blackhor2e
Well-Known Member
I can put this off no longer, and have just about recovered from what has been quite a mammoth achievement for both me and Uno last weekend.
For those of you that don't know much about us, I bought Uno in 2012 to enjoy doing BE100 / Novice with (he didn't have a perfect record at this level) but I was happy to persevere with any problems we came across. Last year we took the leap to intermediate level and 2 star, and really became good and consistent in all three phases. So when questions started to be asked about whether or not we intended to go up another level, with my trainers support I decided to take the plunge this year and do Chatsworth Advanced and then Bramham for both our 1st ever 3 star.
I was glad to have the run at Chatsworth beforehand as I made a couple of mistakes in the SJ and XC which I really wouldn't of wanted to happen at Bramham.
So we set off with Uno for Bramham on Wednesday, with my super friend (and groom) Jo and her two little dogs. We both have never been to Bramham, so it took a while to get our bearings. The event provided golf buggies for riders so in the evening one of the golf buggy drivers gave us a tour of Bramham and all I can say is wow! What a big event and shops galore, which made me feel glad I had left my credit card at home!
True to form Uno got settled in straight away, as usual he takes to lying down all day and night whilst he is away. I actually missed the arena walk for the dressage because of his penchant for sleeping, but I wasn't too concerned about that as the atmosphere is always hugely different between arena walks and the test. Wednesday evening we gave the dogs a walk around the course and had a look at where the questions were on course, some I was comfortable with, others not so much!
Thursday was a beautiful day, and as our dressage was in the afternoon, we walked the course again this time looking for lines to fences.
I warmed Uno up twice for dressage, 30 minutes in the morning and then for a good 45 minutes before our test. Uno gets very excited, and I was pleased to see at 15 he has matured slightly and he tried to keep a lid on his exuberance. I just kept thinking forward and brave in my test as discussed with my trainer previously and to be honest I was incredibly pleased with our test. There are obvious bits that need working on, for example tension and his changes still jump into the air, although I felt we were marked harshly. Our halts were perfectly square and we got a 6 for them! But I was glad to see I wasn't alone as other riders whom I thought deserved higher marks were subject to equally harsh judgment.
As Friday was our day off Thursday night consisted of lots of alcohol! My trainer desperately wanted to walk the course with me but, unfortunately couldn't make it due to one of his horses being in hospital. So he had arranged a course walk with Polly Stockton. When the alarm went off at 6am I most def wasn't in the mood to walk the course plus it poured it down on us whilst we were walking. Polly came along with Ruth Edge, and together they are a force to be reckoned with when walking a course, both of them were so, so helpful. Ruth focuses on lines and the technicality of a fence and Polly is incredibly straight forward and helped me make decisions on positioning to the fence.
After our very wet course walk I took Uno for a hack and tried to trot but he was too excited as he could see the XC jumps, so I walked as it wasn't worth an argument.
To be honest, Friday night I was becoming nervous about the XC, was it too big for us, had we bit off more than we could chew. All sorts of doubts were going through my mind but I was exhausted, so I slept well.
Saturday the atmosphere in the stables had changed, everyone went from very chatty to quiet and focussed, watching the tv of other riders on course. As we weren't on until the afternoon, me and Jo walked to the fences I wasn't sure of (quite a few) so I could visually have an idea on what would happen, this really helped a lot.
30 mins before our xc time I got on Uno, who happened to realise what time it was as the warm-up antics got more and more interesting, I took care not to over jump him as Bramham had laid on a superb XC warm up with plenty of fences to practice over. I felt very worried and sick before the start, and my poor groom Jo looked like she would cry so I shooed her off and told her I would see her at the finish, then got myself together and cantered over to the starter.
321 and we were off, over 1 about 20 yards out of the start perfectly, up to 2 a large roll top with a kind profile, then down to 3 a combination of ice cream cones which needed to be show jumped to get five strides,a good gallop to open them up to the carrot box and then a conservative four strides to two enormous shooting butts, which needed two very forward strides in-between them, I hadn't seen anyone jump them the way I liked but Uno absolutely knew what I had asked for as soon as I saw two strides so did he. Onto the large BETA table, the the next question was the equi-trek round house and leap. I got too deep to the rail in and Uno only just made the two strides before the step and then bounced up over the hedgehog part. As we landed (in a heap) after the hedgehog we had lost all momentum (and my stirrup) so the only choice was to go to the alternative trakhnener, which I knew may add a few seconds on (but rather that than a bad jump over a large fence). As we made it over the trakhnener, regained my stirrup and momentum we had a course stop! My first one ever, turns out the competitor before me had fallen at the Investec hollow and they were rebuilding the fence. They did it remarkably fast to be honest because I had only just got Uno to a trot when they told me to go as far back as I liked and start again. So we did and to be honest the breather got my head a bit straighter, less panicked almost. Uno popped over fences 8 and 9 which were wide tables and came round the corner to the hollow. I got him into a really bouncy canter and popped through to a great round of applause and a little vocal encouragement from me!
Onto the KBIS rails, easily through and then a large downhill section leading up to the sun and moon. Uno hesitated slightly on going downhill after the sun, I think it may have been due to the undulation of the ground going up/down/up but we were safely through, up and over the Power ditch and Marquees brush absolutely foot perfect and then onto the jump that worried me most the speedi-beat double feet. This was a open corner rail, downhill over a road crossing then uphill to the largest parallel I have seen in a while, on four strides. Some horses had done it on five, but I wasn't so sure he could make it from a deep spot as we are only 15.3, so I got him back into a punchy canter to the corner and let him go aiming for the parallel and we met it on four easily. Down to the water, which was on a turn from a trakhnener which we angled perfectly to the swan drop in, five strides through the water, and then up and over a fish on a hill, then down again on three strides perfectly over a skinny brush in the water. Uno at this point felt like he was starting to labour slightly, I would normally let him naturally slow down, but I decided to give him two encouraging taps with the whip and my voice to see whether he would respond with four jumping efforts to do and he kept up the pace. Up and over the last trakhnener on course and then round to the Landrover above and beyond (two angled hedges downhill with one corner cut out on the right and then one cut out on the left) as Uno was tiring I thought it was better to let him come into this and do two long strides instead of three short strides Polly had suggested and he jumped them easily and then all we had to do was the finish. I have never been so happy, elated, relieved to get to a finish line in all my life and Uno managed the course so well, getting just 7 time. I cried at the finish, so did Jo who came running up to us with a big hug holding out the phone as my trainer was on the line wanting to know everything. It was amazing, and a feeling I shall not be forgetting in a long, long time.
to be continued...
For those of you that don't know much about us, I bought Uno in 2012 to enjoy doing BE100 / Novice with (he didn't have a perfect record at this level) but I was happy to persevere with any problems we came across. Last year we took the leap to intermediate level and 2 star, and really became good and consistent in all three phases. So when questions started to be asked about whether or not we intended to go up another level, with my trainers support I decided to take the plunge this year and do Chatsworth Advanced and then Bramham for both our 1st ever 3 star.
I was glad to have the run at Chatsworth beforehand as I made a couple of mistakes in the SJ and XC which I really wouldn't of wanted to happen at Bramham.
So we set off with Uno for Bramham on Wednesday, with my super friend (and groom) Jo and her two little dogs. We both have never been to Bramham, so it took a while to get our bearings. The event provided golf buggies for riders so in the evening one of the golf buggy drivers gave us a tour of Bramham and all I can say is wow! What a big event and shops galore, which made me feel glad I had left my credit card at home!
True to form Uno got settled in straight away, as usual he takes to lying down all day and night whilst he is away. I actually missed the arena walk for the dressage because of his penchant for sleeping, but I wasn't too concerned about that as the atmosphere is always hugely different between arena walks and the test. Wednesday evening we gave the dogs a walk around the course and had a look at where the questions were on course, some I was comfortable with, others not so much!
Thursday was a beautiful day, and as our dressage was in the afternoon, we walked the course again this time looking for lines to fences.
I warmed Uno up twice for dressage, 30 minutes in the morning and then for a good 45 minutes before our test. Uno gets very excited, and I was pleased to see at 15 he has matured slightly and he tried to keep a lid on his exuberance. I just kept thinking forward and brave in my test as discussed with my trainer previously and to be honest I was incredibly pleased with our test. There are obvious bits that need working on, for example tension and his changes still jump into the air, although I felt we were marked harshly. Our halts were perfectly square and we got a 6 for them! But I was glad to see I wasn't alone as other riders whom I thought deserved higher marks were subject to equally harsh judgment.
As Friday was our day off Thursday night consisted of lots of alcohol! My trainer desperately wanted to walk the course with me but, unfortunately couldn't make it due to one of his horses being in hospital. So he had arranged a course walk with Polly Stockton. When the alarm went off at 6am I most def wasn't in the mood to walk the course plus it poured it down on us whilst we were walking. Polly came along with Ruth Edge, and together they are a force to be reckoned with when walking a course, both of them were so, so helpful. Ruth focuses on lines and the technicality of a fence and Polly is incredibly straight forward and helped me make decisions on positioning to the fence.
After our very wet course walk I took Uno for a hack and tried to trot but he was too excited as he could see the XC jumps, so I walked as it wasn't worth an argument.
To be honest, Friday night I was becoming nervous about the XC, was it too big for us, had we bit off more than we could chew. All sorts of doubts were going through my mind but I was exhausted, so I slept well.
Saturday the atmosphere in the stables had changed, everyone went from very chatty to quiet and focussed, watching the tv of other riders on course. As we weren't on until the afternoon, me and Jo walked to the fences I wasn't sure of (quite a few) so I could visually have an idea on what would happen, this really helped a lot.
30 mins before our xc time I got on Uno, who happened to realise what time it was as the warm-up antics got more and more interesting, I took care not to over jump him as Bramham had laid on a superb XC warm up with plenty of fences to practice over. I felt very worried and sick before the start, and my poor groom Jo looked like she would cry so I shooed her off and told her I would see her at the finish, then got myself together and cantered over to the starter.
321 and we were off, over 1 about 20 yards out of the start perfectly, up to 2 a large roll top with a kind profile, then down to 3 a combination of ice cream cones which needed to be show jumped to get five strides,a good gallop to open them up to the carrot box and then a conservative four strides to two enormous shooting butts, which needed two very forward strides in-between them, I hadn't seen anyone jump them the way I liked but Uno absolutely knew what I had asked for as soon as I saw two strides so did he. Onto the large BETA table, the the next question was the equi-trek round house and leap. I got too deep to the rail in and Uno only just made the two strides before the step and then bounced up over the hedgehog part. As we landed (in a heap) after the hedgehog we had lost all momentum (and my stirrup) so the only choice was to go to the alternative trakhnener, which I knew may add a few seconds on (but rather that than a bad jump over a large fence). As we made it over the trakhnener, regained my stirrup and momentum we had a course stop! My first one ever, turns out the competitor before me had fallen at the Investec hollow and they were rebuilding the fence. They did it remarkably fast to be honest because I had only just got Uno to a trot when they told me to go as far back as I liked and start again. So we did and to be honest the breather got my head a bit straighter, less panicked almost. Uno popped over fences 8 and 9 which were wide tables and came round the corner to the hollow. I got him into a really bouncy canter and popped through to a great round of applause and a little vocal encouragement from me!
Onto the KBIS rails, easily through and then a large downhill section leading up to the sun and moon. Uno hesitated slightly on going downhill after the sun, I think it may have been due to the undulation of the ground going up/down/up but we were safely through, up and over the Power ditch and Marquees brush absolutely foot perfect and then onto the jump that worried me most the speedi-beat double feet. This was a open corner rail, downhill over a road crossing then uphill to the largest parallel I have seen in a while, on four strides. Some horses had done it on five, but I wasn't so sure he could make it from a deep spot as we are only 15.3, so I got him back into a punchy canter to the corner and let him go aiming for the parallel and we met it on four easily. Down to the water, which was on a turn from a trakhnener which we angled perfectly to the swan drop in, five strides through the water, and then up and over a fish on a hill, then down again on three strides perfectly over a skinny brush in the water. Uno at this point felt like he was starting to labour slightly, I would normally let him naturally slow down, but I decided to give him two encouraging taps with the whip and my voice to see whether he would respond with four jumping efforts to do and he kept up the pace. Up and over the last trakhnener on course and then round to the Landrover above and beyond (two angled hedges downhill with one corner cut out on the right and then one cut out on the left) as Uno was tiring I thought it was better to let him come into this and do two long strides instead of three short strides Polly had suggested and he jumped them easily and then all we had to do was the finish. I have never been so happy, elated, relieved to get to a finish line in all my life and Uno managed the course so well, getting just 7 time. I cried at the finish, so did Jo who came running up to us with a big hug holding out the phone as my trainer was on the line wanting to know everything. It was amazing, and a feeling I shall not be forgetting in a long, long time.
to be continued...
