AWESOME weekend

I have just been on one of the BEST weekends away ever. Last weekend I attended the North Island St Bernard Association Battle of the Giants, an annual fun event for giant breed dogs (Saints, Newfies, Pyrenese, Leonbergers and Bernese).

The event is usually held in summer but this year they decided to go for a winter weekend in the mountain region of the North Island in the hope that we may get snow. It was an inspired decision as the weather DEFINITELY suited the big hairy buggers. When I heard that it was going to be held between Turangi and National Park at the Mangetepopo Camp School I signed up straight away and I am SO glad I did. I did put an order in to Weatherwatch for some snow but they got it muddled and the snow arrived a week early so it was all gone by the time we got there. ;-)

We were so lucky with the weather (apart from the lack of snow). The drive down from Auckland was conducted under bright blue skies through the ever changing scenery of the north island. My first glimpse of the mountain bringing a huge smile to my face (I LOVE mountains).

The venue was fabulous!!! It was a typical set up for school camps with bunk rooms and shared facilities. I was very lucky and was allocated a room in the 'teachers' cottage. This meant a lounge with a tv, a HUGE firebox and a kitchen plus the three bunk rooms. The camp were generous enough to allow us to have the dogs in our rooms which, for me, made a really big difference. The camp was nestled below Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngaruahoe and the views of the mountains were stunning.

Friday evening was spent walking dogs, meeting and greeting and then crashing into bed. Brina was exhausted from the drive down (it is hard work nailing down that back seat and supervising the driving) and was asleep before I could even get into bed.

(Apparently, that's a really comfy spot)The rooms were lovely and cosy as they all had oil heaters and double glazing so everyone had a really good nights sleep.

Saturday morning dawned bright, clear and COLD!!!! My car thermometer was reading minus 4 at about 8am. After a hearty breakfast there was a very relaxed morning of socialising, a wee grooming demo and 'what to expect' in the show ring opportunity for those who have never previously given it a whirl. A warming lunch was followed by the Match. It was VERY cold at times but it meant that the dogs all were lively and happy and I think everyone had a great time. Brina was a complete star and managed to win the Veteran class. She also (wait for it) won the 'Basic Handling' class (which was basic obedience but we're not allowed to call it that). I know!!!! BRINA????!!!! Bless her little cotton socks. She also managed to get the bernese high points so I was a VERY proud mother. :-)

Saturday evening was prize giving and a quiz night but I confess that I was SO tired after a long day out in the cold (not complaining, I LOVED it) that I was in bed asleep before the quiz started.

Sunday morning was a relaxed start again with hot cooked brekkie. It was followed by carting put on by the bernese club. It was awesome to see all breeds giving it a go and seeing some dogs going from being quite nervous of the cart to a confident, happy carting dog.

After an amazing lunch, BOG 2013 drew to a close and we all headed home with some pretty tired dogs in the car. It was a fabulous weekend, I loved every second of it. The only two things that could have improved it would be SNOW and, more importantly, for Sammie to have been with me. There was a really big hole where she should have been.

SLACKER!!!!!

That's what I am, a slacker. It is so easy to just post what is happening on fb that I am lazy about blogging properly. Hence it has been EIGHT months since my last post. Tsk tsk.

A lot happened in that eight months but I will probably only end up talking about the big stuff as that is what happens when you don't write regularly.

The saddest news is that I lost Sammie 6 weeks ago. On April 13th My beautiful Sammie passed away peacefully in my arms. I think she had some sort of aneurism and passed pain free. It was a dreadful day and a total shock but I really could not have asked for a better way for her to go. I just wish I could have spent another couple of years with her. She was in SUCH good health and was a happy girl. I miss her!!!

Brina is really well and loving being an only dog. :-/ To start with she was very quiet out on walks and didn't really leave my side but now she is back to her normal bouncy self. She is also now an incredibly 'huggy' dog which has helped me HUGELY in the last 6 weeks. I am hoping that she won't be an 'only' dog for too long though. There are plans afoot that I will reveal at a later date.

Spyke and Tai are both still very well. Spyke is now on holiday after a REALLY busy summer (more on that soon). I had planned to keep him going through the winter but I lost a lot of motivation for a few weeks after Sammie died and then winter arrived and it just seemed a bit hard. It won't hurt him at all to have a bit of a break as he worked REALLY hard for me over the last year.

We competed at registered show hunter over the summer. This was a BIG step up from the winter series and, while we didn't cover ourselves with glory, we were not out of place competing at that level. We managed a couple of placings, including a third at the World Cup show in the metre class. We certainly didn't come close to achieving my goal of qualifying for HOY (You need to gain 20 points and we got a grand total of 4 for the season) and I CONSTANTLY beat myself up about not achieving it but, if I am realistic, it was a big hairy audacious goal. It was possible but not likely. I have to keep reminding myself that this time last year I was competing at 60cm classes and was TERRIFIED and now I am competing at a metre (and am even MORE terrified. LOL Those metre high oxers look ENORMOUS as you canter into them). While we are not placing we are not far off it. If I can just ride better and get more consistent we MAY start placing....and I REALLY want to get better!!!!! In a lot of ways we are doing the hard way as I simply can't afford regular lessons so that lessens my opportunities to improve myself. Still, it is all about the journey and Spyke makes the journey really enjoyable. I just wish I could do him the justice he deserves.

I am still baking, I LOVE baking but it is hard as keeping the 18kg that I lost at bay is a constant battle NOT helped by baking. And, of course, now that I am not riding I am also lacking exercise so I have to work REALLY hard at eating less. Not easy when the café in the building makes THE most amazing chocolate croissants!!!!!

The family are all well. I guess the big family news is that Mum and Dad have sold their house that they have lived in for 25 years and have moved to Hawkes Bay. They went down there eight months ago for a wee holiday and never came back. Next month they are moving into a lovely brand new townhouse in a retirement village in Hastings. It is PERFECT for them. :-)

I will finish off now as my toes are starting to freeze here in the spare room. Here are a few pics from the last little while. Many of them in honour of my beautiful NZ Champion Sam I Am of Estcarp, My beautiful Sammie Sue.

 

 

 

 

And Finally, Spyke over a metre.

 

We Got Second!!!!!

I am SO stoked with Spyke!!!!! He pulled one out of the bag on the last day of the series and managed to fly into second place overall. In fact, it was right down to the wire between myself and the eventual winner.

We had a lesson with Tracey (as always) the week before the competition and worked through some of our issues. I think the biggest issue for us was that the two previous days had been held in conjunction with show jumping which meant that we had to be in a really small arena with deep sand. Spyke really struggled to get a rhythm with the tight corners and short run ups to the jumps. This week's was held in a nice BIG arena and Spyke LOVED it !!!! We even nailed the 80 and did a decent 90. We pulled a rail in the 90 which did us for a chance at the title (we were only one point behind the leader at that point so if we had placed higher than her we would have drawn or won. However, she was really consistently good right through the series so I think she deserved to win :-)

Next week we have our first registered competition. I have only entered in two training classes 75 and 80 but I think I will also do the 90 which will be our first 'qualifier'. I don't expect to do anything other than hopefully a decent round but it will be very interesting to see how we get on. A LOT of the show hunter people came up to me after the winter series and asked if I was going to register him. :-)

Oh!!! I forgot to mention that I also fell off on Saturday (muppet rider AGAIN). Fortunately it was in the warm up but I have to admit it HURT!!!!! We got a jump wrong (completely my fault for not watching where I was going) and I lost my balance and fell off. It made me REALLY nervous the rest of the day but Spyke really looked after me and got better and better so by the time we got to the 90 I was feeling a bit more confident. LOL Every round had a comment from the judge, all she said was 'kind'. That's my boy!!!!! :-)

It Happened

Well, sure enough, as predicted in the previous pos,t I rode like a complete muppet and really let Spyke down (although he did his bit too). I just could not find my secure seat the entire day and was hyperventilating like an idiot. I thought I was just really stressed and nervous and that was why I couldn't get my position but the next day my thighs were burning so badly that it made me realise that I'd had my stirrups too short. DOH!!!!!! What a muppet!!!! Spyke's bad contribution to the day was one fence that he just kept hitting no matter what I did so between the two of us we managed to drop ourselves right down the rankings (well, down to fourth). I was completely annoyed with myself!!!

However, onwards and upwards!! We have our second to last event of the series on Sunday and this time I am not going to pour tonnes of pressure on myself. I am going to concentrate on what I have been learning at my lessons and I am going to have some fun with my lovely horse. :-) At least that is the plan, I suspect a certain amount of self pressure will still be in evidence. :-)

We had another fantastic lesson with Tracey again last weekend and, as always, came away feeling like I had really learnt some things and really achieved some GOOD jumping. We are now jumping fairly comfortably at 90 in our lessons so I have entered the 90 class on Sunday (gulp).

On the doggy front I have a whole load of vet bills coming my way but they are all nonscary (ish) ones (at least as far as the doggy wellbeing is concerned, they will be fairly hefty bills still). Sammie is going in to have her teeth done next Thursday, the vet feels that if we do them now she probably won't need them doing again and we will manage to avoid any extractions. On Thursday Brina will get her Pentosan shot and epilepsy bloods done and then the following Wednesday she will be going in to VSG for a stricture dilation. I didn't think I would ever be able to get her done again so I am quite excited about it. Of course, it means poor Spyke will miss out on a nice saddle, but it could make a HUGE difference to Brina and myself (fingers crossed).

Wish us luck for Sunday!!!! I would love to creep back up that leader board. And wish us luck for next Wednesday, it would be AWESOME if this dilation made a huge difference (although I suspect it is going to take another one..... :-( )

A Long Time Between Jumps

It has indeed been a long time between jumps. Day three of the series seems like forever ago!!!!
I have hardly jumped Spyke at all since the last competition as the ground is just too wet now and we have trouble finding a jumping arena.

We have had some saddle dramas. Candice had a saddle fitter/equine physio out and she declared that not a saddle on the property was a good fit for him. On the up side, apart from a bit of soreness in his back from the saddle he was in tip top shape. Fab!!!!

I found a beeeeeooooootiful saddle on Trademe. The lovely lady brought it out and it seemed to be a pretty blinkin' good fit for him so I bought it. Then a week or so ago we had another sadlle fitter out, a master saddler, and sure enough the new saddle didn't fit either. :-( We tried several saddles on him and the only one that fitted was (of course) a $4000 brand new one. It was a STUNNING saddle and $4000 is actually a pretty good price for a good quality, brand new saddle. However, I don't HAVE $4000 so there wasn't much I could do about it (I did, however make the catastophic mistake of riding in it and completely fell in love with it. :-( It is not dead in the water yet..... but chances are I won't be able to get one) so I am now on the lookout for ANOTHER saddle. Frustratingly, a second hand one of the EXACT model I am looking for sold at a local shop just before I started looking. This time though I will not purchase ANY saddle without approval from a master saddler. Spyke deserves the RIGHT saddle.

Riding has been quite difficult as I mentioned and I very nearly turned him out for the rest of winter but I had so many people tell me I wasn't allowed to (LOL) that we have ploughed on. Candice has been AWESOME at letting me use the float so Spyke and I have been doing solo rides in the forest (he has started scrambling in the float :-( so I can't take anyone with me) However he is AWESOME by himself in the forest!!!! Really, REALLY awesome!!!! We have a BLAST!!! He is totally unspooky, cpompletely unfazed by deer, happy to walk, happy to canter, happ[y to trot, happy to go away from other horses....AWESOME!!!! So we have managed to keep a bit of fitness.

We had a lasson on Sunday with my FAVOURITE trainer Tracy Page and Spyke was amazing (new superlative :-). I was expecting a few fireworks as he hadn't jumped for weeks but he just pricked his ears forward and gave me the best jumping rounds of my life!!!!!!! A friend VERY kindly came along and video-ed us and I just can't get over what a totally natural Show Hunter he is. He was SO good that I  have registered myself with NZEF and will be registering Spyke next payday and we are SO going to have a crack at Horse of the Year. I HAVE to, that horse is stunning!!!!!

We have day four of the series this weekend and I am REALLY nervous. Having seen how good he is I am now very worried about letting him down by riding like a muppet!!!!

See for yourself how amazing he is:
Spyke The Wonder Show Hunter

Half way through the series

Day three and Spyke was, as always, awesome (I really need a new superlative). We won the first round, I messed up the second and the last two were really, REALLY nice except he pulled a rail in both. Slightly disappointed at the rails but the rest of the jumps were place getting jumps. VERY happy about that. We are now lying second in the series, only one point behind the leader. The next round is not for 5 weeks. Bring it on!!!! I am having a BLAST!!!!

Still Awesome

Spyke is still awesome!!!!

We had our second show hunter day a few weeks ago and Spyke got a third and a FIRST!!!!! How proud am I??? Not only that but it put him at the top of the leaderboard!!!!! Look:

I had another lesson with Tracey Page this afternoon and it was fantastic. I feel like I am learning such a lot from her. I was jumping like a muppet to start with but was going MUCH better by the end of the lesson. :-) Of course Spyke was just lovely. At one point I completely lost my reins over the first jump of a double but he just kept trundling along and got me safely over the second. He is such a good boy. Have to say that I am COMPLETELY knackered now though!!!

Another SH comp this weekend. Fingers crossed I can keep my act together!!!