News
27th June 2010 Buzz ( A.K.A Pentyparc Gronholm) went to his first ever show! He was an absolute angel in the first class ( Welsh Section C or D in-hand) and won and the Judge absolutely adored him and even commented how well behaved he was for his first show... then we went up the road for another class and let's just say his attention span over ran and he behaved rather 'exuberantly' so we brought him out and decided he had learnt a lot today so took him home. He travelled impecabbly, loading and unloading like a pro. lots to like and lot's to work on!
26th June 2010
Dressage Lesson with Ian Stark. We are currently resting Fizz as he does not like this hard ground, (he likes it boggy!) so we are currently saving him for later events. I took Mrs C Hasting's Connie Avough Boy for this lesson and it was fab! Ian really worked on opening Joey up on his stiffer right rein to get him as balanced as he is on his left rein. Lots of handy hints and tips were picked up! As Sonny has now been sold mum is currently riding Mrs J Jacksons Pebbly Pal Mal (A.K.A River), River has a few schooling issues, so Ian got on to see what mum had to contend with. He loved Rivers paces and worked mum really hard to iron out Rivers creases so to speak. They showed lots of progress which was great to see!!
23rd June 2010 Sonny has been officially sold and today we delivered him to his new home and it is perfect! We wish you all the best of luck with him and we couldn't have wished for him to go to a better place! Mum will certainly be visting him! Any excuse for a mini holiday!!
16th June 2010 Booked in to take my BHS PTT Exam at the end of August 2010. I start my PTT course on 5th July- so excited!
9th-15th June 2010 I am away to Download Festival on my Holidays with my boyfriend, brother and friends!!
7-8th June 2010 BHS Equine Specific First Aid Course- Penrith This was an intensive two full days of learning- with some very toe curling moments! We had the added pressure of having an exam paper to pass to earn our certificate and I was over the moon to score 67/70 and receive my certificate. This was incredible important to me as it is a component for my application for becoming a BHSAI- only PPT exam and Safeguarding Children workshop to go!!
26th May 2010 The day of the BHS Stage III exam! This was quite possibly one of the most nerve wracking days of my life!! I rode some lovely (and some difficult) horses and really had my brain quizzed but in general found the content covered easy and enjoyed being able to show off the work I had put in to learn the syllabus! It was a very emotional moment when the certificates came through the post informing me that I had passed!
23rd May 2010 Cumbria Riding Club Dressage Day- My first competition since last year!! Fizz was a little star, winning the dressage to music, his pairs with Sonny and his Novice test, scoring above 70% in them all. He also scored the highest percentage of the day winning a special trophy for this achievement for this. Sonny also had a wonderful day picking up 2nd in dressage to music, 1st in pairs dressage with Fizz, 1st in Senior Riding Test, and 4th and 5th in his Novice tests. Me and mum were joint winners of the turnout!
1st-16th May 2010
Early May I was still suffering with my appendicitis so with my looming BHS Stage III exam we decided to be careful and I persuaded mum to compete Fizz for me in two local one day events.
She had a fantastic day on Sonny at Cumbria Riding Club with Sonny, leading after dressage and then jumping double clear in the Open Class. He led all the way and only dropped to 2nd due to mum taking it easy on him around cross country as it was his first of the season. Fizz also mirrored this leading the dressage with 78%!!! Then jumping double clear, with a steady XC round picking up a handful of time penalties to drop to 2nd. We were over the moon with their first run of the season!
It was then onto West Cumberlands One Day Event. Mum again rode both Sonny and Fizz, this time against eachother in the same section. Fizz walked away with the dressage, scoring 76% and Sonny close behind. Both posted beautiful clear round show jumping. The cross country was a different matter, they allowed the intermediates to choose to jump open fences if they liked so I asked mum to treat it as a training round and pop Fizz over the corner at fence 3... Fizz has always jumped the double at fence 3 and so they had a little disagreement over which fence they were jumping so he blemished his score with a refusal of sorts! Sonny of course flew round, (over the corner) finishing clear with no time penalities! Not even Fizz had time penalties but his lead was spoilt so he dropped 1 mark below Sonny to finish 2nd, allowing Sonny to take the trophy and red rosette!
12th April 2010
Unfortunately I have just come out of hospital after falling ill with appendicitis and having to be operated on. I am under doctors orders not to ride for 4 weeks, so mum has taken over the role of keeping the boys ticking over until I am fit and ready to go again. Buzz is just going to have his holiday extended till May, much to his disappointment!!
I am taking full advantage of this sofa time to type out and make lots more work sheets and teaching aids for my horse and pony care lessons for the summer (so that means I won't have to do them at a later date!), and revising for my stage III which *fingers crossed* I will be fit to take at the end of May!
Hopefully in next week or two I will be able to start teaching again :)
1st-8th April 2010
April got off to a good start, I started jumping Fizz and he felt amazing. I just worked him once or twice over a single fence to see how his legs held up to it, and fingers crossed all my hard work getting him thoroughly fit and sound have paid off.
March 2010
Lambing has started on the farm so the boys have just been continuing their fitness works, gradually increasing the work load so that as soon as me and mum can stop being midwives to the sheep we can get out and about again.
Fizz has really relished the long holiday he had, and has come back straighter in his way of going- maybe he has finally decided that he is too old for the show pony nose twitch he used to enjoy throwing into his dressage tests!
Buzz has had his wolf teeth removed finally. They were pushed right up next to his premolars, and James our horse dentist had hoped when Buzz lost his baby teeth that they would push the wolf teeth out with them. This sadly was not case, so we had a morning with the vet and the dentist, and Buzz was an absolute star throughout the whole procedure. Unfortunately for Buzz this means no work for a few weeks till his mouth has healed up!
February 2010
Fizz has been to his first Pony Club rally, and was quite the naughty little devil, spooking at nothing and sending a fellow riders horse oingy boingying up the arena and causing them to part company! He looks fantastic, especially considering he turns 14 this year. We received some sad news at the beginning of the month regarding Fizz's dad, Strinesdale Matador, he had sadly passed away. He was a living legend and his legacy will be continued through his sons and daughters for many years to come.
The boys have all been clipped and are raring to get going! Fizz is sporting a beautiful set of dapples:
Buzz is now happily hacking out on his own. He stands at the field gate and begs to ridden whilst I am exercising the others, but I want to keep him keen, so he only gets worked 2 or 3 times a week for approximately 20 minutes. This is a photo Mum took when I first sat on him with a saddle on:
January 2010
It is time to brush the dust away and start getting the boys fit again! Our fitness plans were constantly hampered by the icy weather. We always believe in lots of walk work out hacking and on the roads to build up strength in the tendons before progressing through a fitness regime. Every day I thought I would never feel my toes again! We all managed to survive though. I have got Fizz and Roscoe fit, and Mum has got Sonny fit. I have now started handling Buzz again and starting to work on braking him in! Great Fun!
24th October 2009
This was Roscoe's big return to the show ring as a ridden after 5/6 years of pure mounted games! We (me and Roscoe!) were very excited! The show was a Trailblazers qualifier at Inglewood Equestrian Centre, near Penrith. He has been rugged up for the last month to stop him getting too wooly and it paid off, he shone like a little brass button and his stockings and tail came up a dazzling white! We had a lovely day winning the mountain and moorland turnout, the best conditioned Trailblazer qualifier, and the ridden coloured Trailblazer qualifier. He then topped off the day by being awarded reserve champion ridden in his arena and proceeded to show off his vertical athletic ability on the lap of honour before settling down to do his jaw-dropping trot! We also brought Alexy Jackson and her Highland pony Jethro along with us. They took first place in the style and performance Trailblazer qualifying class before going on to take reserve champion ridden in their arena! So all in all a great day, not even the rain dampened our spirits!
27th September 2009
We went off to Aske with just my mums horse Sonny to compete in the BE100. He was again excited about the dressage and mum rode him beautifully with him finishing the test with a perfect square halt gaining a score of 8! He had a competitive dressage score within his section, and just had an unfortunate pole in the SJ. The XC course ran right along the edge of one side of the SJ ring, many horses including Sonny, struggled to maintain focus on what they were supposed to be doing, and poles went flying everywhere, along with a few unfortunate eliminations. Then he went on to his favourite part, the XC! He flew round this track lack a pro, handling the questions much better than he did at Thornton Watlass BE. He has really gained mental and physical fitness over the last month with all the hard work mum has put in to him! He could have gone round again! Mum was thrilled with the way he had jumped, everything had come together, their rhythm and length of stride in the gallop, their approach to fences was even and smooth with little or no fiddling, and Sonny is now understanding the art of jumping technical fences with all the skinnies, narrows, down hill, twists and turns. They finished 13th in their section, which means mum now needs a new goal for next year, as her aim had been to finish in top 15 in a BE100! He is now also on a well deserved 2 month break.
21st September 2009
Fizz is now on his holidays! He will spend his days out in the field as much as possible for two months to fully unwind and rest before next year. He will start his walk fittening work on the 1st of December.
19-20th September 2009
We made the long journey up to the west coast of Scotland- took us four hours! We were both competing at Turnberry BE. We arrived on site and walked the XC and SJ courses on the Saturday before going off to find our stables. The boys settled in well, although Sonny refused to go in his stable for a few moments. Fizz made friends with his neighbour, a horse who was also competing called Max. It is very strange for Fizz to be friendly like that so i was slightly worried! Anyway after a very cold nights sleep in the wagon the horses were both packed up and we headed back to the event.
Sonny was competing in the BE90 Regional Final, and Fizz was doing the BE100. Both horses warmed up well for dressage but on entering the arena suddenly became excited beyond words. Mum did an excellent job of containing him and working him through his excitement, i on the other hand struggled as Fizz proceeded to to want to burst into gallop throughout his test...I can honestly say it is the worst test he has ever done, and i was incredibly embarrassed. Even more so when i saw my score of 37. Either she was watching the wrong test or saw him through rose tinted glasses! Sonny's section was very close for dressage scores with less than 10 marks between all the dressage scores! Both boys then redeemed themselves by jumping text book double clears over SJ and XC. Fizz picked up a handful of time penalties due to me riding him carefully as by the time i jumped the ground was very boggy and holding. Strangely they both finished a very respectable 14th in their sections so we were very pleased with them!
4th September 2009
We had an Andrew Hamilton Lesson at Hayescastle, Disington. This was fantastic as it was a while since either of us had had a jumping lesson. Andrew really worked on us getting an even rhythm into the fences, sitting still and waiting for it all to happen. After warming up like a polite dressage pony, we then started working over a low grid and Fizz found it all incredibly exciting, especially the new mirrors that they have installed in the arena! Sonny went like a dream for mum too, behaving the complete opposite to how she had described him to Andrew- typical! Both boys jumped well, so Andrew finished the lesson by trying to catch us out. He said that eventers have a fear of spreads and so they fiddle with the reins coming into them and get it wrong. He then put up a HUGE wide spread and made us come off the short side and all the way down the long side to it, we both sat still and didn't fiddle. So he put it up again, and again, and again until we reached the top of the wings and still weren't fiddling! I have NEVER jumped a fence bigger than the pony i am riding before, but i can now add that to my list of achievements. It was an amazing feeling, and both me and mum were over the moon with our boys for doing it!
16th August 2009
We set off to Cumbria Riding Clubs 'Jump Cross' Day. This was our first time at this type of competition and the horses relished being allowed to really stretch out and gallop. The course consisted of 10 show jumps lay out like a 1000m long cross country course with the winner being the fastest completion time. There were also 3 optional, higher, spookier joker fences dotted around the course. If you cleared a joker fence you had 20 seconds knocked off your time, if you knocked a joker down then you had 20 seconds added to your time, compared to the 10 seconds added to your time if you knocked a normal fence down. In the Intermediate class me and Fizz ended up 4th out of at least 20, whilst mum and Sonny pipped us and took 2nd! Then onto the open where the total entries fell dramatically as the height of the fences went up! Me and Fizz were the trailblazers and set a scorching time, which would have been the winning time if he hadn't dislodged a pole out of the last fence! So we ended up 2nd, closely followed by mum and Sonny in 3rd. We then entered the pairs class, which was extremely popular, and due to us both clearing all the jokers ended up with a completion time of -4 seconds!! So the boys finally got their hooves on a red rosette, and are now not only the reigning winners of Cumbria Riding Clubs Pairs Dressage, but they have also added 1st place in the Pairs Jump Cross to their tally!
8th-9th August 2009
We made the long trip over to Bedale in Yorkshire to Thornton Watlass One Day Event this weekend! This was Fizz's first BE100 and what a star he was, gritting his teeth through the 'boring' dressage, followed by one pole in the show jumping (due to his excitement turning to speed and making a tight turn very difficult!), and then flying round the cross country handling all the complicated combinations, skinnies, and ditches in fine style. He sailed into 10th in his section so we were over the moon! Sonny stuck to form and posted yet another stylish double clear on his record, unfortunately due to him getting rather excited in the dressage he missed out on the placings in what was a very close and hotly contested section with the top 30 horses all within less than 20 marks of eachother.
