HufflyPuffly
Well-Known Member
Finding out I was first in at 9:08am had me first thinking christ I will be getting up in the dark (I did, 4:30am it is dark :moon::eek3
, then thinking hmm at least I can go and do the arena walk and not have to wait hours and the warm up should be quiet!
Arrived as the people staying over were just getting up and brushing their teeth, far too early no-one should have to get up this early :lol:, found a nice spot under a tree away from some of the worse cut up boggy ground. Went had accosted the coffee van to open early and give us caffeine
, came back and found some other nutter was arriving at this ungodly time too and trying to park not realising I had a side ramp, asked if they could scooch over a touch which they did, just in reach for their horse to start eating the tree through their window , so they moved a little further and erm got stuck :eek3: mortified so said my thanks and hid !
Arena walk was interesting as Topaz did settle nicely but other horses were, erm, a touch overexcited about it all with one leaping the boards and pissing off until a leader was recruited (rather them than me, horsey was very overawed by it all), but despite the excitement Topaz decided it wasn't too scary and walk and stretching occurred 
.
Warm up was then crazy busy, I had naively thought that being first on it would be quiet but what I didn't account for was that everyone who had arena walked also wanted to have a schooling session too :eek3:, coupled with a couple more 'excited' horses Topaz had every excuse to be distracted and a loon! However she was super, found a quiet corner to do some supplying work, get her on that outside rein and relax her which worked well. In no time at all we were being called in!
Rode up to the judges boxes and omg they now had people in, tres scary! Topaz tried to stick her nose in the air, snort like she really did care, and do the hot coal scuttle, but I had my secret weapon of actually riding with my outside rein engaged, so with a touch of shoulder in and a few more passes we were less llama like and the relaxation started to creep back. Bell rang so this was it, sat for the entrance to try and convince Topaz not all CL need to be done in medium trot , squarish halt and we were off. Slightly suspicious of the judges boxes still but happy to be told to crack on , half circles smooth and starting to gain in confidence, leg yield could have had more power but happy to have sweet and obedient and not let her over cook it. Medium trot made an actual appearance :lol:, felt her hold her breath as we passed the judges, but past and ok, onto the halt and rein back, soft to halt but slight wiggle sideways in the rein back, but we did keep the softness so back into trot and circles again. Spooked at the flowers as we got to the track but contained herself admirably to carry on, put a touch more power into this leg yield making sure I take the shoulders across first. Confidence still going strong so kicked on a bit more for the second medium trot, and managed to bring her back and softly walk at C. Super chuffed as we relaxed into the walk and actually stretched down into the free walk! Medium walk was a bit fragile as I didn't feel I could confidently gather her back up for fear of jogging, but leaving her moving forward meant we didn't jog but the walk-canter transition wasn't bob on.
Gather that outside rein back, get the inside leg on and onto the 20m circle, as ever our canter-trot-canter could have been smoother but we trotted. Onto the PIG line making sure no halfpass or flying change was offered (yes Topaz we are looking at you 
), sadly the simple changes were not our best (one of Topaz's best moves normally) as the shiny glass on the judges boxes surprised her but we got through it. Went for it in the medium canters, but slightly resistant to come back for the corner but she kept a lid on it for the G&R. Wait a stride after V, keep that right leg pinned to her side to stave off the halfpassy start to the 20m circle she likes to offer, mega pleased with her canter at this point, relax into the trot back into canter (and probably our best attempt at the blasted canter-trot-canter). VIG, aim her slightly at G and think leg yield leg to keep her from half-passing to flying change on the CL , simple change again a bit rabbit in headlights but onto the final charge, ahem medium canter, back better for the final CL, slightly abrupt to trot but happy to get her medium trot to halt at G! Bless her I could feel her tension hit as soon as I let go and saluted but she kept it together so well!
She was the best and most rideable she's ever been, pulled her socks up went with me and let me say it's ok :lol:. Unbelievably amazed with her, we scored a mega personal best at regional level of 67.24% and ended up 11th!!!! I never ever thought we would be in with a sniff of a top ten placing, but couldn't help feel slightly gutted to then miss out by a quarter of a percentage, made worse by it being pointed out that if we were in any other elementary section of the day we would have been in the top ten thanks for that .
Our aims of, collect our plaque, get a nice picture and try and get the bonus of beating our previous regional high score of 64% were all definitely achieved.
Clever black cart horse :lol:!
, then thinking hmm at least I can go and do the arena walk and not have to wait hours and the warm up should be quiet! Arrived as the people staying over were just getting up and brushing their teeth, far too early no-one should have to get up this early :lol:, found a nice spot under a tree away from some of the worse cut up boggy ground. Went had accosted the coffee van to open early and give us caffeine
, came back and found some other nutter was arriving at this ungodly time too and trying to park not realising I had a side ramp, asked if they could scooch over a touch which they did, just in reach for their horse to start eating the tree through their window , so they moved a little further and erm got stuck :eek3: mortified so said my thanks and hid !Arena walk was interesting as Topaz did settle nicely but other horses were, erm, a touch overexcited about it all with one leaping the boards and pissing off until a leader was recruited (rather them than me, horsey was very overawed by it all
), but despite the excitement Topaz decided it wasn't too scary and walk and stretching occurred .Warm up was then crazy busy, I had naively thought that being first on it would be quiet but what I didn't account for was that everyone who had arena walked also wanted to have a schooling session too :eek3:, coupled with a couple more 'excited' horses Topaz had every excuse to be distracted and a loon! However she was super, found a quiet corner to do some supplying work, get her on that outside rein and relax her which worked well. In no time at all we were being called in
!Rode up to the judges boxes and omg they now had people in
, tres scary! Topaz tried to stick her nose in the air, snort like she really did care, and do the hot coal scuttle, but I had my secret weapon of actually riding with my outside rein engaged, so with a touch of shoulder in and a few more passes we were less llama like and the relaxation started to creep back. Bell rang so this was it, sat for the entrance to try and convince Topaz not all CL need to be done in medium trot , squarish halt and we were off. Slightly suspicious of the judges boxes still but happy to be told to crack on , half circles smooth and starting to gain in confidence, leg yield could have had more power but happy to have sweet and obedient and not let her over cook it. Medium trot made an actual appearance :lol:, felt her hold her breath as we passed the judges, but past and ok, onto the halt and rein back, soft to halt but slight wiggle sideways in the rein back, but we did keep the softness so back into trot and circles again. Spooked at the flowers as we got to the track but contained herself admirably to carry on, put a touch more power into this leg yield making sure I take the shoulders across first. Confidence still going strong so kicked on a bit more for the second medium trot, and managed to bring her back and softly walk at C. Super chuffed as we relaxed into the walk and actually stretched down into the free walk! Medium walk was a bit fragile as I didn't feel I could confidently gather her back up for fear of jogging, but leaving her moving forward meant we didn't jog but the walk-canter transition wasn't bob on. Gather that outside rein back, get the inside leg on and onto the 20m circle, as ever our canter-trot-canter could have been smoother but we trotted
. Onto the PIG line making sure no halfpass or flying change was offered (yes Topaz we are looking at you ), sadly the simple changes were not our best (one of Topaz's best moves normally) as the shiny glass on the judges boxes surprised her but we got through it. Went for it in the medium canters, but slightly resistant to come back for the corner but she kept a lid on it for the G&R. Wait a stride after V, keep that right leg pinned to her side to stave off the halfpassy start to the 20m circle she likes to offer, mega pleased with her canter at this point, relax into the trot back into canter (and probably our best attempt at the blasted canter-trot-canter). VIG, aim her slightly at G and think leg yield leg to keep her from half-passing to flying change on the CL , simple change again a bit rabbit in headlights but onto the final charge, ahem medium canter, back better for the final CL, slightly abrupt to trot but happy to get her medium trot to halt at G! Bless her I could feel her tension hit as soon as I let go and saluted but she kept it together so well!
She was the best and most rideable she's ever been, pulled her socks up went with me and let me say it's ok :lol:. Unbelievably amazed with her, we scored a mega personal best at regional level of 67.24% and ended up 11th!!!! I never ever thought we would be in with a sniff of a top ten placing, but couldn't help feel slightly gutted to then miss out by a quarter of a percentage, made worse by it being pointed out that if we were in any other elementary section of the day we would have been in the top ten
thanks for that .Our aims of, collect our plaque, get a nice picture and try and get the bonus of beating our previous regional high score of 64% were all definitely achieved
.
Clever black cart horse :lol:!
