Spiderman
Well-Known Member
I'll try to keep it brief but suffice to say that I'm a very proud 'mum' this morning.
On Friday Amour G, aka Spider, competed in his first regional championships, the Novice Open at Addington. Warmed up in the big outdoor arena very nicely, coped well with all the others and was catching a lot of peoples eyes. In fact Nicky Barrett came over to say what a lovely horse and a great combination. She doesn't know me at all so that was really kind of her to do that.
Left warm up to do test and just as we started up the walkway someone stopped right in front to have their bandages and boots removed.
There wasn't time for Dan to shout 'stallion please' and Spider was very good but it was enough just to put him in stallion mode for a moment and not what you need immediately before your test.
We all thought the test was spoilt by the tension and were quite down as we thought our dreams had gone up in smoke.
None of us was in a hurry to go and see our score and eventually we trailled up the hill with heavy hearts only to find we had scored 69.5% and 3rd place!!!!!!! Better than that, the top three qualified directly to the National Championships! Yee Hah!!!!
We had one heartstopping moment in the stables too. Spider had settled well in his pad, sandwiched between Isabel Wessels horse and a line of the Eilbergs. (Not sure what they thought of having a ***** pony in their midst!) Obviously the stable manager was aware Spider was a stallion and I had requested no mares next door please, especially as it is impossible to stop the horses touching noses at the back of the stables there.
I can only assume the stable manager hadn't told the Eilbergs as we came back to find a bit of a hooha going on and Spider was busy teasing one of their MARES. Aaaaaaargh!
As soon as they swapped stables with one of their geldings all settled down again but I didn't need the extra stress!
Day 2 was the Elementary. The class started at 8 and finished at 3.20, it was huge! We were on at 10 and again, Spider warmed up very nicely. The test itself, apart from one moment when a horse appeared between the trees behind the arena just as Spider was about to do his first 10 half circle to simple change and he lost concentration and called out to it and then wasn't listening so performed a handbrake turn and skid
, was lovely. We were all very pleased with how it had gone and were hopeful.
The judge at C even gave them a little clap at the end!
We were a little disappointed therefore with the score of 66.25% but it put then into 5th place but of course with many, many more to go. We thought we'd no chance of making the magic top 10 but as the scores came in we were still hanging on in there, in fact right down to the very last person we were in 10th but then they pipped us to a rossie!
Still thrilled with 'the boys'. Third in the Novice and qualifying for the nationals, then 11th in the Elementary in their first season dressage.
Then to celebrate, it was off on the road again this morning to visit Groomsbridge Stud as he had a collection to do!!!
[Copyright image removed]
On Friday Amour G, aka Spider, competed in his first regional championships, the Novice Open at Addington. Warmed up in the big outdoor arena very nicely, coped well with all the others and was catching a lot of peoples eyes. In fact Nicky Barrett came over to say what a lovely horse and a great combination. She doesn't know me at all so that was really kind of her to do that.
Left warm up to do test and just as we started up the walkway someone stopped right in front to have their bandages and boots removed.
There wasn't time for Dan to shout 'stallion please' and Spider was very good but it was enough just to put him in stallion mode for a moment and not what you need immediately before your test.
We all thought the test was spoilt by the tension and were quite down as we thought our dreams had gone up in smoke. None of us was in a hurry to go and see our score and eventually we trailled up the hill with heavy hearts only to find we had scored 69.5% and 3rd place!!!!!!! Better than that, the top three qualified directly to the National Championships! Yee Hah!!!!
We had one heartstopping moment in the stables too. Spider had settled well in his pad, sandwiched between Isabel Wessels horse and a line of the Eilbergs. (Not sure what they thought of having a ***** pony in their midst!) Obviously the stable manager was aware Spider was a stallion and I had requested no mares next door please, especially as it is impossible to stop the horses touching noses at the back of the stables there.
I can only assume the stable manager hadn't told the Eilbergs as we came back to find a bit of a hooha going on and Spider was busy teasing one of their MARES. Aaaaaaargh!
As soon as they swapped stables with one of their geldings all settled down again but I didn't need the extra stress! Day 2 was the Elementary. The class started at 8 and finished at 3.20, it was huge! We were on at 10 and again, Spider warmed up very nicely. The test itself, apart from one moment when a horse appeared between the trees behind the arena just as Spider was about to do his first 10 half circle to simple change and he lost concentration and called out to it and then wasn't listening so performed a handbrake turn and skid
, was lovely. We were all very pleased with how it had gone and were hopeful. The judge at C even gave them a little clap at the end!
We were a little disappointed therefore with the score of 66.25% but it put then into 5th place but of course with many, many more to go. We thought we'd no chance of making the magic top 10 but as the scores came in we were still hanging on in there, in fact right down to the very last person we were in 10th but then they pipped us to a rossie!
Still thrilled with 'the boys'. Third in the Novice and qualifying for the nationals, then 11th in the Elementary in their first season dressage.
Then to celebrate, it was off on the road again this morning to visit Groomsbridge Stud as he had a collection to do!!!
[Copyright image removed]
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