ponymum
Well-Known Member
At the age of 50, I finally managed to compete in a ODE and I'm so chuffed I just had to share. My daughter and I share our horse which usually involves me doing all the mucking out, schooling, a bit of low level dressage and paying all the bills, while she comes home occasionally from uni and jumps him either in SJ or hunter trials/eventing. Now she's away most of the time, I decided it was time to put my brave pants on and enter a local ODE just up the road (Shelford), which runs an unaffiliated the day after their BE weekend. My daughter took our horse (Kyro) round the 90cm course last year and came fourth in her section so I knew he was capable but I'm a bit of a numpty at jumping so I never thought I would ever do something like this. I did a couple of 70cm HTs and then thought, it's now or never and in a mad moment entered the 80cm class.
I walked the course on Saturday with the BE coach there for the BE80(T) people and then spent the next three sleepless nights jumping it in my head. I had a quick tune-up jumping lesson the night before where he was very spooky but at least it got me ready. The day finally came and it was a gorgeous sunny day. My friend came along to help and encourage and then suddenly, I was on and ready for the dressage. My instructor was there with a bunch of students so she helped me warm up. He was lovely! He did a super test, a little unbalanced in the canter but I was really pleased. I was even more pleased when I found out we had scored 31.5!! We were in third place going into the SJ. Mindful of how he had been the day before, I was ready for any spookiness but I needn't have worried - he was a star! He was looking for the jumps and never felt like stopping, we rattled a couple but they stayed up and he went clear - I was thrilled! We were still in third going into XC, the start box was really close to the first fence so I got him moving quickly and he sailed over the first and second. There was a bit of a dodgy line to number three but he listened and then jumped it clear, that was one I was worried about. Then came the fourth, the "let up" fence according to the BE coach, that if you couldn't jump that, you shouldn't be doing it. You can guess what's coming -he only went and slammed the brakes on! Gutted! I was so cross with myself for getting complacent I was muttering all the way round. Needless to say he jumped everything else without batting an eyelid, including the humungous hedge and the huge owl hole last but one fence. So, our dream day didn't quite materialise but I finished, I stayed on and we came 15th out of 22 so not too bad for an ancient numpty at her first go. I now know that I need to ride EVERY fence. I don't think my daughter is getting her horse back
Sorry no pics but friend did manage a video of XC towards the end, I know we're not going very fast and that I jump like a numpty but Having had a stop, there was no point in hammering him
http://youtu.be/Nk5yONTpOyA
Phew! That was longer than I'd planned, thanks for reading, I'm still buzzing at having got round
I walked the course on Saturday with the BE coach there for the BE80(T) people and then spent the next three sleepless nights jumping it in my head. I had a quick tune-up jumping lesson the night before where he was very spooky but at least it got me ready. The day finally came and it was a gorgeous sunny day. My friend came along to help and encourage and then suddenly, I was on and ready for the dressage. My instructor was there with a bunch of students so she helped me warm up. He was lovely! He did a super test, a little unbalanced in the canter but I was really pleased. I was even more pleased when I found out we had scored 31.5!! We were in third place going into the SJ. Mindful of how he had been the day before, I was ready for any spookiness but I needn't have worried - he was a star! He was looking for the jumps and never felt like stopping, we rattled a couple but they stayed up and he went clear - I was thrilled! We were still in third going into XC, the start box was really close to the first fence so I got him moving quickly and he sailed over the first and second. There was a bit of a dodgy line to number three but he listened and then jumped it clear, that was one I was worried about. Then came the fourth, the "let up" fence according to the BE coach, that if you couldn't jump that, you shouldn't be doing it. You can guess what's coming -he only went and slammed the brakes on! Gutted! I was so cross with myself for getting complacent I was muttering all the way round. Needless to say he jumped everything else without batting an eyelid, including the humungous hedge and the huge owl hole last but one fence. So, our dream day didn't quite materialise but I finished, I stayed on and we came 15th out of 22 so not too bad for an ancient numpty at her first go. I now know that I need to ride EVERY fence. I don't think my daughter is getting her horse back
Sorry no pics but friend did manage a video of XC towards the end, I know we're not going very fast and that I jump like a numpty but Having had a stop, there was no point in hammering him
http://youtu.be/Nk5yONTpOyA
Phew! That was longer than I'd planned, thanks for reading, I'm still buzzing at having got round