Little Valley Farm

Over the holidays I have had a series of showjumping lessons with Mike Lamb (An Eventer) over the 3 lessons I have learnt a lot:

• To stay off of Georges back, George speeds up and rushes when I 'sit on him' so I need to remember to keep 80% of my weight in my stirrups.
• Keep my reins long. George tends to over bend and not understand the jump, then refuse if I hold onto his head.
• Something Mike kept saying to everyone over the 3 days is 'Release over the jump' for everyone else it was at the jump but for me it was 2 strides out.

Little Valley Farm has an AMAZING cross-country course that ranges from Pre-Intro (45cm) to Open (1.05m) So after my lesson was over me and my friends would gallop from field to field jumping as many as possible. Some of them are to big but I can now Jump the 85cm jumps! Here are some picks of me and George on the cross-country course:

Dressage

On the weekend I rode in a dressage competition.

Here is the arena size I rode in:

I did test 0:C and 0:D. Check out this link to see them.

I had a caller that means I did not have memorise the test. The score is marked as a percentage:

Adequate - 50+%

Very Good - 60+%
Exceptional - 70+%

The score that the Judges give you are out of 10:

10 Excellent------ Very rarely given. It means as good as it gets.

9 Very Good------Not often awarded; you can be very proud when they appear on your score sheet.

8 Good------------ An appropriate level of engagement for the level.

7 Fairly Good------Still a good mark, maybe a minor inaccuracy prevented an 8 being given.

6 Satisfactory----The movement was obedient and accurate, marred by outline, perhaps.

5 Sufficient--------Horse did what he should, but maybe lacking engagement or on the forehand.

4 Insufficient-----A serious inaccuracy occurred; counter bent; rough transition; head tossing.

3 Fairly Bad-------A serious problem occurred; lack of control, very late or fluffed transitions.

2 Bad---------------Now we’re talking severe disobedience; bucking; rearing; napping.

1 Very Bad---------The horse must have bolted through the movement to receive this!

0 Not Performed---Self explanatory. Horse did not perform any of the required movement e.g. failing to strike off in left canter and continuing on in trot.

My scores where mostly 6s with a few 5s and 7s

I got 57% and 64%.

Horse, Horses and Ponies

Horses are my passion so I thought I could share with you a little about this sport.

First I need to say horse ridding is a sport and is also in the Olympics.

Horses are measured in hands:
My pony stands at 13.2 hands which is roughly 138cm.
The horses at the Olympics are around 16 hands but the smallest is Stroller standing only 14.2 hands. He won a silver medal! ( In 1968)

The highest level you can get to is Grand Prix and in the Grand Prix the jumps measure up to a massive 1.60 meters by 2 meters. The Olympic cross country cross is 5.6km of jumps and water.

Me and George only jump around 80cm but hope to compete at 90 soon, which is were the real competition begans.

George

George is my pony here is a little about him.
Show name: Jersey George

Height: 13.2 or 138cm

Colour: Bay (Brown with a black mane and tail)

Markings: 4 white legs, a white muzzle (nose) and a blaze.

Hobbies: Chasing Poppy (one of our other ponies) around the field and/or trying to take the rug of with the straps done up. Also putting things in his mouth and trying to brush me. Picking up buckets is a awesome way to fill in the time (for George.)

Favorite foods: Grass, apple, carrot, hay, pony nuts and any form of pony treat that I have given him so far.

Is he not the cutest?