Malpas - A big thank you to .......

Rafferoo

Rafferoo

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All the kind gents that ferried me around between phases on their quad bikes!
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I went to watch my friends on Saturday and whilst Malpas was not the most ideal spectator venue for someone on crutches I need not have worried as I was chauffeur driven from lorry park to SJ to XC and back by some very kind people!!

Had a great day out and really enjoyed watching my friends and others whizz round. Think I may have seen MFH09 at the XC warm up as I was ferried past to the start box ....
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Hope that those of you riding also had a good day there.
 
What nice people! I nearly dropped in for a nosey as I was driving down the M6 with a couple of hours to spare, but I was still annoyed with having had to withdraw my horse from the intro yesterday so I killed an hour in the next services instead!
 
Glad you enjoyed it; we're not a bad bunch up here!

Yes, it was me, sorry I didn't have time to say anything else other than the quad would fit through the gap as long as you kept your leg in! Think you were with Mike at the time, he's my next door neighbour!

Good job you weren't there today, your cast would have disintegrated in the torrential downpours and it certainly wouldn't have stayed blue, we were nearly floating!
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Weather was truly awful today - I am surprised you didn't have to swim home! Hope you are warm and fully recovered! My folks live in Malpas and I live in Chester so quite often in your neck of the woods. Hopefully will get chance to say hi at another local event .. pass on my thanks to Mike - he was my saviour - it would have been an awful long cruch journey!!
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Hope your journey went ok - when are you out next on your mare?

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Southwell Intro, though we've got an unaff ODE next weekend first.
 
quite agree about being a friendly bunch
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- daughter used to be very local to Malpas before moving to wilds of Wiltshire.

However..... although Saturday was apparently nice ground, looking at sunday's results, do get the feeling that maybe cancellation might have been a better option?? So many WDs after dressage!!
Do they make it look worse than it actually was - though 3 horse falls in the SJ is never good!!
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comments from those who were there?
 
I went on the sunday for the PN, and unfortunately due to traffic was last in the class for everything. The dressage was a mud bath, the sj rode ok although i had big studs in and the xc was ok, everyone bar one or two combinations got time penalties though, but you had to ride carefully otherwise it would of been a rather slippy ride. Everybody was lovely though and just about coped with the weather...
 
From MPOV as on the XC collecting ring all weekend it went like this!
After 24 hrs continuous rain from Thursday evening til about 8pm on Friday, until they made a decision at 6am on Saturday, it was touch and go.
Saturday, it all went well and the ground stood up very well except of course in gateways and some take-offs. It started raining with a very hard shower just as the Pony Club started their rounds at 4pm, cleared up a bit then started raining lightly but steadily from 6pm until 7am Sunday.
After all that rain, the ground was very wet but not holding, it was a nice morning with a good breeze which was drying out the ground well. We moved a practise fence in the XC collecting ring before starting as it had cut up before. Some light showers later in the morning (earlier than the weather forecast had given us!) then nice and warm until a few minutes into the final class SJ and XC when we had a mega cloudburst for nearly half hour complete with thunder! A couple went XC during it and the SJ carried on. I know they had moved the jumps onto 'fresh' ground but don't know anything about the falls. By that time, we were walking on water so a lot never presented to me at all; think that cloudburst had finished them off. The ones that went were certainly cheerful enough but a fair few came back and said the horse needed a season hunting to learn how to cope which is fair enough. To us, it was normal hunting conditions, lol!
TBF, the course did all it could in the exceptional circumstances and people had the choice whether to continue or not, it was entirely up to them but they had to ride to the conditions they were presented with; some did well, others did not. You can't learn to ride in different conditions or your horse go well in them, good or bad, unless you get out there and do it can you?
I'd be interested to hear from riders and their viewpoint, good or bad, it all makes good feedback to take to the organisers.
 
Hello! Was lovely to see you - we had a mixed day but still ended up 11th in my section! I wasn't too keen on the design of the xc course (albeit beautifully built
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). It was lovely for first 8 or so fences, then from 9 onwards was very twisty turny and a lot came up at once which I felt for inexperienced horse and rider was a lot to cope with. It then eased off a bit until the last few - and then number 17 with the log on a very funny angle jumping downhill towards a ditch that wasn't even part of the course was neither educational or encouraging, resulting in a number of problems I believe. Don't mind that feedback being passed back to organisers. Otherwise a lovely day and event as always!
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Great to see you too S_V and you've done a fantastic job on Pulsaar, he looked really well, very impressed!

That's the sort of feedback we need so thanks for that and I'll pass it on. I can see where you're coming from completely (had to look on the map as I hadn't actually walked the course!) possibly wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't had as many fences in that railway line bit. D is very thankful the swastika fence (in & out near the finish) was demolished on the Sunday, he's wanted to lose that for some time, lol!

Hope to see you next year too!
 
thanks for your long reply MFH09 - it really is above & beyond xc stewarding for the whole weekend
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. Someone from our yard did his 2nd BE90 on Sat and had just the same comments as S_V about the twisty bit at the far end of the course (he loved the rest of it though!)

When you say the swastika was demolished.......??
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You're welcome, I've always got too much to say for myself!

Swastika was well and truly demolished in the end. To start with someone knackered the right hand side so orders were to jump the left then a few after that, someone well and truly did the job in style and we were left with just a heap of firewood on the ground! OH has been wanting to 'lose' that fence for a few years, it was well past its best, so he's highly delighted! Hasten to add, nobody was hurt in this demolition!

Thanks for friend's feedback BTW; I'm making a list, though don't know if it'll help.
 
I missed you, how did I manage that?

You think you would have kind off stood out

hope your better soon x

Sv I had my only problem cc at fence 17 ( horse had just returned from an enforced break ) otherwise a lovely round so definatly agree.
MFH I think I saw you but I was shy, and you were busy.
 
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