ester
Not slacking multitasking
A bit late as we had a delay for photos 
.
Having miraculously qualified for a 2 day championships at Broomies on our first time out (and my 3rd time driving him) off we trekked to chepstow for 4 days training followed by the competition where I was having sole charge of the reins as Rara had managed to break her hand a couple of weeks previously. In fact it was all a bit last minute whether we would manage to go as the lorry being a 4.5T meant I couldn't drive it and the logistics of getting both the pony and the carriage there without it were proving tricky. I also roped in my fab sister to backstep for the training and first half of the competition as she conveniently only lives in bristol and as a teacher happened to be on her school holidays
. She'd never done it before but as a sucker for a nice coloured cob who likes fuss and hugs was happy to come over the bridge daily to give us a hand. It also meant Storm wasn't very fit as had been limited to when I could travel to essex but he has such a great attitude to work he just cracked on and lost 2 holes on his girth over the week which was a plus.
On the Tuesday we arrived at 10am for our dressage lesson in the afternoon, introducing myself as having a very good pony and a good trainer but having done very little myself. We worked on his general way of going a bit and playing within his paces.
2nd day was cones practice/experimenting with the time required, there was one particularly tricky turn as the cones were set up within the previous days dressage boards but overall all went well. It became apparent that whereas one would look for the next jump on landing looking for the next cone that quickly didn't really work as Storm was so responsive that he would then start turning before you needed him to and it's all very much about lines.
3rd day was obstacles with a different trainer on each obstacle, this is where the training was really helpful and with a different trainer on each obstacle who all managed to be encouraging while still correcting the cock ups! The lines are really important and the point you need to turn to also get the carriage to come round at the right point, so where you're aiming for isn't always what you would think. I only drove him into the fence once and he quickly forgave me.
Friday we had our first ever run through of the dressage test. What we did at qualifying was very basic and short. After my first go round the best Rara and our friend lucy who was training could manage was 'at least you remembered it' and so started the attempts to improve it. This mostly meant doing corners properly, my outside hand (a thing riding too though I do try and remember it more), my deviations being far too shallow, my inability to drive a 3 loop serpentine in a 60x30 arena with all the letters evenly spaced (I partly blame this unusual lay out for me as I usually like serpentines!) etc etc. We were signed off as acceptable and I did make myself go and walk some serpentines later in the evening!
Saturday was dressage and cones day, we started with a harness check and having bathed him in the rain earlier in the morning we were told we looked superb and I thought maybe we should finish at that point
Well remembering how well our first dressage test attempt went we scored a 31, putting is not only in the lead in our class but with the 4th best score of the day out of the 64 competitors!
The cones course had moved into the main arena which meant we weren't constrained by white boards which suited us and it meant storm could step up a gear (where it's easier to keep straightness) and do nicer lines. We also had visible clocks at either end of the arena and we had sort of worked out where we wanted to be at a couple of points of the course. This also meant we slow jogged the last corner as too fast time penalties would just have been silly. I think we were 0.4 of a second too slow so 1 time penalty. There were only 4 clear rounds all day so again, bloody amazing and he gave me such a smooth drive!
This meant we were in the lead the night before obstacles, which wasn't really expecting. . ..
There was a bit of pressure as managing to this point had required help from quite a lot of people, and everyone (quite rightly) thinks storm is amazing so I really wanted to do him justice.
Walked the obstacles quite a few more times that evening and absolutely knew them, and LizzieJ came as although sister had done an amazing job we needed someone a bit more experienced for the obstacles, not least in case something went wrong that needed quick action she didn't know enough about the harness etc by that point. So we walked them together a few times.
Obstacles day I was a bit nervous, went the wrong way after the first turn in number 1, swore, but lizzieJ rightly told me to keep going round and no one else really noticed.
Had really good drives in 2 and 3, 3 was twisty and the one that wouldn't go in my head on practice day but we got that really well. The person in 2nd had a hiccup so that did give us a bit more breathing room.
obstacle 4 I think we all got a bit excited I had decided if storm offered canter we'd let him but that was a bit our downfall. I did the little jig out we had to do after B to get the line for C perfectly but a split second where LizzieJ thought we had to come out of the obstacle and I doubted myself meant that in that half stride we had gone past the turn. Even Lucy who had trained that obstacle said I'd got the line perfect and I was at the time really cross with myself for missing it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and even though logically I knew it had been a long week (in a tent) and I really had no experience to be doing what I was I felt I had let everyone that had made it happen down, including the pony (that everyone rightly thinks is amazing), we were on H&C tv, even my parents had come up to watch! and it was such an amazing opportunity and I'd screwed it up. I was a bit upset and then felt really brattish that I was 
but I knew after the heat of the moment it would settle into having had a really good, positive week.
The reality being that I did know the obstacle well enough that I was able to find our route round to gate C without eliminating ourselves going through any other gates first.
It did highlight to me how much input the backstep has, rara had been able to 'coach me round' our qualifying class at windsor and I did feel a bit more at sea without that. Which hopefully means I'm quite useful when I'm in my usual place on the back too
So we were 2nd, or as my amazing rosette says 'reserve champion', and we got a fabulous wooden plaque too.
Photos videos etc!
Dressage
Cones
obstacle 1
obstacle 2
obstacle 3
obstacle 4
.Having miraculously qualified for a 2 day championships at Broomies on our first time out (and my 3rd time driving him) off we trekked to chepstow for 4 days training followed by the competition where I was having sole charge of the reins as Rara had managed to break her hand a couple of weeks previously. In fact it was all a bit last minute whether we would manage to go as the lorry being a 4.5T meant I couldn't drive it and the logistics of getting both the pony and the carriage there without it were proving tricky. I also roped in my fab sister to backstep for the training and first half of the competition as she conveniently only lives in bristol and as a teacher happened to be on her school holidays
. She'd never done it before but as a sucker for a nice coloured cob who likes fuss and hugs was happy to come over the bridge daily to give us a hand. It also meant Storm wasn't very fit as had been limited to when I could travel to essex but he has such a great attitude to work he just cracked on and lost 2 holes on his girth over the week which was a plus.On the Tuesday we arrived at 10am for our dressage lesson in the afternoon, introducing myself as having a very good pony and a good trainer but having done very little myself. We worked on his general way of going a bit and playing within his paces.
2nd day was cones practice/experimenting with the time required, there was one particularly tricky turn as the cones were set up within the previous days dressage boards but overall all went well. It became apparent that whereas one would look for the next jump on landing looking for the next cone that quickly didn't really work as Storm was so responsive that he would then start turning before you needed him to and it's all very much about lines.
3rd day was obstacles with a different trainer on each obstacle, this is where the training was really helpful and with a different trainer on each obstacle who all managed to be encouraging while still correcting the cock ups! The lines are really important and the point you need to turn to also get the carriage to come round at the right point, so where you're aiming for isn't always what you would think. I only drove him into the fence once
and he quickly forgave me.Friday we had our first ever run through of the dressage test. What we did at qualifying was very basic and short. After my first go round the best Rara and our friend lucy who was training could manage was 'at least you remembered it' and so started the attempts to improve it. This mostly meant doing corners properly, my outside hand (a thing riding too though I do try and remember it more), my deviations being far too shallow, my inability to drive a 3 loop serpentine in a 60x30 arena with all the letters evenly spaced (I partly blame this unusual lay out for me as I usually like serpentines!) etc etc. We were signed off as acceptable and I did make myself go and walk some serpentines later in the evening!
Saturday was dressage and cones day, we started with a harness check and having bathed him in the rain earlier in the morning we were told we looked superb and I thought maybe we should finish at that point
Well remembering how well our first dressage test attempt went we scored a 31, putting is not only in the lead in our class but with the 4th best score of the day out of the 64 competitors!
The cones course had moved into the main arena which meant we weren't constrained by white boards which suited us and it meant storm could step up a gear (where it's easier to keep straightness) and do nicer lines. We also had visible clocks at either end of the arena and we had sort of worked out where we wanted to be at a couple of points of the course. This also meant we slow jogged the last corner as too fast time penalties would just have been silly. I think we were 0.4 of a second too slow so 1 time penalty. There were only 4 clear rounds all day so again, bloody amazing and he gave me such a smooth drive!
This meant we were in the lead the night before obstacles, which wasn't really expecting. . ..
There was a bit of pressure as managing to this point had required help from quite a lot of people, and everyone (quite rightly) thinks storm is amazing so I really wanted to do him justice.
Walked the obstacles quite a few more times that evening and absolutely knew them, and LizzieJ came as although sister had done an amazing job we needed someone a bit more experienced for the obstacles, not least in case something went wrong that needed quick action she didn't know enough about the harness etc by that point. So we walked them together a few times.
Obstacles day I was a bit nervous, went the wrong way after the first turn in number 1, swore, but lizzieJ rightly told me to keep going round and no one else really noticed.
Had really good drives in 2 and 3, 3 was twisty and the one that wouldn't go in my head on practice day but we got that really well. The person in 2nd had a hiccup so that did give us a bit more breathing room.
obstacle 4 I think we all got a bit excited
I had decided if storm offered canter we'd let him but that was a bit our downfall. I did the little jig out we had to do after B to get the line for C perfectly but a split second where LizzieJ thought we had to come out of the obstacle and I doubted myself meant that in that half stride we had gone past the turn. Even Lucy who had trained that obstacle said I'd got the line perfect and I was at the time really cross with myself for missing it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and even though logically I knew it had been a long week (in a tent) and I really had no experience to be doing what I was I felt I had let everyone that had made it happen down, including the pony (that everyone rightly thinks is amazing), we were on H&C tv, even my parents had come up to watch! and it was such an amazing opportunity and I'd screwed it up. I was a bit upset and then felt really brattish that I was but I knew after the heat of the moment it would settle into having had a really good, positive week.The reality being that I did know the obstacle well enough that I was able to find our route round to gate C without eliminating ourselves going through any other gates first.
It did highlight to me how much input the backstep has, rara had been able to 'coach me round' our qualifying class at windsor and I did feel a bit more at sea without that. Which hopefully means I'm quite useful when I'm in my usual place on the back too
So we were 2nd, or as my amazing rosette says 'reserve champion', and we got a fabulous wooden plaque too
.Photos videos etc!
Dressage
(and I can have her on the back again as she's mostly functional now 
