After our shocking dressage test at Werribee it was clear that Whisper and I had some training to do. After a few weeks of focusing on Dressage we entered a pony club dressage competition at Bacchus Marsh. We did two very nice tests to come 2nd and 3rd and champion overall.

Two weeks later we did another dressage competition at Ballarat Pony Club. Our tests we alright although Whisper was scared of the row of trees behind the arena and was a little rushed in canter. We managed to come 1st and 3rd to get champion overall.

We also competed at Werribee Pony Club 2 day event in Grade 3. Our dressage test was quite nice apart from one of our canter transitions. After Dressage we were sitting =2nd. Our Show jumping round was a little messy as it was our first one for a while but we managed quite a nice round with only one rail. Cross country was going to be interesting as it got really windy and we also had to jump into water which had been Whispers main issue. She was quite excited and got a little strong at some points but jumped really well not even hesitating at the water and going clear to come 2nd overall.

Over the last few months I have been very busy being out competing alot with ESB Irish Whisper.
We have competed in two rounds of the Barwon Equestrian Dressage Series in Grade 3. in the first round one of our tests was pretty average and we place 9th but managed to get it together in the second test to come 4th. At the second round we had improved alot and managed two very nice tests to come 1st and 3rd and 3rd overall for the day.

We also competed in a pairs ride with one of my friends which was a challenge as our horses both have very different striding. In the pairs ride we did a rehearsed dressage test and an unrehersed test which we were given for 10 minutes to memorise. We managed two very nice test and came 2nd at Zone eliminations which meant that we qualified for states. Two months later we competed at States. Our rehearsed test was quite nice and we managed to come equal first though our unrehearsed test was very messy which pushed us down to 4th overall.

I also competed at Kardinia International College's interschool competition in the 90cm showjumping. We managed to go clear in the first round but knocked a rail in the second round which meant that we didn't go through to the jump off. Although we didn't do the jump off we still managed to come 6th.

Our next event was Woady Yaloak Horse Trials. On the Saturday we had dressage and Showumping. We did one of the best dressage tests we have done so far which put us in 6th place. we managed to follow that up with a clear round in showjumping which pushed us up to 4th place. On the Sunday it was time for Cross Country. Whisper started out by testing me and trying to run out at the first jump but when she failed she gave up and was perfect for the rest of the round and we managed to go clear and under time. This meant that we came Third overall!!

Over the school holidays there was a week long competition held at Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre. On the Wednesday we competed in the 80cm Combinded Training. Our dessage wasn't our best but we still managed to come 7th with 64%. Whisper flew around the show jumping, going clear to put us in 5th place overall. On the Thursday and Friday we did the 75cm showjumping going clear in two of the rounds coming 9th in one and 7th in the other.

on the 19th and 20th of July we competed at the Eventing Victoria Fundraiser at Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre in the Intro section. Our dressage test wasn't our best as Whisper was quite tense and focusing on the scary shapes on the other side of the trees beside the arena. we still managed to get 61% although we were in 24th place. later that afternoon we had Showjumping in the Indoor. To begin with Whisper was a bit nervous being in the indoor and didn't want to go anywhere near the walls but after alot of encouragement she decided that they weren't that scary and she was totally fine. We did a very nice round going clear which pushed us up to 22nd. On the sunday we had cross country. coming into the first jump she again was testing me, seeing if she could get away with running out though quickly decided that she wasn't going to get away with it and jumped every jump perfectly. We had a great round which was heaps of fun, going clear to push us up to 16th place.

 

 



Febuary 2014

At the end of January I competed at the Geelong Showjumping Competition held at Drysdale with ESB Irish Whisper and ESB Irish Rumble. It was Rumbles second competition so he started out a little nervous having so many horses rushing around him but was completely unfased by the bunting that was blowing around in the wind. We started out doing the 50cm round to step up a little from the last competition. He was still not quite comfortable cantering into the jumps so we started out trotting. By the second day of the competition we had steped up to the 65cm round and he was getting much more confident, starting to understand that it is easier to canter into the jumps.

Whisper and I started with the 80cm round and managed an easy clear round so moved on to the 90cm round in which we knocked one rail. The next day we did the 75cm round going clear even though the ground was a bit slipery and Whisper was struggling to keep her footing and managing to come 6th.


On the 16th of Febuary I did Drysdale Leopold Pony Club HT with ESB Irish Whisper in the Grade 3 section. In the warm up for the dressage she was a little bit strong and full of energy but by the time we got to the test she was much better and we managed a very nice test coming 5th. The showjumping course was very simple and we did a very nice round going clear which put us up into 4th place. I had never jumped her into water before this competition so I was a little bit worried about the water jump on the cross country course so when I came into I didn't push her forward enough to be able to jump it properly so we got 1 refusal. on the second go we made it in and Whisper did a big leap down. Around the rest of the course she was an absolute star and seemed to be loving it! Overall we didn't do too badly coming 7th on a count back.

January 2014

I started out 2014 with a trip up to Vanessas with ESB Irish Whisper, Rumble and Judge (Judge Judy) for a week. We spent the week working to get Rumble ready for his first competition and to be able to ride Judge Judy for the first time. Rumble was perfect all week and we even started to canter into some small small showjumps and went out and schooled over some x-country jumps. By the end of the week he was well and trully ready to get out competing.

We started out ponying Judge Judy out around the bush off of Whisper. She was so good that within a couple of days she was ready for me to get on and be ponied around the bush. after a lap around the bush we went into the round yard where we were let off the lead and were able to walk and trot all by our selves! the next day we went for a ride around the bush off the lead with the only problem being that she didn't quite understand what I was asking when I used my legs.

ESB Irish Rumble (45cm round)

ESB Irish Whisper (90cm Round)

On the 11th and 12th of January I competed at Terang Showjumping with ESB Irish Whisper and Rumble. It was a little bit scary for Rumble as it was his first competition. On the Saturday I started out with a 30/35 cm round on Rumble which went surprisingly well. He was quite nervous in the warm up because there were lots of small ponies which kept coming very close to him. Once we were in the ring he calmed down alot more and seemed to have a heap of fun. over the weekend we did 5 rounds of showjumping and managed to work our way up to a 50cm round. Whisper started out doing an 80cm round and only knocked one rail. over the weeked we managed to work our way up to doing a 1m round which was slightly messy and we knocked 3 rails but it was also the highest that we had jumped together.

December 2013

On the 23rd and 24th of November I competed at Friends of Woady Yaloak Horse Trials in the Intro with ESB Irish Whisper. The weather was even worse than it had been at colac but we had been expecting it (being so close to Ballarat) and had all the winter woolies with us.Our dressage test was fairly good but there are definatly clear points that need work especially our canter! but other than a few messy bits the dressage was reasonably good. In the showjumping we did a very nice round but knocked a pole on the last fence which was a bit unlucky. The next day we had x-country which I was quite excited about after walking the course. We managed to go clear and under time with our only problems being a little wobbly into the first jump and the scary pathways through the trees.

 

November 2013

On the 9^th and 10^th of November I competed at Colac 2 day event in the Intro with ESB Irish Whisper. The weather was awful most of the weekend with rain and wind. On Saturday we had Dressage and Show jumping. Our dressage was pretty average but for our first one together it was good and in the show jumping we went clear. On Sunday we had x-country with the weather a little bit better than it had been on Saturday. We had one stop at the water and a few time penalties but other than that had an amazing weekend.

 

August 2013

This has been a pretty relaxing month for all the horses as the weather still doesn't want to cooperate with us and I have had to start the exam revision for school. At the start of the month ESB Golden Ambition and I had the second pony club Speed to Safety Trial which we didn't do very well in. we were 3 second off the 120 seconds we were supposed to do the 1000 meters in which wasn't to bad but a few of the other riders were getting much closer to the time. We ended up coming 5th missing out on going to the final but we had heaps of fun!

ESB Golden Ambition and I also had a dressage competition which was extremely wet and slippery! As there was only one 20x60 meter dressage arena for everyone to warm up in we were having a bit of a fight because of of all the little ponies getting much to close. So our first test was a little bit tense but apart from that I was quite happy. Our second test was a bit of a disaster because the area, even though it was sand, was very boggy and most of it was under water. We were fine with the water but in some places she was just sinking and slipping all over the place. we ended up 9th in our first test and the second... well we were somewhere around 18th (whoops).

ESB Irish Rumble is going well and is always making me laugh. Hopefully (if its not too wet and windy) over this weekend we are going to be heading down to the local pony club for a quiet ride away from home. 

July 2013

Again this month it has been a fight against the weather most of the time were getting wet and when its not raining we nearly get blown away. ESB Golden Ambition and I spent a week at Equine Sports Breeding. We spent the week working with ESB Irish Judge and teaching Greta how to pony her so that she will hopefully be able to come home soon. 

 

On the Sunday we had pony club and ESB Irish Rumble got to come along and have a look. He was very chilled out about it, having a look at everything. The only time he got nervous was when we took Greta away because he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t go with her.

The next week we had a big interschools competition at Werribee. In our showjumping we had poles in two of our rounds and managed to go clear in the third but didn’t go fast enough to be able to do very well. Our dressage was a bit of a disaster with Greta finding the sand hiting the side of the arena very scary and not wanting to go near it. But even so we still managed to get a 59% and a 64%.

On the Sunday after interschools Greta pretended to be a racehorse in the speed to safety trial at Geelong Racecourse. The idea of Speed to safety is to ride at a given pace over a given distance. We had to ride 1000m in 120 seconds. The two people from the zone who have been able to get closest to the given time in the two trials go through to the final at Moonee Valley racecourse on the 25^th of August. At the first trial our two qualifying times were 122 seconds and 118 seconds, only two seconds off the time. the final trial is on the 3^rd of August where we will have two more goes at getting as close to the 120 seconds as possible. 

June 2013

This month has been pretty busy as I have had exams but some how I managed to get to a few competitions. There has also been a fair amount of rain which has made the ground quite soft and slippery. On the 9th I competed at a dressage competition with ESB Golden Ambition. The warm up area was difficult because of the grass being slippery. our first test was a bit messy in places but we still managed to come 8th, our second test was much better and we ended up 3rd. The next week on the 16th we had Kardinia Interschools. The warm up for dressage was horrible and muddy so we didn't stay clean for very long. Our first test wasn't our best but we came 5th and our second test was slightly better although made more challenging by the slippery grass. Again we came 5th in the second test and and came 5th overall. In the show jumping we had two clear rounds making it to the jump off. In the jump off we got one rail and ended up coming 7th.

May 2013

ESB Golden Ambition (Greta) and I have recently been competing in the Barwon Equestrian Showjumping Tournament (B.E.S.T). It consists of four showjumping competitions held at different pony clubs in the Barwon Zone. At each competition there are two rounds of show jumping for the day. Throughout the series we had been doing really well, placing in at least one round at each competition. The last round was held on Sunday the 19th of May at Portalington Pony Club. Due to some heavy rain through the week the grounds were quite slippery and even going carefully we seemed to be sliding all over the place. We managed to make it clear in our first round placing sixth. in the second round we had a similar trouble with the ground and had a bit of a whoops with at the brick wall but still managed to complete the course fine other than that. Over all for the day we finished 8th and managed to come 5th over the whole series winning a lovely rosette and some white bandages.

April 2013

This month started with an Easter trail ride at Equine Sports Breeding. Rumble and Itravelled up on the Friday to stay overnight for the big ride on Saturday. Weset out in the morning on our ride which was 15km to the spot where we had anamazing relaxing lunch by the river. Rumble was quite relaxed which I wassurprised about because along the way there were many scary cows and sheep. Hewas also very good crossing the river, going straight through the water withouteven hesitating which is a good sign for water jumps! We followed the riveraround until we got to a nice spot where there was a sand bank down to thewater. We all took the horses down to the water for a drink and Rumble had afun time splashing around. after we had eaten we went for an easter egg huntand then started our 15km back so by the time we got back he was very tired. 

On the easter Monday I had a showjumping competition on ESBGolden Ambition (Greta) at Drysdale Leopold Pony Club.  We didn’t place at all but we got twoclear rounds which made me happy and as soon as we finished we were on our wayback up to Equine Sports Breeding. It was Greta's first time back in a few years and was a bit unsure to start with but settled down well. Westayed with Vanessa for the week and I got to spend heaps of time with ESBIrish Judge. We worked with her for the week which started with her being ponied out in thebush and gradually built up to me being able to ride her in the round yard.

I had another showjumping competition with ESB GoldenAmbition at Leighdale Pony Club. We went clear in our first round but didn’tplace and in our second round we went clear making it into the Jump off andwent clear again to come 5^th. 

March 2013

This month has been quite a relaxing one as I haven't been doing many competitions. I competed at the Geelong Grammar Interschools competition with ESB Golden Ambition, it was an interesting weekend as we could hear the air show and had planes flying over every now and then. Despite all the distractions we did quite well coming coming 4th with 66.8% and 13th in the other with 59.5%.

 So far I haven't taken ESB Irish Rumble anywhere but he will be attending his first pony club rally April. I am aiming to have him ready and graded to do a Grade 4 dressage test for the Leighdale Pony Club Dressage and Showjumping day in May. He has been going really well lately and seems to always want to please me. So far his favorite activity seems to be jumping, he gets quite excited and only really makes a few mistakes at the beginning, once he gets going over a few jumps he has a great time and finds it quite easy.