wizoz
Well-Known Member
The day didn't get off to a great start when my alarm failed to go off at 5.30am
Needless to say, when I opened my eye and took a look at the clock, it said 6.18!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaargghhhh.
So flew out of bed, quick toilet stop, got dressed and drove to the yard (my mum's house, just up the village
) Fortunately I had done everything the night before so all I needed to do was wash any stable stains away and boot up.
Loaded and we set off on time. I decided to go up to junction 23 and along to Glastonbury, it was a good run only taking me 2 1/4 hrs. Arrived with plenty of time to spare to walk the x country, or so I thought
The last time I did B&W everything was fairly close at hand with the lorry park being central to everything, not so this time, the xc start was as far away as they could have made it and the sj nearly as bad. I only managed to walk to fence 5 before i'd run out of time and had to head back to get Boo ready
Boo came off the trailer with his usual look round to check he had friends and once he knew he was not alone just stood chilled tied to the trailer. This horse is a bit Jeckyl and Hyde, he is so laid back about things that you would think should make him hyper but in turn can be hyper at things that really he shouldn't be paying much attention to and in this case it was a horse that was warming up for the dressage which was making a lot of huffing and puffing noises which Boo just took such an exception to, it made him start snorting
But thankfully, I managed to get him to pay attention and to chill out again, did a fairly nice warm up and went in to do our test. To say I was chuffed to bits with him would be an understatement, it would seem that my hard work over the winter is paying off and he did his best test to date with a score of 37.5 exit me looking like this
So to the sj, as we got up there it started to rain. I went up to find out how long I had and the steward told me I had 16 in front of me!!! Then it started to rain more and I only have a flimsy lightweight jacket on with a short sleeved shirt on underneath
I did the warm up and he was jumping very nicely so I just kept him warm until it was our turn to go in. He was very forward to his fences but again my lessons with Bruce and my dressage trainer were put into practise and he did a smashing round with just the last down, which was a small upright and the second part of the double which he just flattened over but everything else was great and again I exit with
on my face.
Go back to trailer and get ready for xc, unfortunately somebody had had a nasty fall and had been carted off by helicopter, so get well wishes to whoever that was
Again, Boo warmed up well, was jumping beautifully so I only did the fence 4 times. Then I was called in and counted down. I did have a quick "I wonder what he's going to be like" flash through my mind as I haven't been able to do any xc schooling on him but I just kept saying to myself, I've done it loads, he's done it a few times, together we SHOULD be ok!!
Well, I needn't have worried, he was bl00dy billiant, he wibbled in between the first and 2nd fence as he thought about going towards the warm up which ran along side the start but a tap on the shoulder with my stick got his attention back and then he locked on the next fence an we were off!! The only real iffy moment I had was at the steps, I slipped my reins too much so by the time I got to the bottom I had my knitting round my ears to stear him to the hedgehog which was a couple of strides away
but aside from that, to quote Aaron " He was AWESOME"
I finished on a score of 49 which I thought was very credible for a first outing together, not sure of placing but probably mid to lower half of the table.
SO CHUFFED with the little boy and he knows it. He behaved impeccably and like he's done it for years. He did lose a shoe xc though so is a tiny bit sore.
He has arrived home a happy boy, is tucked up in bed eating his well deserved dinner. He will now have a few days off to recover then back to the usual routine.
Thanks all for reading, I know it's long, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have doing it
So flew out of bed, quick toilet stop, got dressed and drove to the yard (my mum's house, just up the village
Loaded and we set off on time. I decided to go up to junction 23 and along to Glastonbury, it was a good run only taking me 2 1/4 hrs. Arrived with plenty of time to spare to walk the x country, or so I thought
The last time I did B&W everything was fairly close at hand with the lorry park being central to everything, not so this time, the xc start was as far away as they could have made it and the sj nearly as bad. I only managed to walk to fence 5 before i'd run out of time and had to head back to get Boo ready
Boo came off the trailer with his usual look round to check he had friends and once he knew he was not alone just stood chilled tied to the trailer. This horse is a bit Jeckyl and Hyde, he is so laid back about things that you would think should make him hyper but in turn can be hyper at things that really he shouldn't be paying much attention to and in this case it was a horse that was warming up for the dressage which was making a lot of huffing and puffing noises which Boo just took such an exception to, it made him start snorting
So to the sj, as we got up there it started to rain. I went up to find out how long I had and the steward told me I had 16 in front of me!!! Then it started to rain more and I only have a flimsy lightweight jacket on with a short sleeved shirt on underneath
Go back to trailer and get ready for xc, unfortunately somebody had had a nasty fall and had been carted off by helicopter, so get well wishes to whoever that was
Again, Boo warmed up well, was jumping beautifully so I only did the fence 4 times. Then I was called in and counted down. I did have a quick "I wonder what he's going to be like" flash through my mind as I haven't been able to do any xc schooling on him but I just kept saying to myself, I've done it loads, he's done it a few times, together we SHOULD be ok!!
Well, I needn't have worried, he was bl00dy billiant, he wibbled in between the first and 2nd fence as he thought about going towards the warm up which ran along side the start but a tap on the shoulder with my stick got his attention back and then he locked on the next fence an we were off!! The only real iffy moment I had was at the steps, I slipped my reins too much so by the time I got to the bottom I had my knitting round my ears to stear him to the hedgehog which was a couple of strides away
SO CHUFFED with the little boy and he knows it. He behaved impeccably and like he's done it for years. He did lose a shoe xc though so is a tiny bit sore.
He has arrived home a happy boy, is tucked up in bed eating his well deserved dinner. He will now have a few days off to recover then back to the usual routine.
Thanks all for reading, I know it's long, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have doing it
