Rambo
Well-Known Member
So we were supposed to be jumping 3 days of BSJA at Ardingly over the weekend and had a nice schedule of classes set out building up to the Intermediate Championship on sunday...............but the weather took its toll by dispatching 60mm of rain in 2 hours on friday which meant they scrapped the show on that day and would review the conditions on saturday morning
Undeterred we set off to the showground on friday afternoon and got the horses settled down for the night ready for an early start on saturday morning....hopefully.
My plans had already gone a bit to pot as I had intended to jump a 1.05m and 1.10m on friday in order to give Bo a couple of easier classes on the grass before building to the bigger classes on saturday and sunday. He's had a few issues jumping on wet ground this year but armed with new found confidence and a battle plan assembled with the help of my new trainer I was certain this would be the weekend we would prove we could jump in mud
Saturday dawned fine and clear and I set off to walk the course for Trike's BN at about 8am thinking I was being very organsised as the class was due to start at 8.30am. So I was more than a little perplexed when as I entered the ring to walk, so did the first horse ready to jump
Unbeknown to me they had rescheduled a couple of classes from friday and brought the start time forward by half an hour...bu99er ! A quick chat with coursebuilder identified that there were only two related distances on the whole course...both the doubles....and they were both built a bit long
Why they were building long distances in a BN on wet ground is anybody's guess but hey ho. Toddled off to the stable block to get Trike ready and studded up, and also noted the ominous bank of cloud building overhead.
Trike warmed up okay albeit with a bit of attitude in the form of big bucks at every transition to canter but the cloud had turned to rain which got heavier and heavier, and before too long the grass warm-up area soon started to resemble a mud bath. I had also neglected to wear my waterproofs so my jacket turned into a wet sponge very quickly and I didn't have my gloves either so the reins were slipping out of my hands.
When it was our turn we set off with purpose but Trike was starting to get even more grumpy with the rain. Give him his due though he jumped a very nice round until the penultimate fence...a long two stride double of upright to oxer...where he just couldn't make the distance and so slid through the second part....twice...so was eliminated
I couldn't be cross though as I knew he would struggle with that and he hadn't touched a fence up to then.
On the original schedule I was supposed to be jumping a 1.15m Members Cup in the main ring next with Bo, followed by a 1.05m Open but due to them re-scheduling the Area Trial from friday the 1.15m was moved to the 5th class in ring 3. This had the potential to allow me to jump the 1.05m first and use it as a warmup which was very much needed. As things turned out the classes ended up running in parallel but by that time the rings had started to get very deep and resembled Hickstead two weeks earlier. I put the biggest studs in Bo that I could find and set about warming up. Things didn't go to plan from the start though and I ended up on my ar$e in the warm-up when he put a dirty stop in at a small'ish upright
We wandered off up to our ring and popped a few more fences in the now quagmire like conditions of the grass warm-up and once again he showed his displeasure by stopping at an oxer
I was determined that I wasn't going to become a factor in a poor performance though and set about riding him very positively indeed ! We went in to jump and set out boldly over the first...a little too boldly as it turned out as we were then deep to number 2 which he rolled. Round to a related distance of oxer then 4 strides to a double of upright to oxer on 1 stride. He jumped fence 3 well but as we approached 4 I felt his feet bog down in a wet patch and that was enough to cause him to hesitate over the first part of the double and so he put down again and slid through the second element. We came again and this time he jumped it well. We were then fine until the last fence where again he hit a very deep patch 3 strides out which almost stopped him in his tracks and so he refused the last fence. Again, elimination.....not good
On the basis that he wouldn't jump a 1.05m in boggy conditions I then decided to withdraw him from the 1.15m...which also effctively meant I was giving up any hope of jumping him in the Intermediate Championship on sunday
I was feeling pretty down at this point as you can probably imagine. Four shows in a row without getting Bo round a course.
The rain did eventually stop on saturday and a stiff breeze with some sunshine followed, so there was some hope that sunday could still run but only if the rain held off !
We had a BBQ and even sat outside in the evening, but overnight the rain fell again so it was with some trepidation that we walked the courses on sunday morning
Trike was due to jump first. A BN in ring 3 and the Novice Championship in the Main ring. After walking the course though I decided that the championship track would be too much of an ask for Trike in the conditions. The ground in the main ring actually was holding up okay and I was drawn 7th to go so as I had already decided to withdraw Bo from the later class in that ring I swapped him into the Novice class and ran him HC
He felt like a different horse when I got on him. Light and responsive and just generally happy so I was feeling much more confident. The weather was better too and there was even a little sunshine. The track was fairly long and a good 1m so a reasonable test even for a horse of Bo's ability. I set off determinedly once more and as only 6 horses had gone before I had the best of the ground. We rolled a couple of poles because were going forward...but they really didn't matter....we got round without a stop and more importantly without so much as a hesitation
Who ever thought getting round a 1m track would feel so good
Bo had another 1m class in ring 3 later but as the BN was already running I had to make a swift change and warm him up. We felt a little rushed but did manage to pop a few fences before going in. Trike was feeling good also and we got a really good forward canter from him (no mean feat I can assure you!) round to the first...a spooky rustic oxer. Unfortunately he saw the big brown scary fence about 3 strides out and just slammed on the brakes....very nearly ejecting me out the side door in the process
I gave him two hard smacks and came again.....and OMG.....we found the throttle that had been hiding for the past twelve months ! He almost carted me round the next 5 fences...jumping enormous and really taking me to the fences ! For the first time I really felt what this horse just possibly could be capable of if he would put his mind to it
Anyway, back to reality for a moment and we were jumping through another double then 5 strides to an oxer and I actually found myself getting there on 4 so in an attempt at self preservation I pulled him out to the side. Technically elimination but I like to think I retired
Bo then jumped the 1m Am qualifier which was going to be slightly more of a test for him as the ground in ring 3 was nowhere near as good as the main ring, but he jumped another lovely round and never hesitated once...and were a little more deliberate with our technique this time....so it was rather gutting to hear the last fence fall for 4 faults
We didn't have a great show...in fact we had a pretty crap show...but it ended on a reasonable high as we finally managed to get Bo jumping on mud....but boy am I looking forward to winter now
Undeterred we set off to the showground on friday afternoon and got the horses settled down for the night ready for an early start on saturday morning....hopefully.
My plans had already gone a bit to pot as I had intended to jump a 1.05m and 1.10m on friday in order to give Bo a couple of easier classes on the grass before building to the bigger classes on saturday and sunday. He's had a few issues jumping on wet ground this year but armed with new found confidence and a battle plan assembled with the help of my new trainer I was certain this would be the weekend we would prove we could jump in mud
Saturday dawned fine and clear and I set off to walk the course for Trike's BN at about 8am thinking I was being very organsised as the class was due to start at 8.30am. So I was more than a little perplexed when as I entered the ring to walk, so did the first horse ready to jump
Trike warmed up okay albeit with a bit of attitude in the form of big bucks at every transition to canter but the cloud had turned to rain which got heavier and heavier, and before too long the grass warm-up area soon started to resemble a mud bath. I had also neglected to wear my waterproofs so my jacket turned into a wet sponge very quickly and I didn't have my gloves either so the reins were slipping out of my hands.
When it was our turn we set off with purpose but Trike was starting to get even more grumpy with the rain. Give him his due though he jumped a very nice round until the penultimate fence...a long two stride double of upright to oxer...where he just couldn't make the distance and so slid through the second part....twice...so was eliminated
On the original schedule I was supposed to be jumping a 1.15m Members Cup in the main ring next with Bo, followed by a 1.05m Open but due to them re-scheduling the Area Trial from friday the 1.15m was moved to the 5th class in ring 3. This had the potential to allow me to jump the 1.05m first and use it as a warmup which was very much needed. As things turned out the classes ended up running in parallel but by that time the rings had started to get very deep and resembled Hickstead two weeks earlier. I put the biggest studs in Bo that I could find and set about warming up. Things didn't go to plan from the start though and I ended up on my ar$e in the warm-up when he put a dirty stop in at a small'ish upright
On the basis that he wouldn't jump a 1.05m in boggy conditions I then decided to withdraw him from the 1.15m...which also effctively meant I was giving up any hope of jumping him in the Intermediate Championship on sunday
The rain did eventually stop on saturday and a stiff breeze with some sunshine followed, so there was some hope that sunday could still run but only if the rain held off !
We had a BBQ and even sat outside in the evening, but overnight the rain fell again so it was with some trepidation that we walked the courses on sunday morning
Trike was due to jump first. A BN in ring 3 and the Novice Championship in the Main ring. After walking the course though I decided that the championship track would be too much of an ask for Trike in the conditions. The ground in the main ring actually was holding up okay and I was drawn 7th to go so as I had already decided to withdraw Bo from the later class in that ring I swapped him into the Novice class and ran him HC
Bo had another 1m class in ring 3 later but as the BN was already running I had to make a swift change and warm him up. We felt a little rushed but did manage to pop a few fences before going in. Trike was feeling good also and we got a really good forward canter from him (no mean feat I can assure you!) round to the first...a spooky rustic oxer. Unfortunately he saw the big brown scary fence about 3 strides out and just slammed on the brakes....very nearly ejecting me out the side door in the process
Bo then jumped the 1m Am qualifier which was going to be slightly more of a test for him as the ground in ring 3 was nowhere near as good as the main ring, but he jumped another lovely round and never hesitated once...and were a little more deliberate with our technique this time....so it was rather gutting to hear the last fence fall for 4 faults
We didn't have a great show...in fact we had a pretty crap show...but it ended on a reasonable high as we finally managed to get Bo jumping on mud....but boy am I looking forward to winter now
