and rush when I'm in situations like that and I know I shouldn't.

Needless to say we weren't placed in the Top 10 but it was a huge learning curve for me. Next up was the ridden veteran class. There was roughly 20 entries in the class and in all honestly I had let my mistake in the morning bother me so I was dithering and panicking. The go round though did feel much more positive and I ensured I spread myself out a lot more than the previous class so the judge had a good chance to look at him. I also ensured I got quite high up in the line-up to enable me to do my individual show piece early on. This reflected Ceasers performance and he went on to perform a foot perfect show with both correct canter leads.

I was thrilled to be pulled in to a respectable 6th place and as I looked further up the line-up I felt our place was fair and there was some fantastic horses.

Saturday evening saw the consumption of alcohol, girly chats and lots of giggling. Although I didn't drink much, I think the girly influence got the better of me and I found myself giggling like a young school girl all evening. However I did get much more sleep that night and felt a lot better the following morning.

I don't know whether it was the fact I had, had more sleep or what but when I woke up on Sunday morning I instantly felt a lot more positive and better than I had the previous morning - Phew!

My classes didn't start until 10am so I was able to spend a lot more time on Ceaser's turn out and warming up. However, when I found out the judge was the one and only Mr Nigel Hollings I instantly panicked again. Nigel is one of the top producers in the country and very widely known. No pressure then...

First up was my Riding Pony class in which Ceaser usually did well in as he is just a true stamp of a riding pony. The go round felt much more put together in this class and I felt like Ceaser and I were working together again rather than against one another. This reflected and he then produced a lovely individual show.

The wait was nerve-wracking and I didn't expect to be placed too high as there was some top class show ponies within the class too. So, when Nigel pointed to Ceaser and I to come forward and take 1st place I was absolutely thrilled. I didn't at all expect that and am still smiling from ear-to-ear at the lovely comments Nigel gave me about Ceaser. It is so rewarding getting compliments from people like Nigel who know a good, decent pony when they see one.

What made it even better is that my friend, Jo and her horse Jasmine took 1st place in the riding horse class. 

Next was the Ridden Veteran class. I have found that this season more than others, there has been some tough competition in this class. Veterans are becoming increasingly popular to compete and are looking better than ever before with all the types of vitamins and supplements now out there on the market.

Ceaser produced another lovely individual show but was a little reluctant to show an extension in the trot across the diagonal. However, we were pulled in a fantastic 4th, above some more amazing horses and upon Nigel giving us our rosette he said he definitely would have been higher had he shown that extension. Oh well, it is all about learning and as we all know, horses have their own minds!

Overall I had yet another fantastic weekend that I was pleased to be able to share with my friends. Our show results were just the icing on the cake and I am thrilled to have been able to finish the season off with such good results.

 That is it now I think for showing for this season but I have already got the dressage saddle out, wiped away the cobwebs and am practicing for the winter dressage competitions now.

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