TableDancer
Well-Known Member
Well, better keep this one short after the last Tolstoy-esque effort
Left at 5.30am Saturday morning for a 3-dayer: Intermediate Dressage on Saturday and Intermediate Eventing on Monday.
Enough has already been said about the layout, the ground etc so I'll stay off all that
T and Sparky warmed up fine, both with their "Do we really have to do this dressage malarky?" expressions on, but staying on message
No scary DC around on Saturday, so whole team quite relaxed, and everyone came out feeling they'd given it their best shot
We all went back to the lorries for a medicinal tinny - then around lunchtime got a call from the kids to say T was lying 2nd in her arena, which caused a minor heart attack as I'd already unplaited Sparky
(At the PC Champs, the top two in each section ride-off against each other for the individual placings) We wandered up to find that with 6 scores left to post, T was now lying 4th - phew
Rather surprisingly, 5 of those last 6 went in front of T so she ended up 9th - in fact all the top 6 in her section were in the last 8 competitors... Think we'll be requesting a late draw next year
Anyway, happy enough, team ended up 16th of 26 which is respectable if not thrilling
Hit the Pimms that night as blank day on Sunday - spent walking the course and generally chilling. T and her eventing team-mates watched the Open Dressage ride-off and saw Peony's Beatle, they said she did a great job and was a bit unlucky with the marking
But there were some SERIOUS dressage horses in there
Monday started bright and early for a 9-something dressage... By this time Sparky had his "Not MORE bl**dy dressage" expression on, and T had her "This is SUCH a pain in the backside, I can't do anything with this pony, he doesn't want to do any more bl**dy dressage" expression on - a challenge for any trainer but even more a Mummy/trainer combined
Survived their test and scored 33 - not bad, but there's better to come on the future (I hope!)
The SJ was less intimidating than we'd feared - this is their weakest phase and can be a bit hit or miss
They did a lovely flowing round, probably the best I've seen them jump in fairness, but had a couple of rails (poles were flying everywhere so no disgrace). Most pleasing, they made all the striding in the doubles and related distances which is something we've been working on. Here are a couple of photos - posted by kind permission of the pro photographer
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588045&id=1036805569
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588513&id=1036805569
Onto XC... Basically, I felt this was a huge ask for our pair: T is 12, Sparky is 7 and 14 hands. They are learning together and are barely established at PN level - this track was far closer at least in technicality to N than PN
So I wasn't feeling especially optimistic... T, at least, was very positive throughout
Anyway, they set off over 1 and 2 ok, then at the 3rd which was that log on a mound which was near the end of the N course this spring for anyone who was there they had a stop which was unexpected, think S was a bit
to find it when he got to the top of the slope and T hadn't warned him what was coming
Over 2nd time and on they went, over 4 and 5, 5 being again the skinny decent log into te little quarry with two steps down which caused a bit of trouble on the N track this spring
Flew next couple of straightforward fences, then it was the water: reasonable rolltop, LONG stride (or two
) to little rolltop/drop into water - never done one of these before. Through it like old pros - photo below:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588514&id=1036805569
Up the hill, over the tricky bench which caused so much trouble, over the next few no problem, then second last was a hanging log jumping straight into water - decent size and you could see the water underneath it on the approach. T said she kicked like mad but S was deeply suspicious and ground to a halt. He probably would have gone second time but we'd agreed that if that happened she'd nip round and do the L option so that's what she did, then over the last to finish. She finished livid, frustrated and disappointed but I was thrilled with them and, more to the point, so was scary DC (now in attendance
) Once T calmed down she started to see the positives and is now pretty pleased - as much as an over-competitive 12 year old can be in such a situation
Anyway, I think it was a stirling performance and something to build on for the future
Please join me in a glass of cheap mock-pink-champagne (you see, you should never have let me go to Waitrose
)
Enough has already been said about the layout, the ground etc so I'll stay off all that
T and Sparky warmed up fine, both with their "Do we really have to do this dressage malarky?" expressions on, but staying on message
Hit the Pimms that night as blank day on Sunday - spent walking the course and generally chilling. T and her eventing team-mates watched the Open Dressage ride-off and saw Peony's Beatle, they said she did a great job and was a bit unlucky with the marking
Monday started bright and early for a 9-something dressage... By this time Sparky had his "Not MORE bl**dy dressage" expression on, and T had her "This is SUCH a pain in the backside, I can't do anything with this pony, he doesn't want to do any more bl**dy dressage" expression on - a challenge for any trainer but even more a Mummy/trainer combined
The SJ was less intimidating than we'd feared - this is their weakest phase and can be a bit hit or miss
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588045&id=1036805569
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588513&id=1036805569
Onto XC... Basically, I felt this was a huge ask for our pair: T is 12, Sparky is 7 and 14 hands. They are learning together and are barely established at PN level - this track was far closer at least in technicality to N than PN
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=588514&id=1036805569
Up the hill, over the tricky bench which caused so much trouble, over the next few no problem, then second last was a hanging log jumping straight into water - decent size and you could see the water underneath it on the approach. T said she kicked like mad but S was deeply suspicious and ground to a halt. He probably would have gone second time but we'd agreed that if that happened she'd nip round and do the L option so that's what she did, then over the last to finish. She finished livid, frustrated and disappointed but I was thrilled with them and, more to the point, so was scary DC (now in attendance
