Sydney Mid Week Event

The second half of the season has begun! With a tune up Jumping lesson from Stuart prior to the event Crafty was ready for his next appearance at the Sydney Mid week in which he was entered in the Pre-Novice. The event had a pretty relaxed atmosphere but Crafty thought it was very exciting as his last outing was nearly seven weeks ago. He warmed up really well for his test and I feel his flat work is really coming along. Unfortunately upon approaching the arena he decided he was feeling a little fresh and subsequently didn't score as well as I had hoped as his neck got a bit short. There may be something to do with the fact I have being feeding him a lot to put some more weight on him during winter, might need to reduce feed before the next event, woops! He did look very nice though. I have a video which I will try to upload soon.

The second day we had SJ first. Crafty did a very good clear round and was being especially careful! The fences actually looked small which is good. He had a couple of admirers that wanted to know where he came from :) XC he was excellent as well. The course was really good with a variety of fences, I probably could have let him travel more in the first half of the course, but I wanted to make sure he was listening and adjustable as it had been so long between shows. But he is really getting confident and is starting to understand the related lines more and jumped into the water with no problems. Over all I was very pleased, he is such a star! Our next show is Tamworth in two weeks time, so we are looking forward to that :)

 

Winter woollies

After a busy start to the season and reasonably good weather we all turned our calendar over to the month of June, and it was as if the beauro of meteorology and the Channel 7 weather reporter took great joy in announcing that the first day of winter was upon us. So literally from that point on it was rain, rain, rain, rain with absolutely no sign of sun for the next few weeks. There is only one word to describe it 'miserable' oh and 'muddy', yes there was mud everywhere, even a trail through our house, and none of us know how to use the mop apparently. But the show must go on! Except for the two WA chickens who felt that riding in the sleet or snow at Berrima was far from appealing, so we opted to go to Clarendon Jump Club and do some training rounds in the rain, but it was almost humid, so was not too bad! So Crafty did the 1.10m a couple of times and then we did the 1.20m, he was really good, he actually felt better in the bigger height and he is feeling really confident and is trying very hard not to touch a thing. I was so happy with his progress that I decided after such a busy season so far he deserved a break. So in the very wet weeks ahead, Crafty got to stay warm in his winter woollies and hang out with his friend Rexy. I on the other hand packed the truck and took a trip south with the Tinneys to compete at Melbourne 3DE with Holy Bruce. It was a freezing week, but all the hard work paid off and we ended up 7th in the CCI2** against a very competitive field.

Nevertheless I think the few weeks of during June has done Crafty a world of good. I brought him up to the stables at the end of last week and under all those rugs is a horse that has matured and possibly grown a bit. I have lunged him for a few days and did some flat work on him today and he feels ready to tackle the remainder of the year. Our next event is the Sydney Mid-week at Pre Novice level in three weeks time so I will keep you posted. What is exciting news is that now we are in July the sun has come out and the boys got to go out in the nude and have a good old roll and play!

Rexy & Crafty 

         

Equestriad Camden Championship Weekend

Last weekend 26th May was the Equestriad Camden ODE. Crafty did the Pre-Novice Horse Championship class and it was an extremely competitive field. The venue looked spectacular with Marques and TV coverage. On the Saturday it was again freezing and very windy. I drew the short straw with a 8:30 dressage, so on went the infinite layers of jackets! Crafty did a great test, more consolidated than the last, he coped really well with leaving the other horses and going to a separate oval where the pre novice dressage arenas were. He again scored a 51 which was good and he received some nice comments from the judge! The SJ was also on Saturday and he did a cute round. I then walked the XC and it was very testing course for a young horse. We had two water jumps, some introduction to narrow fences, angled lines, apex and sunken roads. Crafty is becoming very mature and was so quite in the warm up which was really good. He then set of in a great rhythm out of the start box and just took everything in his stride. Although green he was always listening to me and was so brave. I trotted through the first water jump as about half the class were either falling off or getting eliminated at the jump in, Crafty had a good look on the approach but was very honest and jumped in well, cantered through the water and spotted his fence out. At the second water jump he went straight in and felt great. We went a bit slow again, in one section of the course I opened him up a bit more and he was really good and easy to collect back again so we can work on that more at subsequent events. Over all we finished up 9th out of a big class and without time he would have been in the top few again so I am super pleased with him. His next event wont be for a while, instead we are going to do a few SJ days and continue our regular lessons with Stuart Tinney. Another highlight for the weekend was winning the CIC2** on my other Horse Holy Bruce so champagne all round! 

     

Quirindi Event

So after a few weeks at the Tinney's place Crafty has settled in nicely. He is out in a huge paddock with another horse and is learning to fit in with the routine. Leading into his first event we attended a couple of Show Jumping Days which were really good practice. He is stepping up into the 1.05m classes with no problems at all and is not concerned about the fill. I have also had some lessons with Stuart and he is improving every week.  On the 19th May we packed up and caught a lift in the Tinney Truck to Qurindi, a six hour drive North. It was a great experience for him having to go along with all the other horses and a very enjoyable weekend despite the freezing cold nights where even the water buckets had a layer on ice on them in the morning! Crafty was entered in his first pre novice and did a really Super job! His dressage was very nice, he has a great presence in the ring even though he is green. He scored 51penalties and was in the top few placing's. He also did a nice SJ round and a beautiful clear XC. We did a steady round and had some time penalties, my priority is for him to stay confident and have time to develop his jump, we can make time up in the future ! Over all he ended up 6th which was very exciting :)  Next event is Camden!

Crafty at Quirindi

The Epic Journey!

Crafty & Bruce

So Crafty must have thought he was heading back to where he grew up as we set off from WA to VIC at the beginning of April. He travelled like a professional and ate and drank the whole way, although after 4 days off he was feeling very lively at the other end. We arrived in Camperdown on Thursday evening and Crafty thought the event was a lot of fun because there are lots of different horses to talk to and you can play with them and subsequently let them rip your rug off your neck! So my nice new show set now has to be repaired, love baby horses! The Prelim dressage was located off the oval and Crafty did think that it may have been Sunday because you got to warm up around all the XC Jumps, so despite looking stunning with his false tail and lovely plaits he was a little bit tense and his frame was a bit high for a prelim test, so we didn’t get the mark we were hoping for. I'm not too worried as he has been perfect in all other tests he has done and the whole trip is a lot to take in for a young horse. We then had the SJ and he did a super clear round, looking like he wanted to be a Grand Prix show jumper. The following day was XC and he did a nice bold round, feeling very confident with it all. We had a few time penalties as the ground was quiet hard and i think he just needed to go at his own pace. I am really pleased with how he is going at the moment. My other horse Holy Bruce also did very well placing 5^th in the CIC2*.  After the event we then hit the road Monday morning and made our way to Sydney where we will be based at Stuart Tinney’s place. It is a great area to be as I’v got access to some very good coaches that specialise in all disciplines. In the next few weeks i will pick up a few SJ events and some ODEs. Will keep you posted!   

Getting Ready for the Season

We officially have a plan to the beginning of the season. Crafty has been going really well the last few weeks, improving and getting a much better top line. We have being going to Brookleigh equestrian estate just down the road for Show Jumping training, they have a course set up and its just nice to have an outing without the pressure of a competition. He is just jumping so well! The first competition in in two weeks (Capel ODE Prelim level) and we are doing a clinic with Stuart Tinney the week before so Crafty should be well prepared. The plan then is to head over east the first week of April and pick up Camperdown ODE on the way to Sydney. I would then like to enter him in the Young Event Horse class there. Then for a few months we will stay with Stuart and work out a plan for a few more events. It will be a big trip for him so will just see how he travels and go from there. Below is a video from one of my lessons at Brookleigh, cool as!

Lovely Summer!

During November I was preparing my other horse for the Adelaide International 3DE so Crafty had some well deserved time off. He has come back in to work at the end of December and is going better than ever so this should be a good year to consolidate everything and for him to become a 'proper' horse not just a 'breaker'. We have been having weekly dressage lessons and the improvement in the last month has been significant, just getting a better connection. I have also jumped him a few times and he is feeling great; been very exuberant over his fences and as always not wanting to touch a pole! I think he has grown and is overall looking more mature, as of next week he will have been under saddle for a year so he has done well, it will be interesting to see how he looks after another 12months of competitions. So the plan this summer is to have as many outings as we can and keep going with regular dressage and SJ lessons likewise I would like to continue with regular xc training. So Mr Crafty is a very happy horse and I look forward to 2012 with him.