SillyMare
Well-Known Member
Well it had to happen sooner or later -
Walked the XC course at Smiths Lawn saying 'this looks very straightforward' (with the exception of the steps up to the pallisade thing).
Molly is fab XC, never stops (although breaks can be a bit dodgy) so I was thoroughly over-confident all morning.
Set off from the XC start to realise that the course was nowhere near as easy as I thought. Molly was rocketing around, steering was not so hot but we were doing OK (managing to stay mostly on the track).
Nearly home - we flew over fence 12, a brush on top of the hill before the water. Flat out down the hill I realised she had locked on to the Novice fence. Desperately tried to pull her to the left to get through the silly little gap they had left for PN. Missed.
Molly took the Novice step, decided against the rail that was there to prevent her heading out into the main lake and swerved.
I hung on desperately (long enough to make sure I was right in the middle of the water where all the people having picnics could see) and then gravity took over!!
How humiliating!!
Long hack home through Windsor park. Dripping wet. Dog walkers asking 'did you fall off?'.
Had to spend the rest of the day smelling like a pond in horid wet kit (I had another pair of breeches to ride Merry, but only one pair of boots, one body protector and one jumping hat).
Yuck!
On the bright side, at least it was the lake and not the nasty muddy puddle before the finish.
Walked the XC course at Smiths Lawn saying 'this looks very straightforward' (with the exception of the steps up to the pallisade thing).
Molly is fab XC, never stops (although breaks can be a bit dodgy) so I was thoroughly over-confident all morning.
Set off from the XC start to realise that the course was nowhere near as easy as I thought. Molly was rocketing around, steering was not so hot but we were doing OK (managing to stay mostly on the track).
Nearly home - we flew over fence 12, a brush on top of the hill before the water. Flat out down the hill I realised she had locked on to the Novice fence. Desperately tried to pull her to the left to get through the silly little gap they had left for PN. Missed.
Molly took the Novice step, decided against the rail that was there to prevent her heading out into the main lake and swerved.
I hung on desperately (long enough to make sure I was right in the middle of the water where all the people having picnics could see) and then gravity took over!!
How humiliating!!
Long hack home through Windsor park. Dripping wet. Dog walkers asking 'did you fall off?'.
Had to spend the rest of the day smelling like a pond in horid wet kit (I had another pair of breeches to ride Merry, but only one pair of boots, one body protector and one jumping hat).
Yuck!
On the bright side, at least it was the lake and not the nasty muddy puddle before the finish.
