j1ffy
Well-Known Member
There aren't many competition updates on here these days (they seem to be buried in longer threads!) so I thought I'd bore you all with my PetPlan Area Champs report 
Sammy and I headed up to Arena UK on Tuesday afternoon - it was my first time there so I left plenty of time for the 3hr + journey and getting our bearings. We had a lovely wooden stable and I was able to park very close...though sadly a long walk to the nearest loos!
Having been frustrated by my own performance at the Areas at Sparsholt in August, I've been seeing a sports psychologist who kindly squeezed in three rapid sessions and plenty of homework before the Champs. I'd set my purpose, mantra and worked on my 'reset' and I was able to practice these fairly often as butterflies hit, it really did make a big difference to how I physically felt on both days. I've also worked hard on my riding (there's still a loooong way to go) as that also looked pretty hideous at times at Sparsholt, and not just due to the tension caused by my nerves. I think I've spent more time schooling without stirrups than with since the Areas!
Wednesday was Advanced Medium Bronze, we were second last to go so not on until 3.15pm. We pootled around the arena walk in the morning then Sammy chilled while I did some emails and a couple of Teams calls (what a nice change for a venue to have decent mobile reception!!). Sammy was quite relaxed in the warm up so we did lots of transitions to get him in front of the leg and I was ordered to keep my hands forward as I headed into the test...which I completely failed to do.
The test was a bit laboured at times but we got all our changes
albeit one was a bit argumentative. He dropped me completely heading into the second canter 10m circle, which proved expensive. We ended on a pleasing 65.3% and 14th place though we split the judges - one had us in 7th, one in 10th and the other in 25th! Overall I was far more pleased with my riding and mindset but needed to work on letting go in front a little more.
Thursday was Medium Silver and I had high hopes for us as it's very much in our comfort zone. Thankfully I decided to hand graze instead of do the arena walk as apparently there was an incident with a loose girth, falling rider, broncing horse and half the arena taken out as a result (I hope rider and horse were ok) which would probably have quite upset Sammy. More emails and Teams calls in the morning, some watching of friends then game on! I had a massive nervous moment two hours before the test but worked through it - which worked so well that I was suddenly ravenous one hour before when I usually can't eat a thing!
Sammy was ON IT. The wind had picked up, he knew where he was and he was very cocksure. Great fun to ride. We pinged around the warm-up, pinged around the outside then into the arena. I actually managed to do the things my trainer told me - heels down (mostly), hands forward, keep him in front of my leg and don't ride too round. It was very fun. And then I fluffed the second simple change, which I do every single time I ride that test! Up to that point we had been trending on 71% but ended up with 69.944% and fourth place, with over 70% from two judges 
. The lowest scoring judge found him to be not collected enough and occasionally above the bit, the exact opposite to the lowest scoring judge on Wednesday so I guess I overcompensated! The part that made me happiest when reading my sheet was a comment of 'Purposeful' in the extended walk - he usually drops me in walk and crawls along!
Naturally I had to get photos, his owner also kindly bought a few:
ETA: Video of our Medium Silver test.
Sammy and I headed up to Arena UK on Tuesday afternoon - it was my first time there so I left plenty of time for the 3hr + journey and getting our bearings. We had a lovely wooden stable and I was able to park very close...though sadly a long walk to the nearest loos!
Having been frustrated by my own performance at the Areas at Sparsholt in August, I've been seeing a sports psychologist who kindly squeezed in three rapid sessions and plenty of homework before the Champs. I'd set my purpose, mantra and worked on my 'reset' and I was able to practice these fairly often as butterflies hit, it really did make a big difference to how I physically felt on both days. I've also worked hard on my riding (there's still a loooong way to go) as that also looked pretty hideous at times at Sparsholt, and not just due to the tension caused by my nerves. I think I've spent more time schooling without stirrups than with since the Areas!
Wednesday was Advanced Medium Bronze, we were second last to go so not on until 3.15pm. We pootled around the arena walk in the morning then Sammy chilled while I did some emails and a couple of Teams calls (what a nice change for a venue to have decent mobile reception!!). Sammy was quite relaxed in the warm up so we did lots of transitions to get him in front of the leg and I was ordered to keep my hands forward as I headed into the test...which I completely failed to do.
The test was a bit laboured at times but we got all our changes
albeit one was a bit argumentative. He dropped me completely heading into the second canter 10m circle, which proved expensive. We ended on a pleasing 65.3% and 14th place though we split the judges - one had us in 7th, one in 10th and the other in 25th! Overall I was far more pleased with my riding and mindset but needed to work on letting go in front a little more.Thursday was Medium Silver and I had high hopes for us as it's very much in our comfort zone. Thankfully I decided to hand graze instead of do the arena walk as apparently there was an incident with a loose girth, falling rider, broncing horse and half the arena taken out as a result (I hope rider and horse were ok) which would probably have quite upset Sammy. More emails and Teams calls in the morning, some watching of friends then game on! I had a massive nervous moment two hours before the test but worked through it - which worked so well that I was suddenly ravenous one hour before when I usually can't eat a thing!
Sammy was ON IT. The wind had picked up, he knew where he was and he was very cocksure. Great fun to ride. We pinged around the warm-up, pinged around the outside then into the arena. I actually managed to do the things my trainer told me - heels down (mostly), hands forward, keep him in front of my leg and don't ride too round. It was very fun. And then I fluffed the second simple change, which I do every single time I ride that test! Up to that point we had been trending on 71% but ended up with 69.944% and fourth place
, with over 70% from two judges . The lowest scoring judge found him to be not collected enough and occasionally above the bit, the exact opposite to the lowest scoring judge on Wednesday so I guess I overcompensated! The part that made me happiest when reading my sheet was a comment of 'Purposeful' in the extended walk - he usually drops me in walk and crawls along!Naturally I had to get photos, his owner also kindly bought a few:
ETA: Video of our Medium Silver test.
).
