Balli and I have been trying to get out and about as much as we can this year. Over the past few months we have been going to a few different places for different shows and training sessions.
So we started off with Coomblands at the beginning of the year for a quick jumping session. She was amazing, especially as she hadn’t been out for a little while. We then went to Brendon Pyecombe Showground for the British Novice where Balli jumped incredible for a double clear and 10th place.
We then thought we would go to Felbridge Showground for the British Novice which we were double clear in. Because she was so well behaved I thought I’d give her a jump round the Discovery. This was Balli’s first time jumping a Discovery and it didn’t go quite as I’d planned. I think she was a bit tired for waiting and jumping the previous class, but we will keep going at this height.
After this we went to Wivelsden Farm for the South Down Hunt East Pony Club hunter trial. We did pairs with a good friend of mine where we were both on green horses. Balli was amazing as she had only seen jumps like this once before. We as a pair were not clear but we had so much fun and it was a great experience for both riders and the horses.
We have really been working on our cross country by going to a couple different places just to build Balli’s confidence. One place that we went to was Coomblands and Balli was absolutely amazing. I was so shocked she jumped pretty much everything first time. She went straight over the ditches into the water splashes and up and down the steps. She was so cool and it gives me much more hope for her cross country future.
We then went back to Felbridge Showground to just jump round the Discovery. This time Balli was a lot more forward and confident. We had two down but they were rider errors of just me understanding when to push and not for helping Balli to find the course easier.
Finally the other day Balli had decided that she wasn’t particularly keen on doing any work. She was laying down for around ten minutes while I fussed over her. I finally got her up and to her disgust she had to do some work. With a slight bit change from her loose ring snaffle to a rubber D-ring we have much more control and are finally starting to get a consistent shape with her being more uphill.
Hopefully the rest of this year will be as progressive and productive.
For Rachel and Spirt the year started off with both of them moving out and heading onto a new adventure. They both started cracking on and getting into the swing of things and getting ready to go out. But unfortunately Spirit got cellulitis and put a little hold on plans. In the meantime Rachel got her trailer license and Spirit is finally back and ready to get started again, hopefully actually getting to some shows this summer. Over the whole change period Speedi-Beet has kept Spirit looking amazing as well as the lovely grass that’s coming through in the paddocks now.
Hopefully we will be seeing these two out again soon.
Thanks for reading, Katelyn
