2014 Goals revisited..

We're almost half way through the year (scary I know!) so I thought now would be a good time to take a look back on the goals I set myself at the start of the year, see how they're going and see if I have any more I want to add. It's crazy how much has changed, especially my attitude and confidence towards riding since I wrote these goals and I know that I definitely have a few more that I want to add, even if I don't necessarily complete them by the end of the year; more long term goals for the next couple of years I guess!
*to have Jack working in a consistent outline in at least walk and trot. Well I think this was a slightly ambitious goal to start with! I do feel like I had made a bit of a break through with his flatwork and we were starting to get the hang of it but unfortunately he had a couple of weeks off when he went lame and that has set us back to square one, so this is definitely a work in progress still.
*to improve Sparkies flatwork slightly.   Going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and cross this one out purely because of the use of 'slightly' because I feel I can say it has slightly improved! Still a long, long way off from being anything decent but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel after a long 6 years and he is definitely giving me more to work with nowadays.

*to jump a course on Jack No problemo! Both at home and at a show.

*to jump 85cm/2ft9 on Jack  We first completed this goal in February where we jumped 2ft9 for the first time! Expected that to be the highest we'd jump for a while..apparently not because since then he's gone on to jump 1m5 since fences and 1m courses! 

*gallop bareback on either horses  Did this in February on Sparkie. I was terrified. But I did it. Sooo.. (we'll not mention the fact that I tried to gallop Jack bareback but all he could master was a collected canter.)
*gallop Sparkie on the beach definitely want to do this by the end of the year!
*improve Jacks loading  I am a little bit apprehensive to cross this one off... I don't want to jinx myself, but fingers crossed we seem to have cracked this one!

So after that little review, that leaves me with two goals to carry forward.. so here is my new revised goal list for 2o14-2015!
*to have Jack working in a consistent outline in at least walk and trot.
*to gallop Sparkie on the beach
*to jump Sparkie 1m15
*to jump Jack 1m10
*to take Jack to a fun ride
*to do an ODE on Sparkie

Jumping the Js

This was actually last Wednesday now oops, a little bit behind with this blogging thing I'm sorry! So on Wednesday it was another beautiful sunny day and we jumped both the Js- Jack & John! First was Jack's turn. He was so, so good, I'm still getting the hang of jumping a bigger horse and knowing where to push and where to hold him but I definitely think we're getting there now! Jumped up to a 90cm/1m course which he made feel scarily easy, he doesn't even try over them! Really proud of the fantastic little horse he's becoming, he really is the horse I've been waiting for! Emma also had a little jump on him and they looked fab together, so nice to see him going well for someone else :)

I also took him for a hack on the Monday and had a little school in the field after and he was just delightful all round :)

After we'd jumped Jack it was off up to Lottie's to play jumping with John! He was a bit unsure what to make of it all at first but when he got into it and realised that Lottie wasn't going to let him get out of it he really enjoyed himself and did really well. I can't believe how much better his canter is looking already, go John! We all had a little jump on him and he was so good with all the swapping around and adjusting to different riders, he's a really cool ginger.

me being a real good rider 

Sunshine & XC

What lovely weather we have this week!? Wednesday we gave Sunny & Sparkie a jump in practice for their hunter trials on Saturday (more on this later!) and they were both so so good! Sunny was so much better with his canter in between fences and you could really see the difference just one session of gridwork had made to his technique so hopefully we can keep on improving this over the summer! Sparkie was awesome as per, he was testing me a little bit and was very keen, but he flew and settled lovely in the end, jumped a 90cm-1m5 course which is the biggest course he's done for a long time, so nice to feel his confidence for bigger fences is back! 

Then Wednesday afternoon we went to go and play ponies with Lottie & John. He has settled down SO much already, he clearly loves his new home, what a cracking little guy he is. The improvement in him already is unreal, think Lottie has got herself a really good little horse and they seem so perfect together :)

Then on Saturday, the original plan was to go to the hunter trials, but sadly this got cancelled. However, I am not one to miss a weekend (when did this happen!? when did I become someone who competes every weekend? I'm not sure, but I bloody love it!) so we went down to Ashwood again but this time with Sparkie and Sunny instead of Sparkie and Jack. Feels like such a long time since I've took Sparks xc as I wasn't riding him last time and he was a star as always (seriously running out of things to write about this pony haha!) He did at one point deposit me nicely in a nettle bush but I shall forgive him for that because he's fricking awesome, he is an absolute pleasure to ride, don't think I'll ever find one quite like him (I feel like I probably say the same about Jack, I just love them both a lot ok.) 

Lottie got a pony and Jack got a rosette

Well what an exciting weekend we had! On Saturday we welcomed a new member to Team Ginger as Lottie got her beautiful new horse, Mr Johnathon! He is a 15hh, 5yo, welsh D who is very orange and we're all a little bit in love with him already, he's a great little guy with a big future ahead of him, seriously cool little horse. So excited to see the future of these two! 

how beautiful is he!?

Then on Sunday, Jack went to a show, eeeh! I honestly did not know what to expect from him, he's only been to three shows in the past and basically, the first one he reared over the bar and had a bad accident, the second one he lay down in the middle of the show ground and reared in everyone's face and the third one he tried to gallop off across the show ground because he saw his nunmah. So. Not the best track record. It was also his first time being ridden in an actual class and jumping a full course of show jumps. His behaviour outside the ring was far from ideal, he did still try to lie down and wouldn't settle but nothing dangerous and nothing that can't be coped with and I think he far from made up from that with the way he behaved in the ring. He took it all in his stride and cantering beautifully around the whole course like he'd been doing it his whole life, fillers, spreads, planks everything, what a complete and utter little legend he is! I honestly could not have asked for a better performance from him, I cannot for the life of me believe that this is my little baby horse; I can still remember being just as proud the first day I ever sat on him! We got a 1st in the 1ft6 and 3rd in the 2ft3 as he had a pole in the first round purely because he was not concentrating at all with the size of the jumps, I think we'll be moving up classes sooner than I expected because apparently 2ft3 is beneath him. His jump off was absolutely on point, he's not the fastest horse and I wasn't sure how he'd cope with the turns as I'm so used to riding a pony round a jump off I felt I might have been being a little over ambitious with what I had in my head but he flew round no problem and actually had the fastest round in the jump off so would have won if he didn't have 4 in the first round! What a freaking super star! He also loaded pretty well both there and back, still took about 15 minutes but I'll take that and he's definitely getting better with it. This horse is going to kick some serious ass one day and I cannot wait.