The first of many 'Scope Blogs'

I have been SO busy this past week, I haven't had time to update my blog as and when things are happening, so therefore I've decided to do a series of Scope Blogs to catch you all up! So, to start with I have two days to write about in this blog. The first ginger day actually happened last Thursday, the day before scope. I ordered Jack a new bit to have a play with (magic snaffle) as he wasn't 100% happy with his old one and so on Thursday me and Emma schooled him in it....so happy with how he went,  felt a lot happier with that bit and wasn't messing around with it or getting his tongue over it. He went really nicely for both of us :) afterwards we went up to Emma's to jump Sundance....Well. He was....interesting?  He definitely wasn't being easy,  but his actual jumping has improved loads, especially his striding, just need to work on his get away from fences! I feel like I rode him better than last time I jumped him anyway,  haha. He did redeem himself slightly by then going and being a lead hack horse for a newly backed baby,  well done Sunny the trekking pony ;) 

 The next day I want to quickly write about is Sunday,  where I took Sparkie to his second show of the year. He warmed up really well and then did a couple of clear rounds. I decided to take him in the 2ft3 class non competitively because up until then the biggest course he'd done this year at the only other show was only 2ft, so going straight in at the 2ft6 which is the only class we're allowed to do would have been a bit of a big ask for both of us. He was being so good,  jumping lovely and then he suddenly slammed on the breaks at the double, naughty pony!  Not sure why,  but he came straight back over it and jumped the rest of the course fine :) Then we did the 2ft6 class.  Jumped a lovely clear in the first round,  backed off the double again slightly,  but a good old fashioned pony club kick and growl sorted him out! He was sooooo fast! His jump off was amazing,  if a little bit too fast,  but unfortunately he ran out at the double (really wasn't liking that double! ) so we just got four faults putting us in 3rd otherwise he would have won. ..aah well,  still super pleased with him :) I then hacked him home from the show to meet my mum at the house where she waited with the trailer and we turned him out in the garden for a bit. ..he loved it and did a good spot of weeding,  haha,  crazy pony,  he's a legend! 

Hacking like a grown up horse

I can assure you/I apologise for the fact;  that in the next week there will be lots and lots of blogging happening. You have been warned. Today I went up the yard nice and early (8:30) because I really fancied a long hack with Jack and I wanted to take him out before it got busy as he is a very green 4yo when it comes to hacking and has a tendency to either jump in people's cars or try to walk on his back legs occasionally... when I got to the yard he was still in his new 'fat paddock' which is always a good start! Jack was very unimpressed and clearly doesn't understand that he is overweight as he proceeded to whinny at me three times to show just how distressed and hungry he was... #horseabuse. He was pretty good to tack up, let me mount from the ground no problem and walked out relatively confidently! He was still a little spooky and had a few "that leaf is terrifying and if you ask me to walk past it, I will have to rear....I will...I swear I will..." moments but he got over them pretty quickly :) He saw his first ever train,  which apparently wasn't anything worth getting upset about (who's scared of trains when there's funny looking leaves on the loose!?) and we also saw a fire engine and a tractor and crossed the main road no problem!  We were out for about two hours...he was definitely flagging on the way home, haha sorry Lina! I've been struggling a little bit with him recently, just my mental attitude towards riding him and questioning myself a lot, but today when I was jacking along with him on the buckle it seemed to just hit me- just under 2 years ago this horse had been untouched for a year and was pretty much completely un handled. He'd never seen tack, never had a rider on his back. June 2012,  I didn't think he'd ever learn to walk forwards. Just 6 months ago it took 45 minutes to get near him with a fly spray bottle let alone spray him. He is by no means brilliant on the ground now and he still needs a whole lot of schooling,  but just the fact that I can tack him up and get on him should be an achievement. Everything he knows-being lead,  having his feet done, being tacked up, having boots on, being sprayed,  standing tied up,  walk,  trot,  canter,  jumping,  hacking out etc,  all of that he has learnt from me and I don't think I remember that often enough.  He has come so far already in just two years,  it makes the future seem so exciting!  So whenever I get frustrated in myself and feel I'm holding him back,  it times to sit down and think about everything we've achieved already- he makes me so, so proud (and maybe sometimes a little smidgen proud of myself too) I'm sorry for the fact this blog has turned out overly cheesy...I just have a lot of feels ;)

Jack learns to jump & Sparkie goes for a drive..

Hello! As per usual, these two happenings were meant to be two blogs, but oww I just forget :( Anyhoo..last Monday I had a day off work, so I went up the yard and decided to have a little jumping session on Jack :) Obviously with him being 4, I don't jump him very often or very high, but he's been doing a lot of hacking and schooling later and really trying hard for me, as his schooling has been struggling quite a bit and been quite challenging for him, so as a reward for being a good boy and getting back on track, I decided that he could have a little play over some jumps because he really loves his jumping! Now anyone who has seen Jack jump will know he really does not have a natural jump at all bless him, his feet go in all directions and he usually ends up taking the whole jump with him when he lands, haha...good job he's confident! Recently though, he's gradually started getting better and I can feel a definite improvement on the rare occasions I do actually jump him..Monday definitely proved how much he's already come on. He warmed up lovely, a little bit fidgety with his head but he always gets quite cross for a bit if he has to wear his fly veil, mardy boy! He was probably the best he's behaved in a while though, so I was happy. Then we moved onto jumping.. started off with them really small, about 1ft, which at first he jumped lovely(Yes, he actually JUMPED then, instead of just falling over the top, haha, wahey!) but after a few attempts he seemed to get really bored and was putting no effort it at all, so I put it up slightly. He was SO much better when the jump was slightly bigger (only about 2ft still!), with a little tap on the shoulder so he knew where to take off, he was picking his feet up lovely and trying so hard..he loved it! Good Jack :)

Then on Thursday (another day off!), me and Emma planned to go cross country schooling...well, that plan kind of went down the drain.. got ponies all loaded up and set off to Eland Lodge, but when we got there the rain was torrential... the ground was too slippy for us to risk it, we would have only been able to trot round and not get full use of the course, so it wasn't worth it! I was pretty gutted as it was my one aim for this summer to go there, but never mind :) Instead we took them for a little hack! Sparkie was so good travelling in the trailer for at least and hour and a half, and he was so calm when we unloaded him, even though there were huge lorries on a busy road next to the car park, he didn't even bother to look at them..I was so proud of him, he is so much more settled and sensible nowadays! Sunny was a bit sweaty as he's never travelled for that long before, but he soon settled down and both ponies were brilliant. Sparkie especially loved having a play in the water...I think he would have stayed there all day, ahaha!

one of those days full of ginger ponies

Aka, last Wednesday. Me & Emma went up my yard first to have a play with Sparkie. The plan was that I'm slowly going to start putting the jumps up a bit more to start pushing him a little now he's getting his confidence back, just to see what he says! He's happily jumped up to 1m20 before, but not for a good couple of years so I'm hoping maybe one day he'll jump that height again...who knows!? We set up a two stride double (here that Sparkie, TWO STRIDES!!) a skinny and just a simple skinny fence. He jumped amazing! He was such a beast, jumped everything with about a foot to spare, he definately rose to the challenge, haha and jumped everything from at least a stride away...he's so crazy and super confident right now! He did have a few stops, but I was expecting it as it's the first time he's started to jump big again and he came straight back round to jump it again which is not like him at all(he used to refuse to ever go over a cross pole after he'd had a stop/run out) so I can't complain. At one point he actually overjumped so much I grazed my chin on his hogged mane... pony has scope! He also did the two stride double as a bounce with Emma...he's so funny, oh Sparkie. Finished off jumping about 90cm/1m...good pony!

After we'd recovered from Sparkie sending us into orbit, we then went and schooled Sunny! He was also a very good boy and schooled well in walk, trot, canter...and gallop ;) His gallop is adorable, he has such good breaks, better than any 5yo I've ever rode before! I also must apologise for the state of my riding Sundance, I did try my hardest, haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really love my pony!

This blog is a bit late as per, sorry guys! And I have another day to blog about as well, oopsies, but I shall tell you about that another day... don't want to weigh you down with too much reading eh? So, last Sunday, I went to a show with Emma & Sunny! It doesn't sound like a big deal really, but a) it was Sunny's first time travelling since he fell out with the trailer, b) it would be Sunny's first jumping show and c) it was Sparkie's first show in a year. Last September I made the decision to stop taking Sparkie to shows as we both completely hated it and it got to the point where we weren't able to even make it over the first jump- we got 16 faults one time! So for me, it was a pretty big thing that I'd decided to take him out again, but he's been so happy recently I decided to just go for it.
 Me and my mum got to the yard about half seven, where we got everything ready and then loaded Sparkie. He was a bit of a poo brain to load, but it turned out I was loading him on the wrong side.. he will only travel on his side, such a diva! Then we went to pick Sunny up.. he was a little bit hesitant at first, but then I shook a bag of treats and he almost ran on! Sparkie stood lovely and still for him to get on, he's such a good influence when it comes to travelling...I think he may even have liked Sunny. Maybe.
 After we'd warmed up, we did a clear round...we decided to be awkward and asked for them to put all the jumps down to cross poles haha! I don't think we were very popular lol. Sparkie was so, so good..in my head, the plan was to trot him round, if he stopped at any of the jumps, to come round again and just get him over them all no matter what, but I knew as soon as we'd cleared the first fence that I didn't need to worry, because he jumped round lovely and really enjoyed himself!! I was so, so happy, I never ever imagined that I'd jump a course at a show with him again! Sunny was also amazing, especially for his first ever course, such a good boy, he trys so hard and also really enjoyed himself.
 

 

 

 We were then very brave and with a bit of persuasion decided to go for it and enter a class...eeep! Sunny was really good again, I was so proud of him and Emma, he's such a lovely boy, you would not have thought that was his biggest jumps and first double...best 5yo ever! I didn't know what to expect from Sparkie at all, as it was only a small class and usually he takes the pee around smaller courses, plus it's been just under two years since we've managed to not get eliminated, haha, but he was AMAZING! I was so, so proud of him, he flew for me! I knew his jump off had been very fast (32 seconds) but I didn't dare hope we'd placed anywhere and anyway I was happy enough just for the fact that we'd been to a show and enjoyed it and he'd behaved and aaaah everything, but then they announced the placings and it turned out we'd only gone and won! I actually shouted "What? No?" when they said it, haha, I was so shocked! I could not of been happier or prouder of him that day. And, to top it all off, it was our five year anniversairy that day..what a way to celebrate it :) I think he really highlighted to me how much he's come on in all those years that day, he's so more settled and matured finally now, it makes me so happy to see..love my little ginge! He's the bestest :)

 

 

Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling :) xxx