Michen
Well-Known Member
Feel I owe you guys an update after all the SJ help and run or not run advice!
With a very civilised departure of 11am and having actually been prepared the night before (bar learning the dressage which was still done the morning of...) I went for a swim, got ready and my friend and I toddled off to Swalcliffe BE.
I felt weird, I’d eaten breakfast (unheard of before an event) and felt remarkable relaxed. Odd. Got to Swalcliffe and the heavens opened with a huge hail storm, absolutely bleak! Never mind.
Dressage: Tacked up, studded up and went off to dressage warm up which was a deep and even worse sticky mess. No problem, found a bit that was pretty decent and warmed up my pony thinking I’ll keep hi, off the worst ground because I know he hates mud And the dressage arenas look fine. Wrong, went in and they were sticky and pretty cut up. Full of sympathy for my poor pony (who is a native Connemara, and was probably quite literally wenched out of a bog when he was sent over here- at least that’s what it looked like when he arrived. He proceeded to mince around the arena like a 30 year old arthritic pony. Oh well, I was relaxed, he was pretty relaxed and how could I give him a boot when he I KNOW he doesn’t like mud. Finished the test and felt ok. Wrong. The lovely Judge gets out of her car and very sweetly asks if I would jut get him checked by a vet as he looked so reserved behind. Mortified doesn’t even cover it, oh the shame to be THAT person. I explained he was a wet wipe in mud and she was very sweet. We got checked and passed by the vet (who also watched video of said dressage) and boggle exuberantly trotted up on nice ground. I was mortified though, as everyone on here will know I am hugely fussy/paranoid re soundness so even though I knew he was fine it left me feeling a little...embarrassed! To be fair, even though the judge queried soundness he was still on a 38 something and there were plenty in the mid forties our section.
Showjumping: Ate a sandwich (WTF! Why no nerves), hopped on fully expecting to withdraw as the showjumping warm up was similar to dressage though the SJ itself looked ok. Oh... how Strange. At the sight of the jumps Boggle magically turns from mud hating princess to floating across the ground with his little ears pricked so forward they were almost touching at the top. Sod. Jumped like a stag, felt good going in and again.. I was weirdly relaxed (usually at this point my legs are like jelly and I’m in near tears). So relaxed in fact that I get completely lost and go for a hack, doing some circles whilst I’m at it and racking up plenty of penalties though he didn’t touch a pole. Oh well!
Cross country: Again, strangely no issues with the muddy warm up there. Next time I will give him that boot! Rockets out the startbox and I’m grinning the whole way around. Merrily following the bend and realise I was on the 90 track,I handbrake turn my poor honest Horse into a jump where he had half a stride to clock it. Had I put my leg on he would have gone but bless the poor animal, he’s so good and so honest but even he isn’t a mind reader. Shit, 20 penalties, his first ever XC fault and it’s totally my fault. Re present then balloon over the ditch afterwards (kinda felt like Bog was giving me a ticking off), resulting in lots of swear words from me and me and the fence Judge having a good giggle. Rockets around the rest of the course and finishes with a big grin and not a drop of sweat on his neck.
So we came... second to last! BUT, for the first time in a long time (since calmsden 2016 with basil actually) I was not beaten by my nerves, in fact I was so bloody relaxed I totally lacked concentration and was too busy marvelling at how well it was all going jumping wise. This SJ video is far from perfect, I get left behind a fair bit and obviously I still have a lot of work to do with my riding but this is a MILLION times better than how I would usually ride at a competition, which is quite frankly appalling. Hopefully be positive will testify that this video is a big improvement
I think Boggles rider will have her work cut out for her with the BE100 next week, he feels fantastic but is a little cocky and I think may get caught out with much technicality, but we will go and fully expect to retire if anything goes drastically wrong.
Video here, advice and critique always appreciated. And a little photo because he is just adorable!
[video]
[\video]
[video]
[\video]
With a very civilised departure of 11am and having actually been prepared the night before (bar learning the dressage which was still done the morning of...) I went for a swim, got ready and my friend and I toddled off to Swalcliffe BE.
I felt weird, I’d eaten breakfast (unheard of before an event) and felt remarkable relaxed. Odd. Got to Swalcliffe and the heavens opened with a huge hail storm, absolutely bleak! Never mind.
Dressage: Tacked up, studded up and went off to dressage warm up which was a deep and even worse sticky mess. No problem, found a bit that was pretty decent and warmed up my pony thinking I’ll keep hi, off the worst ground because I know he hates mud And the dressage arenas look fine. Wrong, went in and they were sticky and pretty cut up. Full of sympathy for my poor pony (who is a native Connemara, and was probably quite literally wenched out of a bog when he was sent over here- at least that’s what it looked like when he arrived. He proceeded to mince around the arena like a 30 year old arthritic pony. Oh well, I was relaxed, he was pretty relaxed and how could I give him a boot when he I KNOW he doesn’t like mud. Finished the test and felt ok. Wrong. The lovely Judge gets out of her car and very sweetly asks if I would jut get him checked by a vet as he looked so reserved behind. Mortified doesn’t even cover it, oh the shame to be THAT person. I explained he was a wet wipe in mud and she was very sweet. We got checked and passed by the vet (who also watched video of said dressage) and boggle exuberantly trotted up on nice ground. I was mortified though, as everyone on here will know I am hugely fussy/paranoid re soundness so even though I knew he was fine it left me feeling a little...embarrassed! To be fair, even though the judge queried soundness he was still on a 38 something and there were plenty in the mid forties our section.
Showjumping: Ate a sandwich (WTF! Why no nerves), hopped on fully expecting to withdraw as the showjumping warm up was similar to dressage though the SJ itself looked ok. Oh... how Strange. At the sight of the jumps Boggle magically turns from mud hating princess to floating across the ground with his little ears pricked so forward they were almost touching at the top. Sod. Jumped like a stag, felt good going in and again.. I was weirdly relaxed (usually at this point my legs are like jelly and I’m in near tears). So relaxed in fact that I get completely lost and go for a hack, doing some circles whilst I’m at it and racking up plenty of penalties though he didn’t touch a pole. Oh well!
Cross country: Again, strangely no issues with the muddy warm up there. Next time I will give him that boot! Rockets out the startbox and I’m grinning the whole way around. Merrily following the bend and realise I was on the 90 track,I handbrake turn my poor honest Horse into a jump where he had half a stride to clock it. Had I put my leg on he would have gone but bless the poor animal, he’s so good and so honest but even he isn’t a mind reader. Shit, 20 penalties, his first ever XC fault and it’s totally my fault. Re present then balloon over the ditch afterwards (kinda felt like Bog was giving me a ticking off), resulting in lots of swear words from me and me and the fence Judge having a good giggle. Rockets around the rest of the course and finishes with a big grin and not a drop of sweat on his neck.
So we came... second to last! BUT, for the first time in a long time (since calmsden 2016 with basil actually) I was not beaten by my nerves, in fact I was so bloody relaxed I totally lacked concentration and was too busy marvelling at how well it was all going jumping wise. This SJ video is far from perfect, I get left behind a fair bit and obviously I still have a lot of work to do with my riding but this is a MILLION times better than how I would usually ride at a competition, which is quite frankly appalling. Hopefully be positive will testify that this video is a big improvement
I think Boggles rider will have her work cut out for her with the BE100 next week, he feels fantastic but is a little cocky and I think may get caught out with much technicality, but we will go and fully expect to retire if anything goes drastically wrong.
Video here, advice and critique always appreciated. And a little photo because he is just adorable!
[video]
[video]
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