Gamebird
Well-Known Member
It's been a while, guys. I've been following the forum but haven't been commenting or posting much, mostly due to a new job, a house (and indeed county) move and a recent lack of participation in eventing. However I thought I'd do a wee update from our scorcher of a weekend at the RC Areas.
Our Area runs the jumping on the Saturday and the dressage on the Sunday of the same weekend so those of us who participate in both go and stay over (under canvas in my case!) and because you're there with a team rather than on your own there's a bit of a party atmosphere and competitive barbecuing on the Saturday night. Unfortunately the rest of my riding club was competing in the lower levels which I'm not eligible for so I had to go as an individual in most things but I'd still found myself with plenty to do - two rounds of the Open jumping plus the style jumping on Saturday, and a riding test, elementary dressage and... medium dressage
on the Sunday. I have never ridden a medium test before, Fugly ain't really the epitome of a dressage horse - he's still 17.2, gangly and not quite grown into his frame yet. However I have IHateWork to blame for it - she sowed the idea that we could have a bash at it when she reported on doing the Medium at her Areas and in a rash moment I told the team manager to enter us.
We've been practicing hard and even hired a 20x60 last week to play at being posh, but which mostly confirmed (via the mirrors) how wobbly my belly is and how badly I sit. Charlotte D has nothing to worry about!
But still, it was a BIG ask and the Elem was also E42 which I swore I'd never ride again on Fugly as it's a horrid test which plays to all his weaknesses. I also looked at the list of entrants for the E42 which had some pretty impressive horses/jockeys and I didn't think I even had a chance of a placing. I was considering going in disguise and doing the Prelim instead!
We jumped in the heat on Saturday and had one down in the first round of the Open (not the hugest course but quite tight in the indoor) and two down in the second round - the course for this was the biggest I've seen at a qualifier. The first two fences were kind but they got pretty impressive after that and the last fence was a Swedish oxer which was bang on 1.10 (a BS 1.10 ) in the middle, but jumped much bigger as the high sides were more like 1.30. I was very pleased with that. We'd have had to win to qualify and that wasn't going to happen so I just wanted two forwards flowing rounds, which I got. Supergroom was there (she hasn't seen us jumping for 3 or 4 months) and said we were changed almost beyond recognition and my eye for a nice moderately long shot was hugely better.
Picture - bought, paid for and purchased as a digital image from Chris Lax with permission for FB, forums, blogs etc. etc.
I don't think we'll mention the style jumping - I'm normally quite good at this but don't think I put in maximum effort over what were, for us, tiny fences. Still, I helped/hindered us to team 3rd, so still got a rosette .
An evening of gentle partying and hugely competitive rounders was followed by a night in a rather warm tent mostly spent trying to ensure I knew all three tests.
M69 was our first test and we followed a gorgeous cob x who could collect beautifully, did nice half-pass and looked very pro in a blingy double bridle. In fact he was all the things we're not! I was sure he had it in the bag so just wanted to go in, achieve my aim of 60% and just look like we deserved to be there. The stand was filled with supporters so there was an incentive to do our very best...
... which we did. I loved every moment of it and felt so proud to be doing it. We had a small jump in our first walk pirouette when a door slammed right next to us and I saluted with my whip hand at the end (doh! spot the eventer who doesn't usually carry a whip! ) but after my salute I got a huge cheer/round of applause and I rode out on a long rein like a proper soppy thing with my heart swelling and my eyes welling (there's poetry in there somewhere ).
My riding test was horrid in comparison - on grass, on a slope and inadequately prepared!!
When I finally went to get Fugly from his stable for the last test of the day I nearly couldn't make myself do it. He was hiding at the back sleeping, looked absolutely shattered and generally hot and bothered. We had to do it though and I gave the warm-up my best go, repeating all the lateral work from the Medium test and doing lots of collected/medium transitions.
I rode the test in sitting, which I don't usually do at this level, to drive him forwards a bit but I know it's an awkward test for him and frankly I think we'd have been better off if I'd carried him, rather than the other way round. I'd already written off our chances in this class though so I wasn't too bothered.
So now the bit you've been waiting for...
In M69 I crossed my fingers, hoped and prayed for >60%. We not only got 67.6% but also won the class!
And the horrid E42? In a large class of very smart horses? 70.31% and won that one too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am still in shock and have a lovely collection of rosettes, medals and a trophy. And two sheets that I am very proud of. Apparently I just kept wandering around looking bemused saying 'but I can't do dressage!'.
We're all a bit tired today (Fugly laid down straight after breakfast and slept all morning - apparently you could hear him snoring from the other end of the yard) and it hasn't really sunk in but I'm off to the National Champs to contest both classes. A little bit of me thinks we're not really good enough to go, despite evidence to the contrary.
A few years ago I said that as an all-rounder/amateur the most I could ever hope to achieve was to compete at BE Int, BS Foxhunter and Medium dressage - now, thanks to some wonderful home-produced horses, I've had a bash at all three.
I'd like to thank Fugly for being utterly wonderful and Meardsall_Millie for helping transform our dressage and mostly for not fainting when I told her we'd entered the Medium!!
Our Area runs the jumping on the Saturday and the dressage on the Sunday of the same weekend so those of us who participate in both go and stay over (under canvas in my case!) and because you're there with a team rather than on your own there's a bit of a party atmosphere and competitive barbecuing on the Saturday night. Unfortunately the rest of my riding club was competing in the lower levels which I'm not eligible for so I had to go as an individual in most things but I'd still found myself with plenty to do - two rounds of the Open jumping plus the style jumping on Saturday, and a riding test, elementary dressage and... medium dressage
on the Sunday. I have never ridden a medium test before, Fugly ain't really the epitome of a dressage horse - he's still 17.2, gangly and not quite grown into his frame yet. However I have IHateWork to blame for it - she sowed the idea that we could have a bash at it when she reported on doing the Medium at her Areas and in a rash moment I told the team manager to enter us. We've been practicing hard and even hired a 20x60 last week to play at being posh, but which mostly confirmed (via the mirrors) how wobbly my belly is and how badly I sit
. Charlotte D has nothing to worry about!
But still, it was a BIG ask and the Elem was also E42 which I swore I'd never ride again on Fugly as it's a horrid test which plays to all his weaknesses. I also looked at the list of entrants for the E42 which had some pretty impressive horses/jockeys and I didn't think I even had a chance of a placing. I was considering going in disguise and doing the Prelim instead!
We jumped in the heat on Saturday and had one down in the first round of the Open (not the hugest course but quite tight in the indoor) and two down in the second round - the course for this was the biggest I've seen at a qualifier. The first two fences were kind but they got pretty impressive after that and the last fence was a Swedish oxer which was bang on 1.10 (a BS 1.10
) in the middle, but jumped much bigger as the high sides were more like 1.30. I was very pleased with that. We'd have had to win to qualify and that wasn't going to happen so I just wanted two forwards flowing rounds, which I got. Supergroom was there (she hasn't seen us jumping for 3 or 4 months) and said we were changed almost beyond recognition and my eye for a nice moderately long shot was hugely better.Picture - bought, paid for and purchased as a digital image from Chris Lax with permission for FB, forums, blogs etc. etc.
I don't think we'll mention the style jumping - I'm normally quite good at this but don't think I put in maximum effort over what were, for us, tiny fences
. Still, I helped/hindered us to team 3rd, so still got a rosette .An evening of gentle partying and hugely competitive rounders was followed by a night in a rather warm tent mostly spent trying to ensure I knew all three tests.
M69 was our first test and we followed a gorgeous cob x who could collect beautifully, did nice half-pass and looked very pro in a blingy double bridle. In fact he was all the things we're not! I was sure he had it in the bag so just wanted to go in, achieve my aim of 60% and just look like we deserved to be there. The stand was filled with supporters so there was an incentive to do our very best...
... which we did. I loved every moment of it and felt so proud to be doing it. We had a small jump in our first walk pirouette when a door slammed right next to us and I saluted with my whip hand at the end (doh!
spot the eventer who doesn't usually carry a whip! ) but after my salute I got a huge cheer/round of applause and I rode out on a long rein like a proper soppy thing with my heart swelling and my eyes welling (there's poetry in there somewhere ).My riding test was horrid in comparison - on grass, on a slope and inadequately prepared!!
When I finally went to get Fugly from his stable for the last test of the day I nearly couldn't make myself do it. He was hiding at the back sleeping, looked absolutely shattered and generally hot and bothered. We had to do it though and I gave the warm-up my best go, repeating all the lateral work from the Medium test and doing lots of collected/medium transitions.
I rode the test in sitting, which I don't usually do at this level, to drive him forwards a bit but I know it's an awkward test for him and frankly I think we'd have been better off if I'd carried him, rather than the other way round. I'd already written off our chances in this class though so I wasn't too bothered.
So now the bit you've been waiting for...
In M69 I crossed my fingers, hoped and prayed for >60%. We not only got 67.6% but also won the class!
And the horrid E42? In a large class of very smart horses? 70.31% and won that one too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am still in shock and have a lovely collection of rosettes, medals and a trophy. And two sheets that I am very proud of. Apparently I just kept wandering around looking bemused saying 'but I can't do dressage!'
.We're all a bit tired today (Fugly laid down straight after breakfast and slept all morning - apparently you could hear him snoring from the other end of the yard) and it hasn't really sunk in but I'm off to the National Champs to contest both classes. A little bit of me thinks we're not really good enough to go, despite evidence to the contrary
.A few years ago I said that as an all-rounder/amateur the most I could ever hope to achieve was to compete at BE Int, BS Foxhunter and Medium dressage - now, thanks to some wonderful home-produced horses, I've had a bash at all three
.I'd like to thank Fugly for being utterly wonderful and Meardsall_Millie for helping transform our dressage and mostly for not fainting when I told her we'd entered the Medium!!
