Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Fab day at Eland Lodge. My 2nd BE90 and it went so much better than A le Walls but with room for improvement in all 3 phases so lots to learn from.
Walked the course yesterday to discover that as usual John put in a new fence to freak everyone out. (Well to freak cowards like me out anyway). It looked mahoosive. And it was at Fence 2 so pretty early on. I am NOT a fan of 'the brush rule'. Amber does not brush through brush so all 20cm of brush does is turn a full up 90 fence into a far-bigger-than-90 one!
But she made fairly easy work of it anyway.....
However back to the start of the day.
We were on 2nd in the dressage and the grass was dewy. She slipped on both reins on the 20m canter circles and once on trot changing the rein which was a shame but she did not break to trot or get flustered - she kept going and we ended up with a 36.5 which I know is still a long way off troubling the leader board but is moving in the right direction. She was calm and listening which is the main thing. So shoes and studs from now on. Much as I like barefoot, it is not safe to be slipping on wet grass. Perhaps more balanced riders would be okay but I need her to keep her own balance! Not got test sheet yet but hoping for the good bits to be good! If I can get good marks on individual movements then one day I will string them together for a good score overall. Hopefully!
Then show-jumping. Scene of my comedy-round at Aston Le Walls. However, Amber was a totally different beast today. Calm, rideable, adjustable, listening to me. Hurrah! Had a silly pole at fence 2 because I held her for an extra stride not quite believing I had control, and buried her. Normally she clears those anyway but I should not rely on her to get us out of trouble. After that I let her travel and she found the rest of it easy.
Then CROSS COUNTRY! Amber flew round without any hesitation at any fence. My first BE90 XC clear round AND only 2 time pens to finish on 42.5 and 17th place. Woop woop.
So finally a score that is sort of in the middle and not right-at-the-bottom! And DC within the time really does feel within reach now. I was holding Amber back all the way round as my XC RI says I need more gears before I am allowed to let her run! So the time is there really.
This is how finishing XC feels.... I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this horse!! As we were cantering up the hill I could hear the commentator saying something like: "Ambers Echo now 3 from home, looking the picture of health. How wonderful to see the horse jumping so enthusiastically."
It is a total and utter privilege to ride her. She is awesome.
Walked the course yesterday to discover that as usual John put in a new fence to freak everyone out. (Well to freak cowards like me out anyway). It looked mahoosive. And it was at Fence 2 so pretty early on. I am NOT a fan of 'the brush rule'. Amber does not brush through brush so all 20cm of brush does is turn a full up 90 fence into a far-bigger-than-90 one!
But she made fairly easy work of it anyway.....
However back to the start of the day.
We were on 2nd in the dressage and the grass was dewy. She slipped on both reins on the 20m canter circles and once on trot changing the rein which was a shame but she did not break to trot or get flustered - she kept going and we ended up with a 36.5 which I know is still a long way off troubling the leader board but is moving in the right direction. She was calm and listening which is the main thing. So shoes and studs from now on. Much as I like barefoot, it is not safe to be slipping on wet grass. Perhaps more balanced riders would be okay but I need her to keep her own balance! Not got test sheet yet but hoping for the good bits to be good! If I can get good marks on individual movements then one day I will string them together for a good score overall. Hopefully!
Then show-jumping. Scene of my comedy-round at Aston Le Walls. However, Amber was a totally different beast today. Calm, rideable, adjustable, listening to me. Hurrah! Had a silly pole at fence 2 because I held her for an extra stride not quite believing I had control, and buried her. Normally she clears those anyway but I should not rely on her to get us out of trouble. After that I let her travel and she found the rest of it easy.
Then CROSS COUNTRY! Amber flew round without any hesitation at any fence. My first BE90 XC clear round AND only 2 time pens to finish on 42.5 and 17th place. Woop woop.
So finally a score that is sort of in the middle and not right-at-the-bottom! And DC within the time really does feel within reach now. I was holding Amber back all the way round as my XC RI says I need more gears before I am allowed to let her run! So the time is there really.
This is how finishing XC feels.... I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this horse!! As we were cantering up the hill I could hear the commentator saying something like: "Ambers Echo now 3 from home, looking the picture of health. How wonderful to see the horse jumping so enthusiastically."
It is a total and utter privilege to ride her. She is awesome.