Showjumping and sunburn

I'm sorry I haven't been about, my laptop seems to have had a mid-life crisis and wouldn't even switch on. I don't know what the matter is, but I think we may be looking for a new one fairly soon.
Anyway, regarding the showjumping on Sunday: The first thing I must tell you is that when we did the first Amber Valley Ride, Zak had cut himself on the lorry partition somehow. The wound is on his hip, which is well above the partition, but he must practically sit down as we go round corners or something, and rubbed himself until he made himself bleed. Poor, poor boy.
So we travelled to Trent Valley Equestrian Centre on Sunday for Mr O to take part in the second round of the Trailblazers. Zak seemed to stamp about a bit in the lorry but was fine as soon as we came out. We'd put purple spray on his wound and padded it up to travel, so it was fine.
It was a very hot day. To our astonishment they were holding first round qualifiers as well as second round classes. This round is split into pony classes, which were held in the morning, and horse classes, which were held in the afternoon. By the time we got there there were still two pony classes to go. They changed the course after each round, and each round had a jump-off, so it went on forever.
Eventually the horse classes started. They split horses and ponies because ponies have a distinct speed advantage over horses because they can turn on a sixpence and cut corners which would make a horse fall over, so this is much fairer.
So once again there was a 65cm class, for round one, followed by a jump off, then they changed the course and had the 65cm second round class, so by the time our class started, we'd been there for three hours. It was incredibly hot and Zak had lost interest a bit by then.
Mr O took him into the warm-up ring and they jumped the cross pole quite well. They went round a couple of times, then went for the bigger fence. I'm not quite sure what happened, but basically Zak didn't want to know, stopped dead in front of it and Mr O went sailing over the fence.
I had one of those crisis moments where I didn't know whether to run to Mr O or try to catch Zak. Fortunately Zak couldn't get out of the ring and some people caught him so I went to Mr O. He said he wasn't hurt and got back on and in the end Zak jumped the fence.
I did tell Mr O not to be a passenger and to ride Zak and get after him.
They went in for their turn and Zak lolled around a bit and had the first fence down. I was so cross. Then Mr O did decide to wake him up and he flew round after that. How utterly frustrating!
So he hasn't qualifed for the finals at Stoneleigh, but he can have another go at a second round, which is good, so we are going to Field House on April 30th (a Saturday for a change, so we won't miss church).
This is the first time Mr O has ever fallen off Zak (we've had him nearly 3 years) and it really worried me. If I'm being purely practical, I can't drive and don't know how we'd get home if Mr O was injured and what would we do with Zak? I guess Pongo and Missis might come and collect him in their lorry, but our lorry would have to stay there until we could collect it so it would all be a bit of a saga, not to mention what state Mr O would be in, plus time off work while he recovered. For those of you who think I'm being a bit OTT, let me tell you that we have been in this situation twice, where Mr O was helicoptored off to hospital and it's not really an experience I'd care to repeat. But I can't persuade him to give it up, so what can I do?

And the other little saga. You may know that I clipped all Barnaby's winter coat out this year and now he's lost a lot of hair, but his summer coat hasn't come through. So now he has the most unbelievable sunburn, my poor poor baby. It sounds like quite a few people have been caught out as we didn't expect it to get so warm so early in the year.
I have put a fly sheet on him, which is a thin rug, and I've noticed it has a strip of fabric up the neck on the inside, so it should at least stop that area from burning, but I have to go to the field every couple of hours and re-apply suncream. It's Factor 50 but doesn't seem to make that much difference. I am putting after sun and wonder gel on, which seems to take the heat out at night, and I'm soaking him with cold water after I've ridden him, which he seems to like (normally he moans like crazy if I make his neck wet). At the moment he seems to much prefer night time to day time, and who can blame him? My poor boy.
Hope it's not too hot where you are.
Mrs O.

Disasterous Day!

Part of me doesn't want to write this!

I had the brilliant idea of finding some showjumping for Mr O to do so he could get some practise in before his second round of Trailblazers on April 17th. We had a look around and found a competition at a place called Hargate Arena. As it happened, it was part of a combined training competition, which meant there was dressage on at the same time. So clever old Mrs O. has a brainwave and decides to enter the dressage, just as a bit of fun for her and The Bardy Lad.

It was quite warm on Sunday morning so I got up early and bathed Barnaby. I have to say, he looked stunning afterwards. His tail was like silk. I put him back in his stable and he promptly rolled. He stood up and had straw all over his head, grinning away at me like the village idiot.Marvellous.

Anyway, the time came to load up, so we set off for Hilton, just south of Derby. We parked and decided to leave the horses in the lorry for a few minutes while we went for a look round. It was a beautiful place, with a huge show jumping arena, a big indoor arena to warm up in and then we walked further along and found a huge dressage arena. The warm-up arena was completely separate too, the whole place was vast and looked fabulous.

We came back and got the horses out of the lorry. They stood quite happily munching on their haynets so we went off to sign in and watch the showjumping. There was a 1'9" class, followed by a 2' class, with about 8 competitors in each. Then there was a 2'3" class which seemed to go on for ever. We'd been there for ages by then.

My dressage was on at 1.22pm and it was 12.30 so I thought I'd better go and tack up. Mr O didn't come with me which felt a bit odd. Barnaby was quite calm so I tacked him up and got on and rode off to find Mr O but he'd vanished. I get very flustered when things like that happen but decided I had better concentrate on what I was doing so I carried on round to the warm-up arena. Once we got in there Barnaby completely changed as he realised he wasn't with Zak. I tried to trot him round and get him to concentrate but it was awful. I was in a snaffle, remember, so had a lot less control than I would normally have. The test has canter in it, so I thought I'd risk a little practise, but Barnaby just cantered round with his head between his knees. I knew it was ridiculous to keep going and decided to quit while I was ahead so I rode up to the judge's caravan and said I would withdraw. So that was that.

I rode back to the showjumping area and found Mr O. in the warm-up arena. Zak was behaving very oddly as well. Basically, he just refused to jump. It was so strange, he was getting right up to the fence before running out. He has never done that in his life. He did it a couple of times, then Mr O asked me to leave, as Barnaby was being a bad influence on Zak!

I walked back to the lorry and made Barnaby stand and eat some grass. After a few minutes of worrying that Mr O was going to get thrown off, he appeared at my side and said that he too was going to withdraw. He tied Zak up at the lorry and stomped off to the secretary's caravan.

So what a total and utter waste of a day. We were both so disappointed and frustrated. We loaded the horses and drove home, knowing we were going to have to say to Pongo and Missis that we hadn't even done it, whilst putting a brave face on it. As so often happens on these occasions, we talked and talked about why on earth it had happened. Basically we've decided that apart from the Amber Valley rides, the horses aren't going anywhere together in future. I really don't understand how a horse like Barnaby, who is as bold as brass at home, can't be separated from his best buddy once he's travelled with him. He used to do it with Max. We were at a hunter trials once years ago when it was announced over the tannoy, "Could the owners of the blue and silver lorry please return to their vehicle as their horse is distressed." Distressed? Barnaby was rearing up and typing his name into the bodywork with his hooves. As soon as he saw Max he calmed down.

So, bear in mind that we sold Max last year. And what happens? Barnaby immediately latches on to Zak. Blooming marvellous.

But the good thing is, we've had a look at the things we want to do and Mr O has finally agreed that I can do some TREC on my own. Because it does seem that if Mr O wants to go somewhere, like the showjumping, he goes, but if I want to go somewhere I can't unless Mr O wants to do it too, and if he doesn't it never occurs to him that I might want to do it on my own. Or he'll make an excuse such as the entry fee is too high or it's too far to travel. It doesn't seem fair to me. So we have decided that if one of us wants to go somewhere they can go. If we both see something on the same day, the most important competition wins, eg, I can't go somewhere on April 17th because we've agreed that Mr O's second round is the most important thing on that day. I think this will work out very well, and am so excited to be able to do the TREC training day and a ride in Clumber Park on April 16th which I am desperate to do.

Oh, and just to cap it all, when we got home the heavens opened with hailstones, thunder and lightening so we got drenched. And then, the cat came in and threw up in Barnaby's water bucket, just to finish the day off nicely. It's a good job I can see the funny side now, isn't it?!

Have a great week, everyone.

Mrs O.

Blazing A Trail

I hope everyone's okay, it's really sunny and warm here, so I am outside a lot, making the most of the good weather.
I must tell you about Sunday. Mr O. took Zak to Trent Valley for another Trailblazers showjumping competition. We set off in plenty of time and arrived earlier than last time, but they were actually further on. The Clear Round had finished and the 65cm class had started, so we quickly registered and got Zak out of the lorry. We had come to do the 75cm and 85cm classes.
Mr O admitted he was very nervous. I am like that myself, sometimes I could be physically sick, which is one of the reasons I don't want to do it any more! Mr O tacked Zak up but I checked everything was done properly. For some reason, when you're nervous, normal behaviour goes out of the window. I've got on Max before and realised I hadn't even done his girth up properly. Nerves definitely do something to the brain.
So Mr O set off to the warm-up ring, but then realised he must walk the course. Sometimes a competition can be done so that everyone goes in and jumps round, then all those that jumped clear go back in for a 'jump-off' where less fences are jumped and it's against the clock, and obviously the fastest clear round wins.
This competition was two-phase, which means a competitor must know the jump-off course when they go in. They jump the whole course (10 fences) and then if they haven't had a fence down or had any refusals, they go straight on and do the jump-off course without stopping, which might be fence 1,2, 4,5 and 8 and 10. I can't stand doing it like this as I have a terrible sense of direction, I'd rather have a jump-off, but there we are.
I actually filmed Mr O as my photography is useless. So I was watching through the lens as Mr O went round. To my joy, he did the course clear and went straight back round to jump fence 1 again, then 2, whip round before your horse tries to jump fence 3 as it's straight in front of him, jump 4 and 5, then turn right quickly and jump 9 and 10. To my amazement, they did it! I can't show you the video as I may have said a little tiny swear word at the end, before letting go of the camera! I was so thrilled I was holding back a sob. We've had this horse two years and this is only his third competition. Mr O was a bit choked as well.
He came out of the arena and we both worked hard to pull ourselves together. Zak knew we were pleased with him. This means he has qualified to go through to the second round. This is a biggie for us, I can't begin to tell you. I am so excited, just thinking about it all over again.
Then Mr O warmed up for the 85cm class but felt something was wrong with Zak. Someone else said he looked lame. He didn't look lame to me. Mr O hopped off and we checked Zak's legs but all was fine. We decided that he should go in and have a go but if anything felt wrong he was to pull up immediately. And sure enough, after jumping two fences, Mr O doffed his cap and came out of the ring.
We gave Zak a bute in his tea and he was fine on Monday but I've got him in for his tea tonight and he is still lame. We think it might be an abscess (again) so we'll get the farrier to take his shoe off and have a look. Poor boy. Mr O is gutted, as you can imagine. We love our boys and can't stand it when something like this happens to them. It kind of takes the shine off, but I am still thrilled and delighted that Zak did it (and Mr O too, obviously, especially as he was so nervous).

Ride Away!

It's been a hectic few days. Last Tuesday Mr O had the day off to go to hospital for physio. This meant we could hack out together in the afternoon, which we did. It was all rather fab, but when we got back it turned out Zak has lost a shoe. Mr O was a bit baffled and couldn't think how he'd done it.
This caused a crisis as Mr O was desperate to go show jumping on Sunday. I quickly text our farrier to see if he could come out and put a shoe on in an emergency and he text back to say it wasn't very likely as he was skiing in Austria! Marvellous. I rang the riding school to see who they use and they gave me the number for Nasty Farrier, so that was no good. In the end I rang Lucy Goosie to find out who she uses and she gave me his number.
Fortunately he was in the area the next day and came at three o'clock. I said it would be fine if he just wanted to put one shoe on but if he could do a set that would be brilliant as the others were wafer thin. He moaned and grumbled and criticised my farrier's work and was very insulting to my previous yard owner. You know like when you go to the hairdressers and they always say, "Goodness, who did your hair last time?" I always want to reply, "You did!" I think the horse world is far too small to go round slating people. It's bound to come back to you, isn't it? Pongo did it when we went to see Fudge. He was slating a certain person in front of the seller, and it turned out she knew the person Pongo was talking about. Imagine if she'd said, "That's my aunt!" wouldn't you just die of embarrassment?
Anyway, it was all very confusing but eventually he did all four shoes and they look fine. They only had to stay on until Sunday (which they did!)
And so to the showjumping. I liked the place on sight and when I saw the jumps I wish I'd brought Barnaby. Mr O was very nervous. The journey was very good. The equestrian centre is very close to Southwell racecourse. I was praying there wouldn't be a race meeting on as surrounding Zak with loads of lorries containing excited racehorses wouldn't have gone down very well at all.
It was all clear though, so we arrived and unloaded Zak and went to register. Mr O decided to do the 75cm and 85cm courses. They were still doing the clear round and then came the 65cm so we had plenty of time. We tacked Zak up and Mr O took him down to the warm up ring. They just walked round until the class started. I put his number on the board and he went into the jumping ring. Zak was jumping with style, which is just as well as Mr O was fifth to go in, and to my absolute joy he went clear. The fences were all lovely and simple, nowhere near as intimidating as Marchington was, they were more like the sort of thing we'd set up at home.
I think Mr O was astonished he went clear and had two fences down in the jump-off , which were both his fault. He did the 85cm and had one fence down but it has to be said that Zak actually jumped really well. I don't know if Mr O ought to have slightly shorter stirrups as he lost a stirrup going over one fence. He also forgets to actually tell Zak to jump. Sometimes I still wonder if he can see a stride. Zak likes to jump but he still likes to be told when. You can't be a passenger on this horse, you have to work with him. (I am quite happy to debate this as I also believe to a certain extent that the horse should work it out for himself. If I told Max when to take off he'd have been quite cross as he 'knew pefectly well thankyou!')
All in all I am thrilled at how he went. Unfortunately there aren't any photos as I left my camera at home (and I'm pretty hopeless at photographing showjumping anyway). He was very relaxed about the whole thing. I think Mr O needs a few more lessons. We've been so focused on 'Can this horse do this?' that now it's time to tidy Mr O up a bit. He comes too far out of the saddle when he goes over the fence and his elbows are out a bit too much, so that's what we need to concentrate on next, but I am pleased to say, 'The boy done good!' Well done Zaky Zak, I am proud of you (oh, and you too, Mr O!)