Sarah_Jane
Well-Known Member
It has been 7 years since we last visited Supastuds Monmouth and I am glad we went back to such a lovely friendly event. With the recent weather the ground was as good as you will get and the courses were testing yet fair.
I had a really good lesson last weekend with Robert Pickles who rather liked Pippa and really helped me start to get to grips with her flat work. This showed in the dressage as overall she did a much softer test with the medium paces starting to come through, she was in a good rhythm so I was pretty happy for her stage of education although the canter transitions are still quite hollow.
[youtube]ZgtwSb67R0o[/youtube]
The mark of 35.7 was our best at Novice to date, the leader was only on 31 in a tightly bunched section. It has improved so much since I have had her and there is a huge improvement still to come
I had 2 hours to kill before Show Jumping so walked the course a third time and took the course pictures. The weather couldn't quite decide what to do and we had some really heavy blustery showers. The show jumping course was straightforward and probably not as big as some we have jumped this year. On the down side the ring was undulating which certainly upped the difficulty. I went down 20 minutes before my time to find the collecting ring in chaos with it running 40 minutes behind causing multiple horse riders to need to push in as they had other rides. Having assessed the situation I went back to the lorry and put her away for 30 minutes. On my return although the timing was right to get into the ring it was not on the weather front and a heavy shower came down as we went in.
[youtube]OxzEU1ursRk[/youtube]
Very pleased with our first clear round at this level, we gave 2 fences a fair tap but for once luck was on our side (please ignore me committing the cardinal sin of looking behind me to see if anything had fallen).
So onto cross country and although I was in the early part of the class I was aware the leader was on 49 so a good round would make me competitive as well as earning us the coveted first point. I have added the course pictures for the Novice and BE100 to my website http://www.shoestringeventing.co.uk/course-pictures.htm
We set out positively over the simple first 3 fences before coming to number 4a and b. At the time of riding I had heard very little commentary but as the day wore on it became clear this was the bogey fence causing numerous refusals and eliminations. You can see from the picture it is a narrow brush under trees on a related distance to a palisade.
What the picture doesn't show is you have a sharp turn to the fence and only about 3 straight strides. Pip was a bit green but popped it and did a neat 2 strides to the palisade. This was followed by a drop to a ditch and then a turn to a skinny which we negotiated well. A sprint up the hill and a turn back on yourself to 2 steps down followed by a acutely angled fence on a stride, Pip popped a few strides of trot in and jumped neatly.
The water was next and with my recent history it was the fence that worried me most. The water was in a narrow concrete bowl under trees so spooky and approached via a log a stride out. Popped the log ok and she backed right off the water, kept my leg on and she popped in a bit skew wiff but took the required stride and popped out.
Simple fences followed and then a bullfinch with a ditch, she jumped the top which was well over 5 foot - I thought we were never coming down!
The video picks us up as this point going up the hill to a decent brush and turn back to a drop and brush, which I think we did pretty well. The hedge followed and then a very skinny fence at 15 which evidently Mum was worried I was going a bit too fast to but she had locked on quite a way out which allowed me to keep coming. The last significant combination was a superstud fence on 2 strides to a small ditch and 3 to a corner. As she was jumping the supastud she suddenly dropped her legs as she couldn't work out the question, you see her on landing hesitating to suss it out before continuing and jumping through neatly.
[youtube]-pjgUhiRwNo[/youtube]
So we finished with a clear round 9 seconds over for 3.6 time so finished on our first sub 40 score.
After a long wait we were announced as 4th but later the scoreboard corrected us to 5th so two shiney points and our first eventing frilly this season. Also a cheque for £29 which nowhere near covers any costs but ever bit helps! I really wanted to get a double clear point before the end of the season but was over the moon to get a placing as well, particularly being less than 4 marks off the winner. Whilst I feel she will be very competitive next year I didn't expect such a high placing this season.
Just two events left now with a return to Dauntsey and a trip to Larkhill on the cards. Sarnie has also been entered in the Open Novice at Dauntsey so it will be great to get her out and about again.
I have just been counting back and it was only 4 months ago that Pip first moved in and did her first BE100 so I think she has come a very long way in a very short time!
I had a really good lesson last weekend with Robert Pickles who rather liked Pippa and really helped me start to get to grips with her flat work. This showed in the dressage as overall she did a much softer test with the medium paces starting to come through, she was in a good rhythm so I was pretty happy for her stage of education although the canter transitions are still quite hollow.
[youtube]ZgtwSb67R0o[/youtube]
The mark of 35.7 was our best at Novice to date, the leader was only on 31 in a tightly bunched section. It has improved so much since I have had her and there is a huge improvement still to come
I had 2 hours to kill before Show Jumping so walked the course a third time and took the course pictures. The weather couldn't quite decide what to do and we had some really heavy blustery showers. The show jumping course was straightforward and probably not as big as some we have jumped this year. On the down side the ring was undulating which certainly upped the difficulty. I went down 20 minutes before my time to find the collecting ring in chaos with it running 40 minutes behind causing multiple horse riders to need to push in as they had other rides. Having assessed the situation I went back to the lorry and put her away for 30 minutes. On my return although the timing was right to get into the ring it was not on the weather front and a heavy shower came down as we went in.
[youtube]OxzEU1ursRk[/youtube]
Very pleased with our first clear round at this level, we gave 2 fences a fair tap but for once luck was on our side (please ignore me committing the cardinal sin of looking behind me to see if anything had fallen).
So onto cross country and although I was in the early part of the class I was aware the leader was on 49 so a good round would make me competitive as well as earning us the coveted first point. I have added the course pictures for the Novice and BE100 to my website http://www.shoestringeventing.co.uk/course-pictures.htm
We set out positively over the simple first 3 fences before coming to number 4a and b. At the time of riding I had heard very little commentary but as the day wore on it became clear this was the bogey fence causing numerous refusals and eliminations. You can see from the picture it is a narrow brush under trees on a related distance to a palisade.
What the picture doesn't show is you have a sharp turn to the fence and only about 3 straight strides. Pip was a bit green but popped it and did a neat 2 strides to the palisade. This was followed by a drop to a ditch and then a turn to a skinny which we negotiated well. A sprint up the hill and a turn back on yourself to 2 steps down followed by a acutely angled fence on a stride, Pip popped a few strides of trot in and jumped neatly.
The water was next and with my recent history it was the fence that worried me most. The water was in a narrow concrete bowl under trees so spooky and approached via a log a stride out. Popped the log ok and she backed right off the water, kept my leg on and she popped in a bit skew wiff but took the required stride and popped out.
Simple fences followed and then a bullfinch with a ditch, she jumped the top which was well over 5 foot - I thought we were never coming down!
The video picks us up as this point going up the hill to a decent brush and turn back to a drop and brush, which I think we did pretty well. The hedge followed and then a very skinny fence at 15 which evidently Mum was worried I was going a bit too fast to but she had locked on quite a way out which allowed me to keep coming. The last significant combination was a superstud fence on 2 strides to a small ditch and 3 to a corner. As she was jumping the supastud she suddenly dropped her legs as she couldn't work out the question, you see her on landing hesitating to suss it out before continuing and jumping through neatly.
[youtube]-pjgUhiRwNo[/youtube]
So we finished with a clear round 9 seconds over for 3.6 time so finished on our first sub 40 score.
After a long wait we were announced as 4th but later the scoreboard corrected us to 5th so two shiney points and our first eventing frilly this season. Also a cheque for £29 which nowhere near covers any costs but ever bit helps! I really wanted to get a double clear point before the end of the season but was over the moon to get a placing as well, particularly being less than 4 marks off the winner. Whilst I feel she will be very competitive next year I didn't expect such a high placing this season.
Just two events left now with a return to Dauntsey and a trip to Larkhill on the cards. Sarnie has also been entered in the Open Novice at Dauntsey so it will be great to get her out and about again.
I have just been counting back and it was only 4 months ago that Pip first moved in and did her first BE100 so I think she has come a very long way in a very short time!
Probably a good school though, especially if she was a bit unsure but then it worked out. 
