tigers_eye
Well-Known Member
I expect I'm not the only competitor who, when they do well, try to reflect on what they have done that time in preparation so they can replicate it the following time.
Last night I officially got engaged! S brought the date forward a bit so it wasn't as contrived, and so, at about 10 pm last night I became his fiancee at Picadilly Circus
.
This morning we left for Munstead with no clean tack, un-cleaned stud holes, me having no idea of what test I was doing... you get the picture.
Had about 15 mins warm-up for dr, went in and had enough time to bully him up to the boards before the judge rang the bell. Flopped round his test making me think spurs next time, complete change from 2 weeks ago! Didn't have the verve and wow of that time, but certainly a solid test. Scored 31, with 4 6's and the rest 7s, with 2 8s for our centre lines
.
Huge long wait then til sj, fell asleep over the steering wheel in cab! Warmed up nicely then jumped a very stop/start lurchy clear round a much easier track than Poplar.
Thinking I'm in quite a good position now decided to take the alternatives at a corner and an arrow head as I haven't really practiced these and I didn't want to throw our place away with a silly stop. I was on a completely different horse than the one at Poplar. Wiggled into the first (where applechaff was judging), then got better and better, actually attacked his fences by the second half, including the coffin! Flew round for a lovely clear, but was quite worried about the time as it's such a galloping course. Luckily had managed to survive without penalties!
Then followed an interminable wait to find out how far up the leader board we would end up. And.... *drum roll*..... WE WON!!! In 8 seasons of BE I have never won an event, so I am SO pleased with my bargain basement "backwards" horse! Admittedly it was uncomfortabley close - we finished on the same score as 2nd, and I think 3 penalties covered the top 8, but boy did he give us a great engagement present!
Last night I officially got engaged! S brought the date forward a bit so it wasn't as contrived, and so, at about 10 pm last night I became his fiancee at Picadilly Circus
This morning we left for Munstead with no clean tack, un-cleaned stud holes, me having no idea of what test I was doing... you get the picture.
Had about 15 mins warm-up for dr, went in and had enough time to bully him up to the boards before the judge rang the bell. Flopped round his test making me think spurs next time, complete change from 2 weeks ago! Didn't have the verve and wow of that time, but certainly a solid test. Scored 31, with 4 6's and the rest 7s, with 2 8s for our centre lines
Huge long wait then til sj, fell asleep over the steering wheel in cab! Warmed up nicely then jumped a very stop/start lurchy clear round a much easier track than Poplar.
Thinking I'm in quite a good position now decided to take the alternatives at a corner and an arrow head as I haven't really practiced these and I didn't want to throw our place away with a silly stop. I was on a completely different horse than the one at Poplar. Wiggled into the first (where applechaff was judging), then got better and better, actually attacked his fences by the second half, including the coffin! Flew round for a lovely clear, but was quite worried about the time as it's such a galloping course. Luckily had managed to survive without penalties!
Then followed an interminable wait to find out how far up the leader board we would end up. And.... *drum roll*..... WE WON!!! In 8 seasons of BE I have never won an event, so I am SO pleased with my bargain basement "backwards" horse! Admittedly it was uncomfortabley close - we finished on the same score as 2nd, and I think 3 penalties covered the top 8, but boy did he give us a great engagement present!
