Embo
Well-Known Member
We went to Chilham for their 70cm unaffiliated ODE on Sunday. I wasn't feeling at all prepared as I'd had to go to Leeds for work in the week running up to it, so I missed 3 valuable days of riding prep! Thankfully I was able to fit in a quick jump session on Saturday, I'm happy to say I felt fine (I usually revert to pant-wetting after not jumping for a while, let alone jumping having not jumped in a while AND having not ridden in a number of days!) and B was mega so I could start to get excited.
Dressage: Very sociable times, dressage was at 12.24 so didn't need to leave early - although I had a terrible night's sleep so I failed myself there! He felt far too laid back in the warm up so really had to try to jazz him up a bit! It didn't work
but we got through the test, some nice moment, but also nearly lost him a few times! (He decided we should halt on our first centre line... and nearly did! Also after our 2nd canter circle, he said that we should be trotting now... just about managed to keep him going until C!) Importantly, we kept a rhythm - even if it wasn't the most forward!
A very respectable, and surprising score of 34. Yep, I'll take that! It's clear we won't set the world alight with our dressage
SJ: Warm up was lovely. Moving forward and very happy to be there! Ears pricked and taking me to the jumps. It started to rain. Off we went, the bell rings and he takes off into canter without checking with me first (he knows the job!). Some lovely jumping from Bowser (not always from me, sadly! It still takes me by surprise when he takes off on a long one, he usually wants to get as close as possible!). Going great until number 6, the double. It was a long 2 strides for him, so he chipped in a third and just brushed the second element so we had an unfortunate pole. But he was jumping brilliantly and I was still all smiles!
All going well so far...
XC: I had walked the course the day before, and there was only one jump I had some mild concerns over... but I was most worried by the ground. There were a few slippy places and a very steep hill to negotiate, so I decided to let Bowser pick the pace. I did not want to get eliminated again, so I didn't want to push him and make him lose any confidence.
Out the start box and we're off (noticing I didn't feel half as sick as last time...), over 1 and 2 very happily. Balance through the muddy gateway going slightly downhill, right hand turn to 3 (the one I was concerned about). He slipped a bit on the turn but re-balanced. I gave him a tap on the shoulder so he looked at the fence and popped it (phew!). 4 was an easy log, but with a dodgy line and a few holes that I was trying to avoid! Then a long canter along a muddy path, then down a very steep hill, he broke to trot, so we trotted (slowly...) all the way down. Through the water at the bottom and over the tyres. Round to a skinny brush, then back up another hill. The rest were pretty much all in a straight line, so easily navigated!
I'm very pleased to say that we were not eliminated and CLEAR cross country! However, we did pick up a few time penalties for going too slow (we were 1:17 over the optimum), but I really don't care. I knew the going wouldn't be on B's side, so I deliberately took it steady, just wanting to get round safely and happily. And we did
(I won't mention that we'd have been 2nd had we not had any time faults... hahaha!)
So a great but exhausting day, put some demons to rest, quite sad that it's coming to the end of the season hopefully I can fit one more in before the weather really turns! Thanks for reading
Pic of the B-man, I just love him.
Dressage: Very sociable times, dressage was at 12.24 so didn't need to leave early - although I had a terrible night's sleep so I failed myself there! He felt far too laid back in the warm up so really had to try to jazz him up a bit! It didn't work
but we got through the test, some nice moment, but also nearly lost him a few times! (He decided we should halt on our first centre line... and nearly did! Also after our 2nd canter circle, he said that we should be trotting now... just about managed to keep him going until C!) Importantly, we kept a rhythm - even if it wasn't the most forward! A very respectable, and surprising score of 34. Yep, I'll take that! It's clear we won't set the world alight with our dressage
SJ: Warm up was lovely. Moving forward and very happy to be there! Ears pricked and taking me to the jumps. It started to rain. Off we went, the bell rings and he takes off into canter without checking with me first (he knows the job!). Some lovely jumping from Bowser (not always from me, sadly! It still takes me by surprise when he takes off on a long one, he usually wants to get as close as possible!). Going great until number 6, the double. It was a long 2 strides for him, so he chipped in a third and just brushed the second element so we had an unfortunate pole. But he was jumping brilliantly and I was still all smiles!
All going well so far...
XC: I had walked the course the day before, and there was only one jump I had some mild concerns over... but I was most worried by the ground. There were a few slippy places and a very steep hill to negotiate, so I decided to let Bowser pick the pace. I did not want to get eliminated again, so I didn't want to push him and make him lose any confidence.
Out the start box and we're off (noticing I didn't feel half as sick as last time...), over 1 and 2 very happily. Balance through the muddy gateway going slightly downhill, right hand turn to 3 (the one I was concerned about). He slipped a bit on the turn but re-balanced. I gave him a tap on the shoulder so he looked at the fence and popped it (phew!). 4 was an easy log, but with a dodgy line and a few holes that I was trying to avoid! Then a long canter along a muddy path, then down a very steep hill, he broke to trot, so we trotted (slowly...) all the way down. Through the water at the bottom and over the tyres. Round to a skinny brush, then back up another hill. The rest were pretty much all in a straight line, so easily navigated!
I'm very pleased to say that we were not eliminated and CLEAR cross country! However, we did pick up a few time penalties for going too slow (we were 1:17 over the optimum), but I really don't care. I knew the going wouldn't be on B's side, so I deliberately took it steady, just wanting to get round safely and happily. And we did
(I won't mention that we'd have been 2nd had we not had any time faults... hahaha!)
So a great but exhausting day, put some demons to rest, quite sad that it's coming to the end of the season
hopefully I can fit one more in before the weather really turns! Thanks for reading Pic of the B-man, I just love him.
