CastleMouse
Well-Known Member
Couldn't go to the charity show this morning as originally planned as my Father got caught up with something and we would have been in quite a rush getting up there! Instead we went to an SJAI event which wasn't as far away, and the horse classes started early in the afternoon which was perfect.
The rain was unbelievable. We had to warm-up outdoors, and had the choice of warming-up in a very deep sand arena or a very muddy field... I walked the course (the course stays the same for all classes, except the height goes up for each class obviously!) and I was a huge bag of nerves! My main worry was the first fence, which had a spooky red filler with pigs underneath it. I was convinced Ali would object to it... Also walked the jump off course even though I doubted I would get through to the second round in either class... I'm terrible at remembering showjumping courses so was frantically pointing and counting out each fence before I got Ali ready
I warmed Ali up on the flat in the small sand arena and then jumped in the horrible, muddy field. He was an absolute star, and I was a nervous wreck!
I was wearing my black hunting jacket, but as everyone was so wet in their showjackets they allowed us to wear waterproof jackets - Thank God!
Did the 90cm class first, I told my Dad that if everything went horribly wrong then I would certainly not be doing the 1m class... But Ali flew around the whole course and looked after me so well, even when I got my striding all wrong and put him in too deep into a few fences
I couldn't believe we had gotten through to the jump off! We sped around the jump off course (I had practically no brakes, but had some steering fortunately! :lol
but had the second part of a double down. It was completely my fault, but I was still absolutely thrilled with both rounds. Our round was the fastest though!
I then did the 1m class... Again, I was extremely nervous... I kept going through what could go wrong this time, which is a terrible thing I do at every show! Ali got FAR too strong towards the end of the course, and unfortunately we had the last fence down. Apparantly our round was the fastest of the day according to the course builder!
I'm absolutely THRILLED with Ali, it was my first SJAI event with him and he was an absolute star!
A friend of mine was filming us so she should be e-mailing those clips onto me later tonight, I stupidly forgot my camera as I was rushing around this morning!
The rain was unbelievable. We had to warm-up outdoors, and had the choice of warming-up in a very deep sand arena or a very muddy field... I walked the course (the course stays the same for all classes, except the height goes up for each class obviously!) and I was a huge bag of nerves! My main worry was the first fence, which had a spooky red filler with pigs underneath it. I was convinced Ali would object to it... Also walked the jump off course even though I doubted I would get through to the second round in either class... I'm terrible at remembering showjumping courses so was frantically pointing and counting out each fence before I got Ali ready
I warmed Ali up on the flat in the small sand arena and then jumped in the horrible, muddy field. He was an absolute star, and I was a nervous wreck!
Did the 90cm class first, I told my Dad that if everything went horribly wrong then I would certainly not be doing the 1m class... But Ali flew around the whole course and looked after me so well, even when I got my striding all wrong and put him in too deep into a few fences
but had the second part of a double down. It was completely my fault, but I was still absolutely thrilled with both rounds. Our round was the fastest though!
I then did the 1m class... Again, I was extremely nervous... I kept going through what could go wrong this time, which is a terrible thing I do at every show! Ali got FAR too strong towards the end of the course, and unfortunately we had the last fence down. Apparantly our round was the fastest of the day according to the course builder!
I'm absolutely THRILLED with Ali, it was my first SJAI event with him and he was an absolute star!
