First BE ODE next month, any advice welcome!

[Rollingdinosaur]

I am finally taking the plunge, and having a go at a proper affiliated ODE next month, if I don't get balloted out. I am excited, and somewhat terrified. I have done several unaffiliated ones, and not made a complete tit of myself, so this seems like the logical next step.

I would be interested to hear any tips, or ideas of what to expect, from those in the know. Will the standard be a lot higher? Will I look a prat, as a lot of my gear is on the cheap side, and I will be turning up in 4WD and trailer, rather than a swanky lorry. I am also not sure on the hat standard required, it mentions PAS 015, and kitemark. Does that mean it needs both? My hat has the kite mark, but not the other bit. I suspect that means I need a new hat, but I don't want to fork out for one if I don't need to. Any tips will be gratefully accepted, thanks.

That sounds very promising, it must be exciting thinking about what to do with him. I've been busy hunting and we've had some fun although my knee is not entirely happy with things. A full day on Saturday followed by the Hunt Ball in the evening did not help and it was fat and sore on Sunday but I don't think there's anything to be done unfortunately - just take painkillers!

Dhorse is going well although a little arsey on occasion, he was wound up coming off the lorry yesterday and reared while I was holding him, not impressed at all! Then he redeemed himself by jumping a whopper of a hedge without touching a twig, he's a great ride but not easy on the ground which is frustrating. We've got a couple of away days lined up which should be fun, fingers crossed the ground doesn't get too soggy though.

Eurgh, no way of escaping the soggy ground I think! Just get your warm rugs and gear sorted out and get on with getting muddy! Or else turn to dressage for the winter! Although I've just had a flatwork lesson in the pouring rain. Frozen to the bone, had to have a hot bath to warm up. Horse went well though!

Great hearing all the news. So pleased the new horse has potential and is behaving well. And hearing of hunting too. I'm having withdrawal symptoms from the outside world. DD came down with a nasty chest infection last week so was under house arrest with her and then DS has come down with something similar today. Can't remember when I last saw lovely horse and don't think I will be seeing him much this weekend either. Promise I am not complaining as there are so many really nasty things out there but do feel as though I am suffering from cabin fever, a lack of fresh air and a peaceful cuddle with my horse. Hoping he hasn't lost too much fitness as missed a day in the vale yesterday and hoping to go in a couple of weeks unless ground is soggy.

To cap it, DD has just crumbled a packet of cheddars over me and the cocking fire won't light despite dry wood and copious amounts of firefighters.

Not heard about your children before gin! That is one of the things I love about my horse life, no one is interested in the children. I told someone once that I had a 4 and a 6 year old and they assumed I meant horses! Hope order is restored soon.

Tootsie that made me laugh! Love how this little corner on Mumsnet is far more interested in our 4 legged darlings rather than the 2 legged!

DH got back from work and managed to ignite the fire just by looking at it. DS slept for 14 hours last night and is looking far perkier today and DD has had a monstrous strop as she would like to sleep in anyone's bed but hers, but is now having a nap in her cot. Hooray. I'm watching Poldark. Hooray again! And counting down to seeing my tall, dark handsome chap tomorrow at the (not very early) crack of dawn as DH off shooting at 9. But I need a ride!

tootsie, I haven't got any goals in mind as such. He is willing but very green, so the aim over the winter is to get out and about to as many clinics, lessons etc as possible. I can't wait until I can get out XC schooling in the spring! If all goes well we will hopefully be out competing in some form next Summer, but it all depends on him.

Sorry to hear about poorly children Gin. Mine is never normally ill but has had a couple of nasty bugs over the last couple of weeks. Hope they bounce back soon!

Frostie, hope the knee keeps holding up. It sounds like a nuisance, but it sounds like you are managing some fab days out regardless.

I think winter is well on its way. The horses are all in at night at our yard now, so it's back to mucking out daily for the duration.

It's been very quiet on here so I'm assuming we've all been busy having a good time! I'm hunting twice a week which is going well although it's been a bit slow as there's so little scent - trail laying is tedious when the trail never gets found!

Happy Christmas to one and all, and all the best for 2017.

Glad to hear you are getting out lots, why is there no scent? I've been very busy riding my new boy as much as possible. I am so in love with him!! He is the most confident youngster I think I've ever met, nothing seems to worry him! I've started doing a bit of jumping with him over the last couple of weeks, and he has one hell of a jump on him. He treats every 6 inch cross pole like its a 4' fence, and leaps about with excitement in between, but somehow so far, he has not managed to scare me.

What is everyone else up to?? Merry Christmas all.

That sounds great - it must be so exciting starting with a blank canvas. No scent is mostly because it has been too warm - the scent evaporates very quickly so there's nothing for the hounds to find.

Brilliant Rolling! So exciting. Keep us updated on lessons/competitions etc.

I am hunting a lot and mostly dreaming about next eventing season! Have just spent an hour on the iPad in front of the telly doing a work plan for every day of the next two and a bit months to take me up to the first event at the end of March. It's quite hard fitting in enough schooling with hunting days/days off taking up lots of the week (oh, and some actual work....) Now I've done the plan I need to decide what specifically I am going to focus on when I'm schooling - halts is one, as our halts are poor. Also working towards doing flying changes for jumping, starting over poles, as well as lots more jumping exercises and canter work over poles to keep making the canter more balanced. Need to fit in some show jumping, but the children are filling up the Sundays with their stuff and I can't find any mid week show jumping anywhere. And need to get out xc schooling!

New year goals - no booze in 2017 (sod dry January, I'm going for the whole year!) and to qualify for badminton grassroots 2018.

tootsie, that all sounds very organised! I am doing dry January, but I am already looking forward to February so I can have a glass of wine! At least now the evenings are starting to get lighter, so there is more time in the day to potentially ride. I look forward to hearing how you get on next season. Badminton grassroots would be my absolute dream! Maybe one day...

Right mumsnet eventers - who is up for eventing in 2017? Who has a plan? I'd love to hear them!

I am going to Stafford in March for the first one. Preparations going well - had a weekend away recently with 6 friends to an eventing trainer which was great - my sort of girls weekend! Horse is getting stronger and more balanced all the time.

How's the new horse Rolling? Have you managed to ride much in January?

No eventing plans at all - not brave enough! Dhorse and I had a month off over Christmas & New Year due to illness (mine - virus, then flu & tonsillitis which amounted to the best part of a week in bed, truly grim!) so we're working our way back to fitness. Just hunting at the moment but probably aiming to do a Novice Team Chase and then an Eventer Challenge or two and fun rides to keep him ticking over although I may have some jumping lessons too. Aiming to have a scary day with the Ledbury towards the end of the season and then see how he is. I hope everyone is bearing up at, I find this time of year the hardest horse wise although as the evenings are getting lighter I feel spring is on the way - slowly!

Ooh, Tootsie, March is not long, exciting stuff! Let us know how you get on. Hopefully you will be able to continue the success of last year.

Frosty, I think you are right. This is the worst bit of the winter, where it feels like it has been going on for ever. I'm done with mucking out and wading through mud now, roll on the spring!

I'm deliberately avoiding making too many plans for this year, just going to suck it and see. I have managed to ride a fair bit and It is mostly going well. He is a dream to hack, goes ahead of the older, more experienced horses past scary things. We have a lot of work to do before we get out eventing though. I've been out to a few clinics and lessons, and he is as good as gold to travel, as long as I pull away as soon as he is in the trailer, or he starts creating. He needs to build up a lot of strength and balance. We have been doing some jumping, and he is very brave, and learning fast, apart from one noteable incident, where he managed an impressive, big jump/sharp right turn/buck combo, which dumped me on the floor.

My first outing will be to clear round jumping locally, the weekend after next all being well. I'll see how that goes, before I decide what to do next.

Keeping an eye on this thread with interest. DD has been doing Arena eventing over the Winter and recently did one at Keysoe where the eventing section was proper X country jumps rather than WHP. She and the Connemara are getting on well and we're looking to step up towards eventing this year (DD is 13).

She's done "skinnys and corners" and grid work with Pony Club and is booked in for "Technical Training" and show jumping with PC for half term. This is addition to the usual lessons she has (mostly WHP).

WHP is still our main priority but I think we're on our way towards Eventing..

Good luck Rolling.

That's exciting for your daughter Butkin! However - (please hear the "lighthearted" tone here) this is mostly a thread about middle aged mothers going eventing. Do you ride? Is there any chance you could do a little bit of schooling your daughter's connie and sneak out to some midweek dressage or show jumping competitions?

Tootsie - sorry didn't want to hijack thread but just that we're new to eventing outselves (we're showing people) so good to get tips and advice from others so we don't make gaffs..

The Connie is DW's pony which DD has "stolen" for competitions. The connie is a real novice - only been jumping for a year - but has done well at Arena eventing as she's very brave and doesn't mind water etc.

DD has a schoolmaster as well which has evented up to a metre with previous owners. He's the one DD is having PC lessons on to get him ready to do a schools ODE in a months time.

We both work full time so mid-weeks out of the question unless we take days off (which we really save for showing competitions in the school holidays).

Yes we both ride though so the ponies get well ridden at weekends..

Hi, I'm doing the wobbleberry challenge and hoping to do my first ever ode BE80 this year. I'm in north east England so any advice for what is a nice xc course (flat!) would be appreciated

Ah, so no niggling desire to compete yourself?? Or would your DW do some comps on her connie?

I used to love WHP when I was a teenager. I'd love to do some working native classes on my Welsh D, but I've hogged and trimmed him. Would that be a complete no no for a native workers class??

Well done Whitegrenache for signing up! There are quite a lot of wobbbleberries round here. I'm in the NW so don't know about events local to you, apart from Frickley Park which I did last year. I don't think it has an 80 though, and although not hilly, it wasn't particularly flat either. How's the schooling going?

Tootsie, we've both competed extensively. I've hunted and shown a lot including at HOYS whilst DW has done lots of show jumping, team chasing, endurance (up to FEI level), hunting etc. Now it's DD's turn and we put all our efforts into her..

DD has ridden to a high level on flat including at HOYS but workers are new to her and she's not jumped cross country yet (except in arena).

Last season she did M&M Workers on her New Forest schoolmaster with some success but hard against adults. This year we're stripping him out and plaiting him up to do novice plaited workers so at least against children approximately her age.

Yes unfortunately you'd be penalised for hogging out in a M&M WHP as they are supposed to be shown in their natural state..

I thought so. Is there any WH class for a trimmed Welsh D? I thought of working cob, but he wouldn't look quite right against all the big cobs, he is 14.2 and quite lightweight for a cob.

Let us know how your DDs eventing goes.

Yes I was thinking working cob but he would be small and lightweight and actually not many shows seems to have them anymore.

Why did you hog him - could you regrow his mane? That way he'd be perfect for M&M WHPs.. He wouldn't need to have much feather etc at unaffiliated level and any age jockeys can ride him. However the hog would be an issue..

He came with the hog. And I am a big fan of not plaiting for hunting! So I've kept it hogged. Maybe it's something for 2018, and I will go through the growing out pain next winter!

Just thought I'd bump this up - how are all the eventing plans/preps going for you brave folks? We've just finished hunting so I'm aiming for a hunter trials and team chase, however dhorse has been in the wars a bit (altercation with a gate which has left him a bit cut and sore) so waiting for the cuts to mend and the physio to check him over and then hopefully we can get going again.

I just came on to ask the same question Frosty, having seen lots of my FB friends have been out eventing this weekend. I hope dhorse is on the mend quickly, how did he manage to get into an altercation with a gate?

New boy had been going great, and was happily jumping small courses. I was all set to try a local clear round jumping, to see how he reacted, and he went lame. It turned out to be an abscess, so I've had a fun three weeks or so of box rest, and poulticing. He is now sound again, and I managed to get out for a ride this morning in the sunshine, which was lovely! I'd love to hear how everyone else is getting on?

Whitegrenache, have you found an event with a nice XC course? I can't suggest any as I'm down south unfortunately, but would love to hear how its going.