georgiegirl
Well-Known Member
Long report sorry!!!
Well after Autumns BE debut at beckwithshaw last week she didnt have too long to put her feet up as our next one was at richmond on saturday.
Autumn very clearly enjoyed herself at beckwithshaw as all week shes been a little minx and thinks that shes 'it' now - not helped by the fact two of my shifts this week were 8-8's so two days off probably didnt help keep the energy levels in check!
Dressage wasnt til 4pm so we got there nice and early and had a bit of spare time on our hands. Left supergroom AKA mum to babysit autumn and let her take everything in whilst I went to walk the course (BE90).
Its been a fair number of years since I have evented at richmond (90's didnt even exist! lol) so was interested to see a couple of changes. There was a fairly meaty pallisade in the dark where the first water was and then the other one which caused me a bit of concern was the bank in the top field. The bit where you jumped off was quite narrowly flagged then with a turn to a chair which was on a bit of an angle - with autumn being a bit gung ho sometimes I was worried about having a navigational error!
Dressage. Well what can I say. completely different horse to last weeks warm up. I think autumn must have known what was coming later as she was on her toes and felt about 17hh! warmed up for about 45 mins and still didnt manage to chill out properly although we did have some very fancy 'uphill' work. Onto the test itself and for most part we kept a lid on it and did some very nice work. Much more uphill and active than last week so I'll take thart as a positive. Made three little mistakes - broke into canter twice when we were meant to be trotting (told you she was full of it!) and also managed to throw a flying change into one of our canters - maybe someone should tell autumn these are not required at BE90 level!
Onto the sj. Looked to be riding quite well. Fairly straightforward course and the only thing a few were looking at was the last fence which was a solid red wall. Warmed up still full of ourselves and pinged round for a lovely clear
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...y/BE90/Show Jumping/05pm/slides/CLA_0112.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...y/BE90/Show Jumping/05pm/slides/CLA_0113.html
We only had a 35 min gap between sj and xc and with a long trek back to the trailer we knew we had to get a move on getting changed etc.
Managed it just in time and got over to xc warm up to be told that there were two to go before me eeek! cue a hasty canter round and two pops over the warm up fence.
Into the start and were off! WOW I think having these two runs so close together has done her the world of good. Completely focussed from the start and she just ate up the course. Had a bit of a smack before the dark pallisade (probably to reassure me more than her!) and flew it.
Had to be a bit tough getting her back together for the bank/angled chair thingy but managed to go the right side of the flags (I have a history of being a useless navigator!) Kept kicking as so far we havent been the fastest on four legs and are still finding our feet of what speed we should be going at. Towards the end of the course now and still feeling great. Took a stride out at the steeplechase fence(which looks titchy on the pics which is a shame)
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 2/06pm/slides/KA6Q6836.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 2/06pm/slides/KA6Q6837.html
Next was a little angled double thing. Not big but a bit spooky and after just flying over the brush we had to get our knitting together. Was really impressed with how autumn just steadied herself and worked it all out (i think you can see her brain ticking from her expression on the pics....
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1087.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1088.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1089.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1091.html
Water was next (cue my habitual screaming coming into it - sorry fence judges!) and she really has grown in confidence! Autumn has never more than trotted when in water and you really have to keep her going but she dived in and cantered through! Must be getting braver! Quick hop over the last and through the finish. Cue a big smiley me!
Onto the scores. Dressage was 42 urgh! But saying that the dr judge must have been having a bad day as the best in the section was 36 so without our two random canters and a flying change I wonder what the score would have been!
Optimum time xc was 4.53 and discovered we had done it in 4.16!!! I know I was kicking on to try and avoid the time pens we have got previously but that is some major improvement on speed - thankfully no tf penalties!
Overall was finished 16th - the section was super tight as we were four marks off the person who won (!) so surely we are knocking on the door for a frilly sometime soon and without the dodgey dressage who knows what would have been......
Still, shes 6yo and its her second BE so majorly chuffed with her. Planning to do two more on a ticket in oct and then hopefuly register next year if finances allow.
Any cc on the pics welcome and thanks for reading a very long (and self indulgent!) report
Well after Autumns BE debut at beckwithshaw last week she didnt have too long to put her feet up as our next one was at richmond on saturday.
Autumn very clearly enjoyed herself at beckwithshaw as all week shes been a little minx and thinks that shes 'it' now - not helped by the fact two of my shifts this week were 8-8's so two days off probably didnt help keep the energy levels in check!
Dressage wasnt til 4pm so we got there nice and early and had a bit of spare time on our hands. Left supergroom AKA mum to babysit autumn and let her take everything in whilst I went to walk the course (BE90).
Its been a fair number of years since I have evented at richmond (90's didnt even exist! lol) so was interested to see a couple of changes. There was a fairly meaty pallisade in the dark where the first water was and then the other one which caused me a bit of concern was the bank in the top field. The bit where you jumped off was quite narrowly flagged then with a turn to a chair which was on a bit of an angle - with autumn being a bit gung ho sometimes I was worried about having a navigational error!
Dressage. Well what can I say. completely different horse to last weeks warm up. I think autumn must have known what was coming later as she was on her toes and felt about 17hh! warmed up for about 45 mins and still didnt manage to chill out properly although we did have some very fancy 'uphill' work. Onto the test itself and for most part we kept a lid on it and did some very nice work. Much more uphill and active than last week so I'll take thart as a positive. Made three little mistakes - broke into canter twice when we were meant to be trotting (told you she was full of it!) and also managed to throw a flying change into one of our canters - maybe someone should tell autumn these are not required at BE90 level!
Onto the sj. Looked to be riding quite well. Fairly straightforward course and the only thing a few were looking at was the last fence which was a solid red wall. Warmed up still full of ourselves and pinged round for a lovely clear
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...y/BE90/Show Jumping/05pm/slides/CLA_0112.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...y/BE90/Show Jumping/05pm/slides/CLA_0113.html
We only had a 35 min gap between sj and xc and with a long trek back to the trailer we knew we had to get a move on getting changed etc.
Managed it just in time and got over to xc warm up to be told that there were two to go before me eeek! cue a hasty canter round and two pops over the warm up fence.
Into the start and were off! WOW I think having these two runs so close together has done her the world of good. Completely focussed from the start and she just ate up the course. Had a bit of a smack before the dark pallisade (probably to reassure me more than her!) and flew it.
Had to be a bit tough getting her back together for the bank/angled chair thingy but managed to go the right side of the flags (I have a history of being a useless navigator!) Kept kicking as so far we havent been the fastest on four legs and are still finding our feet of what speed we should be going at. Towards the end of the course now and still feeling great. Took a stride out at the steeplechase fence(which looks titchy on the pics which is a shame)
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 2/06pm/slides/KA6Q6836.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 2/06pm/slides/KA6Q6837.html
Next was a little angled double thing. Not big but a bit spooky and after just flying over the brush we had to get our knitting together. Was really impressed with how autumn just steadied herself and worked it all out (i think you can see her brain ticking from her expression on the pics....
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1087.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1088.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1089.html
http://www.chrislax.co.uk/2011/Rich...ss Country/Camera 1/06pm/slides/RICH1091.html
Water was next (cue my habitual screaming coming into it - sorry fence judges!) and she really has grown in confidence! Autumn has never more than trotted when in water and you really have to keep her going but she dived in and cantered through! Must be getting braver! Quick hop over the last and through the finish. Cue a big smiley me!
Onto the scores. Dressage was 42 urgh! But saying that the dr judge must have been having a bad day as the best in the section was 36 so without our two random canters and a flying change I wonder what the score would have been!
Optimum time xc was 4.53 and discovered we had done it in 4.16!!! I know I was kicking on to try and avoid the time pens we have got previously but that is some major improvement on speed - thankfully no tf penalties!
Overall was finished 16th - the section was super tight as we were four marks off the person who won (!) so surely we are knocking on the door for a frilly sometime soon and without the dodgey dressage who knows what would have been......
Still, shes 6yo and its her second BE so majorly chuffed with her. Planning to do two more on a ticket in oct and then hopefuly register next year if finances allow.
Any cc on the pics welcome and thanks for reading a very long (and self indulgent!) report
