Prince33Sp4rkle
Well-Known Member
Well, what can I say... CS has been the model of grown up equid behaviour, both ridden and to handle (except for an unfortunate incident with a loose terrier whilst NMT was hand grazing him, had I been able to run in my konigs it would now be a terrier with a konig shape dent... grrrr.)
Arrived early on Sat so watched and waited, biding my time until the warm up was sufficiently empty (bearing in mind how absolutely OTT he was last time he was there in 2011!!!). And whilst NMT and I may never be able to afford anything like them, we managed to spot the 1st-3rd placed horses in every class we watched over the 2 days, so we have a good eye for what we cant afford lol!
Settled him into his stable and got ready to rumble. Suggested to NMT I might lead him to the warm up and got told to MTFU so clambered on and off we went
He was fine, absolutely bob the cob fine! Not even a jiffle or a wiggle 
He worked REALLY well, amazingly well. So supple and loose and just did everything asked for with no drama, even when randomers kept doing discombobulated jogs through my piris! So we had already achieved one aim for the weekend - not to terrify anyone in the warm up!
Washed him off (BHS styley barefoot, me as well as him!), and left him with his tea. Proceed to achieve goal number 2 by having a HOT shower before the masses descended.
Put some names to faces, then met up with a couple of friends briefly before retiring to camp sparkle for the night. (Sadly interrupted by someones horse playing bongo drums on the partition basically all night long, was oh so tempted to go and throw a bucket of water at it!)
Opted out of the arena walk on sun as didn't want to tempt acrobatics, or squish any innocent bystanders! However, were still up at 6.15am to get plaited and tarted up. Sun dawned much cooler than Sat, perfect riding temp and again he warmed up really sweetly. Main focus was keeping the activity in the HP work and showing a good clear diff in the med/ext work. First to go Matt Frost; did an absolutely stunning test on Don Rosso, he was our predicted winner and we were right! Well deserved and will be interested to see how they did in the PSG.
Anyway, in, quick trot round (bless him he never looked at a thing, never even considered spooking, such a good boy) and we were off. Did its standard laminitic polo pony entry, in fact tried to halt several times all the way to X, lazy git. But I juuust about managed to rescue the actual halt! The first trot HP felt a bit blah (although looks better than it felt in the vid) but apart from that I was over the moon. He was really taking me forward and everything seemed to flow really nicely. I made a couple of minor errors in that my changes weren't perfectly centred on the serpentine, but they were all nice and big and clean so at least he did his job properly :slappedwrist: Really went for it in the final ext canter and that came off well. Followed by a nice change and a much less laminitic final centre line
Video here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153042286900257
Sadly no mounted prize givings due to the expected extreme heat/humidity on sun (which never really happend, annoyingly
Cooled CS off, un plaited and washed him down, before going to see what the damage was score wise.
My only aims had been 1. not to rear and 2. not to be last, so I was beyond thrilled with 65.09% and 7th at that point :grin:
We hung around nervously, watched Becky Moody and Carinsio annihilate the rest of E59O and then edged back in the score tent to find out I was eventually 9th!!!! I cannot explain how happy and how proud I am, of my cheap as chips quirky ex racer, who has now been placed at open level at the regionals! How cool is he :wub:
Judges comments all very similar - need more power and engagement in the lateral work but they all liked his changes and basic way of going, so that's really encouraging to hear
The prize giving was, I hate to say a bit disappointing, hardly anyone turned up and we got told not to clap in case the horses could hear it in the test arenas but nothing can take away how chuffed I am.
Watched our friends in the AMR and MR before packing up camp and heading home (via KFC!) :nom:
So, onwards now with the PSG for the AF and maybe an I1 before the end of the year!
Arrived early on Sat so watched and waited, biding my time until the warm up was sufficiently empty (bearing in mind how absolutely OTT he was last time he was there in 2011!!!). And whilst NMT and I may never be able to afford anything like them, we managed to spot the 1st-3rd placed horses in every class we watched over the 2 days, so we have a good eye for what we cant afford lol!
Settled him into his stable and got ready to rumble. Suggested to NMT I might lead him to the warm up and got told to MTFU so clambered on and off we went
He was fine, absolutely bob the cob fine! Not even a jiffle or a wiggle He worked REALLY well, amazingly well. So supple and loose and just did everything asked for with no drama, even when randomers kept doing discombobulated jogs through my piris! So we had already achieved one aim for the weekend - not to terrify anyone in the warm up!
Washed him off (BHS styley barefoot, me as well as him!), and left him with his tea. Proceed to achieve goal number 2 by having a HOT shower before the masses descended.
Put some names to faces, then met up with a couple of friends briefly before retiring to camp sparkle for the night. (Sadly interrupted by someones horse playing bongo drums on the partition basically all night long, was oh so tempted to go and throw a bucket of water at it!)
Opted out of the arena walk on sun as didn't want to tempt acrobatics, or squish any innocent bystanders! However, were still up at 6.15am to get plaited and tarted up. Sun dawned much cooler than Sat, perfect riding temp and again he warmed up really sweetly. Main focus was keeping the activity in the HP work and showing a good clear diff in the med/ext work. First to go Matt Frost; did an absolutely stunning test on Don Rosso, he was our predicted winner and we were right! Well deserved and will be interested to see how they did in the PSG.
Anyway, in, quick trot round (bless him he never looked at a thing, never even considered spooking, such a good boy) and we were off. Did its standard laminitic polo pony entry, in fact tried to halt several times all the way to X, lazy git. But I juuust about managed to rescue the actual halt! The first trot HP felt a bit blah (although looks better than it felt in the vid) but apart from that I was over the moon. He was really taking me forward and everything seemed to flow really nicely. I made a couple of minor errors in that my changes weren't perfectly centred on the serpentine, but they were all nice and big and clean so at least he did his job properly :slappedwrist: Really went for it in the final ext canter and that came off well. Followed by a nice change and a much less laminitic final centre line
Video here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153042286900257
Sadly no mounted prize givings due to the expected extreme heat/humidity on sun (which never really happend, annoyingly
Cooled CS off, un plaited and washed him down, before going to see what the damage was score wise.My only aims had been 1. not to rear and 2. not to be last, so I was beyond thrilled with 65.09% and 7th at that point :grin:
We hung around nervously, watched Becky Moody and Carinsio annihilate the rest of E59O and then edged back in the score tent to find out I was eventually 9th!!!! I cannot explain how happy and how proud I am, of my cheap as chips quirky ex racer, who has now been placed at open level at the regionals! How cool is he :wub:
Judges comments all very similar - need more power and engagement in the lateral work but they all liked his changes and basic way of going, so that's really encouraging to hear
The prize giving was, I hate to say a bit disappointing, hardly anyone turned up and we got told not to clap in case the horses could hear it in the test arenas
but nothing can take away how chuffed I am.Watched our friends in the AMR and MR before packing up camp and heading home (via KFC!) :nom:
So, onwards now with the PSG for the AF and maybe an I1 before the end of the year!
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