Rosiefan
Well-Known Member
An early start for Brigstock + a broken down lorry on the A14 (not ours) which caused a looong tail-back = a surprisingly enjoyable day!
Think we arrived about 9 and the usual routine, R sent her minions (me and her Mum) off to collect numbers/part with money etc while she walked the course which was apparently just right (BE100) for Bolly and a couple of 'um er shall I do the alternatives' (Nov) for Frodo. In particular she was worried about a big hedge with a ditch under it, some log things, the water and well, quite a few of them I think.
No time to worry about it too much as it was time to warm up for Bolly's stressage which he did nicely enough and scored 33. More or less straight up to the SJ which we thought was a bit kinder than Nurstead and he did a steady clear and then on to the fun bit. We were a bit worried after the 20 pens they got at Nurstead for tangling with the new circling at black flag routes rules - at least we think that's what happened. We shouldn't have been though as they flew round without a care in the world and reappeared at the finish surprisingly soon after the horse that went before them and while the one who followed was at fence 6! Too fast TFs we thought but we were wrong - just - one second faster and ......
Frodo's turn and he was being very lazy and subdued in the DR warm up but as R's Mum pointed out, he had been stomping around on the lorry all the time Bolly was out and about and he was probably knackered. Rosie didn't take my advice to take him over to watch the XC start to wake him up - can't think why - and instead wore herself out trying to make him make him put a bit more effort into it. They did a better test than at Nurstead apparently although his relative lack of experience was evident and he scored exactly the same, 34.3, which was well down in the bottom third. A vid of some of it here.
She officially had a 1hr+ gap until her SJ, but on the strength of the lowly test score she decided to see if she could do the next 2 bits early (so she could get home in good time to go out partying with her mates
). Again the course looked quite kind compared to last time, he was still being a bit dozey but he managed a clear with a few sharp intakes of breath from her Mum and Dad. Video here. While we were walking back to the lorry they announced the BE100 final places and good old Bolly had come 4th so big all round.
Off to the XC warm-up, a couple of practice jumps and at last he woke up. I filmed the bits I could see from my vantage point up on the mound with the castle thing on top. He looked to be going really well at the beginning and finished full of running having done all the direct routes. Video (mostly galloping through the trees). He was washed, patted a lot, walked and ate (including trying to nick the remains of our picnic) and back on the lorry. We went to collect Bolly's frilly (and a cheque) and to have a look at the scoreboard. There were hardly any full results up - not surprising as R had been only the fourth one on the Novice course but hers was and we could see that he'd finished 2 seconds inside the time . No chance of a frilly though so we headed for home, getting back to the yard approximately 13 hours after we'd left that morning. A long day but thoroughly satisfying and Frodo has his first proper BE point just one day after his 6th birthday . Oh, and he finished up 13th so I'm a very happy owner - thank you Rosie xx.
The ground was excellent and, as an owner (albeit an unofficial one as I'd rather give the registration fee to Rosie for more training lessons) I'm just off to fill in my feedback form on the ERA site. Thank you for reading the above waffle if you have
Think we arrived about 9 and the usual routine, R sent her minions (me and her Mum) off to collect numbers/part with money etc while she walked the course which was apparently just right (BE100) for Bolly and a couple of 'um er shall I do the alternatives' (Nov) for Frodo. In particular she was worried about a big hedge with a ditch under it, some log things, the water and well, quite a few of them I think.
No time to worry about it too much as it was time to warm up for Bolly's stressage which he did nicely enough and scored 33. More or less straight up to the SJ which we thought was a bit kinder than Nurstead and he did a steady clear and then on to the fun bit. We were a bit worried after the 20 pens they got at Nurstead for tangling with the new circling at black flag routes rules - at least we think that's what happened. We shouldn't have been though as they flew round without a care in the world and reappeared at the finish surprisingly soon after the horse that went before them and while the one who followed was at fence 6! Too fast TFs we thought but we were wrong - just - one second faster and ......
Frodo's turn and he was being very lazy and subdued in the DR warm up but as R's Mum pointed out, he had been stomping around on the lorry all the time Bolly was out and about and he was probably knackered. Rosie didn't take my advice to take him over to watch the XC start to wake him up - can't think why - and instead wore herself out trying to make him make him put a bit more effort into it. They did a better test than at Nurstead apparently although his relative lack of experience was evident and he scored exactly the same, 34.3, which was well down in the bottom third. A vid of some of it here.
She officially had a 1hr+ gap until her SJ, but on the strength of the lowly test score she decided to see if she could do the next 2 bits early (so she could get home in good time to go out partying with her mates
). Again the course looked quite kind compared to last time, he was still being a bit dozey but he managed a clear with a few sharp intakes of breath from her Mum and Dad. Video here. While we were walking back to the lorry they announced the BE100 final places and good old Bolly had come 4th so big all round.Off to the XC warm-up, a couple of practice jumps and at last he woke up. I filmed the bits I could see from my vantage point up on the mound with the castle thing on top. He looked to be going really well at the beginning and finished full of running having done all the direct routes. Video (mostly galloping through the trees). He was washed, patted a lot, walked and ate (including trying to nick the remains of our picnic) and back on the lorry. We went to collect Bolly's frilly (and a cheque
) and to have a look at the scoreboard. There were hardly any full results up - not surprising as R had been only the fourth one on the Novice course but hers was and we could see that he'd finished 2 seconds inside the time . No chance of a frilly though so we headed for home, getting back to the yard approximately 13 hours after we'd left that morning. A long day but thoroughly satisfying and Frodo has his first proper BE point just one day after his 6th birthday . Oh, and he finished up 13th so I'm a very happy owner - thank you Rosie xx.The ground was excellent and, as an owner (albeit an unofficial one as I'd rather give the registration fee to Rosie for more training lessons) I'm just off to fill in my feedback form on the ERA site. Thank you for reading the above waffle if you have
