charlimouse
Well-Known Member
Bishop Burton, whilst not the closest geographically would be my 'home' event, given I am currently studying there (final year) for my degree. This meant there was perhaps more pressure on me than normal (or more likely I put more pressure on myself), as there were quite a lot of people there I knew. Essentially if I had a bad run I would not be able to slink home and hide under a rock! There was also the added difficulty of the fact Pickle won last time out at Allerton. Now most people wouldn't see that as a downside, but I find it tricky to come back from a win as there are expectations that weren't there before (probably far more expectations from me than anybody else!), and the only way is down!
Due to the fact a friend had stabled at mine on the Saturday night who didn't know the way to Bishop, and I needed to walk the course before my dressage, I came up with a fool proof plan. I went with friend to navigate the way there early, giving myself plenty of time to course walk in the process. This left my parents to bring my horses up for 11.30 in time for my 12.28 dressage, meaning they wouldn't be standing on the lorry quite so long. Bearing in mind both my parents and I have driven the route to Bishop a lot (in my case hundreds of times), what could go wrong?
Friend and I arrived without mishap. I went for an amble round the XC (which was rather beefy!). At 11.30 I got a phone call from my rather grumpy Mother saying they had somehow taken the wrong turn at the roundabout and ended up in Bridlington! With no horse or kit there was absolutely nothing I could do except hope they would turn up in time. Finally at 12.10 the horses arrived, que a very quick stud and tack up, I literally threw my riding gear on and trotted over to the dressage (naturally we were parked as far away as possible!), muttering a hurried apology to the steward a I headed straight in to do my test. Considering my warm up was a trot across the car park Jem really tried her best. I was still a little stressed and very nearly went the wrong way in my canter, meaning I had to perform a handbrake turn. Numpty jockey! Full credit to a slightly bemused Jem who coped admirably with the situation.
Next up was Pickle. By now we were back on schedule. Timed it nicely for a 20 minute warm up, which went really well. I was first in after a break so headed over to do my test to find the writer had gone AWOL. 15 minutes after my time the writer turned up, and in we went, but the damage was done. Pickle is quite temperamental in his dressage, and had switched into one of his unco-operative moods. It was a test which would fall into the damage limitation category, but we managed to do all the movements in the correct place and stay in the arena.
Hopped onto Jem to SJ. It was causing a fair few problems, and the time was very tight. Jem jumped brilliantly for a clear round.
I also found out Jem's dressage was 35.5, which was 15th in a large section. Not bad considering the circumstances!
Switched onto Pickle. Pickle must have heard the time was tight as he flew round (I would imagine in the fastest time of the day!) for another clear round (as you can see he certainly wasn't going to touch a pole)!
Pickle got a 34.5 for his dressage, which was better than I was expecting, leaving him 13th. Incredibly there were only 13 clear rounds out of a section of 37, so I was very proud to be able to put my name to 2 of them!
To be continued........................
Due to the fact a friend had stabled at mine on the Saturday night who didn't know the way to Bishop, and I needed to walk the course before my dressage, I came up with a fool proof plan. I went with friend to navigate the way there early, giving myself plenty of time to course walk in the process. This left my parents to bring my horses up for 11.30 in time for my 12.28 dressage, meaning they wouldn't be standing on the lorry quite so long. Bearing in mind both my parents and I have driven the route to Bishop a lot (in my case hundreds of times), what could go wrong?
Friend and I arrived without mishap. I went for an amble round the XC (which was rather beefy!). At 11.30 I got a phone call from my rather grumpy Mother saying they had somehow taken the wrong turn at the roundabout and ended up in Bridlington! With no horse or kit there was absolutely nothing I could do except hope they would turn up in time. Finally at 12.10 the horses arrived, que a very quick stud and tack up, I literally threw my riding gear on and trotted over to the dressage (naturally we were parked as far away as possible!), muttering a hurried apology to the steward a I headed straight in to do my test. Considering my warm up was a trot across the car park Jem really tried her best. I was still a little stressed and very nearly went the wrong way in my canter, meaning I had to perform a handbrake turn. Numpty jockey! Full credit to a slightly bemused Jem who coped admirably with the situation.
Next up was Pickle. By now we were back on schedule. Timed it nicely for a 20 minute warm up, which went really well. I was first in after a break so headed over to do my test to find the writer had gone AWOL. 15 minutes after my time the writer turned up, and in we went, but the damage was done. Pickle is quite temperamental in his dressage, and had switched into one of his unco-operative moods. It was a test which would fall into the damage limitation category, but we managed to do all the movements in the correct place and stay in the arena.
Hopped onto Jem to SJ. It was causing a fair few problems, and the time was very tight. Jem jumped brilliantly for a clear round.
I also found out Jem's dressage was 35.5, which was 15th in a large section. Not bad considering the circumstances!
Switched onto Pickle. Pickle must have heard the time was tight as he flew round (I would imagine in the fastest time of the day!) for another clear round (as you can see he certainly wasn't going to touch a pole)!
Pickle got a 34.5 for his dressage, which was better than I was expecting, leaving him 13th. Incredibly there were only 13 clear rounds out of a section of 37, so I was very proud to be able to put my name to 2 of them!
To be continued........................
