IncaCola
Well-Known Member
Well Chatsworth now has to be my favourite event. The venue is stunning and the set up with a huge selection of trade stands, interesting eateries and lots of alternative entertainment attracted huge crowds whilst the sun shone all weekend. I also had my friend Vicky grooming for me and her support and effortless efficiency made such a difference as i normally manage mostly on my own with my long suffering other half.
Not that everything went my way. Early start Saturday, but somehow got a bit lost on the way and arrived later than planned. Tay came out hugely excited and refused to play ball at all warming up, becoming increasingly strong and on his head. So frustrating as he really can now produce high quality work at home, but having not had an event for 4 weeks he was on a mission. Largely damage limitation in the test, but he unfortunately exploded in the counter canter, bucking and changing early to wreck what he can do really well when focused. As a result got 63.8 and was 57th out of yes 57 starters. However there were several in the low 60s/high 50s so if he has just behaved, i think he could have got a decent mark. To add to matters other half managed to drop camera cycling down to the dressage so no video or photos. However have to say i now want to have Andrew Bennie judging me every time. Despite all the horrible bits he did give me several 7s including my riding and even an 8 for my entry and in the comments wrote good luck, which was so nice! Tayberry however got a 4 for submission, bad pony
Then went off to walk course which runs over the beautiful undulating parkland round Chatsworth. Well fence 1 and 2 were ok but then my mouth just opened wider and wider as question after question was asked and all with no alternatives, eek. Also for the first time Ian Stark had built an almost entirely separate CIC*** from the advanced and whilst the advanced looked hard enough the CIC was like walking round Badminton! Beautifully built and presented but all very big with lots of fences on both uphill and down hill and undulating slopes making them seem even bigger. Started to realise that Ian Stark wasnt kidding when he said it wasnt for the faint hearted and was going back to some more traditional fences, although it had plenty of accuracy fences and skinnies too. There were curving lines, big jumps into in and out of water, a very traditional coffin on a down hill approach to a suspended narrow log, a huge bounce landing on a steep down slope to the most massive trakhener and a very tricky sunken road near the end. It really was a significant step up and in the back of my mind that little negative voice was saying was this a step to soon, too far......
Roll on to Sunday and a second early morning course walk, where the fences started to look a bit more jumpable and i quietly finalised my lines and had a lovely chat with Owen Moore who i was a working pupil with years ago and gave me lots of good advice. I then walked the show jumping which in contrast i thought was very nice and inviting although definitely not small. Returned to a tacked up Tay by the wonderful Vicky, but when getting on I felt the ominous clunk of a loose shoe and so it was a quick visit to the on site farrier who tightened them all up while Tay leapt around like a mad thing before the long walk to the warm up. Tay warmed up well and was absolutely pinging, but did feel a bit wound up which only increased as he entered an arena with a sizeable crowd around. Having jumped a fantastic round last time out, but collecting 3 time penalties, i set off a bit more freely and planned to do quite tight turns to save time. It was all going well over the first 7 but as he got stronger i started pulling and the whilst he was incredibly unlucky for the middle of the treble to fall, the upright 2 fences later was my fault as the rhythm and balance had gone so we finished on 8 faults when he really should have gone clear. Bad Jockey! Unfortunately camera had not been located so no video again
No time to dwell though as only an hour until cross country and by now 30 odd horses had started and it had been apparent that the course was causing lots of problems. I rushed over to one of the culprits, an s bend combination at 5 of table to wide corner and then triple brush built on 3 long strides. I found Blyth Tait and Nick Turner there and when i asked how they thought it needed riding Blyth first said not how he had done it as he had run out at the corner on his first ride! They then however gave me lots of good advice and it was evident that most horses were putting in 4 strides in between both elements but you needed to turn a bit back to the table and ride a reasonably tight line to the corner as those that rode a bigger bend got there on 4 ½ resulting in messy jumps and run outs. Armed with this, I got on and arrived at the warm up to find there was a course hold due to a fall. Tayberry was just too excited to try and take back so i just walked around feeling sicker and sicker. Luckily it wasnt too long before they started and again Tay felt awesome in the warm up, but i knew he was going to be incredibly strong and controlling him though the first section where the combinations came up so thick and fast was going to be challenge. I had already decided that if I had any problem I was going to retire as this wasnt a course to school round and I set off with the mine set that each fence jumped was an achievement and my job were line, balance and my position, the rest was up to Tay.
As always the butterflies disappeared at the first and my incredible, brave, intelligent little horse gave me the ride of my life eating up the big straightforward fences and measuring up each combination to ping through effortlessly, with applause from the huge crowd spurring us on to the next. In particular at the troublesome fence 5 he was foot perfect as he was at the coffin and both waters getting the two forward strides at the ducks at the second when so many struggled over on 3. I let him gallop up the steep hill thinking that he would hopefully tire a bit by the top but he turned to the very large bounce faster than i wanted, ignoring my request to slow down! As such this led to our only sticky moment as one stride out when he realised it was a bounce he propped and i let my weight go too far forward and I lost a stirrup as he landed and stormed off down the hill with the biggest trakhener looming. Just as I thought i was going to have to jump it with only one stirrup my foot found it and Tay sailed over as if nothing was wrong, he definitely saved my arse there! He did however take this as an excuse to now take control as we continued downhill and over a big square parallel which he met spot on. I then had to insist he listened to me for the last combination, the sunken road which had claimed many victims. With two options and a plethora of flags to catch his attention he pricked his ears and let me turn him after the bounce down to skip up and jump the skinny on one stride out. I then just let him gallop over the last 4 and over the finish with the biggest smile on my faces I just couldnt believe that he could find such a big and challenging course so easy and small and that i had manage to stay on him all the way!
There are also links to some photos on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SWEventing if anyone wants a peep. I have also ordered a video as it was filmed, but not sure how long that will take.
After cooling and walking Tayberry for a good hour and a half whilst he dragged us all around so pleased with himself, we spent the rest of the day enjoying this fantastic event in the sun with myself on a high only marred by the tragic loss of Coolgrange Merger. I feel so for Tony losing his best friend although he knows he dies doing what he loved, I could not cope if that was Tay, so unfair...
Well by the end of my class it was evident that only 21 of the 57 starters jumped clear and despite my two jumps down i rose from 57th to finish 20th with 23 time penalties which was quite respectable especially as i had taken wide lines to ensure i got the right approach. Just get the other two phases right and i would have been in the money, but most importantly got my second MER so all qualified to go CCI*** if i dare and can afford it! I also got home to an email saying that i had been selected for the GB 2 star eventing team squad having done selection trials a few weeks ago. Really wasnt expecting that and real incentive to crack this dressage lark and hoping they can help with first training session next month.
Thanks for reading 
Not that everything went my way. Early start Saturday, but somehow got a bit lost on the way and arrived later than planned. Tay came out hugely excited and refused to play ball at all warming up, becoming increasingly strong and on his head. So frustrating as he really can now produce high quality work at home, but having not had an event for 4 weeks he was on a mission. Largely damage limitation in the test, but he unfortunately exploded in the counter canter, bucking and changing early to wreck what he can do really well when focused. As a result got 63.8 and was 57th out of yes 57 starters. However there were several in the low 60s/high 50s so if he has just behaved, i think he could have got a decent mark. To add to matters other half managed to drop camera cycling down to the dressage so no video or photos. However have to say i now want to have Andrew Bennie judging me every time. Despite all the horrible bits he did give me several 7s including my riding and even an 8 for my entry and in the comments wrote good luck, which was so nice! Tayberry however got a 4 for submission, bad pony
Then went off to walk course which runs over the beautiful undulating parkland round Chatsworth. Well fence 1 and 2 were ok but then my mouth just opened wider and wider as question after question was asked and all with no alternatives, eek. Also for the first time Ian Stark had built an almost entirely separate CIC*** from the advanced and whilst the advanced looked hard enough the CIC was like walking round Badminton! Beautifully built and presented but all very big with lots of fences on both uphill and down hill and undulating slopes making them seem even bigger. Started to realise that Ian Stark wasnt kidding when he said it wasnt for the faint hearted and was going back to some more traditional fences, although it had plenty of accuracy fences and skinnies too. There were curving lines, big jumps into in and out of water, a very traditional coffin on a down hill approach to a suspended narrow log, a huge bounce landing on a steep down slope to the most massive trakhener and a very tricky sunken road near the end. It really was a significant step up and in the back of my mind that little negative voice was saying was this a step to soon, too far......
Roll on to Sunday and a second early morning course walk, where the fences started to look a bit more jumpable and i quietly finalised my lines and had a lovely chat with Owen Moore who i was a working pupil with years ago and gave me lots of good advice. I then walked the show jumping which in contrast i thought was very nice and inviting although definitely not small. Returned to a tacked up Tay by the wonderful Vicky, but when getting on I felt the ominous clunk of a loose shoe and so it was a quick visit to the on site farrier who tightened them all up while Tay leapt around like a mad thing before the long walk to the warm up. Tay warmed up well and was absolutely pinging, but did feel a bit wound up which only increased as he entered an arena with a sizeable crowd around. Having jumped a fantastic round last time out, but collecting 3 time penalties, i set off a bit more freely and planned to do quite tight turns to save time. It was all going well over the first 7 but as he got stronger i started pulling and the whilst he was incredibly unlucky for the middle of the treble to fall, the upright 2 fences later was my fault as the rhythm and balance had gone so we finished on 8 faults when he really should have gone clear. Bad Jockey! Unfortunately camera had not been located so no video again
No time to dwell though as only an hour until cross country and by now 30 odd horses had started and it had been apparent that the course was causing lots of problems. I rushed over to one of the culprits, an s bend combination at 5 of table to wide corner and then triple brush built on 3 long strides. I found Blyth Tait and Nick Turner there and when i asked how they thought it needed riding Blyth first said not how he had done it as he had run out at the corner on his first ride! They then however gave me lots of good advice and it was evident that most horses were putting in 4 strides in between both elements but you needed to turn a bit back to the table and ride a reasonably tight line to the corner as those that rode a bigger bend got there on 4 ½ resulting in messy jumps and run outs. Armed with this, I got on and arrived at the warm up to find there was a course hold due to a fall. Tayberry was just too excited to try and take back so i just walked around feeling sicker and sicker. Luckily it wasnt too long before they started and again Tay felt awesome in the warm up, but i knew he was going to be incredibly strong and controlling him though the first section where the combinations came up so thick and fast was going to be challenge. I had already decided that if I had any problem I was going to retire as this wasnt a course to school round and I set off with the mine set that each fence jumped was an achievement and my job were line, balance and my position, the rest was up to Tay.
As always the butterflies disappeared at the first and my incredible, brave, intelligent little horse gave me the ride of my life eating up the big straightforward fences and measuring up each combination to ping through effortlessly, with applause from the huge crowd spurring us on to the next. In particular at the troublesome fence 5 he was foot perfect as he was at the coffin and both waters getting the two forward strides at the ducks at the second when so many struggled over on 3. I let him gallop up the steep hill thinking that he would hopefully tire a bit by the top but he turned to the very large bounce faster than i wanted, ignoring my request to slow down! As such this led to our only sticky moment as one stride out when he realised it was a bounce he propped and i let my weight go too far forward and I lost a stirrup as he landed and stormed off down the hill with the biggest trakhener looming. Just as I thought i was going to have to jump it with only one stirrup my foot found it and Tay sailed over as if nothing was wrong, he definitely saved my arse there! He did however take this as an excuse to now take control as we continued downhill and over a big square parallel which he met spot on. I then had to insist he listened to me for the last combination, the sunken road which had claimed many victims. With two options and a plethora of flags to catch his attention he pricked his ears and let me turn him after the bounce down to skip up and jump the skinny on one stride out. I then just let him gallop over the last 4 and over the finish with the biggest smile on my faces I just couldnt believe that he could find such a big and challenging course so easy and small and that i had manage to stay on him all the way!
There are also links to some photos on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SWEventing if anyone wants a peep. I have also ordered a video as it was filmed, but not sure how long that will take.
After cooling and walking Tayberry for a good hour and a half whilst he dragged us all around so pleased with himself, we spent the rest of the day enjoying this fantastic event in the sun with myself on a high only marred by the tragic loss of Coolgrange Merger. I feel so for Tony losing his best friend although he knows he dies doing what he loved, I could not cope if that was Tay, so unfair...
Well by the end of my class it was evident that only 21 of the 57 starters jumped clear and despite my two jumps down i rose from 57th to finish 20th with 23 time penalties which was quite respectable especially as i had taken wide lines to ensure i got the right approach. Just get the other two phases right and i would have been in the money, but most importantly got my second MER so all qualified to go CCI*** if i dare and can afford it! I also got home to an email saying that i had been selected for the GB 2 star eventing team squad having done selection trials a few weeks ago. Really wasnt expecting that and real incentive to crack this dressage lark and hoping they can help with first training session next month.
Thanks for reading 
