Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
So I have finally managed to complete an ODE without stuffing something up! Eventing is soooo frustrating as there are 2 athletes, 3 phases and therefore 6 opportunities for something to go wrong. And I’ve experienced ALL of them ??
If I’m on form, then my horse does something random. If (as is more common) my horse is on it, I do something dozy like jump the wrong fence (Eland), go wrong cross country (Somerford) or have disastrous dressage (Epworth).
Today’s mishap occurred before I even started riding when I did my back in bending over to check the girth was central. Ouch. But I decided I was going to ride even if I had to be lifted off the horse afterwards.
Dressage was significantly improved and we followed that up with a clear SJ. Then it was XC but the biggest challenge was studding. Ground was deep and boggy so studs felt essential but I had no idea how I’d put them in. So I sat on my portable mounting block and put Lottie’s foot on my lap so I did not have to lift or bend. Somewhat unorthodox but she didn’t seem to mind, bless her, and it was so easy. I’m doing that forever now!
The first fence was pretty solid: up to height and wide. After the pretty sticky XC at the eventer trial last week I felt I needed to attack it so booted her 2 strides out. And quickly realised I did not need to do that as she launched into orbit ? ?
It was clear early on that normal XC service had resumed. After that all I had to do was steer and not fall off.
DC with 0.4 time to finish on 34.7 and 4th. So, so happy. Lottie is a superstar.
Was alone today so no pics but I’ll be getting some pro ones and will spam this thread with them ??
If I’m on form, then my horse does something random. If (as is more common) my horse is on it, I do something dozy like jump the wrong fence (Eland), go wrong cross country (Somerford) or have disastrous dressage (Epworth).
Today’s mishap occurred before I even started riding when I did my back in bending over to check the girth was central. Ouch. But I decided I was going to ride even if I had to be lifted off the horse afterwards.
Dressage was significantly improved and we followed that up with a clear SJ. Then it was XC but the biggest challenge was studding. Ground was deep and boggy so studs felt essential but I had no idea how I’d put them in. So I sat on my portable mounting block and put Lottie’s foot on my lap so I did not have to lift or bend. Somewhat unorthodox but she didn’t seem to mind, bless her, and it was so easy. I’m doing that forever now!
The first fence was pretty solid: up to height and wide. After the pretty sticky XC at the eventer trial last week I felt I needed to attack it so booted her 2 strides out. And quickly realised I did not need to do that as she launched into orbit ? ?
It was clear early on that normal XC service had resumed. After that all I had to do was steer and not fall off.
DC with 0.4 time to finish on 34.7 and 4th. So, so happy. Lottie is a superstar.
Was alone today so no pics but I’ll be getting some pro ones and will spam this thread with them ??
