JennBags
HHOSS Wonder Woman
I bought G about 5 years ago in order to event, but what with injuries for both of us and my overall general incompetence, we haven't yet managed one. Until this morning that is! I've only actually managed one hunter trial on him, about a year ago, and I fell off at fence 3 :eek3: :lol:
We went to Borde Hill to do their UA 80. I walked the course yesterday and was absolutely terrified, the fences appeared huge to me, I'm sure some of them were 90. At this point I'm thinking I'm definitely going to substitute my friend/rider/trainer in for me, especially as I've been rather poorly all week and hardly eaten for a few days. At least that meant there wasn't any food in me for the nerves to get rid of
:biggrin3: I gave f/r/t instructions to bring her competition gear with her just in case!
We set off super early and arrived at Borde Hill at 7:30 which meant we had prime parking right next to the sj and the food :wink3: saw my other friend off to the dressage on her horse, then got G ready and set off. At this point it's too late to sub f/r/t in for me, but I'm thinking just of the dressage. Warmed up nicely until G saw his mate just leaving, when he started being nappy and trying out for a bit of rodeo. Calmed him down, went in for dressage and he went really nicely, I focused on each and every stride and came out grinning
Quick change for sj and saw my travelling buddy do her round before getting on. F/r/t gave me a pep talk, and sorted the fences out for my warm up, then I went in. It wasn't the most stylish round, and I didn't have enough energy going uphill to fence 4 so he knocked it with his back feet, but other than that it was a super round and gave me lots of confidence.
[video=youtube_share;SKOWETufynw]https://youtu.be/SKOWETufynw[/video]
Changed for xc and the nerves really started kicking in, I thought I was going to be sick and wanted to withdraw. Well there was no way that f/r/t was going to allow that, so we headed for the warm up. When there were 6 to go before me, I had a trot and canter round and popped the warmup fences. Well he was awesome, really took me into them, flew them, so then waited until our time to go. Came out of the start box, get to fence 1 almost immediately and I didn't give him a slap down the shoulder so the bu88er stopped. Came round again and exactly the same thing, but the third time I meant it. Fence 2 and stopped again but we were allowed 4 stops before the big E so I carried on and rode rode rode fences 3 and 4 which were 2 nice houses then fence 5 I was worried about, a large brush downhill on an angle, so a damn good slap and over that, quick dog leg to the pheasant feeder at 6, then into the woods for a big log pile at 7, kicked on and cleared that. Back to trot for the drop at 8 then a nice line to the chair at 9, surrounded by trees but the git managed to run out. I came round again and he stopped, went to try a third time but the whistles blew and the red flag came out so I'm afraid it was the walk of shame!
Ready to set off for xc (feeling sick)
And the evil fence (I think chairs might end up being my bogey fence)
I am chuffed to bits with the day although cross with myself for not riding those first 2 fences, and I need to get some practice in on the chairs as I fell off at one a couple of weeks ago, and I know it was my hesitation that made him stop. However the fences we did that I thought were big, rode really well, and I DIDN'T FALL OFF
Thanks for reading!
We went to Borde Hill to do their UA 80. I walked the course yesterday and was absolutely terrified, the fences appeared huge to me, I'm sure some of them were 90. At this point I'm thinking I'm definitely going to substitute my friend/rider/trainer in for me, especially as I've been rather poorly all week and hardly eaten for a few days. At least that meant there wasn't any food in me for the nerves to get rid of
:biggrin3: I gave f/r/t instructions to bring her competition gear with her just in case! We set off super early and arrived at Borde Hill at 7:30 which meant we had prime parking right next to the sj and the food :wink3: saw my other friend off to the dressage on her horse, then got G ready and set off. At this point it's too late to sub f/r/t in for me, but I'm thinking just of the dressage. Warmed up nicely until G saw his mate just leaving, when he started being nappy and trying out for a bit of rodeo. Calmed him down, went in for dressage and he went really nicely, I focused on each and every stride and came out grinning
Quick change for sj and saw my travelling buddy do her round before getting on. F/r/t gave me a pep talk, and sorted the fences out for my warm up, then I went in. It wasn't the most stylish round, and I didn't have enough energy going uphill to fence 4 so he knocked it with his back feet, but other than that it was a super round and gave me lots of confidence.
[video=youtube_share;SKOWETufynw]https://youtu.be/SKOWETufynw[/video]
Changed for xc and the nerves really started kicking in, I thought I was going to be sick and wanted to withdraw. Well there was no way that f/r/t was going to allow that, so we headed for the warm up. When there were 6 to go before me, I had a trot and canter round and popped the warmup fences. Well he was awesome, really took me into them, flew them, so then waited until our time to go. Came out of the start box, get to fence 1 almost immediately and I didn't give him a slap down the shoulder so the bu88er stopped. Came round again and exactly the same thing, but the third time I meant it. Fence 2 and stopped again but we were allowed 4 stops before the big E so I carried on and rode rode rode fences 3 and 4 which were 2 nice houses then fence 5 I was worried about, a large brush downhill on an angle, so a damn good slap and over that, quick dog leg to the pheasant feeder at 6, then into the woods for a big log pile at 7, kicked on and cleared that. Back to trot for the drop at 8 then a nice line to the chair at 9, surrounded by trees but the git managed to run out. I came round again and he stopped, went to try a third time but the whistles blew and the red flag came out so I'm afraid it was the walk of shame!
Ready to set off for xc (feeling sick)
And the evil fence (I think chairs might end up being my bogey fence)
I am chuffed to bits with the day although cross with myself for not riding those first 2 fences, and I need to get some practice in on the chairs as I fell off at one a couple of weeks ago, and I know it was my hesitation that made him stop. However the fences we did that I thought were big, rode really well, and I DIDN'T FALL OFF
Thanks for reading!
On a positive note the XC fences you rode, rode really well so it's just a question of confidence now. Perhaps you should just hire an XC course and practice your bogey fences to the point of boredom?
