Wow, Rollercoaster Weekend – Hambleden ON Report

lex2501

lex2501

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I apologise in advance as I have a feeling this might be a little heavy as I have had one hell of a weekend! Please note that I have been given permission to use all of the photos included within the thread – so don’t waste your time pushing buttons, and feel free to check with the photographer if you don’t believe me – www.mdr-photo.co.uk

Having kicked off Murphy’s season in a less than elegant fashion at Tweseldown, and having the aftermath of my fall in the show jumping aired on Rudall’s Round Up with my muddy bum playing lead role :o I was very much looking forward to getting back out to put my show jumping demons to bed!! After Goring’s cancellation you can imagine my relief at being accepted into the ever-popular and heavily balloted Hambleden which is one of the most fantastic events on the calendar.

I arrived on my yard at 6.30am the day before the event to find that we had been broken into with over £10k’s worth of our property missing, and tyre tracks disappearing off through our fields to an unused and overgrown gateway which had been chained and padlocked. The bolt cutters had been busy with a further 3 padlocks removed allowing access to our tractor, a driving carriage, a car trailer, a battery charger, my clippers, 4 sets of clipper blades, and my beloved dressage saddle. I am incredibly lucky as I keep my tack in the house as a rule as the yard is not alarmed so thankfully the loss was minimised.

With boiling blood, we rang the police who have been absolutely brilliant. We had a police officer around within 2 hours, and he spent a long time with us, taking statements and analysing the crime scene in detail. The crime scene investigation unit came out in the afternoon and luckily for us, the thieves had been quite sloppy and dropped part of a padlock (evidence can be taken from the type of cutters used as well as finger prints) and also they had been through my lorry and stolen a multi bag of crisps and discarded the empty bag on their escape! We are also incredibly lucky as a neighbour has CCTV which points at the road…. Fingers crossed! Trying to get a witness statement out of the horses didn't prove easy but Billy has agreed to take part in a line up if they police track anyone down ;)

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who got in touch with messages of support and offers of help - I was totally overwhelmed by kindness and it meant an awful lot to me - thank you.

I felt totally unprepared for Hambleden and had a sleepless night, terrified of a return visit and wondering whether they might decide to take my horses! The relief at finding everything in place in the morning was immense and Luce1 (who very kindly came along as chief-groom) and I set off for Hambleden with a borrowed dressage saddle and a rather large picnic! I have made some great friends through #twittereventing and we all had similar times so parked together in beautifully sunshine and got ourselves ready for the dressage. Having Luce1 on the ground during the warm up was so valuable, as she has been moving up through the ranks in BD with her lovely ex-eventer so it was really great having a knowledgeable pair of eyes on the ground to give me some feedback. There was such a lovely relaxed atmosphere, and Murphy was working really well with me asking for a bit more flexion than usual to try and give a softer picture. We went over to the arena and he did a lovely test for me; listening and responsive. The angle in his leg yield work was a little inconsistent, the medium trot ran a little, and the walk is never good, but I was really chuffed with him on the whole, as he was VERY pleased to be back out!

Here is the video of the test - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCXMp3fvUxY

And photos taken by the incredible Michael who has become a firm friend, and Murphy’s No.1 fan!


_MG_2226 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2239 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2254 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2272 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2296 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

As the CIC* jumping was running in the morning we had plenty of time to walk the course, and what a beautiful course it was! Stunningly presented, superb going and a brilliantly designed course which asked a bit of everything. It was definitely upper-end which suits Murphy – but maybe not me as I couldn’t remember at that point whether I had packed my brave pants or not :confused: !! Course photos are on Eventing Worldwide website if anyone is interested.

I decided to have a quick check of the scoreboard as I hate having the news broken 2 strides away from fence 1 in the show jumping! My eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw the score of 22.5 against my name so went straight to the lady with the clipboard to ask her to check as there must have been a mistake. I was absolutely gobsmacked when she told me that there was in fact no mistake, and that I had just topped the leader board of the hotly contested Open Novice :eek:


042 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

A sick feeling at the pit of my stomach developed as I walked the show jumping course which looks ginormous to me – with those damn demons sitting under nearly every fence. It even crossed my mind that I should perhaps withdraw at that point and leave things on a good note, but my support team gave me a firm talking to and I went off to try and locate those damn elusive brave pants to no avail. Thankfully Murphy warmed up like a little pocket rocket and jumped boldly and cleanly. I was given an opportunity to go early so headed in hoping to get the whole thing over and done with as quickly as possible. I had to wait what felt like an age for the pole-pickers to rebuild a fence which had been totally demolished in the previous round so had a canter around thinking of what other hobbys I could take up that didn’t involve terrifying myself! Finally the buzzer went and I kicked Murphy into action and told myself to be bold! Murphy jumped brilliantly for me, and I think I miraculously did an ok-ish job! We didn’t have any “shockers” but we did unfortunately roll two poles – Murphy taking them behind in both cases. I got back to the lorry and there were my brave pants – clear as day sitting on the seating! Damn things!

Here is the video of the round – what do you guys think?? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWUdi5nYyFI


_MG_2560 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2557 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2565 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr


To be continued......
 
...

Kitted out in my brave pants I headed over to the cross country warm up where Murphy grew about 2 hands and was sending shock waves through the saddle from a pulse of about 300 beats per minute. I was ready to go when the horse 2 in front of me reared up and fell over backwards on his rider in the start box – it was quite horrific and I am very pleased to say that both seemed to walk away ok, thank god. This meant however that a chainsaw wielding man in high-vis appeared to fix the railings as I was circling around on my 1 minute warning. I managed to keep Murphy from meltdown but he was rather relieved to gallop away from said chainsaw-wielding man!!

So off we set and Murphy jumped the first two fences absolutely brilliantly which was a great confidence boost as they were shared with the intermediate so definitely up to height. Fence 3 was a very upright set of skinny rails going into the woods with a tight left hand turn through the trees to a bold log. I was a little worried that Murphy might forget to jump cleanly in his haste to gallop around like a lunatic but I needn’t have worried as I sat him back on his hocks, saw a lovely forward stride in and he jumped beautifully and carefully and then met the log spot on!

Video of fences 1 -3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_7ELSctq-0
Fence 2:

048 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

Next up was a combination of a log into a dip with one stride to a hedge up and out. I popped him in quite quietly and he was fab! Then on down to the wall which he jumped out of a lovely stride. I was then totally overwhelmed by the number of spectators standing beneath the international flags at the first water – it was the most incredible feeling riding my wonderful horse in front of so many people – and dear Murphy showcased how bloody awesome he is and went through the water boldly and in text book style! I was told later that many had been sticky there and he was the best that lots of people had seen – PROUD!! I really let him gallop on to the skinny and quite spooky fence at 8 which he threw himself over giving me an incredible feeling. Fence 9 was the steps down into the quarry and on walking the course I decided that the BE100 steps which were the alternative would actually probably be much quicker as I could be a bit stronger down them so I went that way and he bounded off happily.

The combination out of the quarry was the first bit of the course which I thought posed a question for me and Murphy. It was two large steps up, with a tally skinny on two long-ish strides with a drop after. I got a little deep to the first step, but before my brain had even engaged Murphy was launching us over the skinny clear! The corner at 11 was a bit of a let up fence as it was more like a parallel so I let him bound along and he jumped it without breaking his stride at all. It was great to have such a good jump there as the next question was the dreaded 2nd water! It had a rather large drop in with a skinny on the way out and I was really mindful that I would need to keep a seriously strong upper body, and secure lower leg as it would be easy to collapse on landing. Well it would seem that that’s much easier said than done… Murphy jumped in with such gusto, and deployed landing gear almost too efficiently with all four feet landing together which is rather unseating and makes for quite an impressive splash ;) … Thankfully my horse is a total pro as he had locked onto the skinny out whilst I was hanging out of the side door!

Video of us making a splash!! - http://youtu.be/igcODCkbp2c?a


_MG_2646 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

_MG_2649 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr

It would seem that I left all decorum at the second water as we were a little ragged over the very spooking shooting cartridge fence at 13. Then came the first opportunity to open Murphy up and wow – did he respond! I managed to get him back for a cracking shot up the two big steps at the furthest point of the course and then let him run on again before bringing him back for the log into space! Murphy had decided that he was having a whale of a time, and that because he had been ridden away from the previous 2 fences that he really ought to do the same again so I sailed around the corner totally out of control to realise we were running out of room before the skinny log – but the jammy little monkey locked on and sorted himself out and wondered why on earth I was telling him that he was a cheeky beggar!!

The final question on the course was the half coffin which I knew needed respect as the rails in were just asking for legs to be left all over them. I sat him right back on his hocks, but reminded myself that I had to soften and see a forward stride and not hang on and bury, so I saw quite a bold shot in but he was awesome and leapt over the ditch and galloped on to the final fence which he jumped beautifully. I looked down at my watch to see that we had finished 3 seconds inside the time – which was a serious achievement as very few managed it throughout the day.

I was absolutely euphoric! After such a crap weekend, my horse had helped me stick my fingers up to the gyppos who had ransacked my yard in the best possible way!! We finished up in 4th place which I am so incredibly proud of. I spent the whole of Saturday evening analysing and re-riding my show jumping round in my head as it turned out that we lead the dressage by 4.5 penalties so even one pole down would have given us the win. 4th place was beyond my wildest dreams though, and the important thing for me is that we felt well within our comfort zone and definitely ready for Rockingham CIC*!! I still cant quite believe that we were up there with the big boys :cool:

My bubble was very quickly burst though…. When I removed Murphy’s boots after the cross country I noticed a small nick on the back of his fetlock, right over the tendon. Mysteriously the boot has not got a mark on it so we can only assume he somehow struck himself by lifting the boot?! The onsite vet cleaned it up and said he wasn’t too concerned but suggested a precautionary scan. I was hugely relieved that Murphy was sound the following day, but on Monday morning he was hopping lame. The vet couldn’t come out until the evening so I spent the whole day sick with worry. He hopped up on three legs for the vet and I feared the worst while the scanning equipment was set up. I could have sobbed with relief with I was told that Murphy’s scans were perfect, and that there was some infection, with the inflammation pinching against tendon causing the pain. My brave little solider stood like an angel while an enormous bandage was put on and he was jabbed up to his eyeballs with antibiotics. I can’t tell you how relieved I am – it was a stark reminder of how precious and how special horses really are!

I wonder how many of you have got this far? Cupcakes on offer in the office today so knock yourself out :)

Not sure if any of you are interested but I have also recently launched a new website so please feel free to have a nose :) www.alexisrosseventing.co.uk

And here is the link to the full album of photos taken by the wonderful Michael Rogers who has become a firm friend and Murphy's No.1 fan - http://mdr-photo.co.uk/alexis-ross

And I shall leave you with a dressage test that requires a frame!!

053 by Alexis_C_Ross, on Flickr
 
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What a weekend! So sorry to hear about your yard :( But it sounds like Murph gave you an amazing run around the XC! He looks fab as well, well done you! :D
 
Wow, great day & you have a lovely horse. Well done!

I hope you get your stuff back too. It is sickening being ransacked.

T x
 
Wow well done! That's a fab result :D and murphy looks fab as ever.

Its a horrible feeling going through your yard after its been burgled :( hope you get as much back as possible. Your lucky they left some evidence for the police, when we were burgled earlier this year they left nothing.
 
Fab, fab , fab....I saw your dressage score and was waiting for this report. Brilliant result especially with that "prep" . I thought the competition was strong in all sections all weekend so that really was a real result amongst the "big boys and girls". Huge congrats and yay...we may well be at Rockingham too so finally (and fingers crossed for all of them) I might get to meet Murphy...
 
Well done to you and murphy :D Brilliant result
Hope the police manage to catch the thieves and you can get everything back!
 
Well done! What an amazing result in spite of everything. Congratulations! I wish my brave pants were as good as yours... maybe one day ;)
 
A fantastic report, really, really enjoyed reading it :-)

Very well done to you both, you look amazing, i look forward to more pictures & reports.

Good luck.
 
I wish i'd known who you were beforehand as i'd have come to say hi. I saw part of your XC round and you looked great, seriously impressive getting inside the time too. Hope superstar Murphy recovers quickly and the police get whoever ransacked your yard.

There were a lot of people having problems at the first water, dunno if it was just the jump or if the crowds were offputting too.
 
Fab report - congratulations on a stonking result.

Bummer about the yard though.

Thanks for the cupcakes - had 2 :o
 
Fab report, and fantastic result! :)

How on earth do you get your horse so white though, does he live in snuggy pyjamas from fetlock to forelock? :eek:

Hope they catch the scumbags that half inched all your stuff,robbing little you know what's :mad:
 
Hope you get your stuff back. I have been in the same situation and its horrible :(
Lovely horse, and he looks stunning in the dressage pics, definitely looks like a 22.5 test!
 
Wow, what a fabulous report, with all the highs and lows! A huge well done, we saw you start, I have just realised, you were very neat over number three :) What a fantastic run, and set you up beautifully for Rockingham - look forward to the report :) And I'm so glad the soreness was nothing major...
 
Aww he's such a star!! Fabulous Murphy, what a dude and you're so brave I would have cacked myself at those jumps!
Stoopid horrid ******! Grrrrrr, I wonder if they were anything to do with the gypsys racing their poor skinny baby horses in traps down the A3 early the other morning. Holding up all the traffic and generally being a nuscience.
Mind you I think Murphy might like the dressage saddle you borrowed! 22 woweeee better than my 29 dream ;).
I bet you are so excited now for your next one! Excited for May :D xx
 
Cracking report and mega result!! So so pleased for you. The pictures are fantastic! You both look ace.

Although i'm sure you would have loved a win, I think it's nice to have something to work on, it's harder to stay at the very top than it it to get there, and 4th is incredible!!

Gutted your yard was ransacked, there truly is some nasty people in this world. Hope you at least catch the culprits.
 
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