Joss
Well-Known Member
Twas an excited quartet that set off to Brechin on Friday afternoon for our maiden voyage of 2009. 5 hours later we arrived & had only just got our boys out for a leg stretch & a pick of grass & cans of beer & glasses of wine were being offered out of lorry windows. I remember why I love the Scottish Event circuit so much
A very social & more than alcoholic evening followed which included a BBQ & then into Laura's lovely lorry (I knew Oakley supremes were good but never knew they had such extensive cellars
) for lots of singing along with Neil & the guitar.
A full 4 hours uninterrupted sleep
& it was time for action.As Table Dancer discovered last week the actual eventing bit of eventing does rather get in the way of the more important social side
First into action was the OH & Echo doing his 4th event of his career & his 2nd BE100. Not off to a great start as the dressage was.....umm what shall we say.....rather tense & included a couple of extra moves not required by dressage judges
& the resulting 'Personal Worst' of 38.5 was no great surprise.
The SJ was neither big nor techinical but it was very bright, they like their plastic fillers at Brechin, so on a forward going horse it was hard not to over-ride the spooky ones. However, Echo managed one of his most controlled rounds to date & was damn unlucky to roll the front rail of a parallel so just 4 faults.
The XC was lovely, ground slightly on the firm side of ideal but well agrovated some lovely fences & nothing to overly worry about so long as you didnt have a problem with water (there were 3!). Echo strode round very confidently, no sticky moments & a lovely round. Spun along but didnt go mad resulting in 5 time faults. The time was quite hard to get as there were a couple of steep downhill bits which required steadying right up. With the exception of the dressage a pleasing first run but I shall ignore the OH requests to upgrade to Novice at Floors another couple of BE100 runs will not do him any harm.
So, eventually it was my turn. Had done a bit of dressage warming up in the morning & got him back out again a good 30 mins prior to my test & he was still hyper, eventually settled nicely outside & I was hopeful of a decent test but oh no no as soon as we were near the arena he danced about & generally acted like a daft 5 year old there was absolutely no sign of walk whatsoever (& to think he is bloody lazy on the flat 90% of the time arrr
) So another PW for us (41)
SJ again not big although triple rail to double of uprights was there to catch the out of control (US
) we didnt wish to disappoint to course builder so oblidgingly knocked the first part of this double so 4 faults.
XC was grand, really nothing to hinder a XC machine like Bruno - so please tell me why oh why was a so flipping nervous - I had forgotten what nerves were like, wasnt sure whether I wanted to cry/ be sick or go to sleep. I think I was worried that I wouldnt be able to hold him & last year I didnt give the small roll top type last fence any respect at all & I fell off! But really no need for the nerves - he was fine. Strong but did respond to good hard pulls in front of the combo fences. Took a really, really good pull to the last - no chances taken & clear with 4 time. Nearer last than first in a mega competitive section but hopefully its taken the extreme freshness off ready for OI at Central Scotland next weekend.
Twas a very quiet quartet that got home at 1 am this morning
A full 4 hours uninterrupted sleep
First into action was the OH & Echo doing his 4th event of his career & his 2nd BE100. Not off to a great start as the dressage was.....umm what shall we say.....rather tense & included a couple of extra moves not required by dressage judges
The SJ was neither big nor techinical but it was very bright, they like their plastic fillers at Brechin, so on a forward going horse it was hard not to over-ride the spooky ones. However, Echo managed one of his most controlled rounds to date & was damn unlucky to roll the front rail of a parallel so just 4 faults.
The XC was lovely, ground slightly on the firm side of ideal but well agrovated some lovely fences & nothing to overly worry about so long as you didnt have a problem with water (there were 3!). Echo strode round very confidently, no sticky moments & a lovely round. Spun along but didnt go mad resulting in 5 time faults. The time was quite hard to get as there were a couple of steep downhill bits which required steadying right up. With the exception of the dressage a pleasing first run but I shall ignore the OH requests to upgrade to Novice at Floors another couple of BE100 runs will not do him any harm.
So, eventually it was my turn. Had done a bit of dressage warming up in the morning & got him back out again a good 30 mins prior to my test & he was still hyper, eventually settled nicely outside & I was hopeful of a decent test but oh no no as soon as we were near the arena he danced about & generally acted like a daft 5 year old there was absolutely no sign of walk whatsoever (& to think he is bloody lazy on the flat 90% of the time arrr
SJ again not big although triple rail to double of uprights was there to catch the out of control (US
XC was grand, really nothing to hinder a XC machine like Bruno - so please tell me why oh why was a so flipping nervous - I had forgotten what nerves were like, wasnt sure whether I wanted to cry/ be sick or go to sleep. I think I was worried that I wouldnt be able to hold him & last year I didnt give the small roll top type last fence any respect at all & I fell off! But really no need for the nerves - he was fine. Strong but did respond to good hard pulls in front of the combo fences. Took a really, really good pull to the last - no chances taken & clear with 4 time. Nearer last than first in a mega competitive section but hopefully its taken the extreme freshness off ready for OI at Central Scotland next weekend.
Twas a very quiet quartet that got home at 1 am this morning
