FestiveSpirit
Well-Known Member
Well what a mixed day! The weather could NOT have been worse, freezing cold, torrential rain, the warm-up was incredibly deep and boggy, Bob had only been clipped yesterday and stupid, stupid me forgot his exercise sheet so he wasnt very happy
As I arrived at the venue the heavens opened, so I didnt warm up for as long as I would have liked - Bob hated the warm-up (although I realise everyone had to cope with the conditions!) and was incredibly stiff behind especially in canter, he used to be like that all the time but hasnt been like that at a competition for months now
I think we can safely forget the first test
it was truly, truly appalling. Bob wouldnt go near the judges box for the whole test (spooky bushes in front of it!) and we got a 4 for our first centre line - that summed up the rest of the test
We achieved one whole 7
, 6's for our collectives, and overall got 50.77%
Amazingly we werent last, and the classes were so small I got a rosette for 6th place
We only had 25 mins until the next test so I stayed on, and Bob started working a bit better
He was still hating the ground in the warm up, but we got more of a longer softer frame like we have been getting in our lessons
Went into the second test feeling slightly happier - although it was still pouring with rain
- and did what I felt might have been a reasonable Prelim standard test
He was still napping at the judges box
and was very tense in canter, so a lot of 5's
but overall we managed 59.31% and came 4th (beating one whole other person
)
My two objectives today were to qualify for 2nd round Trailblazers (only needed 58.1%) and to get over 60% in both tests, so we achieved one objective at least
I think if the weather had been better we would have got considerably better marks (but then so would everyone else!) but I do feel really really happy about our second test, on our first try at Novice level.
The winner in the 2nd class was on 63%, so I dont feel we were that far off the pace
We are now all tucked up in the warm and dry thank god, thanks for reading and sorry it is so long as usual
As I arrived at the venue the heavens opened, so I didnt warm up for as long as I would have liked - Bob hated the warm-up (although I realise everyone had to cope with the conditions!) and was incredibly stiff behind especially in canter, he used to be like that all the time but hasnt been like that at a competition for months now
I think we can safely forget the first test
We only had 25 mins until the next test so I stayed on, and Bob started working a bit better
Went into the second test feeling slightly happier - although it was still pouring with rain
My two objectives today were to qualify for 2nd round Trailblazers (only needed 58.1%) and to get over 60% in both tests, so we achieved one objective at least
We are now all tucked up in the warm and dry thank god, thanks for reading and sorry it is so long as usual
