Well, that didn't go quite as I thought it might. Annie and I headed down to Bulla HRCAV Dressage Comp last Sunday (about a 3 hour drive) and things were very different than the usual dressage comp in many ways. For starters, the whole thing has a very amateur middle-aged woman (MAW) feel about it. Equestrian Australian competitions are awash with women, sure, but most riders are under 30, let's be real. And there are lots of big flashy trucks and goosenecks - all the professionals and more committed middle-class competitiors!
I don't remember seeing one truck and only a couple of goosenecks in the whole place - everything else was a plain old double float. Fancy ones, a lot of them, but just doubles.
That being said, we weren't in banjo country, either. The Adult Riding Clubs competitions I had been to in Canberra were rough and ready affairs with a good smattering of ex-trotters and pretty ordinary riding going on. This was definitely not like that, either.
What I witnessed was what MAWs with a bit of cash and a free rein (pun intended) can do. Lots of nice horses (nothing much flashy like in EA dressage), lots of prim and proper MAWs efficiently running about the place checking gear, looking after judges and making sure things ran to time. And it did.
The draw at HRCAV dressage comps is a little odd at first glance. A 'jackpot' event, as this one was, involves riding in two or more events over a competition. The draw puts the first test only half an hour before the second. The first time this happened, I was pretty annoyed - 30 minutes isn't long enough to hop off and give the horse a break, but too long to just keep riding around. This is something I will need to work on as it worked against me, in the end.
I assumed the 30 minutes is designed to give a buffer to arenas that run late but allowing riders to just get on with their tests without waiting around all day between tests. EA comps can involve a test at 9:00am and the next at 3pm, if you're unlucky. Not HRCAV!
I actually thought Annie did two pretty good tests. Certainly we would have done well in an eventing context, I feel. The second test was not as polished, for sure - Annie was pretty over it by then as we'd been going for an hour by that stage. There's only so much dressage Annie is likely to cooperate with, especially when trying to operate in a paddock full of cross country jumps! But, alas, the judges weren't with us. We only scored a 61.7% for the first and a disappointing 58% for the second. I didn't bother waiting around for the class to finish and pick up my tests - I found the marks breakdown online anyway and they were as I thought. Not sure why, but we just couldn't get much beyond a 6.
Annie is just a delight to take out and about, though. I am appreciating her more and more now I have baby Beretta to deal with. Everything scares him, he's difficult and complicated to ride as his natural talent is undone by his weakness and baby attitude. But Annie just gets on with it like an old hand. Stands at the float eating hay, warms up like we're at home. Does the test and goes back to stand at the float like a pro. Self-loads and eats hay all the way home. Love it.
Beretta's shoes come off in 12 days. Not like I'm counting down! I can't wait for them to come off - I find horses with shoes on inherently worrying but a young horse prone to leaping sideways when scared is really nerve-wracking! I value my feet and toes a lot! Other than that, I feel Beretta's shoes are interfering with his way of going. With heels too high and landing toe-first, he is not balanced and is struggling to lock his 'landing-gear' as he strides out. He often stumbles on the hard ground. We'll see if the transition to barefoot helps him, but I firmly believe it will.
Tuesday 16 January 2018
Tuesday 9 January 2018
Welcome to Baretta
The dressage queen journey is now begun. The rather handsome Baretta (by 00 Seven) is now ensconced at Pine Hill after what feels like a whirlwind romance and a marathon 8 hour drive in near-40 degree heat!
Baretta is just a baby - 4 years old - and is literally at the start of his ridden career. I had my first ride this morning and it really felt like I was on a toddler! I established a good stop response with some ground work and I'm glad of it because he was all over the place, bless him! It's amazing the difference riding a well put-together horse with natural ability compared to the average horse, especially at this stage. Baretta carries me relatively easily and is balanced for his age, lack of strength and lack of suppleness.
And another plus is Baretta will need to be transitioned from shod to barefoot (well, I consider that a plus!). I will blog about this transition over the coming months, starting in just under 3 weeks when a new trimmer will arrive to take off his shoes and start the process. His feet are in good condition, though he has a little 'high-low' going on with his front hooves (the near fore heel is higher than the off fore) and it will be interesting to see how barefoot management assists in achieving symmetry.
Baretta was used to being in a private paddock and its been fun watching him make some friends with his paddock-mates. The current BFF, understandably, is the only other gelding on the property belonging to Pine Hill, Fui. Fui is a lovely old soul and he and Baretta are already mates.
It will be interesting to see how Baretta transitions to barefoot. Given his age and comparatively short time in shoes (no more than a year, off and on), as well as his overall health and diet, and what appear to be strong, functional hooves, I don't anticipate major problems. I have started feeding him Hygain Ice, lucerne chaff and hay, and a little Hygain Balanced. He also has a tube of Succeed digestive paste to keep his gut healthy.
Annie and I head off to the Bulla HRCAV Dressage comp this Sunday and I'm looking forward to it. Let you know how I go when I get back :)
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| Silver Hills Skyfall (Baretta) |
And another plus is Baretta will need to be transitioned from shod to barefoot (well, I consider that a plus!). I will blog about this transition over the coming months, starting in just under 3 weeks when a new trimmer will arrive to take off his shoes and start the process. His feet are in good condition, though he has a little 'high-low' going on with his front hooves (the near fore heel is higher than the off fore) and it will be interesting to see how barefoot management assists in achieving symmetry.
Baretta was used to being in a private paddock and its been fun watching him make some friends with his paddock-mates. The current BFF, understandably, is the only other gelding on the property belonging to Pine Hill, Fui. Fui is a lovely old soul and he and Baretta are already mates.
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| Fui on the left, Baretta on the right. Koko the dog in the background |
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| Baretta |
It will be interesting to see how Baretta transitions to barefoot. Given his age and comparatively short time in shoes (no more than a year, off and on), as well as his overall health and diet, and what appear to be strong, functional hooves, I don't anticipate major problems. I have started feeding him Hygain Ice, lucerne chaff and hay, and a little Hygain Balanced. He also has a tube of Succeed digestive paste to keep his gut healthy.
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| Baretta having a little play with Fui. |
Wednesday 3 January 2018
A new year dawns
Happy New Year! Like everyone, it seems, I am quite glad to see the back of 2017 and pretty excited about 2018. Lots of exciting new projects!
Well, first things first, the gorgeous Annie is up for sale and it's been quite a wrench. I absolutely detest selling horses - not because its a sad parting (though it often is) but because I have to deal with buyers. Very rarely are buyers serious about buying. Even more rarely are they genuinely interested in paying what you're asking. Now, fair enough, a horse is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, but if you're not even in the ballpark, budget-wise, it's pretty pointless ringing up, going out to try the horse, then starting to haggle from a point significantly below what the sticker price is. Just frustrates everyone...
Not that I'm having that much trouble with Annie. Just a lot of tyrekickers and normally this isn't a drama for me, but Annie is special. I don't like random people just inserting themselves into Annie's life if they're not serious about being her new partner. Weird, maybe.
Annie is up for sale because I have made the decision to pull back from eventing and focus on dressage. I am a competitive person - I have written about this before - and I don't ride for 'fun.' Riding is fun, don't get me wrong, but I will never be a bush-bashing, trail-riding kind of rider. If I'm riding, it's because I want to be the best at it. And eventing is not an option at that level for me. I don't have the ticker for it.
However, I have developed a strong ambition to take a horse to FEI level dressage. Go figure. I'm now a boring dressage bitch! I'll keep eventing a bit - just low level to keep the dressage pony on its toes, but it's going to be more about dressage now. Not sure if I can change my blog name!!
Going to look at a very promising pony tomorrow. Keep you posted. :)
So, I've been trimming the two colts' feet for a bit now. It's so damn dry and hot all the horses have very hard hooves (which is theoretically great but bloody hard work!). I have a couple of pics of Jack (2yo ASH colt) below.
You can see the small size of his hooves after a trim. Barefoot horses have comparatively tiny hooves compared to shod horses. The hoof capsule is tight, strong and correctly angled. You can see, in the last pic, the lack of symmetry in Jack's hoof, though. Some of this is due to me leaving the hooves too long between trims, allowing flare to get a bit out of control, particularly in that right side. This places stress on the hoof wall, pulling it away from the laminae and causing problems.
This is about a week after the trim, but you can see the bars of the hoof haven't been trimmed back enough. It was so bloody hard that was literally the best I could do! Have to sharpen my hoof knives!
Our web page is up and running! If you haven't had a look, please take 5 minutes to have a browse. The pics are definitely a work in progress, and I really appreciate feedback.
The addy is www.pinehillequestrian.com.au
See you out there!
Well, first things first, the gorgeous Annie is up for sale and it's been quite a wrench. I absolutely detest selling horses - not because its a sad parting (though it often is) but because I have to deal with buyers. Very rarely are buyers serious about buying. Even more rarely are they genuinely interested in paying what you're asking. Now, fair enough, a horse is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, but if you're not even in the ballpark, budget-wise, it's pretty pointless ringing up, going out to try the horse, then starting to haggle from a point significantly below what the sticker price is. Just frustrates everyone...
Not that I'm having that much trouble with Annie. Just a lot of tyrekickers and normally this isn't a drama for me, but Annie is special. I don't like random people just inserting themselves into Annie's life if they're not serious about being her new partner. Weird, maybe.
Annie is up for sale because I have made the decision to pull back from eventing and focus on dressage. I am a competitive person - I have written about this before - and I don't ride for 'fun.' Riding is fun, don't get me wrong, but I will never be a bush-bashing, trail-riding kind of rider. If I'm riding, it's because I want to be the best at it. And eventing is not an option at that level for me. I don't have the ticker for it.
However, I have developed a strong ambition to take a horse to FEI level dressage. Go figure. I'm now a boring dressage bitch! I'll keep eventing a bit - just low level to keep the dressage pony on its toes, but it's going to be more about dressage now. Not sure if I can change my blog name!!
Going to look at a very promising pony tomorrow. Keep you posted. :)
So, I've been trimming the two colts' feet for a bit now. It's so damn dry and hot all the horses have very hard hooves (which is theoretically great but bloody hard work!). I have a couple of pics of Jack (2yo ASH colt) below.
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| Little Jack hooves |
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| Jack |
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| Some interesting wall separation on the right |
This is about a week after the trim, but you can see the bars of the hoof haven't been trimmed back enough. It was so bloody hard that was literally the best I could do! Have to sharpen my hoof knives!
Our web page is up and running! If you haven't had a look, please take 5 minutes to have a browse. The pics are definitely a work in progress, and I really appreciate feedback.
The addy is www.pinehillequestrian.com.au
See you out there!
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