IcarusGirl
30th August 2011, 10:39 AM
Yep, we've been at it again!
I didnt know whether we would be able to go, because we've been chatting with vets again! Last monday Icarus' spots came back, not as bad as in the winter, but all down his neck and chest. Luckily not where any tack goes, so i've been able to ride him lots and have been doing as much 'cantery, cantery, huffy puffy' work as possible as this seems to help them go down for a bit. On wednesday morning i rang the vet and asked if we could have some antihistimines to give him to take away the itch, so he said he'd prescribe us some. I went down the yard that morning to find the spots had spread under his stomach and down his sides and he was looking really fed up with it. So i rang back the vet and he suggested giving him a course of steroids. So then i had to drive to our equine vet clinic to pic up these pills for Icarus! Before i'd had a chance to give him any steroids the spots seemed to have gone down again to a comfortable level, so i thought i'd try the antihistimines first before going down the steroid route. Well, to cut a long story not quite so short, the spots have virtually disappeared without the steroids, so we could go to the hunter trial!
So, yesterday we trotted off to our local PC hunter Trial. I'd entered the Pairs and the individual in the 2ft3 height.
This was the same course we got eliminated at the 2nd fence in the ODE recently, so i was hoping and hoping we'd actually get past the 2nd fence without being eliminated this time!
We set off in our pairs class at a sedate trot, which soon turned into a lovely long striding canter. Popped the first (phew!) then turned the corner to the dreaded 2nd fence, our pair popped over it and Icarus fell back to a trot, i could feel myself going 'nooooo!' so i gave him a pony club kick and he popped it! After that i instantly felt more relaxed and even shouted to my pair "I can enjoy myself now!". Well, what can i say? Icarus was a train! He hauled my arms out chasing after his pair and wasnt worried by any of the jumps. In fact, he was so 'not worried' that he was just flinging himself over them with reckless abandon! On the homeward stretch there was a long patch with no jumps, and my arms were burning from trying to keep him back so i thought 'i wonder what would happen if i just let him go...?' So i did, he went up about 8 gears and absolutely flew past his pair, leaving him trailing behind Usually I have trouble getting Icarus to think forwards, so it's such a lovely feeling to feel him powering along beneath me! :love:
Anyway, we got around CLEAR (Icarus has never gone clear in a HT before!) and only 20 seconds over the time, so we came 4th out of about 15 pairs.
Individual class came next. We left the start box at a canter, and Icarus was already looking at everything BUT the jumps, so he got a bit told off before we even got to the first fence. He stumbled his way into and over the first fence, then i revved him up a bit to get ready for the second, which he was still not paying attention to. Apparently, the spectators all needed a good smile from him before we could carry on. :rolleyes: He ground down to a halt about 20ft away from the jump and had a good stare (at least you know when he's going to stop, you just cant do anything about it!) I thought to myself 'he hasnt stepped back yet, so *technically* this isnt a refusal, if i can just get him to trot up to it and pop over, we might be okay'... Just as i thought that he stepped back! :evilgrin: So, one refusal, i could live with that. I revved him up and trotted at the fence which - dont forget - he'd already jumped once that morning! Unfortunately, the breaks came out again with a quick reversal. Two refusals. One more and we'd be eliminated. I turned him away, gave him a smack on the bum and a pony club kick and we were away -- straight into the bottom of the fence. Doh! Eliminated. Ah well, i thought, try again. Blummin horse only went and jumped it! :miffed: Carried on and had a wobble at three, jumped it, got his stride wrong at four, and clonked it with his front hoof, after that he jumped everything, splashed through the water like a pro, and got home safely! :D
The ground was perfect and well covered, if a little lush. He slipped going into one jump and after that he lost a bit of confidence in his footing so kept chipping in strides before every jump. Didnt make the comfiest of rides and i so nearly came off at one point, but i was pleased that he was more worried about the ground than the jumps.
So yeah, we were eliminated, but actually, it was only one jump that worried him. In the past we've had stops all over the course, so in my mind, thats an improvement. It'll be a whole new story if we go to a new venue, but frankly, i dont care! :lol::D
I didnt know whether we would be able to go, because we've been chatting with vets again! Last monday Icarus' spots came back, not as bad as in the winter, but all down his neck and chest. Luckily not where any tack goes, so i've been able to ride him lots and have been doing as much 'cantery, cantery, huffy puffy' work as possible as this seems to help them go down for a bit. On wednesday morning i rang the vet and asked if we could have some antihistimines to give him to take away the itch, so he said he'd prescribe us some. I went down the yard that morning to find the spots had spread under his stomach and down his sides and he was looking really fed up with it. So i rang back the vet and he suggested giving him a course of steroids. So then i had to drive to our equine vet clinic to pic up these pills for Icarus! Before i'd had a chance to give him any steroids the spots seemed to have gone down again to a comfortable level, so i thought i'd try the antihistimines first before going down the steroid route. Well, to cut a long story not quite so short, the spots have virtually disappeared without the steroids, so we could go to the hunter trial!
So, yesterday we trotted off to our local PC hunter Trial. I'd entered the Pairs and the individual in the 2ft3 height.
This was the same course we got eliminated at the 2nd fence in the ODE recently, so i was hoping and hoping we'd actually get past the 2nd fence without being eliminated this time!
We set off in our pairs class at a sedate trot, which soon turned into a lovely long striding canter. Popped the first (phew!) then turned the corner to the dreaded 2nd fence, our pair popped over it and Icarus fell back to a trot, i could feel myself going 'nooooo!' so i gave him a pony club kick and he popped it! After that i instantly felt more relaxed and even shouted to my pair "I can enjoy myself now!". Well, what can i say? Icarus was a train! He hauled my arms out chasing after his pair and wasnt worried by any of the jumps. In fact, he was so 'not worried' that he was just flinging himself over them with reckless abandon! On the homeward stretch there was a long patch with no jumps, and my arms were burning from trying to keep him back so i thought 'i wonder what would happen if i just let him go...?' So i did, he went up about 8 gears and absolutely flew past his pair, leaving him trailing behind Usually I have trouble getting Icarus to think forwards, so it's such a lovely feeling to feel him powering along beneath me! :love:
Anyway, we got around CLEAR (Icarus has never gone clear in a HT before!) and only 20 seconds over the time, so we came 4th out of about 15 pairs.
Individual class came next. We left the start box at a canter, and Icarus was already looking at everything BUT the jumps, so he got a bit told off before we even got to the first fence. He stumbled his way into and over the first fence, then i revved him up a bit to get ready for the second, which he was still not paying attention to. Apparently, the spectators all needed a good smile from him before we could carry on. :rolleyes: He ground down to a halt about 20ft away from the jump and had a good stare (at least you know when he's going to stop, you just cant do anything about it!) I thought to myself 'he hasnt stepped back yet, so *technically* this isnt a refusal, if i can just get him to trot up to it and pop over, we might be okay'... Just as i thought that he stepped back! :evilgrin: So, one refusal, i could live with that. I revved him up and trotted at the fence which - dont forget - he'd already jumped once that morning! Unfortunately, the breaks came out again with a quick reversal. Two refusals. One more and we'd be eliminated. I turned him away, gave him a smack on the bum and a pony club kick and we were away -- straight into the bottom of the fence. Doh! Eliminated. Ah well, i thought, try again. Blummin horse only went and jumped it! :miffed: Carried on and had a wobble at three, jumped it, got his stride wrong at four, and clonked it with his front hoof, after that he jumped everything, splashed through the water like a pro, and got home safely! :D
The ground was perfect and well covered, if a little lush. He slipped going into one jump and after that he lost a bit of confidence in his footing so kept chipping in strides before every jump. Didnt make the comfiest of rides and i so nearly came off at one point, but i was pleased that he was more worried about the ground than the jumps.
So yeah, we were eliminated, but actually, it was only one jump that worried him. In the past we've had stops all over the course, so in my mind, thats an improvement. It'll be a whole new story if we go to a new venue, but frankly, i dont care! :lol::D