digitalangel
Well-Known Member
Normally i dont write comp reports, but given the rather dramatic events leading up to the champs and the results, i thought this might give people a bit of a giggle!
This was our first C&T (chiltern and thames) dressage champs - we qualified for prelim restricted back in july. Anyway, other than doing their showing champs in August (2nd small riding horse - woo! ) we have been concentrating pretty hard on our dressage and have recently started doing novice tests with OK results.
So on the wednesday before we went out to a clinic, which he was quite good for, but on the thursday morning i had found my neck had completely seized - and i hadnt run through either test! So i arranged to have a friend come up and run him through the tests the next day while i concentrated on resting and memorizing the tests.. while off my face on painkillers.
On friday i dragged myself off the sofa and another friend ran me down to Boots for heat packs which were duly applied. I stopped taking the painkillers, waited for my friend to arrive and crossed fingers i would at least be ab le to sit on him for 5 minutes and he would behave.
My friend had him going beautifully - he just looked amazing and she was really enjoying riding him, so i entered the manege to read through the tests and i only just brought down the manege gate latch on my hand! my friend and i just started laughing at first while i was hopping around on a 10 metre circle flapping my hand like a flid... but soon laughter turned to tears and my finger turned a lovely purply colour and was just throbbing! there was no ice or ibuprofen so i ran my finger under the tap for 10 mins while my friend memorized the test and then we both ran through it once. My boy was so good, its like he knew i had no strength in either my right shoulder and hand and other than falling out through his shoulder, he rode like a dream.
Almost straight afterward my mechanic arrived to take me back to pick up my lorry so off i went, picked up lorry, drove it out of the yard, down a hill and pretty much straight into peak-hour traffic of an A road - the combination of not-bedded-in brakes and soggy leaves meant my lorry just did not stop!! i was pretty hysterical at that point and managed to back the lorry out of the path of the cars and stuck the hazards on, called the mechanic and just turned into a bit of a sobbing mess frankly! Luckily my friend who was driving home managed to spot us and stopped her car to give me a bit of moral support.. i was shaking like a leaf apparently. Poor mechanic didnt know what to do with me, so sent me home and dropped the lorry back the next day.
Another friend ( im so lucky ) offered to take us in her lorry the next day we packed up her lorry but my horse just wouldnt load! He was totally feeding off my stress and as been known to be a tricky loader in the past so after 15 mins i made the decision to take my lorry which had been returned that morning. He loaded fine into his own lorry (typical!) and in the rush we forgot a grooming kit, cowboy spray and my stock but we arrived at the venue with 10 mins to spare before our first test!
The first test, i dare say was a mess. He spooked, shook his head, i went wrong, we were both all over the place and i was in a lot of pain with my hand - a deserved 53% - but it was the warm-up class so i didnt mid so much. I tried to use the 2 hours until the next class to find painkillers, sit down in the lorry and try to concentrate on the test.
Given it was the champs, whips and callers were forbidden, and i had stupidly, not prepared for this. My boy is a lot less forward without a whip and im afraid to say there was a bit of pony-club taking my legs away then clamping on in the warm up which im pretty embarassed about. I think it was the pain that was stressing me out, but a few good words from a lady from our riding club got me relaxed and in the zone so we popped in for our second test..
So, we forgot to give and retake the reins (5), i let him drift between M and B to avoid a spook(6) and he ran out of energy coming past F and we overshot the centre line(6) but we got 8's for his canter, and his collective paces, and mostly 7's for our movements and also my position/aids . Overall 67.5 and we slipped into 4th place!
We stayed in 4th for most of the day, but the last two pipped us to 6th place by less than half a mark, but prizegiving was to 6th so we stuck around for that - to be in the prizegiving at our first champs wasnt something we wanted to miss! As usual my boy was brilliantly behaved and i let him go into a nice medium for the lap of honor - he absoloutely loves doing them!
Prizewise, we got a badge, a rosette, a copy of the magazine and an online subscription and we went home with big smiles on our faces, until he pulled a shoe coming off the lorry!
Today i popped up to A&E because my finger seemed worse, not better, turns out ive fractured the fingertip ! so im now typing with a big fat dressing on the finger and looking at a week off riding - boooooo!!!
Tea and bikkits to everyone who got to the end. Have a pic!
This was our first C&T (chiltern and thames) dressage champs - we qualified for prelim restricted back in july. Anyway, other than doing their showing champs in August (2nd small riding horse - woo! ) we have been concentrating pretty hard on our dressage and have recently started doing novice tests with OK results.
So on the wednesday before we went out to a clinic, which he was quite good for, but on the thursday morning i had found my neck had completely seized - and i hadnt run through either test! So i arranged to have a friend come up and run him through the tests the next day while i concentrated on resting and memorizing the tests.. while off my face on painkillers.
On friday i dragged myself off the sofa and another friend ran me down to Boots for heat packs which were duly applied. I stopped taking the painkillers, waited for my friend to arrive and crossed fingers i would at least be ab le to sit on him for 5 minutes and he would behave.
My friend had him going beautifully - he just looked amazing and she was really enjoying riding him, so i entered the manege to read through the tests and i only just brought down the manege gate latch on my hand! my friend and i just started laughing at first while i was hopping around on a 10 metre circle flapping my hand like a flid... but soon laughter turned to tears and my finger turned a lovely purply colour and was just throbbing! there was no ice or ibuprofen so i ran my finger under the tap for 10 mins while my friend memorized the test and then we both ran through it once. My boy was so good, its like he knew i had no strength in either my right shoulder and hand and other than falling out through his shoulder, he rode like a dream.
Almost straight afterward my mechanic arrived to take me back to pick up my lorry so off i went, picked up lorry, drove it out of the yard, down a hill and pretty much straight into peak-hour traffic of an A road - the combination of not-bedded-in brakes and soggy leaves meant my lorry just did not stop!! i was pretty hysterical at that point and managed to back the lorry out of the path of the cars and stuck the hazards on, called the mechanic and just turned into a bit of a sobbing mess frankly! Luckily my friend who was driving home managed to spot us and stopped her car to give me a bit of moral support.. i was shaking like a leaf apparently. Poor mechanic didnt know what to do with me, so sent me home and dropped the lorry back the next day.
Another friend ( im so lucky ) offered to take us in her lorry the next day we packed up her lorry but my horse just wouldnt load! He was totally feeding off my stress and as been known to be a tricky loader in the past so after 15 mins i made the decision to take my lorry which had been returned that morning. He loaded fine into his own lorry (typical!) and in the rush we forgot a grooming kit, cowboy spray and my stock but we arrived at the venue with 10 mins to spare before our first test!
The first test, i dare say was a mess. He spooked, shook his head, i went wrong, we were both all over the place and i was in a lot of pain with my hand - a deserved 53% - but it was the warm-up class so i didnt mid so much. I tried to use the 2 hours until the next class to find painkillers, sit down in the lorry and try to concentrate on the test.
Given it was the champs, whips and callers were forbidden, and i had stupidly, not prepared for this. My boy is a lot less forward without a whip and im afraid to say there was a bit of pony-club taking my legs away then clamping on in the warm up which im pretty embarassed about. I think it was the pain that was stressing me out, but a few good words from a lady from our riding club got me relaxed and in the zone so we popped in for our second test..
So, we forgot to give and retake the reins (5), i let him drift between M and B to avoid a spook(6) and he ran out of energy coming past F and we overshot the centre line(6) but we got 8's for his canter, and his collective paces, and mostly 7's for our movements and also my position/aids . Overall 67.5 and we slipped into 4th place!
We stayed in 4th for most of the day, but the last two pipped us to 6th place by less than half a mark, but prizegiving was to 6th so we stuck around for that - to be in the prizegiving at our first champs wasnt something we wanted to miss! As usual my boy was brilliantly behaved and i let him go into a nice medium for the lap of honor - he absoloutely loves doing them!
Prizewise, we got a badge, a rosette, a copy of the magazine and an online subscription and we went home with big smiles on our faces, until he pulled a shoe coming off the lorry!
Today i popped up to A&E because my finger seemed worse, not better, turns out ive fractured the fingertip ! so im now typing with a big fat dressing on the finger and looking at a week off riding - boooooo!!!
Tea and bikkits to everyone who got to the end. Have a pic!
i was there too on the sat and came 5th in the prelim and 9th in the novice [would have been 3rd if we hadn't of jumped some wee on the way up and done a flying change!] 
you're pony is very very yummy and i think i might have seen you!