Rosiefan
Well-Known Member
It was a long day - left the yard at 6am and got back to my house at 10pm but on the plus side we didn't get lost and managed to squeeze through Pangbourne 
. We got there in time for Rosie to walk the course while her Mum and I made coffee and did the paperwork. When R got back she said the course was the hardest N she's seen this season with a scary looking drop where the ground slopes down before the water and plenty of skinnies and corners - all up to height.
Bolly's dressage was first and he went ok but not as well as he can so we weren't surprised by the 36 pens. Then it was Frodo's turn - he'd had a couple of lessons since the PC Champs but he forgot what he'd learnt and did a mediocre test with a terrible final centre line - the 37 pens were well deserved. It's fairly boring but the video is here if you have 3 or 4 minutes to waste
We then had quite a long gap until the SJ for our sections started and Bolly was on first again. He went clear and then it was Frodo. The jumps were dressed with flowers and one basket was being adjusted when he was trotting round - moving flowers are seriously dangerous if you're a Frodo so there was a bit of silly behaviour but he settled again quickly and jumped really well just having an unlucky pole. Video.
The cross country is the other side of the road so I trotted over and decided to watch the drop and the water jump then scoot back through the gap in the hedge to catch the finish. The bits I filmed. He was a very good boy and popped round like a pro although after watching all those TBs speeding round Burghley he looks a bit 'pedestrian'. In fact he got 6 time which was by no means the worst in his section so he got lots of pats. Bolly's turn and Rosie wasn't necessarily expecting great things from him. He's just been hacked around for most of August because she'd been so busy working on Frodo for the Champs but he was a star and romped round. She took one long route (to give him an easier approach to one of the corners I think) but he still finished with only 7.2 time pens.
Charlie pony had come along for the ride so he came off the lorry at this point to stretch his little legs and have a munch at the grass while the other two were cooling off and it was my job to hang on to him. His head collar is much too big (really must get him one that fits) and of course it fell off - fortunately I noticed and managed to pull it back on to his neck so he didn't get loose but I was a bit
- I can just imagine the chaos a loose coloured mini shetland (if that's what he is - he's very small) careering round the lorry park would have caused!
So we loaded all 3 with nice fat haynets and pottered over to look at the scoreboard. Frodo was clearly going to be well down the order but it looked as though Bolly might be placed so we left an sae with the secretary and set off for the long journey home. Turns out Frodo ended up in 17th place. Without the pole he'd have been 15th and if he'd finished on his dressage score he'd have only been 9th - his test just wasn't good enough on the day. Bolly, however finished up in 7th and would have been 3rd without any time so he's super-swot of the week and goes to the top of the class.
Sorry, that's a bit long - thanks for reading if you have and coffee and croissants (I haven't actually got any croissants so they're very virtual but hey, the thought was there
).
. We got there in time for Rosie to walk the course while her Mum and I made coffee and did the paperwork. When R got back she said the course was the hardest N she's seen this season with a scary looking drop where the ground slopes down before the water and plenty of skinnies and corners - all up to height.Bolly's dressage was first and he went ok but not as well as he can so we weren't surprised by the 36 pens. Then it was Frodo's turn - he'd had a couple of lessons since the PC Champs but he forgot what he'd learnt and did a mediocre test with a terrible final centre line - the 37 pens were well deserved. It's fairly boring but the video is here if you have 3 or 4 minutes to waste
We then had quite a long gap until the SJ for our sections started and Bolly was on first again. He went clear and then it was Frodo. The jumps were dressed with flowers and one basket was being adjusted when he was trotting round - moving flowers are seriously dangerous if you're a Frodo so there was a bit of silly behaviour but he settled again quickly and jumped really well just having an unlucky pole. Video.
The cross country is the other side of the road so I trotted over and decided to watch the drop and the water jump then scoot back through the gap in the hedge to catch the finish. The bits I filmed. He was a very good boy and popped round like a pro although after watching all those TBs speeding round Burghley he looks a bit 'pedestrian'. In fact he got 6 time which was by no means the worst in his section so he got lots of pats. Bolly's turn and Rosie wasn't necessarily expecting great things from him. He's just been hacked around for most of August because she'd been so busy working on Frodo for the Champs but he was a star and romped round. She took one long route (to give him an easier approach to one of the corners I think) but he still finished with only 7.2 time pens.
Charlie pony had come along for the ride so he came off the lorry at this point to stretch his little legs and have a munch at the grass while the other two were cooling off and it was my job to hang on to him. His head collar is much too big (really must get him one that fits) and of course it fell off - fortunately I noticed and managed to pull it back on to his neck so he didn't get loose but I was a bit
- I can just imagine the chaos a loose coloured mini shetland (if that's what he is - he's very small) careering round the lorry park would have caused!So we loaded all 3 with nice fat haynets and pottered over to look at the scoreboard. Frodo was clearly going to be well down the order but it looked as though Bolly might be placed so we left an sae with the secretary and set off for the long journey home. Turns out Frodo ended up in 17th place. Without the pole he'd have been 15th and if he'd finished on his dressage score he'd have only been 9th - his test just wasn't good enough on the day. Bolly, however finished up in 7th and would have been 3rd without any time so he's super-swot of the week and goes to the top of the class
.Sorry, that's a bit long - thanks for reading if you have and coffee and croissants (I haven't actually got any croissants so they're very virtual but hey, the thought was there
).
).
. Thanks for that Jules