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!!!

Lots of Awesomeness!!!!

Spyke is AWESOME!!!!! AWESOME I tell you!!!

We are having such a nice time (Touch wood that it continues). On my birthday I deceided to treat myself to a show hunter lesson with Tracey Page. The lesson was AMAZING. It was like everything I had been told about my position suddenly clicked in my head. Helped a lot by the fact that every time I got my position right Spyke really, really responded. It was totally awesome. There was also a fair amount of tanking and bucking but Tracey worked me through it.

I had the lesson on the Thursday and I was entered for my first show hunter on the Sunday, what a perfect move it was to have the lesson just before the competition. Spyke was superb on the day. His practice round was pretty rough, threw in a stop at one and then 'discussed' every jump after that but once he had that out of his system he was great.

We did 3 rounds (over teeny heights but they still looked big to me) and got a third in the first class and second in the second!!!!! I was stoked. (And more than a little stunned as they were quite big classes). Spyke's rounds though were SO kind and my 'new' position helped everything. I am still buzzing more than a week later.

Then on Saturday just been, we did a SH clinic with Tracey again through the Waitemata Riding Club. It was such fun and Tracey was stoked at the improvement in Spyke and I even in just a week. :-) At the end of our lesson she made Spyke and I jump last so that she could put the jumps up. We flew over them at 90. I am so excited by how our jumping is going that I am boring everyone around me to tears but I don't care LOL 'cos I am buzz buzz buzzing!!!!!!

The Lesson

The Competition

The Clinic