tigers_eye
Well-Known Member
There will probably be another coming from Sarah-Jane too, but I think it's safe to say we had a shorter journey home!
Getting there on Thursday was an absolute nightmare, things were tight enough when I was working on the basis that the trot would be at 7pm as advertised (silly me). Wednesday night SJ let me know it was at 5pm, which was going to be nigh on impossible leaving work at 3. Was remarkably efficient though and was driving out the yard at 3.30, only to encounter the most awful traffic (3 separate jams), and a tempest which blew the trim of the front of the lorry and left the roof flapping and me a nervous wreck. Drove in with minutes to spare for the 7pm deadline, only for the judges to have left. They came back and we had our own personal trot up at 8.15
.
Friday was dressage day, still minus husband or helpers, but lots and lots of support from SJ and her mum. William was an absolute toad in the warm-up, completely threw his toys out the pram about left counter canter, was taking the plant-then-spanish-riding-school-movements approach to objecting (amazing how much more energy he puts into being naughty when very fit)! I had him in the snaffle which was probably a good thing as I think the curb would have sent him over the edge. Went into the arena and he put on his best little angelic face and went very well
, he did change once out of the left counter canter but graciously allowed me to put him back, and did both changes very well, and got an 8 for his halt. I was grinning like an idiot towards the end of the test. SJ's mum videoed it for me so will be available for all soon
. He got a deserved 64.9 and was 28th out of 39 by the end of the day.
After watching Sj and Sarnie's test I passed out for most of the afternoon, but woke up aand went off to walk the course with her. The ground seemed fantastic and it was a really flowing course, very few combinations but very big and wide everywhere. Late that night SJ and I retrieved Stefan from Breda station.
Saturday involved a lie in
, then some shopping and relaxing with Stefan, all very enjoyable! We also watched quite a lot of the driving, it was marathon day and I have to say it was so exciting to watch. These teams left the eventers dumbfounded the whole event with their organisation and attention to detail.
Show-jumped about 4.30, he warmed up ok but was quite tense, and I felt he was backing off the fences really quite a lot, which meant I was panicking and kicking so he got longer and faster and stronger and it all unravelled by the end of the round for 4 down
. Was very disappointed, although we weren't the only ones, we dropped two places to 30th. I think some proper lessons are in order, at that height neither of us is talented enough to get away with anything really.
That night we went and had a bottle of wine in SJ's lorry, and Stefan tried to kidnap one of their dogs (he was still talking about them on the way home), then we went to investigate the rider's party but I don't think we were really drunk enough to fit in at that late hour
.
Sunday dawned - cross country day! I haven't looked forward to a course that much in ages. Preparations went well and several friends came up for the day. He bounced round the warm-up in a state of high excitement and we set off bang on time. The first fence was a very imposing wide palisade with brush out the top and we started with a miss at that! I went for a long one and he thought he'd like to be a bit closer thanks! But that woke us up and he jumped the big table at 2, log at 3, angled combo at 4 and table type thing at 5 well. 6 & 7 was a coffin type fence with an awkward approach, he jumped it much better than I expected and powered off towards 8, a big haycart (anyone seeing a pattern here of 'big'?!). 9, 10 and 11 were three angled fences to be taken on a straight line with one stride between each element. Luckily they had kind profiles and I buried him in the bottom of the first and he managed to jump his way out the combination with two strides in each bit
. He got a big pat and an apology on our way to the next fence a maximum dimension affair which we seemed to take a long time to get to other side of, and it was followed by another at 13! 14 was another big square thing, though not quite as wide as the previous 2, then five or six strides turning down to a very big, very square, brush-topped box. He felt copybook through there and took off to the next, a bullfinch made of maize plants. Was at the four minute point here and was just about on track for the time, so kept to the same sort of pace. Next up was a trable on undulating ground of narrow log, four neat strides, narrow log, three increasing strides to triple brush, lovely feel through there, on to first water quite simple really just two lots of barrels on the way in and one on the way out. Through the trade stands over two pretty straightforward fences then a turn to a road crossing fence which was plenty big enough and had a drop on landing - had a nice shot at that
:
Then onto probably the hardest question on the course, an oxer into trees followed by a tight turn back on yourself to a huge corner which he ate up like a pro, and charged down to the final water, meaty log in and canter out over a similar one, then thundered over the last! Finished just 7 seconds over the time (3 horses made it) and he was fresh as a daisy! It was an absolutely great ride, he dug us out of trouble when I got him into it, and the rest of the time we had a blast!
SJ had stayed to help us at the finish so big thanks to her! He had studded himself on a hind pastern so once we had cooled him off he got rather heavily sedated then stapled back together and given antibiotics. He has to stay in for 2 weeks now which seems very unfortuante but we don't want any infection that near a joint so we must behave ourselves!
So, his first 3* (and my first for more years than I care to remember
) was a great experience, a QR, and has shown us what we need to work on for the winter! He finished 14th, not far out the prizes, and a clear show-jumping would have netted us 450 euros, so there's our incentive
.
Getting there on Thursday was an absolute nightmare, things were tight enough when I was working on the basis that the trot would be at 7pm as advertised (silly me). Wednesday night SJ let me know it was at 5pm, which was going to be nigh on impossible leaving work at 3. Was remarkably efficient though and was driving out the yard at 3.30, only to encounter the most awful traffic (3 separate jams), and a tempest which blew the trim of the front of the lorry and left the roof flapping and me a nervous wreck. Drove in with minutes to spare for the 7pm deadline, only for the judges to have left. They came back and we had our own personal trot up at 8.15
Friday was dressage day, still minus husband or helpers, but lots and lots of support from SJ and her mum. William was an absolute toad in the warm-up, completely threw his toys out the pram about left counter canter, was taking the plant-then-spanish-riding-school-movements approach to objecting (amazing how much more energy he puts into being naughty when very fit)! I had him in the snaffle which was probably a good thing as I think the curb would have sent him over the edge. Went into the arena and he put on his best little angelic face and went very well
After watching Sj and Sarnie's test I passed out for most of the afternoon, but woke up aand went off to walk the course with her. The ground seemed fantastic and it was a really flowing course, very few combinations but very big and wide everywhere. Late that night SJ and I retrieved Stefan from Breda station.
Saturday involved a lie in
Show-jumped about 4.30, he warmed up ok but was quite tense, and I felt he was backing off the fences really quite a lot, which meant I was panicking and kicking so he got longer and faster and stronger and it all unravelled by the end of the round for 4 down
That night we went and had a bottle of wine in SJ's lorry, and Stefan tried to kidnap one of their dogs (he was still talking about them on the way home), then we went to investigate the rider's party but I don't think we were really drunk enough to fit in at that late hour
Sunday dawned - cross country day! I haven't looked forward to a course that much in ages. Preparations went well and several friends came up for the day. He bounced round the warm-up in a state of high excitement and we set off bang on time. The first fence was a very imposing wide palisade with brush out the top and we started with a miss at that! I went for a long one and he thought he'd like to be a bit closer thanks! But that woke us up and he jumped the big table at 2, log at 3, angled combo at 4 and table type thing at 5 well. 6 & 7 was a coffin type fence with an awkward approach, he jumped it much better than I expected and powered off towards 8, a big haycart (anyone seeing a pattern here of 'big'?!). 9, 10 and 11 were three angled fences to be taken on a straight line with one stride between each element. Luckily they had kind profiles and I buried him in the bottom of the first and he managed to jump his way out the combination with two strides in each bit
Then onto probably the hardest question on the course, an oxer into trees followed by a tight turn back on yourself to a huge corner which he ate up like a pro, and charged down to the final water, meaty log in and canter out over a similar one, then thundered over the last! Finished just 7 seconds over the time (3 horses made it) and he was fresh as a daisy! It was an absolutely great ride, he dug us out of trouble when I got him into it, and the rest of the time we had a blast!
SJ had stayed to help us at the finish so big thanks to her! He had studded himself on a hind pastern so once we had cooled him off he got rather heavily sedated then stapled back together and given antibiotics. He has to stay in for 2 weeks now which seems very unfortuante but we don't want any infection that near a joint so we must behave ourselves!
So, his first 3* (and my first for more years than I care to remember
