Winkburn Report

I

icestationzebra

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 November 2004
Messages
5,378
Location
Leicestershire
Visit site
Well our second event of the season saw us at Winkburn today, it was perfect eventing weather - sunny and breezy
smile.gif
The lorry park was interesting as lorries were being directed to park completely higgledy piggedly so there were no 'rows' and we thought as we pulled up we didn't know how on earth we were going to get out!! I'd walked the course the night before so was able to get ready at a relaxed pace rather than the headless chicken act that I usually manage
blush.gif
Went over to the dressage and I have to say I was disappointed with the warm up - it was long scrubby grass, lots of trees and not flat - they also had a couple of old brush fences in there! I did chuckle to myself at what a dressage rider would have made of it all - it was also really busy and I found the best of the ground and literally stuck to a 25m circle. Despite a quite limited warm up Jemima did one of the best tests she has ever done and was really pleased with her.
DressageII.jpg

I wasn't the only one there honest
tongue.gif

Dressage-2.jpg


Got changed and went straight over to the showjumping. Warm up here was lovely - the ground was super and it was plenty big enough. They also had numbers up already and I was able to warm up and go straight in - I HATE standing around!!! After watching the video back of my Stafford round I was determined to ride more forward and get a bigger more positive canter. Was pretty chuffed with fences 1-6 and then I AGAIN!! had a temporary mental block as to where the next fence was (It takes a special kind of muppet to only manage to count to 6
smirk.gif
) - remembered and managed to make my turn without crossing my tracks but unfortunately 7 was the one fence I didn't like - it was an oxer with a big red filler which was solid on one side and went down like a wave on the other which made the other side of the fence gappy. I know Jemima doesn't mind fillers usually, and that gappy fences are cool too....however half and half is clearly not on and I felt her back off at the corner, I kicked, growled and followed my motto of if in doubt impersonate something from the poultry family - alas we just ground to a halt in front of it
mad.gif
Came straight back round and she jumped it fine, and was lovely to 8 & 9 so again me being a bit disorganised cost us - it was made worse by the fact they gave us 12 time penalties. My face looked like this
crazy.gif
No photos unfortunately as I am still into educational videos from which to learn from - and this one is a corker I promise!

Anyway, as all our demons have been XC in the past I quickly put this behind us and got ready for XC. They had worked so hard on the track and I was more than happy with the ground. They were aggravating it last night, and with the showers we had yesterday PM it was almost perfect going. They had also re-routed the XC so it was all grass tracks. I planned to have an educational round rather than go for the time especially has there had been several falls on the flat already
blush.gif
My OH caught one of the horses whilst he was en-route for a coffee and was quick to come back and report exactly where it happened and why (no studs!) - I have to say he has become quite an asset this year! Anyway, I digress. The warm up was busy so I just walked round until there were 2 to go before me and then had a canter round and popped the warm up fences. As at Stafford she was a bit wobbly to the first of these so a quick reminder of how things needed to be done and we were off to the start box. Came out of the start box quite positively and jumped the first well. I was a little concerned about 2 although it was just a simple roll top there was an area of ground that had been taped off right next to it and I thought she would use that as an excuse to spook but she didn't amazingly. 3 was a house and those that know my horse will know that in the past houses have had to be given a thorough inspection that an estate agent would be proud of before she would contemplate jumping it, but again she was straight over. Completely missed her at 4 and we were so impossibly underneath it I thought that was going to be it - but somehow she got us out of it cue big pats and apologies from me. From that point on she was brilliant even when I got us a bit lost in the second wooded bit and was headed for the PN fence which she appeared to quite like the look of but I didn't want to get eliminated so quick re-route got us out of trouble. Finished full of running and was barely out of breath - but then I had taken it easy. So no rosettes but I think it was an good educational day for both of us. We are learning all the time
smile.gif

Coming out of the water:
XC.jpg


It wasn't until we wandered down to the scoreboards that I saw my dressage score of 35. Thought it was a little better than that - but hey don't we all say that
wink.gif

Good to see Meardsall Millie - good luck for tomorrow
smile.gif
And thanks to Winkburn who put on a lovely event and have obviously worked extremely hard on their event. If the dressage warm up could be improved it would be brilliant!

Oh, and to the competitor that had their 'friend' warm up their horse for them for the dressage and then deny it to the steward - shame on you!
mad.gif


Thanks for reading!
 
Still chuckling at the need to undertake a full structural survey report on houses.
grin.gif
Yet again a brilliant day for you with the big smile on the XC saying it all.

Sounds like you've got yourself an eventer! Big well done.
 
Thanks
smile.gif
I know what you mean about the warm up. I'd hate to see events lost because they can't provide 'perfect' conditions and this was the only niggle in an otherwise lovely event. Some people coped better than others with it
wink.gif
 
Well done you, sounds like you had a great day! She looks lovely in the pics!!

I did Winkburn a couple of years ago and remember doing my dressage test in a ridge and furrow field
blush.gif
(think my beast liked it tho and scored 28
blush.gif
blush.gif
)!!!

Lovely event though......well done again, hope you have a nice glass of Pimms tonight!!!
smile.gif
 
I certainly will! I think that might be part of my problems... I count my drinks until I get to 6 and then I don't/can't.... so perhaps it's rubbing off on my showjumping!

Anyone know of any events only 6 fences in the showjumping?
wink.gif
 
Will have to train you to not be such a lightweight!!! Surely you can develop the art of drinking (and counting) about 12 drinks over the winter then....happy days next season!!!!

Are you going to the RC Champs at Lincoln....if so I could fit in an evening of coaching on the Friday??!!
tongue.gif
tongue.gif
 
Well done to you, I was there last in 07 with ridge/furrow/molehills - and that was just the dressage. Vowed not to run there again hence trek to MK. Glad they have the course sorted better
 
Is that a challenge Sneedy?
tongue.gif
Actually I was thinking of going to the champs (obviously not to ride or anything!) as I know Pootler is going up on Friday too - so perhaps a little drinkies?
Will check diary
grin.gif
 
Ah - the old 'making like poultry' routine. I believe I hold the patent on that so you owe me!
grin.gif


I do believe when I saw you you had a glass of something that definitely wasn't orange juice in your hand - so I think you were well on your way to counting towards 6 quite early on in the afternoon.
smirk.gif


Well done Mrs - have you got another booked in?
 
Really well done mate
grin.gif
Your dressage arena itself was held up to start with as they found a big hole right near B (or was it E? One of them anyway).

She was by far one of the best dressage's I managed to sneak a look at whilst I was writing.

She looked super warming up for xc too. Shame about the SJ, but as I didn't see that, it doesn't count!
 
Thanks HHM! Sorry I didn't stop to chat
blush.gif
If I let her switch off I've had it! There was what can only be described as a crater in my arena but because the ground was quite forgiving we kind of went in and out of it - if it had of been hard it would have caused horses to stumble.

Did you have an interesting day? I'm back there tomorrow fence judging .....
 
ice, well done on the dressage, i was in that section and my mare was totally confuzzled by the steep slope and we got 43.5 (hey ho obviously too old and crap for this dressage lark). they were pleasant sj and xc courses though weren't they. Double shame on the competitor who got someone else to warm up their horse - do they really feel the warm glow of satisfaction tonight?
 
Well done Jemima.

Sounds like she has really grown up this year, or is it all baydale and KatB's sports psychology working
smile.gif
smile.gif
smile.gif


No ideas on how to learn your SJ course better though (my OH had to learn a 25 fence derby course today, and I would have understood if they had gone wrong but didn't thankfully)

Fiona
 
Hi everyone

I competed there yesterday. I was impressed with the SJ and XC - layout, course and ground and was looking forward to it! But had a shock with the dressage warm up and ring... I can't believe I paid all that money to warm up in a woodland copse, on a hill, in long grass. It was really busy when I was warming up and had to wedge myself in a corner managing a 20m circle around three trees and fallen logs. My fella was rather confused what he was doing - had his dressage kit on, but was on a XC course on a hill! I thought it would be better when we got to the ring - but oh no. I was in section A - you couldn't get near it until it was your time to go - the one furthest away so when I got there I realised it was the worse ring - on a bad hill and the C end had another dip in it on the CM corner. I know it is unrealistic to expect perfectly flat rings, but asking novices to do a transition down hill and on a camber in the corner was a bit much I thought. I know its a test and yes I should be able to cope, but after competing at two unaff ODE the weeks before where they looked after you, I was disappointed that I had aspired to do an affiliated BE event, paid double the money, to not be able to perform my best due to the warm up and rings. I did note it was the grass roots intro BE90 section in the worst ring - bet they won't put the Novice classes in there. Anyway, I put a line under the dressage and really enjoyed the SJ and XC. Dressage mark was far more lenient than it deserved so while pleased its not an awful mark on our record, I still woke up this morning feeling a bit peed off - or ripped off - by the dressage. Or perhaps I should learn a lesson and school on a hill or in a wood to be better prepared for the next one? Rant over : )
 
I went yesterday too and have to agree about the dressage arenas - not the best!

I think the sj and xc made up for it though, I thought it was a lovely event and will def go back.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Did you have an interesting day? I'm back there tomorrow fence judging .....

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, enjoyed it. Nice judge to write for. although your section looked far more interesting, there was some god-awful riding and bronking horses all over the place. Thought one was going to end up in our arena (it had a dressage score of 57!!! nuff said....)

Walked the course after, liked the look of the PN apart from the 2 skinny brushes on a tight curve....
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi everyone

. I did note it was the grass roots intro BE90 section in the worst ring - bet they won't put the Novice classes in there. Anyway, I put a line under the dressage and really enjoyed the SJ and XC. Dressage mark was far more lenient than it deserved so while pleased its not an awful mark on our record, I still woke up this morning feeling a bit peed off - or ripped off - by the dressage

[/ QUOTE ]

Hiya, I was dressage writing for your section, and the judge also couldn't believe the state of the ground. Think she tried to give everyone an allowance for it, though some did cope a lot better than others.

There was no deliberate reason the intros used that field, when I got there at 7.45am they hadn't even decided which arenas to use for which section, so we took matters into our own hands and went for the logical option (having said that if we'd seen the ground before we'd parked up we'd have ruun back and bagged another one!)
It was hideous though!
 
ice, my mare was clear xc with 3. something timefaults and had the last fence down sj due to jockey going for a long one - oops! i was immediately after one of the bronking horse hhm, she did look as if she might come off at one stage poor thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top