Successful jumping in the Sunshine.....

had a good day out jumping in the sunshine last Saturday when I took both Roxie and Milli to Felbridge. Roxie hasn't been out jumping since our few days away at Weston Lawns in April so she was happy to be out jumping that was for sure. We did the 95cm open and she jumped a super double clear in a quick time to finish in 2nd place! We were less than a second behind the winner and had I not steadied Roxie up to jump the double of uprights at the very end of the jump off we may have been fast enough to win, although a double of uprights is ones of Roxie's nemesis so I think if I'd kept up the speed we had she may have had one or even both parts down so clear and second place I was very pleased with. It was Roxie's 16th birthday last week and after all she has been through recovering from our fall I am pleased she is back out doing what she loves and competing, despite it being at the slightly lower levels she is still happy!

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I also jumped Milli in the first class as I have decided to step her down a bit and let her have fun jumping around some smaller heights for a few weeks as she seems to have lost some confidence when out jumping outside. She jumped so well indoors through the winter around 1.10m and 1.15m but she just isn't as confident jumping this height outdoors for some reason - wouldn't it be so much easier if horses could tell us when things aren't 100%?! I' not 100% confident with the fit of her jump saddle at the moment as she has trimmed down a bit now so I think it is a bit low on her withers and after previous saddle issues she is very sensitive when something isn't 100% comfortable on her - I think it must be the small % of Arab in her breeding from her dad, Mill Law!! Anyway back to our round and Milli jumped a great, she felt much more like herself and after putting a front riser gel pad under her saddle I think we need a bit more flocking for it to fit her without additional pads. We did pick up an unlucky 4 faults when she tapped the back rail of a spread, the ducks playing in the pond by the fence spooked her and she went airborne over the fence a although only small she didn't quite make the spread! She was very cross with herself though and had a little buck and squeak after which is much more like the normal Milli I'm used to so hopefully we will be back out jumping the bigger heights soon 😊

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The above pictures are from Felbridge Photography (www.fphotos.net).
I was there on my own so only managed to get pictures (please see images below) when I wasn't riding and unfortunately I don't have videos of our rounds either, but they were good rounds - not that I'm biased at all 🐴

We are out again this weekend, this time at Petley Wood Equestrian Centre for Roxie's British Novice 2nd rounds. Milli is also coming along to jump a round or two as well. Petley is somewhere I haven't been before and it is relatively local, 1 1/2 hours away so I'm looking forward to going there. I will let you know next week how we got on...wish us luck!

SG Eventing
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