Gamebird
Well-Known Member
We're back!! *waves a trifle wearily*. Are you sitting comfortably?....
The original plan was to take Carthorse to Burgie for the CCI* but his Sjing hasn't just been brilliant recently and whilst he has improved I decided not to take him on that basis.
However the stable was booked, the time off work was arranged and the transport was (sort of) sorted and I still wanted to go... sooooooo to celebrate 5 and a half weeks of owning Smartie I decided to take her instead and the nice people in the Burgie office were more than happy to transfer my entry to the Taster 3DE instead
.
This is what is known in eventing terminology as 'dropping a horse in at the deep end'
. She'd never done a dressage test, never been XC barring schooling a couple of times and done a grand total of 3 SJing rounds
. Still, she's no baby and if nothing else I thought that the concentrated work she'd be getting would be worth it alone.
So on Tuesday we met up with Kerilli and KatB, trekked the 8 hours to Burgie (did I mention that Smartie has only been in a lorry once in the last 3 years?
) and arrived to find Tabledancer, Chatter1 and Henmeister relaxing in glorious sunshine with the Pimms poured
.
Wednesday was spent schooling and hacking and on Thursday I decided to increase Smartie's ring experience by entering her in the WH in the main ring. She had a couple of poles down but jumped round really nicely, if a little greenly and looked just the sort I thought
. Luckily for me there were one or two moonlighting eventers in the class as I only had my XC saddle, but figured if Caroline Powell could go in in hers then so could I!
On Thursday evening Tabledancer and KatB helped me to school her and gave me some pointers ('SLOW HER DOWN'
). Some schooling in the sun (on the steeplechase course
) pics:
She isn't really strong enough behind yet to work through properly which I think is evident from the photos and I am horrified by how far forwards I tip and how low my hands are
. Please don't shoot me for it - it has been noted and will be improved
. A visit to the Lochore's drinks party was a rather nice end to the day.
Friday's test went off quite well. The arena felt tiny for such a big unbalanced horse but I felt like a real pro with my team of last-minute polishers, quarter-mark tidiers and video-cameramen. We fluffed the second canter transition a little and got a 3 but everything alse was good enough and the final halt perfectly square
.
I felt like my mark of 43 could have been a 38 or 39 but don't we always??
. Sorrows were drowned with Pimms and a barbeque and after that the mark didn't look quite so bad!
Saturday was roads and tracks and steeplechse with me mounted and away on phase A at 8.12am
. I swear KatB applied the quartermarks without even opening her eyes
(perfectly as always!
).
In the dim and distant past I've done some long-format eventing so I was slightly less panicky about the timing aspect than some, but my stopwatch wouldn't play ball so I had to catch the person in front of me up on phases A and C and hope that they weren't too far behind time.
Smartie went into her first ever start box for the 'chase. We went steadily to the first then motored on round to come 2 secs inside the time - the first one of the day. KatB's photography skills had been left in bed
and we got a couple of lovely 'nearly' jumping pics:
I came into the 10min box about 2 mins early (amazing without a watch
) and the vet commented that she was the fittest horse he had checked yet (didn't like to tell him that she'd only been in from the field 6 weeks
).
I was a bit worried about the XC. It wasn't big but caused major problems and we had no experince to draw on. I'd popped the CCI warm up fences with my brave pants on the previous evening
as I was conscious that she hadn't seen solid fences very often and I was proved right on the XC course. Four cumulative stops was the end of our event
. On every occasion she stopped for a look first time then popped over boldly the second time, so no major issues but she will need to learn that eventers have to jump first time every time without looking!!!!
I am still very pleased with her as it was a huge week of 'firsts' and to be honest she was an old pro all week - speaking to other riders she must have looked the part as most assumed that she was there for the CCI
.
We watched the rest of the XC on Sat - including Tabledancer and Chatter1's fantastic rounds and enjoyed the party. Ian Stark and Fiona Malcolm put on a fantastic display to win the 'Strictly Come Dancing' competition (judged by half the ground jury and Nigel Taylor
) and I gained some impressive bruises from ceilidh-dancing with some pro's who should be old enough to know better.....
On Sunday we cheered on Kerilli in the Nov, Tabledancer and Chatter1 in the CCI Sjing and nearly cried for Ruth Edge
She's a tough bird so god knows how bad she must have been feeling
. Then packed up and set off home to arrive back in Yorkshire for 3am
Huge thanks to KatB for her professional grooming skills, Kerilli for her driving skills and the rest of the gang for their entertainment skills
(not to mention Chatter1's fantastic result
).
What a week, what an experience!
The original plan was to take Carthorse to Burgie for the CCI* but his Sjing hasn't just been brilliant recently and whilst he has improved I decided not to take him on that basis.
However the stable was booked, the time off work was arranged and the transport was (sort of) sorted and I still wanted to go... sooooooo to celebrate 5 and a half weeks of owning Smartie I decided to take her instead and the nice people in the Burgie office were more than happy to transfer my entry to the Taster 3DE instead
This is what is known in eventing terminology as 'dropping a horse in at the deep end'
So on Tuesday we met up with Kerilli and KatB, trekked the 8 hours to Burgie (did I mention that Smartie has only been in a lorry once in the last 3 years?
Wednesday was spent schooling and hacking and on Thursday I decided to increase Smartie's ring experience by entering her in the WH in the main ring. She had a couple of poles down but jumped round really nicely, if a little greenly and looked just the sort I thought
On Thursday evening Tabledancer and KatB helped me to school her and gave me some pointers ('SLOW HER DOWN'
She isn't really strong enough behind yet to work through properly which I think is evident from the photos and I am horrified by how far forwards I tip and how low my hands are
Friday's test went off quite well. The arena felt tiny for such a big unbalanced horse but I felt like a real pro with my team of last-minute polishers, quarter-mark tidiers and video-cameramen. We fluffed the second canter transition a little and got a 3 but everything alse was good enough and the final halt perfectly square
I felt like my mark of 43 could have been a 38 or 39 but don't we always??
Saturday was roads and tracks and steeplechse with me mounted and away on phase A at 8.12am
In the dim and distant past I've done some long-format eventing so I was slightly less panicky about the timing aspect than some, but my stopwatch wouldn't play ball so I had to catch the person in front of me up on phases A and C and hope that they weren't too far behind time.
Smartie went into her first ever start box for the 'chase. We went steadily to the first then motored on round to come 2 secs inside the time - the first one of the day. KatB's photography skills had been left in bed
I came into the 10min box about 2 mins early (amazing without a watch
I was a bit worried about the XC. It wasn't big but caused major problems and we had no experince to draw on. I'd popped the CCI warm up fences with my brave pants on the previous evening
I am still very pleased with her as it was a huge week of 'firsts' and to be honest she was an old pro all week - speaking to other riders she must have looked the part as most assumed that she was there for the CCI
We watched the rest of the XC on Sat - including Tabledancer and Chatter1's fantastic rounds and enjoyed the party. Ian Stark and Fiona Malcolm put on a fantastic display to win the 'Strictly Come Dancing' competition (judged by half the ground jury and Nigel Taylor
On Sunday we cheered on Kerilli in the Nov, Tabledancer and Chatter1 in the CCI Sjing and nearly cried for Ruth Edge
Huge thanks to KatB for her professional grooming skills, Kerilli for her driving skills and the rest of the gang for their entertainment skills
What a week, what an experience!
