Ellie2893
Well-Known Member
We'll start from the very beginning...!
Since my accident in August my right hand/lower arm has suffered so that I struggle to hold the reins let alone actually use it on occasion which I had felt getting progressively worse (i tend to drop my rein every now and again which the judge sees as 'fiddling'!) so i went over to my bootcamp trainer on Saturday to have a quick run through and turns out little Harvey monster has been playing me up... His entire right hand side was as solid as a rock and well basically he was taking the George Michael!! We fixed it temporally so we can actually have inside bend on the right rein but nothing is going to be fixed in two days!
So....! Today we headed to KM for their Winter Regionals. We'd only qualified at Prelim and had already got a ticket to Hartpury in the form of PetPlan so ideally I just wanted the experience for him of a big show before we took him there!
Times were up to read at 2:25 start for me (for once, actually late!) and some 32 in the class which was our biggest to date!
We arrived in plenty of time despite getting very lost several times (even turning around in the driveway and not realizing it was there - DOH!) lots of time to get a cup of tea and have a walk around.
I promised myself i wouldn't look at the boards OR how many were to qualify - i like to tell myself i'm not competitive but hey, would we do this if we weren't?! Low and behold... i did. And i wish i hadn't! 20 gone in with the winner on 71% and a variety of 67-69%'s which looked intimidating and only two to qualify.
Ohhhh well.... Back to the lorry to tack up and get on to the warm up. Harv was so chilled bar a small spook at the cows being milked in the barn on the way to the warm up he was such a star ignoring some horses having rather large hissy fits in front of him! I broke my own rule and looked at other horses in the warm up (always a fatal mistake when you have a cob x appy that plods along!) I think i counted all but 2 and myself that weren't wearing headsets, then you realize these people haven't come out for a jolly!!!
My time came and we went in - outdoor arena for us (and 3 judges - news to me!) had a little trot around and straight in!
What can I say... he didn't put a foot wrong for the entire test!!! His walk transition could have been more forward (mummy yanked back *innocent face*!) and the halt was PANTS but he tried his little heart out for me, he stayed round and soft and i even felt a little tiny bit of elevation! He kept my right hand with feeling which is always a bonus and the canter had the 'jump' that he'd be lacking. Considering i'd gone in with my knees shaking, I was thrilled to come out and be still on him having not forgotten the test or had a meltdown!
We popped him away and went back to the score boards to see we'd raked in a fabby 71.22% and were lying in 4th. No matter what we hadn't done enough to qualify but i was genuinely expecting (and would have been happy with!) between 62-65%!!!
The wait was agonizing but finally came around that no one had come above us since i checked and we finished in 4th overall out of a huge class with the winner on 73%.
I can't explain how delighted i am with him and how grateful i am at what he's done for me. No one ever expects him to do anything when he's warming up or riding his test (least of all me!) but he's so reliable in the ring I can't fault him! He gave me the ride of my life today and i've been grinning from ear to ear ever since!
Thanks for reading everyone and please lets see some more regional reports!!!
Since my accident in August my right hand/lower arm has suffered so that I struggle to hold the reins let alone actually use it on occasion which I had felt getting progressively worse (i tend to drop my rein every now and again which the judge sees as 'fiddling'!) so i went over to my bootcamp trainer on Saturday to have a quick run through and turns out little Harvey monster has been playing me up... His entire right hand side was as solid as a rock and well basically he was taking the George Michael!! We fixed it temporally so we can actually have inside bend on the right rein but nothing is going to be fixed in two days!
So....! Today we headed to KM for their Winter Regionals. We'd only qualified at Prelim and had already got a ticket to Hartpury in the form of PetPlan so ideally I just wanted the experience for him of a big show before we took him there!
Times were up to read at 2:25 start for me (for once, actually late!) and some 32 in the class which was our biggest to date!
We arrived in plenty of time despite getting very lost several times (even turning around in the driveway and not realizing it was there - DOH!) lots of time to get a cup of tea and have a walk around.
I promised myself i wouldn't look at the boards OR how many were to qualify - i like to tell myself i'm not competitive but hey, would we do this if we weren't?! Low and behold... i did. And i wish i hadn't! 20 gone in with the winner on 71% and a variety of 67-69%'s which looked intimidating and only two to qualify.
Ohhhh well.... Back to the lorry to tack up and get on to the warm up. Harv was so chilled bar a small spook at the cows being milked in the barn on the way to the warm up he was such a star ignoring some horses having rather large hissy fits in front of him! I broke my own rule and looked at other horses in the warm up (always a fatal mistake when you have a cob x appy that plods along!) I think i counted all but 2 and myself that weren't wearing headsets, then you realize these people haven't come out for a jolly!!!
My time came and we went in - outdoor arena for us (and 3 judges - news to me!) had a little trot around and straight in!
What can I say... he didn't put a foot wrong for the entire test!!! His walk transition could have been more forward (mummy yanked back *innocent face*!) and the halt was PANTS but he tried his little heart out for me, he stayed round and soft and i even felt a little tiny bit of elevation! He kept my right hand with feeling which is always a bonus and the canter had the 'jump' that he'd be lacking. Considering i'd gone in with my knees shaking, I was thrilled to come out and be still on him having not forgotten the test or had a meltdown!
We popped him away and went back to the score boards to see we'd raked in a fabby 71.22% and were lying in 4th. No matter what we hadn't done enough to qualify but i was genuinely expecting (and would have been happy with!) between 62-65%!!!
The wait was agonizing but finally came around that no one had come above us since i checked and we finished in 4th overall out of a huge class with the winner on 73%.
I can't explain how delighted i am with him and how grateful i am at what he's done for me. No one ever expects him to do anything when he's warming up or riding his test (least of all me!) but he's so reliable in the ring I can't fault him! He gave me the ride of my life today and i've been grinning from ear to ear ever since!
Thanks for reading everyone and please lets see some more regional reports!!!
