Chirmapops
Well-Known Member
Hello all, first time I've done one of these, it was a big occasion so I thought some of you might be interested...
Arrived at yard at 9 to muck out and do jobs as I knew we’d be getting back late (test time was 4.15pm). Put horse in sand paddock, then watched in horror as she proceeded to do all sorts of OTT gymnastics… she always gets so excited when she’s going to a party – I just don’t know how she knows. Managed to recapture her and put some overreach boots on – last thing I wanted was for her to pull a shoe off an hour before we were due to set off!
Two and a half hour journey down to Field House – by far the longest time Chirma’s spent travelling but she was quiet as a mouse all the way down. Stood happily to be plaited up when we were there, and then hopped on board for the arena walk. The embarrassing creature had a bit of a meltdown over a flower pot in the warm up arena but was generally good for the arena walk, apart from the moment as I was halfway through saying to mum “Oh she’s fine with the flowers in he…” SPOOK! Only a tiny one though, really, and we finished the arena walk feeling quite relaxed.
Half an hour to potter about and watch a few tests before I tacked up again. Warm up felt really good, had her doing some leg yield, shoulder in and a bit of sideways in canter, plus masses and masses of counter canter and lots of collected trot to big trot transitions. My theory was that if I did lots of the hard stuff in the warm up, the test itself would feel easy (especially as test was Novice 38 which, um, I hadn't actually ridden at a show. Ever).
Our time came, and down we headed, only a minor wobble about going under the big arch and trotted round the outside of the ring really calmly. First turn off the centre line felt lovely and balanced, which gave me lots of confidence and we floated through the rest of the test very happily. Was really pleased with the straightness of the counter canter coming back across the diagonal and the crispness of the transitions in and out of the medium trot, plus above all with Chirma’s attitude – she’s not always been the easiest horse, but she really let me ride her and was totally tuned in. Here’s some pics…
However, usually when I’ve come out of the ring feeling particularly pleased with me test we’ve had a bit of a rubbish score, and the marks on the scoreboard were mostly in the 65%-66% region, so I was steeling myself a little bit. Anyway, we were just having a cup of tea after popping Chirms back in the trailer when the commentator came on with a scores update… we’d got 70.4% and gone into the lead!
There was a tense 40 minutes or so while we waited for the last 5 competitors to do their test – and two of them came very close, but no-one else broke the 70% barrier so we won and we’re off to Hartpury for the Winter Champs! Hurrah! Here’s a video and some pictures, and tea and biscuits for anyone who managed to make it through that lot…
[video=Youtube;NJcFHrufbK0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJcFHrufbK0[/video]
Arrived at yard at 9 to muck out and do jobs as I knew we’d be getting back late (test time was 4.15pm). Put horse in sand paddock, then watched in horror as she proceeded to do all sorts of OTT gymnastics… she always gets so excited when she’s going to a party – I just don’t know how she knows. Managed to recapture her and put some overreach boots on – last thing I wanted was for her to pull a shoe off an hour before we were due to set off!
Two and a half hour journey down to Field House – by far the longest time Chirma’s spent travelling but she was quiet as a mouse all the way down. Stood happily to be plaited up when we were there, and then hopped on board for the arena walk. The embarrassing creature had a bit of a meltdown over a flower pot in the warm up arena but was generally good for the arena walk, apart from the moment as I was halfway through saying to mum “Oh she’s fine with the flowers in he…” SPOOK! Only a tiny one though, really, and we finished the arena walk feeling quite relaxed.
Half an hour to potter about and watch a few tests before I tacked up again. Warm up felt really good, had her doing some leg yield, shoulder in and a bit of sideways in canter, plus masses and masses of counter canter and lots of collected trot to big trot transitions. My theory was that if I did lots of the hard stuff in the warm up, the test itself would feel easy (especially as test was Novice 38 which, um, I hadn't actually ridden at a show. Ever).
Our time came, and down we headed, only a minor wobble about going under the big arch and trotted round the outside of the ring really calmly. First turn off the centre line felt lovely and balanced, which gave me lots of confidence and we floated through the rest of the test very happily. Was really pleased with the straightness of the counter canter coming back across the diagonal and the crispness of the transitions in and out of the medium trot, plus above all with Chirma’s attitude – she’s not always been the easiest horse, but she really let me ride her and was totally tuned in. Here’s some pics…
However, usually when I’ve come out of the ring feeling particularly pleased with me test we’ve had a bit of a rubbish score, and the marks on the scoreboard were mostly in the 65%-66% region, so I was steeling myself a little bit. Anyway, we were just having a cup of tea after popping Chirms back in the trailer when the commentator came on with a scores update… we’d got 70.4% and gone into the lead!
There was a tense 40 minutes or so while we waited for the last 5 competitors to do their test – and two of them came very close, but no-one else broke the 70% barrier so we won and we’re off to Hartpury for the Winter Champs! Hurrah! Here’s a video and some pictures, and tea and biscuits for anyone who managed to make it through that lot…
[video=Youtube;NJcFHrufbK0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJcFHrufbK0[/video]
really well done, she is gorgeous 
