Lolo
Well-Known Member
An early start yesterday for the PC area 8 eventing teams (when is it not!?). A week of amazing teaching at camp really got Alice in the swing of things again after her fall at Stratford Hills. After increasingly bad dressage at her BE events, Alice knuckled down while she wasnt allowed to jump and really schooled Ellie (or more Ellie schooled her!). Well, the night before she went in for a quick practise of aspects of her test, and spent over an hour in there
It paid off! She did a lovely test only marred by breaks in the canter and a rather unfortunate mistake. They got 37.2, and Ive never seen such a massive smile as when Alice heard that in her SJ round! It may not sound amazing, but after the dressage she was in 6th place- a massive improvement on the 48 she scored last time. This can only get better now Alice has got the hang of how to really ride Ellie- shes a lovely pony but she never gives any more than what you ask for which is PERFECT for teaching Alice to ride properly!
SJ, as ever, was lovely and clear. We were very chuffed about how the SJ looked- it was very full up with some rather tricky lines which caught a fair few out.3 of our team went clear, so we went to the XC with high hopes sort of!
This was Alices first XC round since she broke her collar bone, and it was round exactly the same course, with several elements made trickier (the water was a real test) but the worse bit was seeing the fence where she fell was now an AB rather than separately numbered, and shed have to do it on 3 strides. As she warmed up, she looked very green- shes never blasé about XC, but yesterday she was ghostly white beforehand. She was last to go, and the lady who taught her XC at camp and knew how scared Alice was really helped warm her up and get her going (her son was competing on the same team, and he was fantastic as well because hes so chilled!). Off they flew and we could just see them go into the woods then reappear just before the horseshoe to the anvil. Alice sat deep and really rode Ellie, and they flew through. Came back with massive grins and huge hugs for Ellie- she was a superstar pony who gave it her absolute all.
Team tactics...
Post-round discussions...
Hung around for AGES, to find the team had come 4th (both Alice and another team member went wrong in their dressage and without this theyd have come third!). However, Alice came 3rd! This means theyve qualified for the PC Champs- I am so so proud of them both, and especially of the courage Alice showed by getting on and just trying her absolute hardest. I find it hard to believe that she didnt move down a level to Novice as she could have, but just gritted her teeth and did her best. And Ellie was amazing as well, doing everything that was asked of her with her usual slightly dazed expression!
Big smiles!
It paid off! She did a lovely test only marred by breaks in the canter and a rather unfortunate mistake. They got 37.2, and Ive never seen such a massive smile as when Alice heard that in her SJ round! It may not sound amazing, but after the dressage she was in 6th place- a massive improvement on the 48 she scored last time. This can only get better now Alice has got the hang of how to really ride Ellie- shes a lovely pony but she never gives any more than what you ask for which is PERFECT for teaching Alice to ride properly!
SJ, as ever, was lovely and clear. We were very chuffed about how the SJ looked- it was very full up with some rather tricky lines which caught a fair few out.3 of our team went clear, so we went to the XC with high hopes sort of!
This was Alices first XC round since she broke her collar bone, and it was round exactly the same course, with several elements made trickier (the water was a real test) but the worse bit was seeing the fence where she fell was now an AB rather than separately numbered, and shed have to do it on 3 strides. As she warmed up, she looked very green- shes never blasé about XC, but yesterday she was ghostly white beforehand. She was last to go, and the lady who taught her XC at camp and knew how scared Alice was really helped warm her up and get her going (her son was competing on the same team, and he was fantastic as well because hes so chilled!). Off they flew and we could just see them go into the woods then reappear just before the horseshoe to the anvil. Alice sat deep and really rode Ellie, and they flew through. Came back with massive grins and huge hugs for Ellie- she was a superstar pony who gave it her absolute all.
Team tactics...
Post-round discussions...
Hung around for AGES, to find the team had come 4th (both Alice and another team member went wrong in their dressage and without this theyd have come third!). However, Alice came 3rd! This means theyve qualified for the PC Champs- I am so so proud of them both, and especially of the courage Alice showed by getting on and just trying her absolute hardest. I find it hard to believe that she didnt move down a level to Novice as she could have, but just gritted her teeth and did her best. And Ellie was amazing as well, doing everything that was asked of her with her usual slightly dazed expression!
Big smiles!
