Reacher
Dishonourable Member
Hi
well this is my first Event report so go easy on me, all encouragment appreciated...
My second visit to Eden Valley, first was last year when I entered the BE80, when I was a complete prat getting everything wrong that I could possibly do (eg went wrong in the dressage, nearly missed a fence and had to circle it in the XC.....) so this year was determined to make a better showing and not make a complete a*se of myself and show up poor long suffering horsey....
This time entered the BE90 on the saturday. So first the dressage. Which is normally my worst phase (even when I dont forget the test!) Horsey is perfectly capably of doing a nice test (when not ridden by a numpty) however I have spent 2 years in lessons working on persuading him that he does not stick his nose in the air for the entire test. This is achievable in a lesson with instructor barking instructions but in the excitement of an event with so much to goggle at I have never succeeded in getting him to relax his back and be supple, to remember he has back legs as well as front legs (normally forgets and leaves them behind and trips up over them) and to not poke nose in air. However something weird has been happening over the past few weeks where even outside a lesson with no one to bark instructions at me I can actually get him to start to work nicely... Well that is all and good, I thought, but in the excitement of an event it will never happen..... well lessons seem to have paid off and he went beautifully (apart from tripping up a few strides in after entering at A) and his free walk on a long rein where he took the opportunity for a sneaky poke head up to have a look around...) judge gave really nice summing up comments about the quality of his paces so am absolutely thrilled - really feel like I have turned a corner.
Next the SJ - had walked the course on fri night and thought I would not get over jump 5 (? - apologies if mis-remember fence numbers) (the one after the hair pin bend to the left) however they had moved 5 and 6 across the arena to make the corner less tight. We knocked fence 3 down, which was my fault for over revving the engine and arriving on a half stride, then just scrambled over next fence, went around the tight corner in trot trying to untangle legs... then got over the next jump and managed to complete the course without further incident. Not much style but never mind, just glad to get thro to XC.
XC - I had walked the course twice the night before in order to avoid making the same mistakes as last year. Also made copious notes as I went along (the pony club kids behind me probably thought that was hilarious) which I left at home by mistake.... Set off, got over the fences 1 and 2, was a bit tentative going around the bend from 2 to fence 3 then carried on over the bank and next jump, flew the steeplechase, got to fence 7 and my right contact lens flew out. I would like some praise at this point however as I did not swear. Right eye is better eye, so still had some binocular vision but a bit blurred. Carried on over the next few fences, flew over the open ditch that I had been a bit worried about, put my foot down going across the top of the field, into the woods and over the trakehner , back down the hill over the tree trunk and the milk churns, around a right bend towards the water and nearly ran over a gang of people who appeared right infront of me (still didn't swear!)...........through water and over last few jumps to finish!
Overall was delighted - first outing of the season, horsey didn't run out of puff and was a superstar.
So here is my question - had 8 time faults in the XC - please can anyone remember what was the optimum time? It didn't feel particularly slow, though with contact lens problems I might have been going a bit more tentatively without realising. Would like to know so if anyone knows please can you tell me. Thanks for reading!
well this is my first Event report so go easy on me, all encouragment appreciated...
My second visit to Eden Valley, first was last year when I entered the BE80, when I was a complete prat getting everything wrong that I could possibly do (eg went wrong in the dressage, nearly missed a fence and had to circle it in the XC.....) so this year was determined to make a better showing and not make a complete a*se of myself and show up poor long suffering horsey....
This time entered the BE90 on the saturday. So first the dressage. Which is normally my worst phase (even when I dont forget the test!) Horsey is perfectly capably of doing a nice test (when not ridden by a numpty) however I have spent 2 years in lessons working on persuading him that he does not stick his nose in the air for the entire test. This is achievable in a lesson with instructor barking instructions but in the excitement of an event with so much to goggle at I have never succeeded in getting him to relax his back and be supple, to remember he has back legs as well as front legs (normally forgets and leaves them behind and trips up over them) and to not poke nose in air. However something weird has been happening over the past few weeks where even outside a lesson with no one to bark instructions at me I can actually get him to start to work nicely... Well that is all and good, I thought, but in the excitement of an event it will never happen..... well lessons seem to have paid off and he went beautifully (apart from tripping up a few strides in after entering at A) and his free walk on a long rein where he took the opportunity for a sneaky poke head up to have a look around...) judge gave really nice summing up comments about the quality of his paces so am absolutely thrilled - really feel like I have turned a corner.
Next the SJ - had walked the course on fri night and thought I would not get over jump 5 (? - apologies if mis-remember fence numbers) (the one after the hair pin bend to the left) however they had moved 5 and 6 across the arena to make the corner less tight. We knocked fence 3 down, which was my fault for over revving the engine and arriving on a half stride, then just scrambled over next fence, went around the tight corner in trot trying to untangle legs... then got over the next jump and managed to complete the course without further incident. Not much style but never mind, just glad to get thro to XC.
XC - I had walked the course twice the night before in order to avoid making the same mistakes as last year. Also made copious notes as I went along (the pony club kids behind me probably thought that was hilarious) which I left at home by mistake.... Set off, got over the fences 1 and 2, was a bit tentative going around the bend from 2 to fence 3 then carried on over the bank and next jump, flew the steeplechase, got to fence 7 and my right contact lens flew out. I would like some praise at this point however as I did not swear. Right eye is better eye, so still had some binocular vision but a bit blurred. Carried on over the next few fences, flew over the open ditch that I had been a bit worried about, put my foot down going across the top of the field, into the woods and over the trakehner , back down the hill over the tree trunk and the milk churns, around a right bend towards the water and nearly ran over a gang of people who appeared right infront of me (still didn't swear!)...........through water and over last few jumps to finish!
Overall was delighted - first outing of the season, horsey didn't run out of puff and was a superstar.
So here is my question - had 8 time faults in the XC - please can anyone remember what was the optimum time? It didn't feel particularly slow, though with contact lens problems I might have been going a bit more tentatively without realising. Would like to know so if anyone knows please can you tell me. Thanks for reading!
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