Worried1
Well-Known Member
After a truly mental 10 days (We have done Futurity, Kent County, driven 3 horses up to Oxfordshire for lessons with Emile and planned to finish off by competing at Hickstead) a very, very tired Team Worried finally trudged to Hickstead today for the Dressage Masters Novice Championship.
Arthur qualified in June by coming 3rd in the Semi-Fina with 68% so as much as we went hoping we would win realistically we knew that was highly unlikely. He has yet to crack the elusive 70% barrier at a championship, he's not far off but the medium trots are still a little lacklustre!
A massive thank you to Team Worried's fan club and entourage who without fail, travel the length and breadth of the UK to support us, we greatly appreciate you all, thank you for keeping me sane especially when Mr W is pootling along like a tit in a trance!!!! We have lots of laughs and even the odd tear, I know I welled up today when they read Arthur's biography!!!!!
Quick re-cap for those that don;t know Arthur, we took him on after his owner very sadly passed away, technically he is still owned by her two sons, but he has been with us since February 2011. He has been very frustrating at times, sharp, green and an absolute drama queen! However he has a heart of gold and is a real trier when he is focused.
In recent months Mr Worried has had a real breakthrough and finally they are a real partnership. It was seriously put to the test at the semi-final when the arena blew away at the start of their test! And today again he showed just how much he has matured and how much he trusts Mr W, the trade-stands, marque, advertising banners and general show traffic proved no problem today
The calmers are definitely helping him and he was much more chilled to get ready, he had 20 minutes leg stretch in the turnout pen as we were still waterlogged! Left in good time and arrived at 10.45am to be greeted by this...
As we were waiting patiently to be towed in the tractor driver came over and said He would not pull anymore in! We were a bit then then somebody came over and said unload here. So I got him ready on the lorry then walked him over to the warm-up while Mr W and the organisers tried to decide where best to leave a lorry that didn't fit in the carpark!
So while Arthur and I waited patiently in front of a lake which was not there on my last visit to Hickstead, we were approached by a photographer who asked to take some arty shots. I was a bit dubious as Arth can be a total arse over noise but once again he made me look like a prize tit by doing his best donkey impression EVER! So if you see any arty tack shots in BD mag or website chances are they will be Arth!
Finally with the lorry abandoned Mr W got on and warmed up. Today I think the last couple of weeks and travel had caught up with the pair of them as they were both ever so slightly flat. However they did a lovely, clam, flowing and obedient test which received great feedback from all 3 judges, virtually identical marks and comments and probably the nicest comment from a very well respected judge who said this horse shows correct training in line with the scales of training which we thought was high praise indeed!
Mini Worried wearing his brand new team T-shirt stole the show by sitting on the seating and clapping after every movement and then waving and calling Dada every time Mr W went past! Anyone in any doubt about Children should take the view we have... Mini W has been instrumental in bombproofing Arthur!
They scored 66.76% with mainly 7's and the odd 6's and an 8 and finished 18th out of 32. Mediums are his nemesis and so didn't really happen today. Arthur is never going to trot with his legs up by his ears he simply isn't that naturally exuberant so against better moving horses he will always get a 7 against their 8, however that said his canter is great as is his walk so we think with a slightly more complicated test we can extract a few more marks yet!
But we were so pleased to have reached the final, we were pleased at how well he coped with the atmosphere and I very much hope his owner was looking down today and was equally as proud as I am at what they have achieved together.
Couple of pictures from today
Arthur qualified in June by coming 3rd in the Semi-Fina with 68% so as much as we went hoping we would win realistically we knew that was highly unlikely. He has yet to crack the elusive 70% barrier at a championship, he's not far off but the medium trots are still a little lacklustre!
A massive thank you to Team Worried's fan club and entourage who without fail, travel the length and breadth of the UK to support us, we greatly appreciate you all, thank you for keeping me sane especially when Mr W is pootling along like a tit in a trance!!!! We have lots of laughs and even the odd tear, I know I welled up today when they read Arthur's biography!!!!!
Quick re-cap for those that don;t know Arthur, we took him on after his owner very sadly passed away, technically he is still owned by her two sons, but he has been with us since February 2011. He has been very frustrating at times, sharp, green and an absolute drama queen! However he has a heart of gold and is a real trier when he is focused.
In recent months Mr Worried has had a real breakthrough and finally they are a real partnership. It was seriously put to the test at the semi-final when the arena blew away at the start of their test! And today again he showed just how much he has matured and how much he trusts Mr W, the trade-stands, marque, advertising banners and general show traffic proved no problem today
The calmers are definitely helping him and he was much more chilled to get ready, he had 20 minutes leg stretch in the turnout pen as we were still waterlogged! Left in good time and arrived at 10.45am to be greeted by this...
As we were waiting patiently to be towed in the tractor driver came over and said He would not pull anymore in! We were a bit
then then somebody came over and said unload here. So I got him ready on the lorry then walked him over to the warm-up while Mr W and the organisers tried to decide where best to leave a lorry that didn't fit in the carpark!So while Arthur and I waited patiently in front of a lake which was not there on my last visit to Hickstead, we were approached by a photographer who asked to take some arty shots. I was a bit dubious as Arth can be a total arse over noise but once again he made me look like a prize tit by doing his best donkey impression EVER! So if you see any arty tack shots in BD mag or website chances are they will be Arth!
Finally with the lorry abandoned Mr W got on and warmed up. Today I think the last couple of weeks and travel had caught up with the pair of them as they were both ever so slightly flat. However they did a lovely, clam, flowing and obedient test which received great feedback from all 3 judges, virtually identical marks and comments and probably the nicest comment from a very well respected judge who said this horse shows correct training in line with the scales of training which we thought was high praise indeed!
Mini Worried wearing his brand new team T-shirt stole the show by sitting on the seating and clapping after every movement and then waving and calling Dada every time Mr W went past! Anyone in any doubt about Children should take the view we have... Mini W has been instrumental in bombproofing Arthur!
They scored 66.76% with mainly 7's and the odd 6's and an 8 and finished 18th out of 32. Mediums are his nemesis and so didn't really happen today. Arthur is never going to trot with his legs up by his ears he simply isn't that naturally exuberant so against better moving horses he will always get a 7 against their 8, however that said his canter is great as is his walk so we think with a slightly more complicated test we can extract a few more marks yet!
But we were so pleased to have reached the final, we were pleased at how well he coped with the atmosphere and I very much hope his owner was looking down today and was equally as proud as I am at what they have achieved together.
Couple of pictures from today
