BeckyD
Well-Known Member
I always waffle so Ill cut to the chase (first shock) arrived with no dramas! Course was nice, a few questions, particularly an early log to water with a turn actually in the water to a (not very skinny) skinny, then fence 10 was a huuuuuuuuuuuuge hedge thing to a series of mounds with a number of houses liberally scattered at the tops and bottoms of said mounds. There was also the risk of a duck hazard behind a log at 7.
Operation dressage warm-up was about to commence after the debacle with the fly-in-ear at Carlton Bill was sporting a fly hat, and of course with his nose net, we looked ready to conquer the Amazon! Ive had to put my own thinking cap on lately; our flatwork at home is up several notches from the same time last year but our marks are no better. Why? I decided to go back to my last year activity of schooling the day before an event (this year I have either done a short hack or given him a rest day). I decided to structure my warm-up like a lesson, and really get Bill working on direct transitions, shoulder in, travers and half pass. Weve found a new way to flex him last week that he hasnt yet found an evasion for, so I worked on that and did the prep so that I could work that little tweak in the test.
In we went I had time to go around the arena twice, yay. Bill felt quite nice and through, and I kept my little flexion tweak up my sleeve for when I needed it, which turned out to be rather a lot! Hes a fine one for going up that centre line and becoming a plank! Anyway, test went nicely, I was pretty pleased (2nd shock - I am usually disappointed
) and came out thinking 35/36 at worst, hopefully. Test is here:
[youtube]tJpFRknmkJk[/youtube]
Quick change then off to SJ. Bill was a bit hesitant in the warm-up as he kept getting distracted when other horses knocked fences down. Finished with a lovely giant leap over the oxer so went down to SJ with a grin. Then, I rode like a pleb. I seem to have forgotten about my lovely big canter in the ring and instead keep trying to strangle Bill. Ho hum. I put him on such a long stride for fence 7 he would quite possibly have had to be Milton to get over the fence clear from there but of course he isnt so he didnt. 4 fault-it is strikes again and its always my fault, grrrr! Came out of the ring and they announced my dressage score as 25.5 I didnt realise that was me, except the people waiting to go in looked at me and grinned, and I realised that was me. Ridiculous; couldnt be right. Shock number 3!
SJ Video:
[youtube]hqF5bMzW_6I[/youtube]
Quick and slightly baffled change for XC, thinking is that really me? Have they announced my score wrongly? And oh god, if its right, now I need to kick on XC as the 4 faults was going to be very expensive. Set off for the warm-up and just me and Piggy French in there again! That still isnt any less exciting. Bill seemed pretty up for it so we set off through the start with purpose (no trot any more haha!), over the first then he got all worried about the bridge and slowed down, then we were on towards the tyres at 2 I tried to remember to keep going and not steady for it, and he jumped it neatly then onto the weird table thing at 3 although Bill was looking to the lake and flags on the left. I kept him pointing in the right direction and he jumped 3 with a bit of a surprise, but then on boldly towards 4, the water. I over-checked at the log in, and then Bill dropped to trot to go into water, but made the turn nicely and seemed to know what jump was ours and he was locked on and over it and cantering on.
I tried to get him to go a bit faster but he assured me this was his top speed, so I took his word for it. Got a fabulous jump up the step, to hedge to step down, massive grin and lots of pats, then on towards the sharks teeth which I checked for (silly woman, should have kept going!). Then up the mound and kept Bill flexed to the right so he didnt see the ducks until it was too late for him to slam down the anchors. Screwed over the log and did a small whinny at the ducks, then we were on to the hour glass to skinny which Bill was straight as a die to I even was able to pat him and say good boy whilst we were in the air over the second element
.
Then he accelerated, and I realised hed been lying to me earlier; that wasnt his top speed Suddenly the huge table was upon us and Bill stuffed in a short stride where there wasnt one. Im sorry to say the air turned blue (I did yell an apology to the fence judge), but Bill being a clever pony, managed to clear it fine (keep click next):
http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?form_status=order_image&event_id=186360&img=slide_013786{XC_-_c_Camera_2_BE_100_before_11_55.jpg&anc=p64_0031_es&ss=31&imgcat=XC_-_c_Camera_2_BE_100_before_11_55
Next was the hedge to mountain range/house ensemble and we got under the first element, then somehow manoeuvred our way over b and c; it wasnt pretty but it was clear.
Cantered on over the pheasant feeder and chair (more or less jumped from our strides get me being brave!). Turned then to the ditch palisade which I checked far too much for, as I wanted to take a shortcut to the next fence, which I did. Next was log or house to water which was fine, trotted through water as per usual, then on over the corner and got a cracking shot to the chase fence at the last. Clear!!! Woohooooo! Massive pony hugs going on afterwards!!
Pro pics of the ditch palisade and corner love them he looks so gorgeous (keep clicking next):
http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?form_status=order_image&event_id=186360&img=slide_013718%7bXC_-_c_Camera_1_BE_100_before_11_55.jpg&anc=p62_0058_es&ss=58&imgcat=XC_-_c_Camera_1_BE_100_before_11_55
Video of most of the course:
[youtube]GOEZnFQcNbM[/youtube]
I *hoped* Id be inside the time but my OH said they were commenting on my steady round
. Got Bill all comfortable and sorted and went off to check scores.
Score board had our dressage score as 35.5. That seemed more like us, so we had a chuckle at having got our hopes up with a 25.5. We had 5.6 time faults, i.e. 14 seconds. I was pretty disappointed about that if Im honest, but then I watched the video back and realised it never looks as fast as it feels. Finally, 1.5 hours after the dressage in my section finished they released the sheets (!), and my score WAS 25.5 (shock number 3, repeated!) We finished on 35.1 which I was over the moon about. Not good enough for a placing sadly (finished 16th), but after dressage we were in 3rd place out of 40 which is
Do you think well ever manage 25.5 again? No, me neither
Still, what a great day out!!
Operation dressage warm-up was about to commence after the debacle with the fly-in-ear at Carlton Bill was sporting a fly hat, and of course with his nose net, we looked ready to conquer the Amazon! Ive had to put my own thinking cap on lately; our flatwork at home is up several notches from the same time last year but our marks are no better. Why? I decided to go back to my last year activity of schooling the day before an event (this year I have either done a short hack or given him a rest day). I decided to structure my warm-up like a lesson, and really get Bill working on direct transitions, shoulder in, travers and half pass. Weve found a new way to flex him last week that he hasnt yet found an evasion for, so I worked on that and did the prep so that I could work that little tweak in the test.
In we went I had time to go around the arena twice, yay. Bill felt quite nice and through, and I kept my little flexion tweak up my sleeve for when I needed it, which turned out to be rather a lot! Hes a fine one for going up that centre line and becoming a plank! Anyway, test went nicely, I was pretty pleased (2nd shock - I am usually disappointed
) and came out thinking 35/36 at worst, hopefully. Test is here:[youtube]tJpFRknmkJk[/youtube]
Quick change then off to SJ. Bill was a bit hesitant in the warm-up as he kept getting distracted when other horses knocked fences down. Finished with a lovely giant leap over the oxer so went down to SJ with a grin. Then, I rode like a pleb. I seem to have forgotten about my lovely big canter in the ring and instead keep trying to strangle Bill. Ho hum. I put him on such a long stride for fence 7 he would quite possibly have had to be Milton to get over the fence clear from there but of course he isnt so he didnt. 4 fault-it is strikes again and its always my fault, grrrr! Came out of the ring and they announced my dressage score as 25.5 I didnt realise that was me, except the people waiting to go in looked at me and grinned, and I realised that was me. Ridiculous; couldnt be right. Shock number 3!
SJ Video:
[youtube]hqF5bMzW_6I[/youtube]
Quick and slightly baffled change for XC, thinking is that really me? Have they announced my score wrongly? And oh god, if its right, now I need to kick on XC as the 4 faults was going to be very expensive. Set off for the warm-up and just me and Piggy French in there again! That still isnt any less exciting
. Bill seemed pretty up for it so we set off through the start with purpose (no trot any more haha!), over the first then he got all worried about the bridge and slowed down, then we were on towards the tyres at 2 I tried to remember to keep going and not steady for it, and he jumped it neatly then onto the weird table thing at 3 although Bill was looking to the lake and flags on the left. I kept him pointing in the right direction and he jumped 3 with a bit of a surprise, but then on boldly towards 4, the water. I over-checked at the log in, and then Bill dropped to trot to go into water, but made the turn nicely and seemed to know what jump was ours and he was locked on and over it and cantering on. I tried to get him to go a bit faster but he assured me this was his top speed, so I took his word for it. Got a fabulous jump up the step, to hedge to step down, massive grin and lots of pats, then on towards the sharks teeth which I checked for (silly woman, should have kept going!). Then up the mound and kept Bill flexed to the right so he didnt see the ducks until it was too late for him to slam down the anchors. Screwed over the log and did a small whinny at the ducks, then we were on to the hour glass to skinny which Bill was straight as a die to I even was able to pat him and say good boy whilst we were in the air over the second element
. Then he accelerated, and I realised hed been lying to me earlier; that wasnt his top speed
Suddenly the huge table was upon us and Bill stuffed in a short stride where there wasnt one. Im sorry to say the air turned blue (I did yell an apology to the fence judge), but Bill being a clever pony, managed to clear it fine (keep click next):http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?form_status=order_image&event_id=186360&img=slide_013786{XC_-_c_Camera_2_BE_100_before_11_55.jpg&anc=p64_0031_es&ss=31&imgcat=XC_-_c_Camera_2_BE_100_before_11_55
Next was the hedge to mountain range/house ensemble
and we got under the first element, then somehow manoeuvred our way over b and c; it wasnt pretty but it was clear.Cantered on over the pheasant feeder and chair (more or less jumped from our strides get me being brave!). Turned then to the ditch palisade which I checked far too much for, as I wanted to take a shortcut to the next fence, which I did. Next was log or house to water which was fine, trotted through water as per usual, then on over the corner and got a cracking shot to the chase fence at the last. Clear!!! Woohooooo! Massive pony hugs going on afterwards!!
Pro pics of the ditch palisade and corner love them he looks so gorgeous (keep clicking next):
http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?form_status=order_image&event_id=186360&img=slide_013718%7bXC_-_c_Camera_1_BE_100_before_11_55.jpg&anc=p62_0058_es&ss=58&imgcat=XC_-_c_Camera_1_BE_100_before_11_55
Video of most of the course:
[youtube]GOEZnFQcNbM[/youtube]
I *hoped* Id be inside the time but my OH said they were commenting on my steady round
. Got Bill all comfortable and sorted and went off to check scores.Score board had our dressage score as 35.5. That seemed more like us, so we had a chuckle at having got our hopes up with a 25.5. We had 5.6 time faults, i.e. 14 seconds. I was pretty disappointed about that if Im honest, but then I watched the video back and realised it never looks as fast as it feels. Finally, 1.5 hours after the dressage in my section finished they released the sheets (!), and my score WAS 25.5 (shock number 3, repeated!)
We finished on 35.1 which I was over the moon about. Not good enough for a placing sadly (finished 16th), but after dressage we were in 3rd place out of 40 which is Do you think well ever manage 25.5 again? No, me neither
Still, what a great day out!!
) He actually looked round at me as if to say "the things I do for you..."