charlimouse
Well-Known Member
Before I begin I would like to offer my condolences to the families and friends of all those, both human and equine in the tragic events of yesterday. It does bring it home just how much of a knife edge riders tread to compete in a sport they love, what ever the level.
So it was that BUCS Nationals came round this week. I drove over to Uni on the Tuesday morning to drop my car off as we were all travelling down to Hartpury together in a minibus. The gears in my car felt a little clunky and heavy, but given there were no warning lights, the car was going and I really had to get over to Uni, I decided it would be fine :rolleyes3:. Arrived at uni, and off we set for the very uneventful drive to Hartpury. Upon arrival we had a meeting to discuss how the Mini leagues and regionals had worked, any grievances etc. It didn't start well for us when a few of the riders made it obvious they thought we shouldn't have been there given our regionals had been held at our home venue. Whilst I can see their point, it needed to be noted that it wasn't our fault that happened! The regionals have been held at our home venue for years and had been booked a year in advance. When riders were asked to suggest an alternate venue, they were unable to do so. Despite the regionals being at our home venue it was also the first time my uni's history they had qualified a team for nationals. This made us a little more determined to prove the point, we were there through our own merit, not because we had a home advantage. Back to our hotel we went, only to find the central locking on our minibus was having issues, and instead of locking, kept setting off the burgular alarm! So out came the AA, who managed to half fix the problem, the minibus locked, so long as you didn't use the middle sliding door!
So the next day we had our dressage team test. We were second to go, and first on our horses, which were very fresh! With just 4 minutes to warm up there was very little we could do, so we pretty much just had to hope for the best :redface3:. Test went OK considering, although the horse at the back (3 horses all doing the same test in the arena at the same time) was being a little tricky, and really needed a good canter to get the wind out of it's sails. Results came out and I was disappointed to see I had come second on my horse by 1 penalty, meaning I wouldn't progress to the next round :frown3:. However my spirits lifted when the girl who beat me (by just 1 penalty) went on to finish second individually in the dressage and win the competition overall, so in the end I was pretty happy to only be beaten by 1 point, by somebody of that quality! My team did pretty well with 2 members getting the best score on their horses. With the best 3 scored in the team to count we were pretty chuffed to have a team score of just 1 penalty! That evening a hog roast had been put on for us. Now it would seem a hog roast is a phrase which is easily lost in translation. One of our team members is german, and after looking a bit confused for a while over the concept of a hog roast, eventually asked: 'So this hog roast, is that like we eat a hedgehog?' It was so funny, and one of those moments that will go down in history!
On the Thursday I had a day off competing. It was my birthday so we had a leisurely breakfast before heading over to Hartpury to support our Trophy team in their jumping, and do the draw for our jumping the next day. In the evening we went to the pub for dinner, where the team had organised me a cake, so we had a bit of a celebration. It was all lots of fun and a rather nice way to turn a year older! I also got the best birthday card ever from my Mum, one I think a lot of people on here will relate to!
So Friday came round. I was a bag of nerves, as jumping an unknown horse is something which really stresses me out. I need not have worried as I was on a lovely little roan welshy, who was really cute. Unfortunately I was last to ride him, and by the time I got on he was shattered. I made sure I kept him together and he jumped his socks off for a clear round. I loved him and would happily have taken him home! The rest of the team jumped well with 3 of us going clear, and 1 with just a fence down. The results were a little disappointing, BUCS is judged primarily on style and with 2 judges there was quite discrepancy in the marks. 1 of our members had the best score on her horse, another just had 1 penalty, another had 3. I had a whopping 24 :confused3:. One of the judges had me 2 penalties off the best score, and the other miles below everybody else. There was nearly 20% difference between the 2 scores. At fence 3 I got a 5 from 1 judge and a 9 from the other! Very confusing, and with no comments on the sheets I really don't know what the stingy judge was after! But as only 3 scores counted mine was discarded, so in the end it didn't matter.
So came the results. We were super chuffed to win the team dressage, and come 3rd as a team in the jumping. We then rounded it off by coming 3rd in the overall competition, winning the bronze medal :biggrin3:!
So pleased, the result was far better than we ever hoped to achieve for our first ever attempt at Nationals, and hopefully we showed those who thought we shouldn't have been there that actually it was no fluke!
Jubilant, we began our drive back north. It was a very long drive, 6 hours in fact due to Friday evening traffic! Finally got back to uni at 9.30. Now remember my car which had felt a little odd on the Tuesday??? Well it would seem that 3 days sat doing nothing hadn't sorted the problem, the car would not go into any gear what so ever. So out came the AA (again), who being unable to fix it, towed it to the nearest VW garage, which unfortunately was in the opposite direction to home, and being nearly 11pm was closed :rolleyes3:. Luckily some of the guys from the BUCS team live near by, so I was able to borrow a sofa to kip on for the night. Thank god I always pack a spare pair of pants and socks just in case of situations like these!
So on Saturday, I finally managed to get a lift home. Unfortunately my car is going to be out of action for quite some time (it would seem my clutch is in several pieces :eek3:, at least I broke it good and proper!), so I will be somewhat limited in freedom, to when I can borrow my Mum's! Blooming cars!
Finally I am aware this post is short on the photos front, unfortunately the team charlimouse photographer was unable to make it to nationals. So to make it more interesting, and as a reward for those reaching the end of this epic report, here is a picture of my dog, who appears to have lost his head!
So it was that BUCS Nationals came round this week. I drove over to Uni on the Tuesday morning to drop my car off as we were all travelling down to Hartpury together in a minibus. The gears in my car felt a little clunky and heavy, but given there were no warning lights, the car was going and I really had to get over to Uni, I decided it would be fine :rolleyes3:. Arrived at uni, and off we set for the very uneventful drive to Hartpury. Upon arrival we had a meeting to discuss how the Mini leagues and regionals had worked, any grievances etc. It didn't start well for us when a few of the riders made it obvious they thought we shouldn't have been there given our regionals had been held at our home venue. Whilst I can see their point, it needed to be noted that it wasn't our fault that happened! The regionals have been held at our home venue for years and had been booked a year in advance. When riders were asked to suggest an alternate venue, they were unable to do so. Despite the regionals being at our home venue it was also the first time my uni's history they had qualified a team for nationals. This made us a little more determined to prove the point, we were there through our own merit, not because we had a home advantage. Back to our hotel we went, only to find the central locking on our minibus was having issues, and instead of locking, kept setting off the burgular alarm! So out came the AA, who managed to half fix the problem, the minibus locked, so long as you didn't use the middle sliding door!
So the next day we had our dressage team test. We were second to go, and first on our horses, which were very fresh! With just 4 minutes to warm up there was very little we could do, so we pretty much just had to hope for the best :redface3:. Test went OK considering, although the horse at the back (3 horses all doing the same test in the arena at the same time) was being a little tricky, and really needed a good canter to get the wind out of it's sails. Results came out and I was disappointed to see I had come second on my horse by 1 penalty, meaning I wouldn't progress to the next round :frown3:. However my spirits lifted when the girl who beat me (by just 1 penalty) went on to finish second individually in the dressage and win the competition overall, so in the end I was pretty happy to only be beaten by 1 point, by somebody of that quality! My team did pretty well with 2 members getting the best score on their horses. With the best 3 scored in the team to count we were pretty chuffed to have a team score of just 1 penalty! That evening a hog roast had been put on for us. Now it would seem a hog roast is a phrase which is easily lost in translation. One of our team members is german, and after looking a bit confused for a while over the concept of a hog roast, eventually asked: 'So this hog roast, is that like we eat a hedgehog?' It was so funny, and one of those moments that will go down in history!
On the Thursday I had a day off competing. It was my birthday so we had a leisurely breakfast before heading over to Hartpury to support our Trophy team in their jumping, and do the draw for our jumping the next day. In the evening we went to the pub for dinner, where the team had organised me a cake, so we had a bit of a celebration. It was all lots of fun and a rather nice way to turn a year older! I also got the best birthday card ever from my Mum, one I think a lot of people on here will relate to!
So Friday came round. I was a bag of nerves, as jumping an unknown horse is something which really stresses me out. I need not have worried as I was on a lovely little roan welshy, who was really cute. Unfortunately I was last to ride him, and by the time I got on he was shattered. I made sure I kept him together and he jumped his socks off for a clear round. I loved him and would happily have taken him home! The rest of the team jumped well with 3 of us going clear, and 1 with just a fence down. The results were a little disappointing, BUCS is judged primarily on style and with 2 judges there was quite discrepancy in the marks. 1 of our members had the best score on her horse, another just had 1 penalty, another had 3. I had a whopping 24 :confused3:. One of the judges had me 2 penalties off the best score, and the other miles below everybody else. There was nearly 20% difference between the 2 scores. At fence 3 I got a 5 from 1 judge and a 9 from the other! Very confusing, and with no comments on the sheets I really don't know what the stingy judge was after! But as only 3 scores counted mine was discarded, so in the end it didn't matter.
So came the results. We were super chuffed to win the team dressage, and come 3rd as a team in the jumping. We then rounded it off by coming 3rd in the overall competition, winning the bronze medal :biggrin3:!
So pleased, the result was far better than we ever hoped to achieve for our first ever attempt at Nationals, and hopefully we showed those who thought we shouldn't have been there that actually it was no fluke!
Jubilant, we began our drive back north. It was a very long drive, 6 hours in fact due to Friday evening traffic! Finally got back to uni at 9.30. Now remember my car which had felt a little odd on the Tuesday??? Well it would seem that 3 days sat doing nothing hadn't sorted the problem, the car would not go into any gear what so ever. So out came the AA (again), who being unable to fix it, towed it to the nearest VW garage, which unfortunately was in the opposite direction to home, and being nearly 11pm was closed :rolleyes3:. Luckily some of the guys from the BUCS team live near by, so I was able to borrow a sofa to kip on for the night. Thank god I always pack a spare pair of pants and socks just in case of situations like these!
So on Saturday, I finally managed to get a lift home. Unfortunately my car is going to be out of action for quite some time (it would seem my clutch is in several pieces :eek3:, at least I broke it good and proper!), so I will be somewhat limited in freedom, to when I can borrow my Mum's! Blooming cars!
Finally I am aware this post is short on the photos front, unfortunately the team charlimouse photographer was unable to make it to nationals. So to make it more interesting, and as a reward for those reaching the end of this epic report, here is a picture of my dog, who appears to have lost his head!
