Hero jumping

Been a very hectic week on the yard, the young horses have been loose jumping again and to everyone’s surprise this time the Maestro colt Hero jumped better than Tommy. Hero’s half brother that I brought over from Holland as a 2 year old broke and at the end of last year decided he wasn’t destined to a dressage home so I sold him as a 4 year old to a young teenager who is having a great time with him. Finish B (now called Chester) is jumping over 1m50 loose and 1m25 with his young jockey onboard, he has been cross-country schooling and his best activity is polo-cross. So if Hero takes after Finish B then there will be no stopping him and a mixed home is where he will find his heart.

Tommy didn’t disappoint either, but it was just more expected. Then at the end of the week we had some spare time so our 4 year old Lord Leatherdale, Giovanni W, was given the opportunity to try a bit of jumping. Gio was very enthusiastic to say the least! His legs are so long now I don’t think he knew really what to do with them – he seemed to enjoy himself though! All 3 are for sale.

Hubert K was training hard leading up to BD on Sunday at our local college Easton. He worked nearly everyday but worked hard one day and then the next day had a half hour under saddle stretching in walk, trot and canter. He seemed to really enjoy a focussed week and I enjoyed it to!

On Sunday we went to Easton and competed in both Novices. Once again a lot of lessons learnt about me and about Hubert. At Easton the warm up is outside and the competition is indoors, Hubert was a little weary in the warm up and started to back off in lack of confidence straight away – then to my surprise started to head shake! There was an awful lot of little flies flying in my face as well as his. It was as if they were getting down his ears – and he didn’t like it! I had a fly veil in the trailer but because the tests were indoors there was no point putting it on. So our warm up didn’t quite go to plan and the second warm up didn’t go much better – all the plans in the world and something new crops up!

In the first test he backed off far too much – not as much as he has in the past but nowhere near forward enough and certainly not forward enough to do the canter across the diagonal and counter canter; second test and he was a lot more confident, still not forward enough but another little improvement – but again we lost our counter canters and got marked for it to with my first ever 1 – we ended up on 61% & 60%. I have no photos or video or even feedback as Ben was busy entertaining Hattie outside of the arenas as she has started to run around now!

Regional qualification looks doubtful now, I just hadn’t predicted how unconfident Hubert would be in the arena,he will certainly get there but it will take a lot longer than I had first thought. He is worth the time and effort though!

This week I’m off to Keysoe for 2 days, well 3 as Ben has to drop me, Hubert & my tent off at Keysoe on Friday afternoon and then picking us up Sunday. I hope the weather is kind to me – I will be shattered after all the end of month paperwork I have to get done before going.

Will update again next week – have a fab time in the meantime!

Anna-Lisa x

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As I am sure everyone does we analysed what the differences have been when he has been out to shows or training; his first unaffiliated show in January was the first time I felt him be a little naughty, Keysoe training (which was very busy with BYRDs camp going on) he was nervous but trusting, Ferry Farm BD he was a good boy & Sheepgate was a nightmare – there was one difference – Nupafeed MAH calmer. The first show and Sheepgate he wasn’t on Nupafeed but he was for Keysoe and Ferry Farm as I had a little bit left over from my old mare. So Thursday morning I had a delivery from Horse Health with a new bottle of Nupafeed and started to load him up again. Sunday we went out to Easton College unaffiliated dressage and rode one novice test to see if he behaved – it worked! Yes he was worried a little, yes it was a VERY rough and ready test, but I could put my leg on him without any antics. So now there is no doubt in my mind that at the moment Hubert needs the Nupafeed to help him get over his anxieties and concentrate at a competition – so back to Plan A and regional qualification.

The rest of last week was spent juggling Hattie as Ben had to work extra, and working with the youngsters. My back has been injured for a few weeks now and before Sheepgate was on the mend but after my fall from Hubert it was very sore again last week meaning that Giovanni W (Gio) had to start to concentrate with Ellinoré riding and me training them on the ground. It worked really well and he made some real progress and even got to go for a hack at the end of the week with Becky on foot (just in case!)

Again because of my back Hero and Tommy (Hilfiger) had a light week of loose schooling and for the first time we jumped them both, safe to say Hero is not going to make the best jumper but after a while he was brave enough to take himself over 40cms (to be fair on him thats braver than Bvlgari ever was!), but Tommy jumps amazing! A proper jumper clearing 1.40m easily and enjoying himself. We will loose jump him this week again and get some video this time.

Mondays is often spent in the office for me organising the week ahead but instead of looking after Hattie after feeding I helped turn out this morning as the horses moved to their summer paddocks! They were so excited as they realised they were not going to their usual fields and we have a good amount of grass now so there wasn’t much running around – heads down eating!

The sun is shining now and the forecast says 22 degrees today so fingers crossed – time to go work some of the horses #LoveMyLife

Anna-Lisa x

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