HufflyPuffly
Well-Known Member
So we went, we may not have conquered but we did succeed in our own small way 
.
After all the time off and worry, the fact we even made it to regionals is a great result already for me
. Plus the arena walk was slightly later on the Sunday so didn't quite have to get up in the dark :lol:. Arrived and her eyes were on stalks, no idea why, she's been here many a time but this is Topaz . Arena walk was going well,
until, the judges got IN their boxes :eek3: the horror!!!!! Honestly Topaz thought they would eat her and not even polos could convince her otherwise... It's a shame as they changed the layout this year, with the judge boxes pretty much flush to the boards (I'm sure last time you could get all the way round the arenas?), and clearly in Topaz's mind way tooooo close. Plus side, Topaz was 'ok' about being trade stand side 
.
Worked her for 10 mins as we got really daft just as we left the ring as the judges made noises :eek3:. She came back down to earth, so put her back in the box, plaited, wiped her down and got myself ready (years of showing and changes between classes means I can put an F1 team to shame
).
Opted for a short warm-up and to go in before my time as they were running early, the warm-up at Somerford I always find a bit chaotic, I wonder if it is because it is so big, people loose all concept of left to left and giving way, but despite a few abrupt halts in we went. Back in the ring for the test and I am so pleased with her, we started off hotter than hot thing (I may not have been able to get near the judge boxes at first ) but she settled, comeback down to earth and really let me ride her 💕👌🏼. First corner to SI was tricky (read flaily :lol but she got braver as we went. Half passes lacked a bit oomph but I forgive her as I could feel her breath some of her tension out. Walk pirouettes did not happen at all really which is a shame, but we didn't jog #silverlinings. Canter work felt really lovely for her, simple changes still not as good as at home but we didn't have any unwarranted flying changes :lol:.
Video here, I'm still pleased with her as it's all still so far out of her comfort zone and she tries so hard, managed 61% overall and wasn't last :lol:.
[video=youtube_share;ezmEwEj8YyI]https://youtu.be/ezmEwEj8YyI[/video]
Clever fatty hippo, even got to play in the water and pretend to be eventers again.
Thanks for reading.
.After all the time off and worry, the fact we even made it to regionals is a great result already for me
. Plus the arena walk was slightly later on the Sunday so didn't quite have to get up in the dark :lol:. Arrived and her eyes were on stalks, no idea why, she's been here many a time but this is Topaz . Arena walk was going well,
until, the judges got IN their boxes :eek3: the horror!!!!! Honestly Topaz thought they would eat her and not even polos could convince her otherwise... It's a shame as they changed the layout this year, with the judge boxes pretty much flush to the boards (I'm sure last time you could get all the way round the arenas?), and clearly in Topaz's mind way tooooo close
. Plus side, Topaz was 'ok' about being trade stand side .Worked her for 10 mins as we got really daft just as we left the ring as the judges made noises :eek3:. She came back down to earth, so put her back in the box, plaited, wiped her down and got myself ready (years of showing and changes between classes means I can put an F1 team to shame
).Opted for a short warm-up and to go in before my time as they were running early, the warm-up at Somerford I always find a bit chaotic, I wonder if it is because it is so big, people loose all concept of left to left and giving way, but despite a few abrupt halts
in we went. Back in the ring for the test and I am so pleased with her, we started off hotter than hot thing (I may not have been able to get near the judge boxes at first ) but she settled, comeback down to earth and really let me ride her 💕👌🏼. First corner to SI was tricky (read flaily :lol but she got braver as we went. Half passes lacked a bit oomph but I forgive her as I could feel her breath some of her tension out. Walk pirouettes did not happen at all really which is a shame, but we didn't jog #silverlinings. Canter work felt really lovely for her, simple changes still not as good as at home but we didn't have any unwarranted flying changes :lol:.Video here, I'm still pleased with her as it's all still so far out of her comfort zone and she tries so hard
, managed 61% overall and wasn't last :lol:.[video=youtube_share;ezmEwEj8YyI]https://youtu.be/ezmEwEj8YyI[/video]
Clever fatty hippo, even got to play in the water and pretend to be eventers again
.
Thanks for reading
.
