CAH7
Well-Known Member
Hello all, so I normally lurk, but since the 'Where has everyone gone?' post I thought I'd share - hope you don't get too bored!
Following top advice on here I finally achieved a long-held ambition to complete a BE90 with my lovely Irish Bog Pony, it was such a great day! I'd walked Dauntsey (1) in July, felt it would suit us, scrimped and saved, schooled over Homme House and West Wilts, found a fab stressage trainer, did a couple of BS comps, worked really hard on fitness (Bog Pony isn't a natural galloper and needs to be kept clipped and in decent work all year round), searched out my finest Brave Pants, bribed my two lovely groomies, and off we set at 6.15am last Sunday, all very excited! Bog Pony had been fast asleep at 5.30am, quite understandably, but leapt up as soon as he heard my car, with his best 'ooh, where are we off to today mum?' face, bless him.
The sun was shining and there was actually a frost (!), and off I went to get hat tagged, pay start fee, walk SJ course (my nemesis...eek!), and get 'in the zone', while my two lovely groomies sorted out, tacked up and studded Bog P. A lovely warm-up (we have struggled so much with canter, it's taken over 2 years to get an acceptable 20m circle!), and a really nice swingy test, with just some loss of balance in canter and canter-trot transitions, as to be expected, so half a pack of polos for his Royal Bog Pony-ness, and back to change saddles for SJ.
SJ course looked really good, bold and in a lovely large grass arena, but it's my least favourite phase, mainly because I struggle to adjust Bog P's canter, which means I worry a lot about missing him at a fence He goes best if I concentrate on rhythm, and ride him forwards and soft into the fences, but unfortunately I couldn't quite get it right for him on the day, so we had 3 down. I'd heard my stressage score of 33.5 just as I went through the start, and I admit to thinking, 'ooh, not too bad, better not mess up this bit...' - oops!
Still delighted to have made it through 2 out of 3 phases, so more polos and a banana for Bog P, and back again to get ready for XC, the best bit! Bog Pony is great XC, in that as long as I get him there, he'll jump. I have suffered terribly with nerves in the past, and never thought I'd ever get as far as this TBH, but because he's such an honest, brave, straight forward boy, I was just really excited to be there .
By this time, he was starting to wonder if we were all mad, having been tacked up for the 3rd time, but off he marched to the XC warm-up, stormed round and over the practice fence, into the start box, and off we went! Lovely bold jump over the first, a steeplechase fence, then right hand turn to fence 2, a flower box under the trees, which he had a little look at, then flew off right on to a skinny upturned boat at 3, then a left turn through the hedge on to a dog kennel, and a really tricky line of offset rolltops, that you couldn't see a line through until you were right over to the far side of them, but being a fab Bog Pony, I lined him up, leg on, and over both - lots of pats and 'good boy!'s! The rest of the course was right handed, with quite tight turns followed by galloping stretches, then turns to fences and more galloping, and I had under-estimated the technicality - bless my lovely Bog Pony though, he tried his socks off, jumped everything in his way, not always prettily. I had to slip my reins to the buckle over the corner coming up out of the water, where he chipped in a stride and jumped left (the wide bit!), but more big pats and on to the double of wishing wells, the water, a skinny box with brush on top, on to a lovely confident jump over the last. Tons of time pens but a clear XC, I was absolutely delighted with him
Back to the trailer again for a wash down, a drink, some grass and another banana, and back home for tea, a roll and a chill in the field. We had a great day, thanks to Bog P and to my lovely groomies and I get it now - this eventing lark is sooo expensive, time-consuming, really really hard work, but ultimately totally addictive!
Thanks for reading
Following top advice on here I finally achieved a long-held ambition to complete a BE90 with my lovely Irish Bog Pony, it was such a great day! I'd walked Dauntsey (1) in July, felt it would suit us, scrimped and saved, schooled over Homme House and West Wilts, found a fab stressage trainer, did a couple of BS comps, worked really hard on fitness (Bog Pony isn't a natural galloper and needs to be kept clipped and in decent work all year round), searched out my finest Brave Pants, bribed my two lovely groomies, and off we set at 6.15am last Sunday, all very excited! Bog Pony had been fast asleep at 5.30am, quite understandably, but leapt up as soon as he heard my car, with his best 'ooh, where are we off to today mum?' face, bless him.
The sun was shining and there was actually a frost (!), and off I went to get hat tagged, pay start fee, walk SJ course (my nemesis...eek!), and get 'in the zone', while my two lovely groomies sorted out, tacked up and studded Bog P. A lovely warm-up (we have struggled so much with canter, it's taken over 2 years to get an acceptable 20m circle!), and a really nice swingy test, with just some loss of balance in canter and canter-trot transitions, as to be expected, so half a pack of polos for his Royal Bog Pony-ness, and back to change saddles for SJ.
SJ course looked really good, bold and in a lovely large grass arena, but it's my least favourite phase, mainly because I struggle to adjust Bog P's canter, which means I worry a lot about missing him at a fence He goes best if I concentrate on rhythm, and ride him forwards and soft into the fences, but unfortunately I couldn't quite get it right for him on the day, so we had 3 down. I'd heard my stressage score of 33.5 just as I went through the start, and I admit to thinking, 'ooh, not too bad, better not mess up this bit...' - oops!
Still delighted to have made it through 2 out of 3 phases, so more polos and a banana for Bog P, and back again to get ready for XC, the best bit! Bog Pony is great XC, in that as long as I get him there, he'll jump. I have suffered terribly with nerves in the past, and never thought I'd ever get as far as this TBH, but because he's such an honest, brave, straight forward boy, I was just really excited to be there .
By this time, he was starting to wonder if we were all mad, having been tacked up for the 3rd time, but off he marched to the XC warm-up, stormed round and over the practice fence, into the start box, and off we went! Lovely bold jump over the first, a steeplechase fence, then right hand turn to fence 2, a flower box under the trees, which he had a little look at, then flew off right on to a skinny upturned boat at 3, then a left turn through the hedge on to a dog kennel, and a really tricky line of offset rolltops, that you couldn't see a line through until you were right over to the far side of them, but being a fab Bog Pony, I lined him up, leg on, and over both - lots of pats and 'good boy!'s! The rest of the course was right handed, with quite tight turns followed by galloping stretches, then turns to fences and more galloping, and I had under-estimated the technicality - bless my lovely Bog Pony though, he tried his socks off, jumped everything in his way, not always prettily. I had to slip my reins to the buckle over the corner coming up out of the water, where he chipped in a stride and jumped left (the wide bit!), but more big pats and on to the double of wishing wells, the water, a skinny box with brush on top, on to a lovely confident jump over the last. Tons of time pens but a clear XC, I was absolutely delighted with him
Back to the trailer again for a wash down, a drink, some grass and another banana, and back home for tea, a roll and a chill in the field. We had a great day, thanks to Bog P and to my lovely groomies and I get it now - this eventing lark is sooo expensive, time-consuming, really really hard work, but ultimately totally addictive!
Thanks for reading