Fat pony in the world of stressage

So apparently it is not acceptable to turn up to a dressage competition in wellies, a rucksack, high vis, primarny jacket, horse trainers of shame, and half a tree in your hair. Also chatting like a lunatic to the horse as you desperately try and negotiate corners is also frowned upon. Still the nice folk at Newlands Riding Club took pity and let us compete anyway.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting to see a field full of fat ponies and kiddy riders when I had signed up for the dressage comp. It is a local club, and the calibre of horses and riders has been suitably low on all the other events I have turned up to. I thought Sof and I would blend in nicely.

Oh how wrong I was. We turn up, un-platted (cause I couldn’t be arsed), sweaty and covered in mud and shrubbery from the ride up - only to find a field full of high quality horses and riders dressed immaculately. Bugger.

Big warmbloods were prancing around the warm up arena fully collected doing half pass. I glanced over at someone doing the test I had signed up for – really bloody well. Oh shit, I haven’t even learnt the test let alone practiced it. I had been a bit ambitious when I signed Sof and I up for Prelim 4. Our canter thus far involves going increasingly fast and doing wall of death around the corners. Sometimes we go in an outline, but most of the time Sofie defiantly sticks her nose in the air in protest of my unsteady hands.

It was also raining, making the wet grass rather treacherous.

I did a quick warm up to try and get Sofie’s attention. Moments of brilliance undispersed with her being nosey/trying to tank off. I studied the sheet stuffed in my pocket and watched a few rounds to try and learn it. Time to line up to go in.

I came across a girl I knew from when I was at another yard with Tonto. She was on her big impressive chestnut horse which was going beautifully. I said hello and she looked down at me on my scruffy fat pony in ridiculous trainers with some distain. She was polite, but clearly disapproving. I think you are meant to take this dressage stuff seriously.

Realising I may have made a slight error with our attire I asked one of the organisers about the hoof boots. Absolutely not. So I hastily removed them. He then also pointed out that wellies were a no-no. White gloves must be worn. The bit can only be a plain snaffle, so our hanging snaffle was out. And I should be wearing a tie. Failure to adhere to the dress code will get you eliminated. He saw the deflated look on my face, then said ‘have a go anyway, just know for next time’, which was kind of him.

We entered the ring, had a brief look at the flowers, and then circled waiting for the bell. Please god let me not embarrass ourselves further. The bell rang and it was on. Thank god for Sofie. I might be an amateur at all this but at least she knows what she is doing. With the bell she transformed into a listening dressage diva. She pranced down the centre line and did a beautiful 20 meter circle for me. We slipped when we changed the reign which through my concentration. After this the contact was less constant, but I think I have myself to blame. Canter was miraculously controlled. I did my best to sit back and chatted steady to her and she listened. I was later told by my friend that talking to your horse is not allowed by mercifully the judges were in a car with the windows wound up so they couldn’t hear me. It wasn’t a brilliant dressage test, but it wasn’t embarrassingly bad either.

Lowest mark was 6 (satisfactory) and highest was a 7 (fairly good). Overall score 61.59. Our feedback was as follows:

Much to like with regular paces. Tends to tilt head to outside at times and needs more suppleness through the poll and needs to constantly accept a soft contact for the higher marks.

 Not bad for an underprepared first attempt.

I think with some lessons and practice we could get good at this. Thing is I’m not sure I want to. I can’t see me enjoying the dressage world. It seems to be a bit overly pompous. Why the hell can’t I wear my wellies! They give me no strategic advantage (in fact they are a disadvantage). Surely we should be judged on our riding not our turn out? Thing is I am also slightly inclined to really get into it to try to beat the snobby warmbloods on my fat pony in my wellies. Time will tell if reason or stubbornness will out.

The trainers of shame

Yet another hoof boot update. It is turning into a saga.

Sofie has got rather good at escaping her muzzle. Every night I put it on and every morning I find it lying forlornly under the tree, whilst the fat haffy is happily scoffing in the distance.

All this rich summer grass is expanding her belly and her feet. Her beautiful new boots now no longer fit. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

this boot now twists because
her foot has flared

 

 

this boot is not a bit too short

 

The front boot have been twisting where her feet are flaring into weird shapes and her toes are so long now that she is beginning to hang out the back of the boot. We have been forced into Tonto’s old mac G2 boots – the trainers of shame. Much to my disappointment these actually fit Sofie fairly well. They are just so uncool. I’m also not sure they will cope with cross country or long distances.

 

So what do I do now? Renegades don’t get much bigger. I need a 140X145 boot but is doesn’t exist. They do do a giant 4WW but they are way too big for Sof.

Recently a lady was raving about ‘floating boots’ on the haffy addicts fb group. These look interesting. Seem fairly sporty, apparently have good traction, have been used for endurance and most importantly come in fun colours. They seem to do Sofie size boots. We might well give these a go.

http://www.bootsforhorses.com/boots-horses-barefoot/english/home_47_1_ap.html

 

Her back boots just aren’t quite right. I had originally bought these boots for the front but they were too narrow. On the back they are too wide and seem to twist. In a desperate attempt to avoid buying yet more boots I used bathroom sealant to try and get a better fit, but alas this did not work and I then had to spend an evening picking the blasted stuff back out the boots. I think I will have to sell them. On the plus front the old 2W classics seem a good fit, but these are pretty balled now so it is only a matter of time before I have to invest in yet more boots for the back as well.
 

Who knew forsaking shoes would be so expensive!

Newlands corner fun show June 21st 2015

It was fathers day, and like so many other times in my life I completely neglected my long suffering father to go ponying again

The days mission, Newlands corner fun show.

Having overslept I only made a pathetic attempt at show gear - a primary tweed jacket, barely cleaned tack and a dodgy running plat in Sofie's mane. Still our turn out could be worse - as we were getting ready to leave a shoot started, upsetting Sof and causing another shit explosion. We did quiet well not to arrive covered in manure.

I hacked there with Smee the no-sense-of-self preservation rider and her cob-trapped-in-a-racehorse-body Doc. We wanted to see if Doc would be relaxed at show grounds. Simply put, yes. He seemed to be nodding off whilst waiting for his classes to begin. He is one chilled chap.

Sofie was less chilled on the ride up there. Having been upset by the shoot and me shouting at her whilst ducking crap she was a bit lively on the way out. A good section of trot settled her down but I was a bit worried that she would be too tired when she got there. I shouldn't have worried, she got her energy back as soon as she saw jumps.



I'm stupidly excited over the rosette, Sof seems less enthused

I think jumping and eating are Sofies favourite activities. She just loves to jump. We did a small clear round course. She was fantastic - I made a few mistakes on striding but she sorted that all out for me. Hurray a clear round and a rossett. I am stupidly proud of this, especially given the jumps were only knee height. But it was a very nice round - best of the day according to the marshal (who may have been sucking up) - and it is only the second time we have ever done a course of fences. I feel confident enough to start entering us for proper competitions now.


Showing Sofie our rosette



We also got a 2nd for condition and turn out - it was a two horse race. The judge had a good laugh at my and sofie's wellies (she was wearing Tontos old trainers of shame - shall update that in another post). We also had our reflective gear on. I asked the judge if I had got anything right when he came to give comment. It was all a bit of fun though, as it should be.

Pyford spring/summer show 2015

When I was a child we would annually attend the Pyford saddle club open show. For me it was an event akin to Easter - happened every year and was guaranteed fun. I have very found memories of their lovely commentator cheering me a 10 year old me and a 30 year old Frodo round the ring, I believe we won minimums jumping on our first outing back in 1997. The cup still has pride of place on my windowsill. Mr T did a couple of rounds in his time and won a few rosettes, I have these stored in a box somewhere, though I have too many to remember when and how we won them.

Needless to say I was very keen to take Lady Sof to Pyford this year.

When we arrived I was delighted to hear the same chap commentating on the show jumping. He sounds like a benevolent old school RAF pilot. Lead reign jumping was first up and it was great to hear him encourage horse, rider and mum:

Mums over but Buttons has had second thoughts. Never mind have another go. Round they come again, keep kicking Katie. Hurray all three are over, well done Buttons, give mum a cheer, isn't she doing well.

Pyford has a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere, it is a great place to start your showing career. So it was very fitting that Pyford was Sofie and I's first show.

 I had done a small practice with Sofie in the jumping field at home in the week leading up to the show. She loves her jumping, and whilst we had no trouble jumping the fences, containing her between jumps was another matter. As soon as she saw the jumps she got excited and she celebrated every fence she cleared by tucking her head to her chest and bucking triumphantly. She also insists on doing everything at 100 mph. This horse knows how to ride a jump off. Unfortunately her jockey is a bit rusty on the jumping front and would much rather a more gentle round. As usual I am going to have to catch up to Sofie's standard.

She behaved beautifully in all her classes. In the ridden coloured she came 4th, having done a lovely little show and behaving impeccably. I think she would have done better had I had the right gear - double bridle and no saddle cloth. In the in-hand foreign breed she came second - pipped by a miniature pony (she was better in my eyes but I am biased). In the clear round we missed one fence. Mainly this was a pilot error, the course was very tight and Sofie likes to go fast, I couldn't keep up with her so missed a turn. Still she was actually very well behaved as she stopped when I asked her to and slowed down for me to right her saddle after it slipped sideways (it too was unable to cope with her barrel racing turns).

Here are some pics from the official photographer. Can't decide which one to buy atm.

In fact the day would have been perfect had Sofie not trodden on my foot that morning. I think she has broken two of my toes. This made competing fairly painful for me, especially in the running section of the in-hand class. Still no pain no gain.

Swollen bruised unhappy toes 

A few days later when the bruise  came out

I should also mentioned that I also lost her into the crowd at one point. This was mainly my fault. I know now that Sofie is not a horse you can rush. If you let her do things in her own time she will behave impeccably, if you rush her she will through her toys out the pram. I know that to lead her into the trailer I should give her time to have a good look first. On the way out, she was a little hesitant to load, and I got comments from others suggesting I should push her. I stood my ground and said just give her time but I think their comments niggled at me. Unfortunately I was not as patient with her on the way home (I guess a sore foot and others disapproval made me hurry). When she hesitated I suggested my friend clapped her hands behind Sof whilst I gave her a tug on the lead rope. Mistake. Sofie reacted by turning round and sodding off into the show ground. That was a Haffy f**k you response. Sheepishly I had to retrieve her from a child who caught her. This time round I went gently with her, but she was now put-out so stubbornly stood on the ramp not moving. I swapped with my friend, giving her the head end and me gently ushering her in. Again she resented the pressure so turned to bugger off. This time however I refused to get out of her way, and after a short stand off she turned and went into the trailer. This might be something I have to practice in the future.

But loading aside, she was perfect. I hope we have many more days out to come.

Sofie's slimming world

Just a quick post to capture Sofies' slimming - unfortunately her weight is now back on the up so not looking forward to June update :(



This should say Feb 2015

White line woes

Sofies' feet are crumbling!

Her feet have been beautiful for months, not a crack but all of a sudden big lumps seem to be coming away leaving a fridge inner hoof material exposed. PANIC!

I called my trimmer in straight away, what was going on! The suspected culprit - white line disease.

I had noticed some white line separation prior to the crumble. It looks like something is eating up into her foot leaving a deep grove where the white line should be. My trimmer suspects that the material from Februaries suspected lammanitic attack has now grown out to the floor, but the excess blood that is in the lammani following the attack is fodder for the bacteria that cause white line disease. Interestingly you can see a clear stress mark in her back feet which correlates with the February separation week. Kinda cool really.

Anyway in order to tackle white line disease we have been trimming her feet regularly to stop cracks spreading. Dowsing her feet in iodein based hoof disinfectant weekly and red horse hoof cleanse daily. She is not lame at least but her feet do still not look pretty.

There is a lot of spring grass around recently, especially since she moved fields. I'm beginning to panic about a further lamanitic attack. Muzzle is firmly back on. Poor old Sofie.

These are the days I'm tempted to nail shoes back on and be done with it. Barefoot is not easy.

Front Left foot Jan - May: not easy to see in the May photo as I have not cleaned her feet out properly, but her white line is splayed and she has sections where the wall is flaring out.



Front right foot Jan - May: this foot has not flared so dramatically but you can see the difference in the white line