April 06, 2009

Levin Sports

Had a super day at Levin Sports yesterday. Thankfully the end of daylight savings gave me that extra hour of sleep to get ready too (and I was still pretty tired at the end of the day!). All the horses did well and behaved beautifully (there was a lot of standing around tied to the truck for many of them!) and Xev did amazing for her first outing! Thanks to Swifty for taking pics and holding horses while I swapped mounts during the day.

Anna
Barbie horse only got a showhunter practise round yesterday. She's got a bit of mudfever/sunburn on a hind sock that got knocked going over a practise fence when getting ready for her first proper class, and she was just a bit owchy on landing - so I decided to play it safe and pull her from the classes. Great that I got to do the practise though, as we were one of the last people they let through and she was the only horse of mine I got to do a practise on. She's going really well between her related fences and having no trouble making the strides for SH which is great.
Chap
Anna not competing meant that I had a paid entry fee in the first showhunter class that I wasn't going to use. Instead of letting it go to waste I nabbed Chap off my friend Kirsty and took him! Chap may be coming to do some XC schooling with me later on, so it was good to get the feel for him. He had a bit of a look at the first spooky showhunter wall but quickly got the idea. He's got a lovely hunter way of going, and it sounds like Kirsty is going to start doing showhunters on him herself which is fab.
Dani
Dani is getting better in his flatwork, more balanced in his canter, but still some work to do. I wanted to do a round of jumping on him just to see what he's like out & about. I was pleasantly surprised with how chilled out he was about everything and he certainly doesn't get hotted up when jumping. Bonus piccy of Chap & Dani saying hello:
I need to do some work on getting Dani moving forward more into his fences, and then I think he will find it easier to be bold. At the moment he isn't 100% trusting of me, so there were a few fences where we would get right in under and then have to 'climb'. He seems to be a very sweet horse though, and is improving with every ride. I think he will be a very fun and exciting horse to jump once we sort out that balance in the flatwork - it'll just make everything else so much better.
Neo
Mister Neo waited around almost all day before doing his one and only class! And then we took a rail when I held him too much into a fence. I'd changed him to a rubber bit, as he seems to really appreciate that on the flat.. however I'm now getting the feeling that it's just not working for our jumping. So I'll keep experimenting and in the meantime just having fun on Neo. I'd thought about turning him out soonish.. but as he is only normally doing 1 or 2 classes at shows I think I'll keep him going until winter really sets in. He loves being out and doing things.
Xev
I'd decided to take Xev in some flat classes for her first outing. We entered 3 saddle hunter classes and came home with 2 3rds and a 4th placing. I was stoked with that. Xev was really settled about the whole experience and didn't even mind when we got a bit crowded occasionally on the circle. The judge commented on what a nice horse she is and how willing she was to go foward while staying steady.
Xev did the first showhunter class (equitation) for a clear round, but a bit untidy over the first fence. I was still really pleased - this would have of course been her first time seeing SH fences too (I'd hoped to do a practise round on her, but there just wasn't time). I skipped the middle class but then got all motivated and put in a late entry for the 90cm circuit championship. She jumped beautifully.
We came away with 3rd place in that class, and the judge said that it was very close between the horses in the lineup. Xev was calm through her whole round and I had no trouble adjusting her (we overjumped one fence and were almost going to cut out a stride but she just comes back so easily if you wait with your seat). I was absolutely beaming after that performance.
I'd also late entered in the showjumping. Which, in hindsight wasn't a great idea as we were a bit tired. But it was good to do and have her see some different fills. We stood off an oxer and just took the top rail off.. but I could feel that she was tired and giving it her best. She really didn't put a foot wrong all day.
So a very busy, and very good day for us. Managed to get the horses home and back in their paddocks just before it got too dark to see. I think there will be some tired horses today.

2 comments:

Sally E. said...

Some fantastic jumping pics there Perf. Looks like you've got a good team at the moment. I particularly like the grey, Xev, and the barbie horse too. She's gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Gosh I am so in love with Anna, shes beautiful. When will she be coming back into work?