Sunday, June 12, 2016

Chatt Hills: Our 2nd Tadpole 3 Phase

Well.. .today was interesting. :) Danny was really really good. And green. And rowdy. :) 

Unfortunately I woke up this morning with my eyes burning and pouring tears. It took a good 15 minutes for me to be able to do anything and even then it took another 20 minutes to get my contacts in and be able to do anything. I managed to get the horses fed and Dan bathed and loaded but my eyes were still killing me. We got to Chatt late because of it, and I had about 15 minutes before my ride. Eeeks!! Luckily Judy went and got my packet, a few people helped me park, then Judy, Caroline, and Katherine helped me tack up. Phew. We made it in time. I even had about 6 minutes to warm up. Danny was actually fairly good, especially compared to next time. He only went up once or twice and warmed up fairly quiet. I was able to do a few canters and some trotting and then we went in. He was actually pretty darn good in the test, although he was a bit inattentive at time. We scored a 32, which I was quite happy with. That put us in 4th place out of 10. 
 Intro Test C


He got to go hang out in his stall with the fan for a bit before stadium. Then we got tacked up again and headed to warm up. He was kind of lazy and quiet so I let him chill to avoid overheating him. We did about 6 fences total and then headed into the ring. He was a bit looky with the flags and such. And then when they rang the bell, he bolted. Hee hee. Goofball. We just kept going forward and did our round. It was a bit spazzy. He was very on the muscle and I kept him a bit too tightly under wraps I think. Although maybe not... Maybe it would have been worse had I not. We managed about 1 decent fence but we survived. :) And went clean. I think he needs the bigger fences a bit. :) 
Stadium 

So anyways... back to the stall again to chill for a bit before XC. And now it's getting REALLY hot!! So we tacked up and took our 15 minute walk down to XC. He was a bit looky but we took our time and he did fine. We got to warm up and there was this poor girl on a gray young looking TB. He was being a bit bucky and hoppy and him and Dan fed on each other. I knew it was coming too with Dan. I could feel it. I knew that even though he was walking and being polite, once I put him over the fence he was going to bolt on the back side. And yep.. he did! Even though we trotted it. So the poor girls horse went to bucking and Dan went to bolting. We both got them under control. So I took it easy for a bit to give her a chance. Then I made Dan walk the log and he cooperated. And then we were able to get a somewhat sedate proper jump over it. I did it twice and then we chilled til it was our turn. The plan was to trot the first fence, let him open up a bit after fence 3, trot to fence 5 which was just before the water, and then go through the water and then carry on. The water wasn't flagged, but I wanted to use the opportunity. 
So we ended up trotting the first fence and that went fine. Then we cantered the next few. He wasn't really up for a gallop even though I was going to allow it. We clocked around quite well until we hit the bench thing before the water. I pulled him down to a trot and could feel him looking hard. I rode hard but not hard enough. We had a stop. I think. Control didn't call it a stop, but I think they should have. He didn't run out, just fizzled to a stop and then sort of weaved and then jumped. But then I couldn't get him into the water. We zigged and zagged and got kind of close. I figured with the stop, I might as well school the water. So we did. And then Jessica came up behind us so I stepped aside. (Probably should have stepped aside farther but was afraid it would create a ruckus and be distracting). Cuinn stopped too. Doh! It was kind of comical... both baby boys being stupid about the water bouncing into each other. Doh! Luckily Cuinn went in fairly quickly so Dan followed. Then Jessica offered to let us go first but I couldn't get Dan to move in the water. It was SCARY! ugh... So Jess and Cuinn left us and then Dan was brave. Then he wanted to bolt and catch Cuinn. I held him back even though I was itching to gallop. But there wasn't enough room to really go, so I held him back and we tried to stay a polite distance behind Cuinn. 

So... with all our time, we dropped from 2nd to 10th/last. Doh!! Although they didn't count the stop and they should have. So I'm glad that I took the opportunity to school the water.
 

All in all a very good and educational day. I think he improved from the last 3 phase and especially from the last Chatt. :) 


 
 

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