Baydale
Well-Known Member
Bit of a dull report as I didn't even get to don my Kermit outfit (thanks ISZ, that name has well and truly stuck now!)
After a 4am start we turned into the v narrow lane to the event to find a traffic jam, and heard that there was only one tractor pulling everyone in. So we sat and waited, moved a bit, waited some more, moved a bit more, and an hour and 40 minutes later were towed onto the field.
Dressage was running an hour later than the times you'd been given, so we walked the course. The wettest bits were fences 5 to 14, and there were 26 in total. They hadn't started when I walked it but it didn't look too bad, although it is a long old way round, even on good going.
Walked over to the dressage warm up, wishing I hadn't put his white boots on (think liquid mud, ground we were just sinking into), and I joked with someone about the state of one of the arenas already.....turned out that was my arena, and I had 8 mins to get ready to go in as the one before me had just started.
Couldn't find any warm up that wasn't bottomless, so walked around a bit (as AN's horse pulled a shoe off just trotting round), then did a bit of medium trot on the way over there and in I went. Little fat Hector is such a happy little chap at the mo, and behaved like it was perfectly normal to be doing twiddly bits in fetlock deep mud, although some bits of the arena weren't too bad. It's comical on the video, as he's trying so hard in the 10m circle to left shoulder-in but it's like he's stuck in quicksand. He soldiered on, and even managed a very camp shake of the head in medium canter, bless him.
I had no idea how the judge could/would mark them in that going, but I was chuffed he tried for me. Turns out I got 30.4 which was about 4th or 5th.
The showjumping had been moved from last year and there was water sitting on the old arena, but the new one was again, bottomless. They'd shortened it from 9 to 7 fences, then later I heard them announce they'd taken the first part of the double out and anyone that had had that down would have their penalties removed. By the time I went to warm up there was a crowd of people on the bank by the arena, watching the spectacle of us competitors trying to leave the fences up. I did half a dozen fences to warm up as it wasn't much better outside, then went in. H tried really hard, and I did the four stride related distance on five - it was like jumping out of treacle so no way was I going to move him to try and get the four. WellI'm sure he must have farted as he went over the second part as I heard it plop on the floor.
Then the next fence was one that everyone was having down, so we kept them company and did the same. I was tempted to gallop on a bit but I knew he would hate that so I sat him on his bottom and he pinged the next one, and was really cute through the treble, so got 2 time penalties. Oh well, and sorry if I'm boring you, but he is such a conscientious little horse and will try and try for you, so I was really pleased with him for giving it his best shot.
On the way back I was chatting to a girl who had just finished her xc, and she said yes, it was v deep up until fence 14, and she'd gone steady thinking it would get better after that but it didn't, and was still v deep and v holding. I mulled it over and decided I would have a go but pull up if he wasn't happy, but then a timely phone call from my friend whose boss was there, relaying info about pros that had not even got their horses off the lorry, that I reconsidered and decided not to run him. I could hear a quiet "yay" from Hector, as he'd decided that Cheshire's grass is way better than ours at home and that he'd really like to be a dairy cow
, so he proceeded to drag my OH around for half an hour, sampling it all.
He's gone so well lately and is really making me feel like he's going to keep progressing up the ladder, so I really didn't want to ruin his confidence for the sake of a run. If I needed a qualification then maybe I would have considered, but there's always another day isn't there?
Cookies and cocoa (sorry, I finished the wine earlier
) if you got this far.
After a 4am start we turned into the v narrow lane to the event to find a traffic jam, and heard that there was only one tractor pulling everyone in. So we sat and waited, moved a bit, waited some more, moved a bit more, and an hour and 40 minutes later were towed onto the field.
Dressage was running an hour later than the times you'd been given, so we walked the course. The wettest bits were fences 5 to 14, and there were 26 in total. They hadn't started when I walked it but it didn't look too bad, although it is a long old way round, even on good going.
Walked over to the dressage warm up, wishing I hadn't put his white boots on (think liquid mud, ground we were just sinking into), and I joked with someone about the state of one of the arenas already.....turned out that was my arena, and I had 8 mins to get ready to go in as the one before me had just started.
The showjumping had been moved from last year and there was water sitting on the old arena, but the new one was again, bottomless. They'd shortened it from 9 to 7 fences, then later I heard them announce they'd taken the first part of the double out and anyone that had had that down would have their penalties removed. By the time I went to warm up there was a crowd of people on the bank by the arena, watching the spectacle of us competitors trying to leave the fences up. I did half a dozen fences to warm up as it wasn't much better outside, then went in. H tried really hard, and I did the four stride related distance on five - it was like jumping out of treacle so no way was I going to move him to try and get the four. WellI'm sure he must have farted as he went over the second part as I heard it plop on the floor.
On the way back I was chatting to a girl who had just finished her xc, and she said yes, it was v deep up until fence 14, and she'd gone steady thinking it would get better after that but it didn't, and was still v deep and v holding. I mulled it over and decided I would have a go but pull up if he wasn't happy, but then a timely phone call from my friend whose boss was there, relaying info about pros that had not even got their horses off the lorry, that I reconsidered and decided not to run him. I could hear a quiet "yay" from Hector, as he'd decided that Cheshire's grass is way better than ours at home and that he'd really like to be a dairy cow
He's gone so well lately and is really making me feel like he's going to keep progressing up the ladder, so I really didn't want to ruin his confidence for the sake of a run. If I needed a qualification then maybe I would have considered, but there's always another day isn't there?
Cookies and cocoa (sorry, I finished the wine earlier
