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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by templars[/i] [br]I know he's not Arab but seeing as one of our pure bred mares will be visiting Harry's TB sire to give him a pure Anglo baby bro or sis, I thought I'd give an update on how the boy is doing. We got Harry at the beginning of this season - his original rider was Louise Skelton and he's a 3* eventer who has done Bramham and Gatcombe. He was sold after Bramham to a rider who wanted to "go to the top". Long story short, she smashed her leg and she had to spend several months in hospital. Harry was put out to grass then used to give riding lessons. When we got him, he'd had two seasons off so we knew we'd have some work to get his focus back. At the beginning of the season, it was a complete nightmare[arg][arg]. His dressage was terrible, his show jumping literally non existent but his cross country was phenomenal. He has wings [c:] First event was Isleham and after a hash of the dressage (he thinks he knows best and found it very difficult to transition down from canter to trot to change rein - he insisted on showing off perfect flying changes!), he was eliminated in the show jumping. He doesn't knock any poles down - he gets so stressed, he literally bounces up and down on the spot and won't move. Next couple of events, we withdrew him and worked on his show jumping at home. All seemed well. First outing after the debacle was at Kelsall and it all seemed to have clicked into place and he flew round. [bow] [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4739257679_f08fc16f78.jpg[/img] Next outing, down to Solihull - not our favourite event because the show jumping is indoors but the cross country is ok. That's where we found out, Harry has a problem with indoor show jumping - he hates, hates, hates jumping on a surface. So, a couple of stops when he did his bouncy stuff but then he flew round the cross country again[((][((] [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4739905322_4e97eb6a22.jpg[/img] Then off to Richmond - we thought it might be a compromise. Show jumping is on a surface but it'd outdoors so we thought we might get away with it[bls] Ha ha!! He had other ideas and dumped Evie just before fence 3. Undaunted, she got back on and completed. [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4739285199_6f245fbafa.jpg[/img] Round the cross country with another flying performance [bow][bow] [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4739917826_2b79814df1.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4739277029_a21b5cf648.jpg[/img] Next stop Northallerton. It was here that sadly, Heron pulled up lame in the dressage and so is having a summer holiday![B)] Poor Heron! We were all a little upset about Heron but Harry went double clear!!![bow] Amazing!! [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4739270105_0dbf65c3ac.jpg[/img] We thought we'd cracked it - we honestly thought his hang ups were gone. We relaxed too soon. A few weeks ago we went to Brigstock International. Evie made a dream come true for me because it was the very first event I ever went to over twenty years ago and I always wanted to go back there. He put in a good performance - dressage was improving, show jumping not brilliant but the most incredible cross country. The cross country course was true international standard. By now, Harry had become a complete stress head[v^v][v^v] He can just about manage to contain himself in the dressage. Show jumping is a bit like watching someone walk blindfold over a rope bridge - scary as hell and it call all go wrong very quickly. For cross country, he has to be led into the start box because he just does his bouncy thing and becomes a complete ball of froth - Evie says he looks like a meringue. [twister][twister] We've had the nutritionist and the vet to him because he can become almost unmangeable. He's now on a cocktail of vitamins and minerals and we think we've found the routine that works for him. By now, he'd qualified for Junior Regional Novice (despite the problems). Our first one was Hexham a couple of weeks ago - Evie has terrifying memories of the show jumping with Heron - it was H U G E. It wasn't a surprise when Evie froze and Harry was eliminated[wtl] So last week, we dropped down a level and went to Hutton - same story - ever improving dressage - eliminated show jumping for just bouncing on the spot. Today, we went to Skipton and back up to Novice. I think we were all so expecting elimination that we'd kind of accepted it - like I said, let's expect the worst and anything else is a bonus! Dressage - unbelievable. Sometime when Evie rides, I literally come out in goosebumps and today was one of those days. She got the best dressage result ever with Harry. Since the beginning of the season, they have improved by a mammoth 20 percentage points. Today, he managed to keep the flying changes under control. His medium trot and canter were just wonderful and he did the most amazing leg yields and canter down centre line for an almost perfect halt.[bow][bow][bow] Then a three hour wait before the dreaded show jumping. Lots and lots of time for both Evie and Harry to get nervous. They have both worked and trained so hard and it paid off - he still wanted to try and bounce but for the first time he listened to Evie and they worked through it together - a team at last!!!! It was wonderful to see. We decided to use the time before the showjumping to walk the course again. I have to be honest and say that since we moved up to Novice, all the courses have been challenging. Some have been big, some have been technical but this was way, way more technical than anything we've ever encountered. Fence 1 was large (usually fence 1 is inviting!!). Fence 3 was a skinny barrel - and I mean skinny! - down to a hedge. Up the hill to a solid dry stone wall that was about 4 feet wide. Over the wall, down a scramble slope and over a log into water. Three strides, back up a step out of water and a couple of strides later, an enormous log. The line from the step out to the log was impaired by a telegraph pole. On to a step up on to a bank, down the bank and over a very, very big arrowhead just two strides from the bank. Fence 8 a let up fence and off up the hill. Nothing too technical now - big and odd stride patterns but all manageable. And then down to the corners - they were horrid. Evie must have walked her line to them at least ten times. The main problem was that the actual jumping gap of the first corner was sooo narrow - just about as wide as a horse. In this photo, you can see the false ground line, how narrow the flags are and how Evie is leaning to the right to make sure Harry went the right side of the flag. You can also see the big smile on her face and Harry looks pretty pleased with himself!! [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4739291723_840591bbb1.jpg[/img] (Evie says this is her most favourite photo of all time) After this, there were some other very nasty fences but Harry was well and truly in his stride by now and Evie said she could just tell how much he was enjoying helping her out at the spooky fences. All his skill and experience came out and he loved it - but more importantly, he kept my baby safe - thank you Harry [bow][bow] So, they finished clear [bow][bow] [img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4739923130_3414c2cef5.jpg[/img] Sorry for rambling but we're all so pleased. Tonight, Harry has been awarded the status of Honorary Arab. Well done Harrison Horse, you're hard work and a pain in the backside at times but we love you [^][^] You're a star[clap][clap] [/quote]    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON    Insert a Flickr Image or Video Check here to include your profile signature.