Good vibes on Sunday please

Chris Thompson · Good vibes on Sunday please

Brego is meant to be going to the SPSS stallion grading at the heart of England EQ in Stone, Staffs, on Sunday (This is why he has a new Lavinia Mitchell saddle)

Two other stallions are also going from the yard:

Levi a Morgan and H Tobago, a Chestnut Arab. Tobago was not shod but the yard owner has put shoes on his fronts to help him with his jumping. Tessa is very traditional. Much as I do not like HT I now feel sorry for him.

She was worried about Brego's feet looking funny so asked me if I would allow the farrier to look at them to tidy them up. I agreed to this to keep her happy, but will go and check them and re-do the roll tomorrow (farrier does not do mustang rolls)

If I find the farrier has made a horlicks of his feet I will pull him, but by all accounts he is going OK after his trim.

At the grading he will have to free jump down a jumping lane, do a triangle in hand, be inspected by the judges, ride a simple dressage test and jump a course under the eye of BSJA

So loads of good luck vibes for the little guy on Sunday please.

brucea

I trimmed a friend's barefoot horse for his grading a couple of weeks ago - had to be a really nice trim with a good finish - even used sandpaper to make the front hoof walls shiny smooth with no rasp marks whatever! No pressure there!

Then the brakes on her 4x4 failed as she was pulling the trailer down the road just outside the yard and she didn't make it to the grading!! Thankfully she was able to stop gently and limp back to the yard.

So hope your grading day goes better than hers did Chris! Good luck Brego - I'm sure he will look gorgeous!

Chris Thompson

Bruce:

This sounds familiar. The horses are meant to be going in Tessa's horsebox.

Monday it failed it plating and is being retested Friday after the necessary work is done.

Wentworth horsebox hire is just down the road from me and I have been trying to contact them over the last few days to set up plan B.

Maybe weneed horsebox vibes too Shocked

Nic

Good vibes for you and your transport Wink

Hope Brego's feet are in tip top condition, and best of luck to you all Cool

N

Chris Thompson

Thanks Nic,

Maybe I should try and get the farrier to come to the 2010 meeting, after all it will be on his doorstep. Twisted Evil

horsesfirst

Good luck with the grading and the transport.

But I'd be more worried about letting someone else touch my horse's feet Embarassed

Chris Thompson

Thanks

I don't think the farrier will have done too much harm

He did trim Brego once when I did my back in, and did a reasonable job -for a farrier. I will probably have to redo the mustang roll though.

Think I will try and sell him doing a roll on mechanical grounds. If you leave a sharp corner the hoof will chip more readily, whereas if it is rolled it is mechanically stronger

SueH

Best wishes and good vibes for Sunday Very Happy

Chris Thompson

Here are some picture from today's practice session.

Gemma also fell of him just after the last jump, but was not injured - thank goodness.

One day he will work out he can jump out of the school, or over a field gate, then we will all be in trouble

He is not doing too bad for a little ol' ranch pony from Wyoming.

Fingers crossed for th horse box - all the points that were picked up at the plating were fixed. Apparantly they were mainly lights.

Chris

SueH

fab pictures - he looks very relaxed bless him, begs the question: - does he realise he's jumping Cool

. I would raise the height of your fencing/gate Laughing

Helen N

Great pictures, a showjumping Mustang Smile

Good luck on Sunday.

hobnob

Good luck from me too Razz

sarahh

GOOD LUCK!
Everything crossed for your beautiful boy
Very Happy

Chris Thompson

He did not make it Sad

He jumped his heart out, loaded and unloaded himself, did everything asked of him and generally behaved like an old pro. He really wowed everybody in the audience but not the judges. It seems they may have had their own agenda.

The winner was a 12.2hh Welsh section B lookalike with no papers ridden by a kid. Then there was a warm blood who was 15.3 if he was an inch - when he free schooled his canter was on 4 tracks and his trot was so bouncy I doubt if a child could have stayed on. (go figure how he got there - some one did tell me but I am not going to repeat it)

None of the horses Tessa put in were graded, but Brego was up with the others, he got about 70 and the pass was 75. I do not envy her having to phone the other owners and tell them.

I am not too downhearted. Levi the Morgan was not give a chance IMHO, it seemed the judges just did not like him, and Tobago the Arab was marked down as being unsuitable for children (too Araby).

When they bought the horses in who had achieved grading several people in the audience asked me where my horse was. They made some interesting comments about the judges when they learned he was not to be graded. A couple are threatening to write to Horse and Hound about it.
At least he got some exposure, and I think made some new fans

We will have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and see what else we can do.

Chris

brucea

Aw crap Chris - give him a big hug and a bag of parsnips

Not funny when you come away from something like that feeling the judges have been a bit partisan.

Chris Thompson

Thanks Bruce.

horsesfirst

Chris you must be gutted. Sod 'em they obviously are not good enough for Brego!

Chris Thompson

Just Bl***y annoyed, if you saw some of the rubbish horses that did make the grading....

The problem is without getting him graded he cannot jump in affilliated BSJA events. So we are thinking on plan B - basically find another organisation that can grade him.

All ideas welcome

horsesfirst

Sorry to be a numpty but why does a horse have to be graded to do affliated show jumping?

SueH

Sorry to hear about this. Some judges are very peculiar Rolling Eyes

I also didnt realise you needed grading to do affiliated showjumping. So if you cant get past numpty judge your fupped - how irritating Evil or Very Mad

Chris Thompson

If you want a stallion to be registered with the BSJA it has to be graded or you can register him for £1000 a year - it is in their rule book, see [url]http://www.britishshowjumping.co.uk/_files/2009YearBook4.pdf [/url] page 39 et seq.

sarahh

Grrrr & hugs
That's about all I can say to that
Oh, and judges = Fidiots with own agendas. Something we discovered this year at Haflinger breed show.
Fingers crossed for a plan B
x

Chris Thompson

Nic

Bad luck, Chris, but well done that Brego got such good marks for his temperament and attitude - by far the most important thing, I would have thought Cool

At least you took the best horse home Wink

N

Chris Thompson

Thanks Nic.

Yes we all know Brego is the best Stallion, at least temprement wise, and he is big hearted.

vickyclink

they dont know what they are missing!!!

Chris Thompson

Slowly getting a plan together.

One possibility is the AHHA (American Heritage Horse Society) who know Brego, and are prepared to grade him.

The other is ZFDP grading who from their website appear to grade horses to breed standards See http://www.zfdpgrading.org.uk/ I am waiting to hear from them.