Gamebird
Well-Known Member
Disclaimer - none of the below is to be in any way considered an excuse. No excuses are being offered, just a statement of circumstances, most of which were the same for everyone else as me.
Dressage was, I thought, reasonable. The first medium trot wasn't from marker to marker, the second was, the left shoulder-in was fairly bad, the right one was half-decent. The canter work was all rather nice. He was above the bit in the last halt. All these comments came from an independent witness. All transitions came in the right places and the test in general was fairly accurate, if a little uninspired. Why, then did it merit a 48???
. A new personal low for me. Even the racehorse I took once that blew up in all the walk and trot work and did all of the canter work on one leg got a 47. I am dumbfounded. Sadly didn't get my sheet due to the rest of the day's events making me pack up and leave Chatsworth behind in a cloud of exhaust smoke so I will never know. However Olivia Haddow was in before me and did a foot perfect test for 36
.
We had a 4 hour wait for SJing so walked the XC which was a true Scotty course - big, bold and rewarded forward riding. The first water had been softened, the second was rather meaty - angled hanging log, brush/drop fence in, canter round moat to step out, three curving strides to skinny triple brush which caused a lot of run-outs (including 2 for our new Badminton champion
). WFP jumped through this on the most gorgeous grey 6yo (Kilcoltrim I think?. It came 2nd in its section) and gave a demonstration of flawless XC riding.
By this time the rain had started. Proper torrential, p!ss-wet-through-in-seconds rain. We hid in the trade stands then decided to tack up and warm-up so as to be ready to walk the SJing as soon as it was changed.
Mistake. First of all they had problems rounding up the final Nov SJers, then they altered the course, we all jumped off to walk it and we were stopped from going into the ring by a 20min falconry demo
.
Finally went in to walk it. Got to the treble in the company of Nicola Wilson and Ruth Edge and Ruth started to pace out the first distance when a freak wind blew up and flattened the final 2 elements, wings and all. Priceless moment!
. We told Ruth that those two fences were going on her scorecard!
. Yup, haha, funny until a second freak wind flattened every single other fence bar one. They then took 15mins to rebuild the course and re-measure all the distances. Was slowly losing the will to live just as another torrential shower started
.
To get to the point (eventually) I went into the ring, gave Carthorse a good canter round to take in the sights, waited for the bell.... and waited.... and waited. Got paranoid that it had gone so asked the spectators who all said to go
. Cantered into the frist fence and saw at the last moment that the back rail was still on the floor from the previous competitor. Pulled out at the last mo, got the course-builder to put it back up and waited for the bell again.... and waited... and waited. Asked the course-builder who said just to start
. Jumped the first two very strongly, got to the third and Carthorse spooked at the horse-eating wall under it and slammed on the brakes. Re-presented - same
. Walked out and gave him a pop in the warm-up which he gave feet to spare.
It's a bit grainy - horse-eating fence:
Thus endeth Chatsworth 2009
Off to beat myself over the head with a large breezeblock now before sacking the jockey and taking up crochet instead
Considering staying in bed next time
No sympathy please but large b*llockings gratefully accepted.
Dressage was, I thought, reasonable. The first medium trot wasn't from marker to marker, the second was, the left shoulder-in was fairly bad, the right one was half-decent. The canter work was all rather nice. He was above the bit in the last halt. All these comments came from an independent witness. All transitions came in the right places and the test in general was fairly accurate, if a little uninspired. Why, then did it merit a 48???
We had a 4 hour wait for SJing so walked the XC which was a true Scotty course - big, bold and rewarded forward riding. The first water had been softened, the second was rather meaty - angled hanging log, brush/drop fence in, canter round moat to step out, three curving strides to skinny triple brush which caused a lot of run-outs (including 2 for our new Badminton champion
By this time the rain had started. Proper torrential, p!ss-wet-through-in-seconds rain. We hid in the trade stands then decided to tack up and warm-up so as to be ready to walk the SJing as soon as it was changed.
Mistake. First of all they had problems rounding up the final Nov SJers, then they altered the course, we all jumped off to walk it and we were stopped from going into the ring by a 20min falconry demo
Finally went in to walk it. Got to the treble in the company of Nicola Wilson and Ruth Edge and Ruth started to pace out the first distance when a freak wind blew up and flattened the final 2 elements, wings and all. Priceless moment!
To get to the point (eventually) I went into the ring, gave Carthorse a good canter round to take in the sights, waited for the bell.... and waited.... and waited. Got paranoid that it had gone so asked the spectators who all said to go
It's a bit grainy - horse-eating fence:
Thus endeth Chatsworth 2009
Off to beat myself over the head with a large breezeblock now before sacking the jockey and taking up crochet instead
