...Because you asked for it: Confessions of a Team-Chase Virgin

[Gamebird]

Very jealous !
We did Grafton a few years ago. It's a fab course and quite long.

Well done for such a fab result.

It was the nicest turf - had a shed-load of rain overnight, we went round after about 3.5hrs of continuous horses on course and it was really holding up very well. Thanks!

That looks insane, those hedges are huge!! Fun though The picture is fab

They were big, but the open hedges were huge!

Well done! Looks fantastic!

Didn't realise Aylesford was still open - Its our local course, and he is VERY picky about the ground being just right!

Yes, there were quite a lot there on Saturday. He did say not to use the furthest right loop (as you look at it from car park) but other than that it was pretty good.

Fantastic, I also had my first intro to team chasing last weekend and am also hooked, shall be at the cotswold too!!

Ah yes, I think I read your report. Well done, and kick on next week!

 

[Gamebird]

So Gamebird, what made you choose your particular username?

It just kind of found me...

Extra special super well done! Except to your unofficial tog for mistaking F for a chestnut! Here's to many more fun days out.

Fun's the key, isn't it. Dressage is also kind of fun, but a very different sort of fun. My tog got a horse in that picture so I shouldn't mock him. There are one or two horse-free pics...

Well done. I went today and watched. Looked like such fun!

Did you enjoy watching? I think I'd hate it. I'd be green with jealousy!

What an amazing day and a good report, too! So you are a permanent team member now, woo hoo!

I think so, though the season stops next week until spring . I also haven't told them yet that I have to work every second weekend so I'm not very flexible. I'd definitely like to stay with them though, they're keen and competitive. Just like me

What a great experience ( hopefully first of many). Is there plans for more.

Yup, doing the Cotswold somewhere near Cheltenham next week. After that the season stops til spring, but I'd like to do the second half in the spring.

Well done, sounds like a fantastic day. You really do have some *ahem* balls

*ahem*! metaphorically speaking, of course...

 

[Copperpot]

I did enjoy it but did feel jealous! However I have one horse waiting on a new saddle and one that has just had 11 months off OH did tell me I'd jumped two of the open fences when the Grafton met there hunting. I don't remember as usually under the influence of a fair amount of port which given the size of them I'm glad about!

 

[Trules]

Fab report! those hedges are big.

 

[ironhorse]

It just kind of found me...















Yup, doing the Cotswold somewhere near Cheltenham next week. After that the season stops til spring, but I'd like to do the second half in the spring.



QUOTE]

Don't want to be pedantic :cough: but there is one more event after the Cotswold- and it's the only one in East Anglia, so anyone over there who has been inspired by Gamebird could still have a go this season at the Essex and Suffolk at Hadleigh on 3rd November. The novice is REALLY inviting, the inter and open similar to the Grafton. Worth going as a spectator too - gorgeous course, great viewing and fab catering by the team from the local pub!
www.teamchasing.co.uk for the schedule

 

[Gamebird]

Don't want to be pedantic :cough: but there is one more event after the Cotswold- and it's the only one in East Anglia, so anyone over there who has been inspired by Gamebird could still have a go this season at the Essex and Suffolk at Hadleigh on 3rd November. The novice is REALLY inviting, the inter and open similar to the Grafton. Worth going as a spectator too - gorgeous course, great viewing and fab catering by the team from the local pub!
www.teamchasing.co.uk for the schedule

Good point. Sorry, that was naughty of me! I think it highly unlikely that I'll actually inspire anyone though . God, what a responsibility!

 

[Gamebird]

Well done & great wrrite up!
Will be toddling along shortly to watch one!

Good idea, hope you enjoy it. Probably I should have gone to watch first too...

Yay, glad you had a good time........they are a good bunch of people aren't they!

Have to say the hedges look huge!

Yes, we had a grand time. They weren't that huge though. Not from the back of 17.2, anyway

Very well done - hope the horse had a good pat and a carrot. Especially good that he went when 2 others had stopped in front of him. Good boy!

Great report. I agree, the hedges look huge.

He might have had a polo, but it took all the polos we had just to get his studs in, boots on and tacked up. He's not a fan of the preliminaries!

 

[Gamebird]

you are completely insane! but well done

I've let the BD side down I'm afraid by picking that instead of going to an AF, but I can live with myself. It was cheaper after all. And, I suspect, MUCH more fun

Great report and pictures you make it sound so fun I even want to give it a try!! Fugly looks great and seems to be really enjoying himself

Oddly I can jump any size of solid fence but get a bit hooky when the coloured knock-down fences start to get past 1.15. I don't think it would be the ideal sport for a careful SJer though. Or at least not one that you wanted to remain careful

Awesome, looks brilliant fun! I (only) once did a team chase and EXACTLY the same thing happened to me: it was the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale and was similarly meaty, and I was supposed to be going round in third on the little black stallion Downlands Cancara - the Lloyds Bank horse - who had never been XC in his life, and the two in front of me stopped at the third and I found myself in front!! I get the impression that tactics and plans etc made in team chasing are pretty fluid

Has Fugly abandoned all his eventing aspirations, or just for 2013?

May I respectfully suggest that it might be the 'pretty fluids' that account for the plans changing?

Fugly is definitely NOT an ex-eventer, but I've struggled financially, time-wise and ballot-wise to get him out this season, to the point where I gave up entirely having been balloted to oblivion in the spring. I can't ride without competing and I guess I'm pretty lucky to have an all-rounder I can drag out to do intermediate team-chasing, medium BD or even a spot of the dreaded BS depending on what I fancy week to week. The plan for next season is a CCI*. Having said that, that was also the plan for this season...

 

[maxie]

Holy crap I'd hate to see what the open course looked like if those were the intermediate fences! Great report & well done on fifth place, looking forward to your next report!!!

 

[Joss]

Fab - well done. I could just see that being right up Fugly's street. He is pretty cool - bold but not strong, I reckon you will have a bash at an Open in the not too distant future

Very jealous, both of us would love to have a go at that (on the right horse mind you) in fact it is very firmly on A's list of things to do. Would need to go on a very long southerly road trip I think.