ester
Not slacking multitasking
Well, the fabulous mate that @rara007 is let me do the entire winter season of indoor events in the novice class which had it's ups and downs (she was very tolerant at times. . . ) starting well and then having a series of events when I'd make one big mistake, the sort you won't ever make again but I kept finding new ones to do which was getting a bit frustrating with myself. As she doesn't live super close to me it's been a winter of one training session in between the monthly competitions and it's hard to practice obstacles at home in the middle of winter.
It was a big surprise that on winning the last one I gained myself an invitation to the national championships held at arena UK this weekend! There followed a request to the secretary that if Rara could do her open class dressage before I wound him up doing obstacles on Saturday it would be much appreciated!(my class ran fri/sat, hers sat/sun).
My only real contribution was the new improved team storm kit where we had an upgrade to silver glittery lightning bolts and I may have been allowed to put some on his bum for obstacles too
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Thursday started with a quick trip to tesco for snacks and fuel, during which I realised I had a rather flat tyre which didn't quite bode with my chill morning of making sure I had everything (I am not good at leaving the house for multiple days away, I fret something chronic so it's something I try and manage better by giving myself more time) thankfully the 3rd place I went to could fit me in and we arrived at arena uk at 6pm with enough time to walk the cones in the cold wind and rain which was nice.
Friday he had a pre warm up in the morning when he was a bit distracted and not totally with me, but he warmed up much better in the afternoon pre test, which didn't feel amazing but looked better, he just dropped behind me a bit (I think we both got new arena and audience nerves a bit) which lost him some for his paces mark (driving dressage you get 2 scores, one for your precision, and one for paces/way of going) I took a hit on the halt as he offered it early - and has got so good at his rein backs since the start of the season that he's a bit quick to offer them too now.
But we finished with a score of 22.5 for 7th of 19 and I'm very proud of my precision results sheet. (fun fact drivers walk their dressage tests the day before too, it's quite funny to watch)
You go straight from dressage to cones, we knew that some people had been getting too fast penalties so decided a slightly slower clear was the aim especially as it was the longest twistiest course I've ever done as often they are combined with obstacles in the local classes. Despite me looking back at 5 (I got told off for that afterwards) and then going oh shit we're at the turn for 6A already we managed to not knock any balls down! Just a bit slow on time so 8 penalties and leaving us in 5th overnight.
As the novice was the biggest class they split us into groups of obstacles so you all go in and do each obstacle then when the rest of your group has gone again you go back in and do them again- this usually means your 2nd go is faster as you've had a 'practice' run. Again these were the longest, most complicated obstacles I've ever done!
Well we surprised ourselves with a rather smooth obstacle 1, he backed off a bit in obstacle 2, 3 got a bit ragged as I over corrected a turn (and he might have had his tongue over the bit at this point) 4 was great
. I didn't forget where I was going, we didn't hit anything (there are balls on top of the elements = 5 penalties) and we went as fast as we could for both of our experiences remembering he's only been doing the job 18 months and copes with our very different driving abilities! So frankly I'm chuffed (and that isn't something easily done for me!)
obstacle 4 in replies!
Our obstacles times dropped us to 10th, though it was tight in the middle, we were only 8 penalties off 6th. Hopefully this is also a good thing as if we ever do get the chance again being in the 2nd half means I haven't automatically been bumped out of novice level into intermediate. Rara had jokingly said the ideal spot is 1 below half way through the class and we think we did that perfectly!
Essentially we had an absolutely brilliant weekend though being on the back is definitely less nerve wracking!
It was a big surprise that on winning the last one I gained myself an invitation to the national championships held at arena UK this weekend! There followed a request to the secretary that if Rara could do her open class dressage before I wound him up doing obstacles on Saturday it would be much appreciated!(my class ran fri/sat, hers sat/sun).
My only real contribution was the new improved team storm kit where we had an upgrade to silver glittery lightning bolts and I may have been allowed to put some on his bum for obstacles too
.Thursday started with a quick trip to tesco for snacks and fuel, during which I realised I had a rather flat tyre which didn't quite bode with my chill morning of making sure I had everything (I am not good at leaving the house for multiple days away, I fret something chronic so it's something I try and manage better by giving myself more time) thankfully the 3rd place I went to could fit me in and we arrived at arena uk at 6pm with enough time to walk the cones in the cold wind and rain which was nice.
Friday he had a pre warm up in the morning when he was a bit distracted and not totally with me, but he warmed up much better in the afternoon pre test, which didn't feel amazing but looked better, he just dropped behind me a bit (I think we both got new arena and audience nerves a bit) which lost him some for his paces mark (driving dressage you get 2 scores, one for your precision, and one for paces/way of going) I took a hit on the halt as he offered it early - and has got so good at his rein backs since the start of the season that he's a bit quick to offer them too now.
But we finished with a score of 22.5 for 7th of 19 and I'm very proud of my precision results sheet. (fun fact drivers walk their dressage tests the day before too, it's quite funny to watch
)
As the novice was the biggest class they split us into groups of obstacles so you all go in and do each obstacle then when the rest of your group has gone again you go back in and do them again- this usually means your 2nd go is faster as you've had a 'practice' run. Again these were the longest, most complicated obstacles I've ever done!
Well we surprised ourselves with a rather smooth obstacle 1, he backed off a bit in obstacle 2, 3 got a bit ragged as I over corrected a turn (and he might have had his tongue over the bit at this point) 4 was great
. I didn't forget where I was going, we didn't hit anything (there are balls on top of the elements = 5 penalties) and we went as fast as we could for both of our experiences remembering he's only been doing the job 18 months and copes with our very different driving abilities! So frankly I'm chuffed (and that isn't something easily done for me!)
obstacle 4 in replies!
Our obstacles times dropped us to 10th, though it was tight in the middle, we were only 8 penalties off 6th. Hopefully this is also a good thing as if we ever do get the chance again being in the 2nd half means I haven't automatically been bumped out of novice level into intermediate. Rara had jokingly said the ideal spot is 1 below half way through the class and we think we did that perfectly!
Essentially we had an absolutely brilliant weekend though being on the back is definitely less nerve wracking!
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. Thankfully this year they put the obstacles up early so they were open for walking longer than last year (when I backstepped for rara) as that was a bit hectic. I’m also lucky that at least I have rara to help me pick a route in the first place as that’s a skill in itself - though I’m getting better at it!
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