HaffiesRock
Well-Known Member
I wanted to try something new this year and the local equestrian center had a little TREC competition today. Just an unaffiliated with orienteering and control of paces, but it sounded like a laugh.
I have never done anything like this before and I am not well known for my sense of direction! I saw it as a good opportunity to learn some local hacking routes.
My friend and I decided to do pairs as well as the individual so we duly arrived first thing to take a copy of the map. We don't know the area so were already at a disadvantage as everyone else did. We took down the route and thought it looked straight forward, so we headed off to the yard to collect the ponies.
On we hopped and we headed off on the 30 minute hack back to the equestrian center. We arrived, booked in and off we set!
We became lost almost immediately! The route was nowhere near as easy as it looked on the map! We got back on track and found our first marker! The route was great with lots of long canter opportunities (2 of which had markers on that we spotted mid canter)
We made it about 2/3 of the way round and the heavens opened. My map disintegrated in seconds! We had one more copy but it was raining too heavily to take it out. It was quite a winding route and we tried from memory but got hopelessly lost. We ended up at the same check point three times! We sheltered under a tree and took out the remaining map and managed to see it well enough to find our way home. We did miss out one check point but we were so cold and wet we didn't care!
We arrived back and went straight into the control of paces, which was fine! My pony is a little wizzy but he was settled and did as I asked. We did the fast walk very close to optimum time and the slow canter a little too fast but better than I'd hoped for so I was really pleased.
We were soaked to the skin so headed back to the yard. It was the longest, coldest ride home ever! We arrived back just in time for the wind to pick up and the rain to come down harder :/ We sorted the ponies out before headed home for a much needed shower and change. Then we headed back to the equestrian center for the presentation.
I felt we did OK but was a little miffed we'd missed off a check point and we came in a little over the optimum time. I didn't expect much in the way of a placing but hoped to not come last
When they announced we came 3rd in pairs we were over the moon! So imagine my surprise when they announced that I had won the individual competition!! My friend and I got the most amount of markers (a lot missed the 2 on the long canter sections) and I got the most points for the walk and just over half for the canter. I was completely shocked but ecstatic!
So we will be doing this more often! We learned a lot and will know how to do it better next time. The next comp should hopefully have the obstacle section too so we will get practicing.
Sorry for the pointless post, I just wanted to share.
I have never done anything like this before and I am not well known for my sense of direction! I saw it as a good opportunity to learn some local hacking routes.
My friend and I decided to do pairs as well as the individual so we duly arrived first thing to take a copy of the map. We don't know the area so were already at a disadvantage as everyone else did. We took down the route and thought it looked straight forward, so we headed off to the yard to collect the ponies.
On we hopped and we headed off on the 30 minute hack back to the equestrian center. We arrived, booked in and off we set!
We became lost almost immediately! The route was nowhere near as easy as it looked on the map! We got back on track and found our first marker! The route was great with lots of long canter opportunities (2 of which had markers on that we spotted mid canter)
We made it about 2/3 of the way round and the heavens opened. My map disintegrated in seconds! We had one more copy but it was raining too heavily to take it out. It was quite a winding route and we tried from memory but got hopelessly lost. We ended up at the same check point three times! We sheltered under a tree and took out the remaining map and managed to see it well enough to find our way home. We did miss out one check point but we were so cold and wet we didn't care!
We arrived back and went straight into the control of paces, which was fine! My pony is a little wizzy but he was settled and did as I asked. We did the fast walk very close to optimum time and the slow canter a little too fast but better than I'd hoped for so I was really pleased.
We were soaked to the skin so headed back to the yard. It was the longest, coldest ride home ever! We arrived back just in time for the wind to pick up and the rain to come down harder :/ We sorted the ponies out before headed home for a much needed shower and change. Then we headed back to the equestrian center for the presentation.
I felt we did OK but was a little miffed we'd missed off a check point and we came in a little over the optimum time. I didn't expect much in the way of a placing but hoped to not come last
When they announced we came 3rd in pairs we were over the moon! So imagine my surprise when they announced that I had won the individual competition!! My friend and I got the most amount of markers (a lot missed the 2 on the long canter sections) and I got the most points for the walk and just over half for the canter. I was completely shocked but ecstatic! So we will be doing this more often! We learned a lot and will know how to do it better next time. The next comp should hopefully have the obstacle section too so we will get practicing.
Sorry for the pointless post, I just wanted to share.
