Titchy Reindeer
Well-Known Member
Quick update about our stay away competition.
Enormosaurus was overall very well behaved, both in and out of the ring. Being able to stay in a small paddock was probably a good thing for her.
Ridden she was feeling great, unfortunately we didn't get the clear round she deserved. One pole down on the Sunday, a vertical and I probably kept too much hand in the run up to it. Two poles down on the Monday, second jump of a double of verticals and Enormosaurus long stride made her clip it and another vertical coming out of a tightish curve that she hadn't quite locked onto quickly enough.
I'm still extremely proud of her and hoping to do better next time.
The competition itself was a strange one. It was supposed to be the regional championships, but the regional comity cancelled all the championships due to EHV. They however did not ban competitions (I'm struggling to follow the logic in that). So instead of there being hundreds of participants, there was roughly 50ish. The organisers started late and took their time to spread out the classes over the day so that they could sell more food. They had planned a barbecue night on the Sunday evening, but who would hang around for a barbecue night at 8pm when the classes were all over at 4pm? We were camping there, but all being careful of money as stay away competitions are expensive enough (one family had four members participating!).
The courses were a bit of a joke, the organiser didn't want to move any jumps, so the course ran one way the first day and backwards the second day. it was a shame as moving a few elements slightly would have allowed more options for getting a good time for the more confident couples. There was also only one course walk per half day and it was done before they put the doubles up. So we had to reevaluate our lines on the fly as some were simply no longer possible.
Enormosaurus was overall very well behaved, both in and out of the ring. Being able to stay in a small paddock was probably a good thing for her.
Ridden she was feeling great, unfortunately we didn't get the clear round she deserved. One pole down on the Sunday, a vertical and I probably kept too much hand in the run up to it. Two poles down on the Monday, second jump of a double of verticals and Enormosaurus long stride made her clip it and another vertical coming out of a tightish curve that she hadn't quite locked onto quickly enough.
I'm still extremely proud of her and hoping to do better next time.
The competition itself was a strange one. It was supposed to be the regional championships, but the regional comity cancelled all the championships due to EHV. They however did not ban competitions (I'm struggling to follow the logic in that). So instead of there being hundreds of participants, there was roughly 50ish. The organisers started late and took their time to spread out the classes over the day so that they could sell more food. They had planned a barbecue night on the Sunday evening, but who would hang around for a barbecue night at 8pm when the classes were all over at 4pm? We were camping there, but all being careful of money as stay away competitions are expensive enough (one family had four members participating!).
The courses were a bit of a joke, the organiser didn't want to move any jumps, so the course ran one way the first day and backwards the second day. it was a shame as moving a few elements slightly would have allowed more options for getting a good time for the more confident couples. There was also only one course walk per half day and it was done before they put the doubles up. So we had to reevaluate our lines on the fly as some were simply no longer possible.