milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
Thought I'd do this as a separate report rather than bunging it in the WPs thread this week 
In July, in a moment of madness I sent an application in to my BD region to be considered for the team for the home international... it was the first time I'd been able to meet the criteria for selection so I dug out all my old test sheets and totted up our best scores to send off.. and expected nothing, except perhaps to raise an eyebrow on the selector's faces
Then booked a load of other things to do in the next few weeks, including designing a new freestyle, weekly lessons, doing RC music areas, a demo for BD South west etc etc...
So imagine my surprise (and feelings of OHMIGOD how am I going to fit it all in) when we got the email confirming we'd been picked for Team Wales :eek3:
What a lovely honour though, and what could be more appropriate than riding a welsh pony for Wales!
A few weeks later and it was time to get the lorry packed for the long trip north to Bishop Burton and meet our team mates. Our chef d'equipe had set up a FB messenger group so we could all chat and arrange things which was fab but I hadn't met any of them in person before
anyway, needn't have worried, everyone was very welcoming and by a weird coincidence one of them had been watching a video of Kira the night before while learning her tests, so she recognised her when we arrived at the stables 
I recognised Kira's stable neighbour too... but I will let her reveal her identity rather than give it away
A pleasant evening chatting and getting to know each other, and then Friday it was time for the warm up test.
It's fair to say that was not Kira's idea of fun. We had a *small* issue just getting near the mounting block in the indoor warm up :rolleyes3:, finally flung myself on from a concrete ledge and then she warmed up reasonably well, if quite hot and spooky. However, she completely lost her bottle when we went to the main indoor arena for the test, the judge later described it as "stage fright" and that really had her down to a T. We did a vague approximation of M69 in a strip of sand about 10x40m in the middle of the arena, couldn't get near the judges tables, nor the boards and I'm fairly sure Kira didn't take a breath through the whole test. Ho hum.
Put her away dreading the score, and it's the first time I have ever been please to see a score beginning with a 5 because my feeling was it should have been in the 40s! there had been a couple retired and one score below us so clearly we weren't the only ones to have a horrible ride, but it really took a bit of mental effort to not just want to throw everything back in the lorry and head home, tail between our legs. Deep breath, cup of tea and then we tarted ourselves up for the trot up - the remaining tests were outdoors so the chances of that happening again were minimal.
She was MUCH happier following our team mates back into the indoor for the trot up, and although there was a moment where I thought she was going to leg it out of the arena in an impression of the cob stallion showing... I managed to steer her round and complete the trot up to be accepted to the team competition
Modelling her blingy browband in team colours
We finished the afternoon with some confident work in one of the outdoor arenas, which made me feel a LOT more positive for the rest of the weekend.
The whole team headed to the local pub that evening for some drinks and dinner, then it was back to the lorries to sew our flags on and get some kip.
Saturday morning was bright and sunny and the first day of the team competition.
started with the arena walk
then spent the morning watching team mates tests, as we weren't on until midday. Headed over to the warm up and although Kira was sharp and looky she was really trying hard to stay with me and she stayed forward and confident in the ring. M75 this time, and to my surprise she stayed in front of my leg and was generally lovely to ride, one of the judges even commented about that which really made up for the day before, as that's something we have really struggled with esp at big occasions when you can't carry a whip (!) :tongue3:
I was so surprised by her forward attitude that I probably took my eye off some of the finer details - we usually score well for the positioning in her sideways but it wasn't quite as good this time but a vast improvement on Friday for 63% in a closely fought class.
Chips and prosecco all round for tea!
Sunday rolled around... we all had an early start and the arena walk was at 7am. Kira was getting a bit antsy by this point and did a bit of leaping around before she settled to stretch her legs
That's usually a sign that she's running out of nervous energy, and sure enough she was a bit flat in the last test, M76. It was a fairly sweet test, she did everything she was asked but it just lacked the sparkle of the day before. Good enough for 64% though which was our second score good enough to count for the team
Packed her away to snooze into her haylage net and began sorting out the lorry for the trip home. The closing ceremony wasn't until mid afternoon so everyone was keen to get away soon after it finished. Finally it was time to pull our competition clothes back on and head back to the main arena for the presentations - my team wasn't placed but one of the others was and there were also some fab individual results.
Plus collected our very snazzy team rosette
And then it was all over! 200 mile trip home... and time for the great reunion - Salty neighed and did jubilant laps of her field when she heard Kira return and then everything was back to normal <3
Kira has a few quiet days this week to recover before her next adventure :biggrin3:
Anyway, if anyone was thinking about applying for the teams - go for it. I felt quite intimidated beforehand so nearly didn't send off my forms but we are the proof that you don't need to have a big fancy horse to take part and have a lovely time.
In July, in a moment of madness I sent an application in to my BD region to be considered for the team for the home international... it was the first time I'd been able to meet the criteria for selection so I dug out all my old test sheets and totted up our best scores to send off.. and expected nothing, except perhaps to raise an eyebrow on the selector's faces
Then booked a load of other things to do in the next few weeks, including designing a new freestyle, weekly lessons, doing RC music areas, a demo for BD South west etc etc...
So imagine my surprise (and feelings of OHMIGOD how am I going to fit it all in) when we got the email confirming we'd been picked for Team Wales :eek3:
What a lovely honour though, and what could be more appropriate than riding a welsh pony for Wales!
A few weeks later and it was time to get the lorry packed for the long trip north to Bishop Burton and meet our team mates. Our chef d'equipe had set up a FB messenger group so we could all chat and arrange things which was fab but I hadn't met any of them in person before
anyway, needn't have worried, everyone was very welcoming and by a weird coincidence one of them had been watching a video of Kira the night before while learning her tests, so she recognised her when we arrived at the stables I recognised Kira's stable neighbour too... but I will let her reveal her identity rather than give it away
A pleasant evening chatting and getting to know each other, and then Friday it was time for the warm up test.
It's fair to say that was not Kira's idea of fun. We had a *small* issue just getting near the mounting block in the indoor warm up :rolleyes3:, finally flung myself on from a concrete ledge and then she warmed up reasonably well, if quite hot and spooky. However, she completely lost her bottle when we went to the main indoor arena for the test, the judge later described it as "stage fright" and that really had her down to a T. We did a vague approximation of M69 in a strip of sand about 10x40m in the middle of the arena, couldn't get near the judges tables, nor the boards and I'm fairly sure Kira didn't take a breath through the whole test. Ho hum.
Put her away dreading the score, and it's the first time I have ever been please to see a score beginning with a 5 because my feeling was it should have been in the 40s! there had been a couple retired and one score below us so clearly we weren't the only ones to have a horrible ride, but it really took a bit of mental effort to not just want to throw everything back in the lorry and head home, tail between our legs. Deep breath, cup of tea and then we tarted ourselves up for the trot up - the remaining tests were outdoors so the chances of that happening again were minimal.
She was MUCH happier following our team mates back into the indoor for the trot up, and although there was a moment where I thought she was going to leg it out of the arena in an impression of the cob stallion showing... I managed to steer her round and complete the trot up to be accepted to the team competition
Modelling her blingy browband in team colours
We finished the afternoon with some confident work in one of the outdoor arenas, which made me feel a LOT more positive for the rest of the weekend.
The whole team headed to the local pub that evening for some drinks and dinner, then it was back to the lorries to sew our flags on and get some kip.
Saturday morning was bright and sunny and the first day of the team competition.
started with the arena walk
then spent the morning watching team mates tests, as we weren't on until midday. Headed over to the warm up and although Kira was sharp and looky she was really trying hard to stay with me and she stayed forward and confident in the ring. M75 this time, and to my surprise she stayed in front of my leg and was generally lovely to ride, one of the judges even commented about that which really made up for the day before, as that's something we have really struggled with esp at big occasions when you can't carry a whip (!) :tongue3:
I was so surprised by her forward attitude that I probably took my eye off some of the finer details - we usually score well for the positioning in her sideways but it wasn't quite as good this time but a vast improvement on Friday for 63% in a closely fought class.
Chips and prosecco all round for tea!
Sunday rolled around... we all had an early start and the arena walk was at 7am. Kira was getting a bit antsy by this point and did a bit of leaping around before she settled to stretch her legs
That's usually a sign that she's running out of nervous energy, and sure enough she was a bit flat in the last test, M76. It was a fairly sweet test, she did everything she was asked but it just lacked the sparkle of the day before. Good enough for 64% though which was our second score good enough to count for the team
Packed her away to snooze into her haylage net and began sorting out the lorry for the trip home. The closing ceremony wasn't until mid afternoon so everyone was keen to get away soon after it finished. Finally it was time to pull our competition clothes back on and head back to the main arena for the presentations - my team wasn't placed but one of the others was and there were also some fab individual results.
Plus collected our very snazzy team rosette
And then it was all over! 200 mile trip home... and time for the great reunion - Salty neighed and did jubilant laps of her field when she heard Kira return and then everything was back to normal
<3
Kira has a few quiet days this week to recover before her next adventure :biggrin3:
Anyway, if anyone was thinking about applying for the teams - go for it. I felt quite intimidated beforehand so nearly didn't send off my forms but we are the proof that you don't need to have a big fancy horse to take part and have a lovely time.
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See Topaz's bum snuck into the picture of Saturday's arena walk 
