iknowmyvalue
Well-Known Member
Thought this deserved its own thread!
Got back yesterday from an amazing week at Bramham. I have to say that the support and organisation was absolutely brilliant. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, which made the experience so much less stressful. And everything ran pretty much to time too!
Arrived on Monday. Pepsi settled in the stables better than I could have hoped for, it’s like he does this all the time! He’s stayed away from home at camp a couple of times, but mostly living out in a field with friends all around. He stayed at Aston for one night earlier in the year, but in permanent stables. This was 4 nights in temporary stables with lots going on. He also did the long journey from Devon to Yorkshire, and came off the box fresh as anything both ends.
Tuesday just took him for a hack round the route round the park they’d set up, then spent 10-15mins in the dressage warmup area (before any competition started) just checking he felt good.
Wednesday was dressage day. Was very pleased with my plaits, went to get his tack and came back to find the little toad had rolled and absolutely covered plaits with shavings and dust (which sticks to plaiting gel like nothing else!)
He warmed up beautifully, really with me and probably the best he’s felt. But went into the main arena and got a bit overwhelmed and a bit of stage fright. Not horrendous but just a bit green and backwards. The judges really were not giving marks away, and I felt our score of 35.6 was fair. That left us pretty much middle of the road after day 1, with the leader on 29.5.
Ive watched the video back and actually it looks a lot better than it felt, I actually think his movement is more free and correct than at our regionals last year (where we had a sub-30 score) and he isn’t dropping BTV half as much.
After dressage walked the XC course, it was fair but very technical, lots of twists and turns. And the big log drop at fence 9 was giving everyone concerns! Very hilly as well, so time was pretty tight given all the turning questions.
Thursday was the big day, SJ and XC. SJ was actually a lot smaller than we’ve been jumping recently, but a lot going on. Main poles people were having were a set of wavy planks at 7 and then a curving line related distance from 8 to 9. If you cut the turn, the distance for the upright at 9 wasn’t there and it was coming down regularly. Pepsi was brilliant, no other words for it. It wasn’t perfect, slight loss of balance on turn from 2 to 3, and didn’t quite get the line I was intending from 8 to 9. But he picked up and answered every question for a beautiful clear inside the time.
Onto XC. I could feel him just hanging a little bit back to the stables in the warmup, not that anyone else would probably notice, but knew I’d have to make sure he was with me and in front of my leg. He can just be a bit nappy, although these days usually pretty manageable if Im on it with my riding.
He was spot on over the first 3 fences, really taking me to them and super confident. And then this is where I made a very costly mistake. 4a was a log coming back round the corner with the warmup/stables on your right, then a sharp right turn into the water at 4b, then a sharp left turn out of the water away from the warmup again with 2-3 strides to a skinny at 5. He was hanging back to the stables over 4a but still saw it and locked on. This is where I should have realised that he was too focused on the stables/warmup and taken him over the long route. Went through the water ok, but the sharp left turn he just hung right back to the stables too far and wasn’t looking at all where he was going. I’m not sure he even registered 5 was a jump until he almost fell over the base of it. 20 pens, absolutely gutting. Circled round to the long route which was the same fence but without the tight turn and he flew over it without a seconds hesitation.
After that he absolutely ate up the rest of the course, I think he’d have jumped the 4* fences if I’d pointed him at one
No hesitation over any fence ( not even the drop of doom at 9, which was the bogey fence with 8 people picking up penalties there!) came back when asked, stormed around the hills effortlessly. He finished full of running and only 17s over the time, which given the issue at 5 was amazing! Lots of horses finishing with clears well over the time and looking relatively tired by the last hill. I’m not the fastest XC rider usually but really made an effort to let him travel this time, and he jumped so much better for it.
I’ve watched the video of fence 5 over and over and I genuinely think he just wasn’t looking and didn’t see it in time out of the water. Kicking myself for not just going long, I knew he’d be distracted there and that he needed to be focused to make the turn, but hindsight is a wonderful thing… obviously he shouldn’t have been napping, that would have helped, but considering at our first event last year he was so nappy he decked me in the SJ, and at the second one it took 6 attempts to get over the first XC fence (it was a practice day so luckily it was allowed!) I think that’s already progress! It’s just such a shame and doesn’t reflect at all just how good he felt for every single other fence. Plus we’d have been 14/60 if inside the time and still top 20 with some time pens. But I guess we live and learn, I finished the week with a fit, sound, happy and confident horse which is the important thing.
He travelled the long way home yesterday, took nearly 7.5hrs with Friday traffic. He was overjoyed to be back out in his field as soon as we got home, cantered off to have a roll and then get on with the important business of stuffing his face with as much grass as possible!
Some photos from the week, and a video of him when we got home last night!
Got back yesterday from an amazing week at Bramham. I have to say that the support and organisation was absolutely brilliant. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, which made the experience so much less stressful. And everything ran pretty much to time too!
Arrived on Monday. Pepsi settled in the stables better than I could have hoped for, it’s like he does this all the time! He’s stayed away from home at camp a couple of times, but mostly living out in a field with friends all around. He stayed at Aston for one night earlier in the year, but in permanent stables. This was 4 nights in temporary stables with lots going on. He also did the long journey from Devon to Yorkshire, and came off the box fresh as anything both ends.
Tuesday just took him for a hack round the route round the park they’d set up, then spent 10-15mins in the dressage warmup area (before any competition started) just checking he felt good.
Wednesday was dressage day. Was very pleased with my plaits, went to get his tack and came back to find the little toad had rolled and absolutely covered plaits with shavings and dust (which sticks to plaiting gel like nothing else!)
He warmed up beautifully, really with me and probably the best he’s felt. But went into the main arena and got a bit overwhelmed and a bit of stage fright. Not horrendous but just a bit green and backwards. The judges really were not giving marks away, and I felt our score of 35.6 was fair. That left us pretty much middle of the road after day 1, with the leader on 29.5.Ive watched the video back and actually it looks a lot better than it felt, I actually think his movement is more free and correct than at our regionals last year (where we had a sub-30 score) and he isn’t dropping BTV half as much.
After dressage walked the XC course, it was fair but very technical, lots of twists and turns. And the big log drop at fence 9 was giving everyone concerns! Very hilly as well, so time was pretty tight given all the turning questions.
Thursday was the big day, SJ and XC. SJ was actually a lot smaller than we’ve been jumping recently, but a lot going on. Main poles people were having were a set of wavy planks at 7 and then a curving line related distance from 8 to 9. If you cut the turn, the distance for the upright at 9 wasn’t there and it was coming down regularly. Pepsi was brilliant, no other words for it. It wasn’t perfect, slight loss of balance on turn from 2 to 3, and didn’t quite get the line I was intending from 8 to 9. But he picked up and answered every question for a beautiful clear inside the time.
Onto XC. I could feel him just hanging a little bit back to the stables in the warmup, not that anyone else would probably notice, but knew I’d have to make sure he was with me and in front of my leg. He can just be a bit nappy, although these days usually pretty manageable if Im on it with my riding.
He was spot on over the first 3 fences, really taking me to them and super confident. And then this is where I made a very costly mistake. 4a was a log coming back round the corner with the warmup/stables on your right, then a sharp right turn into the water at 4b, then a sharp left turn out of the water away from the warmup again with 2-3 strides to a skinny at 5. He was hanging back to the stables over 4a but still saw it and locked on. This is where I should have realised that he was too focused on the stables/warmup and taken him over the long route. Went through the water ok, but the sharp left turn he just hung right back to the stables too far and wasn’t looking at all where he was going. I’m not sure he even registered 5 was a jump until he almost fell over the base of it. 20 pens, absolutely gutting. Circled round to the long route which was the same fence but without the tight turn and he flew over it without a seconds hesitation.
After that he absolutely ate up the rest of the course, I think he’d have jumped the 4* fences if I’d pointed him at one
No hesitation over any fence ( not even the drop of doom at 9, which was the bogey fence with 8 people picking up penalties there!) came back when asked, stormed around the hills effortlessly. He finished full of running and only 17s over the time, which given the issue at 5 was amazing! Lots of horses finishing with clears well over the time and looking relatively tired by the last hill. I’m not the fastest XC rider usually but really made an effort to let him travel this time, and he jumped so much better for it.I’ve watched the video of fence 5 over and over and I genuinely think he just wasn’t looking and didn’t see it in time out of the water. Kicking myself for not just going long, I knew he’d be distracted there and that he needed to be focused to make the turn, but hindsight is a wonderful thing… obviously he shouldn’t have been napping, that would have helped, but considering at our first event last year he was so nappy he decked me in the SJ, and at the second one it took 6 attempts to get over the first XC fence (it was a practice day so luckily it was allowed!) I think that’s already progress! It’s just such a shame and doesn’t reflect at all just how good he felt for every single other fence. Plus we’d have been 14/60 if inside the time and still top 20 with some time pens. But I guess we live and learn, I finished the week with a fit, sound, happy and confident horse which is the important thing.
He travelled the long way home yesterday, took nearly 7.5hrs with Friday traffic. He was overjoyed to be back out in his field as soon as we got home, cantered off to have a roll and then get on with the important business of stuffing his face with as much grass as possible!
Some photos from the week, and a video of him when we got home last night!
