Eland Lodge BE90 Comp Report

Ambers Echo

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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.....

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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. :D:D:D

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.

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DabDab

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Amazing! Brilliant report and definitely sounds like you're getting into your comfort zone with it all now 😁

Look on your face in the last pic says it all
 

Asha

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Fabulous, well done ! Told you you’d fly it !!That no2 xc was a bit of a beast to say the least . I saw someone almost get stuck on It 😱 . Bet you are on cloud nine and rightly so x
 

Ambers Echo

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Fabulous, well done ! Told you you’d fly it !!That no2 xc was a bit of a beast to say the least . I saw someone almost get stuck on It 😱 . Bet you are on cloud nine and rightly so x

I am still buzzing! How did you do?
 

Ambers Echo

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Had a lovely ( but cold day ) 29.5 dressage , one down in the jumping and clear with just 0.4 time faults for going to fast . So came 13th on 33.9 , not a bad start to the season . Here’s to Kelsall next week. Are you going ?

Well done. That's great. No my next run is Bradwall the week after.
 

TPO

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Yay! Lovely report and it's even nicer seeing just how much you love her and how much fun you both had!

Onwards and upwards (or downwards if we're talking dressage scores!)
 

Ambers Echo

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Thanks everyone! Still buzzing. I actually finished 23rd not 17th - I had seen a provisional score then dropped down. But makes no difference to how I feel about it all! Got the dressage sheet back too now - judge says 'lovely willing horse'. And she really is x
 

Ambers Echo

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Couldn't resist the official video... you can hear the commentary on it at the end which is lovely to have. I did remember it a bit wrong but I'm amazed my adrenaline soaked brain picked up as much of the commentary as it did!

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