Elf On A Shelf
...
So yesterday was the Scottish Ex Racers Club Championships up at Blair Castle. GrayMo had qualified for both the in-hand and ridden classes and I had him in the ROR Class after. They have had a layout rearrangement for this year and so the racehorses were now in an arena surrounded by tradestands on 3 sides, the 4th side held the commentary box and the adjoining ring had show jumping in. Not ideal for any racehorse on the planet!
Gray warmed up fab, stripped down and went in for the in-hand. Walked round a little on his toes but looking good. The trot was away from the show jumping so cue the tail going up over the back, the head coming right up and in and the toes flicking right out! I burst into a fit of giggles next to him! Oh dear! We were pulled in 2nd initially but after failing to stand still sensibly and every time he was still he had a twisted leg that made him look like he had conformation faults that didn't exist he was dropped to 5th. As we left the ring GrayMo did the most perfect canter passage you could ever wish for down the tunnel back to the collecting ring! People pay good money for that and my horse was handing it out for free lol!
We were given a 15min warm up, tack change time before the ridden. Saddle on, steal someones mounting block to get on and promptly get rodeod with lol! Whoops! Managed to get him a bit more settled when an out of control horse came flying straight for me so Gray had to dive to the side so I ended up half off so that was another excuse to bronc ... Anywho! We make into the ring in one piece, didn't do overly much walk, more a bouncy, boingy, springy walk that verged on a jog. Trot was done mostly in extention, canter was exuberant and strong! We cantered across the diagonal ... Somehow we got pulled in 5th initially. Again wouldn't stand in front of the judge so we just headed off to do our show. Gray did his show beautifully! Lovely trot, nice, controlled, sensible canter and when it came to the extention I thought 'what the hell' and let him fly along the long side! Well we must have done something right as we ended up being moved up to 2nd! And seeing as it was the Scottish Ridden Championship class he was deemed Reserve Champion and got his very first sash
We stayed in for the ROR class. I had given up riding him by this stage as I was knacked so every time we went along the side the judge was watching we went properly, the minute we were round the back I just stood up and rode him like a racehorse lol! Pulled 3rd, the judge then rode him and he went fab! So disappointingly we were dropped to 5th. But Hey! That's life! I basically spent all 3 classes laughing at my horse! I have bruises on the inside of my thighs from clinging onto my wideo of a horse!
Complimentary pic of the GrayMo Monster wearing his new favourite accessory!
Gray warmed up fab, stripped down and went in for the in-hand. Walked round a little on his toes but looking good. The trot was away from the show jumping so cue the tail going up over the back, the head coming right up and in and the toes flicking right out! I burst into a fit of giggles next to him! Oh dear! We were pulled in 2nd initially but after failing to stand still sensibly and every time he was still he had a twisted leg that made him look like he had conformation faults that didn't exist he was dropped to 5th. As we left the ring GrayMo did the most perfect canter passage you could ever wish for down the tunnel back to the collecting ring! People pay good money for that and my horse was handing it out for free lol!
We were given a 15min warm up, tack change time before the ridden. Saddle on, steal someones mounting block to get on and promptly get rodeod with lol! Whoops! Managed to get him a bit more settled when an out of control horse came flying straight for me so Gray had to dive to the side so I ended up half off so that was another excuse to bronc ... Anywho! We make into the ring in one piece, didn't do overly much walk, more a bouncy, boingy, springy walk that verged on a jog. Trot was done mostly in extention, canter was exuberant and strong! We cantered across the diagonal ... Somehow we got pulled in 5th initially. Again wouldn't stand in front of the judge so we just headed off to do our show. Gray did his show beautifully! Lovely trot, nice, controlled, sensible canter and when it came to the extention I thought 'what the hell' and let him fly along the long side! Well we must have done something right as we ended up being moved up to 2nd! And seeing as it was the Scottish Ridden Championship class he was deemed Reserve Champion and got his very first sash
We stayed in for the ROR class. I had given up riding him by this stage as I was knacked so every time we went along the side the judge was watching we went properly, the minute we were round the back I just stood up and rode him like a racehorse lol! Pulled 3rd, the judge then rode him and he went fab! So disappointingly we were dropped to 5th. But Hey! That's life! I basically spent all 3 classes laughing at my horse! I have bruises on the inside of my thighs from clinging onto my wideo of a horse!
Complimentary pic of the GrayMo Monster wearing his new favourite accessory!
Last edited:
