LegUp Life January 2010 Update 

Read on for an insight into happenings at home and the latest news.

Wow what a cold end to December. With all that snow and ice I have certainly not managed to ride as much as normal. In addition my muscles must be getting bigger from carrying the average 18 buckets of water a day up the yard from my house Arr…. The things we do for pleasure!!! The horses don’t seem to of minded the weather as they enjoy going out in the snow foraging for bits of grass interspersed with there usual haylage service whilst kept snug in their big rugs. Hope you have a good Xmas and a new year with some better riding weather.

Below Xmas morning 2009 the horses enjoyed a bit of time out without their rugs. 

Educating Sienna  (homebred 4 year old to read more about Sienna's early years click here)

In December Sienna made her debut at her first jumping competition. Not only was she jumping for the first time away from home but it was also the first time she had ever been in an indoor arena.
In the warm up arena she worked in really well. Then came our time to go in the arena first of all she spooked at the banners on the wall, then when I asked her to go into canter she was too stiff and tense so I decided as the fences were small (it was only a clearround class.) better to allow her to trot to begin with. The first fence was set jumping towards the viewing gallery, trotting down to the fence she was so busy looking at the viewing area I don’t think she saw the fence in front of her till the last moment, she wiggled in front of it and then ground to a halt. ‘what do you mean, I have to come in here and jump as well?!!’ A swift circle back round and she went straight over it and then commenced to jump all the other fences first time. We then went back in and jumped a second clear round class this time all in canter and clear. Sienna found the jumps easy but until she becomes more relaxed in her surroundings I believe in not over pressuring her as when horses are tense they can make silly mistakes. I was so tempted to put her in the next class but reminded my self this is not about how far she can jump today but about how good she may be in a few years time. Better to get it right and have a horse that really wants to do it, rather than push her on and end up with a tense horse.



My Horses

Misty in December competed at Yorkshire Dressage this was her third affiliated dressage outing. We entered 2 tests she came 4th in Novice 27 and 2nd in Novice 38. I considered my self very lucky with my dressage test times. The tests were ridden outdoors I was fortunate to compete in dry weather, where as some of my competitors had torrential rain. In N27 overall I thought she went really well. She was not very keen on the mushy arena surface (my M&M pony is really quite a wus when it comes to getting her feet wet!) at one end of the arena where it was very wet I struggled to get her fully into the corners but overall she kept really good self carriage and was very rhythmic. In N38 in the 60m arena we missed one downwards trot walk transition and we Sooooo… nearly managed to complete our counter canter on each rein (she prefers to flying change) the first one was good but on the second one she changed legs about 2 strides before the final marker. When I received my results I was a surprised to find I only got 58% in the first test (overall 4th) but in the second test where I thought I had not been quite as fluent we scored a respectable 67% and came 2nd overall. The tests were marked by different judges - no point analyzing it too much, though I really cannot help but feel that I thought she had done her better performance in the first test where she got surprisingly low marks, it just goes to show there is always an amount of personal interpretation, sometime it works in your favour and some times it does not. Overall she gave a respectable performance lots still to improve upon but showing lots of potential . Phew after last months unorthodox dressage outing where she insisted on cantering down the centre line she has redeemed her self and I can once again justify my decision to purchase a new saddle for her!!


May Has once again been out show jumping. In the first class we entered she came 2nd. We did not really go for it but as she is long and low striding she is naturally fast, once we start doing the inside turns she will be hard to beat on time. In the second class we had the last fence down I was a little bit stood off at the fence before so she was travelling a little bit long and flat and just took the front rail off the final parallel. Overall her jumping canter is improving, I have to be brave and leave her to get on with it even if that means making the odd mistake, if not she will never learn to set her self up to the fences without relying on my hands. However I feel we are making progress and her attitude has been superb. (May pictured right by Peter Eccles images)
 

Group Training

December 20th should of been our second winter season training/mini competitions session. These sessions must be fated to clash with the only time we seem to get a forecast of snow. Down to minus 8overnight and further snow showers…. I have re-arranged new session hopefully for 30th December. So lets hope for a change in the weather.

New 2010 dates have now been added for general group training on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at Woodnook and Bromley. More dates are still to be confirmed for Junior/Novice rider training, plus for those persons who struggle to get out midweek I will be arranging some training sessions for Saturday’s these dates will be going on the site soon, please keep checking back.

 

New Year show (now to take place on Sunday 31st January)

Due to the long spells of freezing weather and on off snow we have been getting, I have decided to change the show date from 3rd January to 31st January.  Schedule and all other details other than the date remain the same. 

 
Even More Prizes.  It has been decided to further split the showing points championship so now a total of 3 championship rugs are on offer.
Jumping Classes 1-3 as always have there own points championships.
Classes 4-11 Inhand classes, Have A Go, RC horse/pony, New combination will have a points championship to win a rug .
Then finally classes 12-18, Equitation, M&M, Best Horse/pony, Best Schooled will also have points totalled up to decide the winner of a show rug.

Don’t forget…. to make jumping in the arena more suited to big horses we only build 5 to 6 fences with 2 to 3 of them jumped twice.

At the LegUp New Year show we also do not split the warm up arena, you will be able to use all the space.

Any problems with the severe weather or road conditions the website will be updated to confirm go ahead or postponement (fingers crossed it will be go ahead)
 

Membership Latest

2009 Points Champions Well done to
Emily Pearson
Daniella Grimshaw
Gill Pace
Ellie Edmondson
Polly Edmondson
Karen Whiteley
Jodie Cantrill
Sue Mitchell
Derryth Webster.

(photos above left to right Emily Pearson, Karen Whiteley (Photo by Flash Harry Photography) & Daniella Grimshaw

& a Special Well Done to Overall Champion – Daniella Grimshaw and Monty who also wins the Lorak Croft Memorial Cup, a horse rug and photographic portrait.
We will be having a presentation and photographs in the arena after the completion of the Jumping Classes at the new years show. Hope you can all make it.
 

Don’t forget your Membership renewal. The new season runs from 26th December 2009 (finishing December 25th 2010). Once again membership is £10 (all updates via email) or for people without access to the internet.… membership will be available for £18 with details of all events and schedules being posted to you.

A team show jumping event will be held on 17th January if you may be interested in taking part go to the members news page for further details.  

My Favourite Products

Aerborn Humane Girth
These girths are particularly useful for horses that are very good at blowing out as the buckles slide through allowing you to do up one side at a time. I also recently had my girth straps replaced on my saddle and this girth was much easier to do up than my normal ones.

Wood Pellet Bedding
I was recommended to try this bedding by a lesson customer. It is especially good for using with very wet messy horses. Easy to muck out, it takes very little space to store the bags and it and creates only a small muck pile plus it is often more reasonably priced than most equine beddings. . While not quite as warm or as attractive to look at as a good shavings or straw bed for me its many other qualities out weigh those two reasons. To activate use a small watering can per 15kg bag. Most horses only seem to use one bag a week.



Carolyn