Off to Stud

We took Ruby off to Stud this morning. It's quite a nice drive, about 40 minutes up the motorway so not too much hastle. She's getting really good at going in the trailer - just walks in and stands while you fiddle around tying up, putting the ramp up etc and spends the journey looking out the window!

The vet will scan her tomorrow to see if she's coming into season. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to tell with her. Fingers crossed that she is and she can be covered straight away. Then we can bring her home again in a couple of days. Not sure whether she'll be AI'd this time. Still it shouldn't make any difference.

Everyone at the stud knows her even though they must deal with hundreds of mares! I'm not sure that's a good thing.

The Pen Again

http://www.teamchasing.co.uk/

One of the sequences in Pictures from the Meynell 2007 shows Team No 110 The Moorbridge Mayhems at the Pen. The pen in this case is madeup of white rails to form the pen and hurdles as the obstacles. It could be anything - hedges, post and rails so this isn't really the best example....

At the Fernie the pen was post and rails on three sides set against a farm building (a traditional cattle yard with an earth floor). The Warwickshire was an enclosure made up of post and rails between two hedges.

The Pen Explained

Zorya, Charlie, George and Fly pose for a photo, all looking fairly intelligent. (shame the same couldn't be said for the jockeys!)

Then everything went a bit pear-shaped! But this piccy does show how well the horses all look after a long long winter.

Anyway, the Pen explained.

The rules are a bit complicated but basically it is where there are two obstacles, one into and one out of an enclosure. So as not to incur penalties at least three members of the team (twelve hooves and three mounted riders) must be in the pen at any one time. ie to have jumped in but not yet jumped out. It can be a bit tricky if the team has some very quick and some not so quick horses. Especially if braking is a problem. Because the competition is timed on the first three competitors past the finish it makes it a bit less of a procession and more of a collaborative team effort.

Some competitions have a 'dressing' fence where the team members jump a fence all abreast. I haven't seen one in recent competitions and I don't know if they are still included in some.

For those of you with a nervous disposition...

Please Look Away Now!

Last weekend I was once more on Team Chasing duties as Annie was off on a jaunt to Suffolk. Fortunately the weather had been fairly good so there was no necessity to bath the horse before taking her. Just a good once over to get what little mud there was off.


This time the trip was to south Warwickshire, not an area that I visit a lot, but one shrouded in folklore and tales of witchcraft.

Not that there was much sign of such supernatural goings on last weekend. No, the scariness was down to both the up-hill-and-down-dale nature of the course, coupled with the size of the bloomin' fences! Zorya is not a bold horse. In fact she may at times be accused of being a little wussy. Not that you could tell from this picture. There were 24 fences on the course, the final two after a steep climb.


I didn't walk the course with the team, not because I get nervous but I wanted to keep Claire (one of the mums) company because she gets quite fearful. So it wasn't until the teams were about to start that I saw the last fence. I couldn't believe how big it was. Nearly 5 ft! I cheerfully pointed out that it was a brush and once a few teams had gone round it would have decreased in size with horses jumping through rather than over it. OK, I was just trying to make Claire feel better. Unfortunately by the time the rest of the team got to the monster brush fences, Hattie had already parted company from her horse, Fly, and was busy trying to catch her. When the rest of the team got to the brush fences they were just as big! They all managed to negotiate them safely and came out of the whole thing with a little bruised pride and some thorns picked up from those wicked brush fences!

Catching Up

After the interschools showjumping at Moreton Morrell, Smem's now decided that she wants to do more showjumping on Ruby. This is NOT going to happen as Ruby is due to go back to stud in April. Fingers crossed for a successful outcome this time.

The day wasn't an unqualified success but we went home happy. Zorya went clear in the first class then put Smem off in the next, although they did re-unite to finish the course. Ruby, on the other hand, decided it was all a bit of a lark and knocked the smallest fence down both times, but apart from that went clear. She has a huge jump and in a bigger class I'm sure she'd concentrate better. Given that she'd never done any showjumping before or competed indoors, she didn't do too badly.

The team pulled out of last weekend's team chase because of the snow, but this weekend nothing could stop them. It was a very early start because the clocks went forward last night and I had to pick Smem up at 7:30 so she could wash Zorya. She has the knack of getting absolutely filthy and is really difficult to get clean. Fortunately she doesn't object to being hosed down so by 8:30 we were all ready to go.

Cait got a new horse recently, a really sweet Gelderlander called Georgie. This was their first team chase. Here she is after their round with Zorya.

As usual Charlie took the lead. As I think I've said before, as an ex-racehorse, Charlie isn't the easiest horse in the world but he has really taken to team chasing. Second horse was Jet, another thoroughbred but only 15 hands, then Zorya (another thoroughbred) with Georgie bringing up the rear. The biggest problem was keeping a reasonable pace so that the team kept together. Apparently Smem spent most of the course shouting at the others to slow down!

About halfway round there was a section where they had to jump into and out of a pen, with the additional test that three of them had to be inside the pen at one time. A real test of control. They did it brilliantly.

The commentator commented on how well they took the final fence and they managed to finish in a reasonably compact group, with the hallmark whoop from each as they cleared it. I'm sure their time would have been five seconds slower if they didn't do this as it makes the horses put on an extra spurt to the finish!

Now we're waiting to see how they got on. Because some of the team members are juniors they have to compete in competitions that are decided on an optimum time rather than first past the post. They managed to come in 10 seconds under time so they should come somewhere. I'm not relishing the time when they start to compete in the big classes!

Ruby's been practicing...

for the inter-schools show jumping competition next week.

No, seriously, she has been practicing properly. These fences may look tiny but the second part of the double is 3ft. I know cos I took a tape measure and measured it. Getting over the fences won't be a problem - just negotiating the corners!

It's that time of year again......

Looks like the first Team Chase of the season will be on 16 March. At least we won't have to get up at the crack of dawn to get there.

Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the next one (on Easter Day!) because Ra and I are off to Cardiff that weekend to watch the Tigers in the EDF Energy Semi Finals. Strangely enough we missed the Heythrop last year for exactly the same reason! How inconsiderate having them on the same weekend!

The first cross country of the year was a couple of weeks ago. It was touch and go whether it would go ahead because there had been a heavy frost the night before, but after an hour's delay, Zorya and Charlie were the first pair out on the course. The girls were given strict instructions to 'take it steady' (not in Charlie's vocabulary) but they did a lovely clear, the only sticky moment coming right at the end when, on clearing the final fence, Luti (Charlie's jockey) let out a huge WHOOP of joy and he shot off, nearly failing to spot the rope directing him to the finish. Fortunately both horse and rider spotted it at the last minute and everything was fine. A great performance by both.

On a more worrying note, later on in the competition the Air Ambulance was called to take a rider (a member of the King's Troop) off to hospital with a suspected neck injury. Hopefully said soldier is now fit and well and has been able to return to her unit! They are an incredibly brave (or slightly mad) bunch. The majority of them have never even been on a horse when they join up! They're the ones you see trooping the colour and pulling gun carriages and the like. Of course, being soldiers they also go on active service (don't worry, they swap their horses for tanks).