On the Sunday, the Open cross country course was very technical and testing, and caused many problems with a high number of falls, faults and retirements. Alfie jumped a confident, bold round and thankfully had no problem with the bogey cow-shaped skinny or the light to dark rail-ditch-skinny, but he did get a little over-bold and had a steering malfunction at the second part of the double of angled corners. He however went on to jump the rest of the course with no problems at all and was still inside the time. Was delighted to pick up a 10th rosette at the prize-giving, before starting on the long journey back home again.
It was a long journey up to Bishop Burton College in North Yorkshire where I was competing in the Open Girls section of the Championships. The swim and shoot phases were held on the Friday and I managed a much improved shoot in comparision to the previous year, and then did a good swim. The run phase was on the Saturday and I was very pleased to gain a personal best time, before getting ready for the traditional Tet Champs party that evening. On the Sunday, the Open cross country course was very technical and testing, and caused many problems with a high number of falls, faults and retirements. Alfie jumped a confident, bold round and thankfully had no problem with the bogey cow-shaped skinny or the light to dark rail-ditch-skinny, but he did get a little over-bold and had a steering malfunction at the second part of the double of angled corners. He however went on to jump the rest of the course with no problems at all and was still inside the time. Was delighted to pick up a 10th rosette at the prize-giving, before starting on the long journey back home again.
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We were very lucky to have glorious weather for this competition which was held at Aylesford Farm, in Melton Mowbray. The swim, run and shoot phases were held on the Saturday, and I managed respectable scores in these three phases. Saturday night was party night with a theme of Sea Creatures, so the team dressed up as mermaids and mermen and enjoyed a hog roast and disco, along with a surf simulator. Sunday saw the cross country phase over a very hilly and technical course with lots of combination fences – glad to say we managed a clear round with just a few time penalties which helped Team Southern clinch third place. Overall a very enjoyable weekend with fantastic weather, a lovely venue and great team spirit and camaraderie.
We had a rather wet and windy weekend for our Area Tetrathlon Qualifier - not really a problem for the swim and the shoot which were both indoors, but it certainly made the cross country and the run more testing! I was a little disappointed with my shoot score, got my usual swim and was lacking a bit of speed on the run. But Alfie jumped a confident clear cross country although I did incur a lot of time faults trying to ensure he didn't jump the gate and the slip rail! This was good enough to win the Open Girls section and means I am headed to the National Tetrathlon Championships for the fourth consecutive year! We gave Alfie a three week break from competing after doing three ODEs in less than three weeks, and then had to make a decision about what events to enter in July. The dilemma was that Brightling, PC Area Eventing, Eridge and PC Area Tetrathlon all ran on consecutive weekends, and bearing in mind that Alfie is a big horse, who is now 14, and that the ground was likely to be on the hard side at this time of year, I didn't want to risk breaking him by running him too often. In the end, I decided to aim for the two Pony Club qualifiers, particularly as the Area Eventing runs over the Brightling 1* course, and it seemed a much cheaper way of getting experience at that level than actually doing an affiliated 1*! A glance at the entries in my class revealed a very high standard of competition, and I knew we weren't likely to be in with a chance of qualifying! It was an early start for me as I was first on, with my dressage time being 9am. We arrived safely, with me driving the horsebox with a horse onboard for the very first time, having passed my lorry test a few weeks previously! Alfie warmed up as well as he is able for the dressage, but at 9am there was still no judge, so I decided to let him have a rest, whilst the organisers sorted things out! Thankfully within half an hour the judge arrived at speed and we were soon in the arena doing our test. I was pleased with the walk and trot work and his general improved concentration, but the canter still needs improvement. Was pleased with a score of 37.6. The show jumping course was particularly twisty and turny, not ideal for Alfie who needs plenty of time to see the fences and sort his legs out, and we had a couple of poles down. Then off to the cross country where he was a superstar and jumped a great clear round, although he did give me a few anxious moments as he launched a couple of the fences! I was particularly pleased that he was clear at the massive drop into water at the back of the course. He felt a little tired at the end so I let him trot through the woods, and ended up with some time faults, although no-one was within the time. Really pleased with 4th place, just 0.2 penalties off third! I had intended to compete Pop in the Open class at this event, but unfortunately he was not quite right after Badminton and a scan revealed he had tweaked a suspensory ligament, so needs some time off to recover. That meant Alfie had to replace him, and I was relieved that I was in a team as I thought Alfie's dressage was not good enough for him to be in contention individually. However, in the end two of our Sevenoaks team members dropped out, so he ended up running as an individual anyway! The dressage didn't get off to a good start, because when the competitor before me went into the arena I saw she was riding a very different test to the one I had learnt - I had learnt the championship test and not the qualifier test! Thankfully I am quite good at learning tests quickly and managed to scan the correct version speedily and negotiated the test without any errors of course! I was quite pleased with the way Alfie went, but the scores were slow going up, so had no idea what mark he had got. The show jumping was up to height and in a small arena which didn't really suit a long striding horse like Alfie, and he had two poles down. However, the show jumping was proving problematic for the other competitors as well, with no-one going clear. The cross country was also causing quite a few problems, but I am glad to say Alfie tackled it very confidently, the only problem being when he jumped rather too boldly down the step into the water and stumbled. We were very lucky to stay upright, and I was thankful that Alfie is so genuine as he just popped over the jump on the way out of the water, whilst I was still gathering up my reins! Really pleased to be clear within the time, even happier to find out that he got a dressage score of 35.9 and thrilled to find we had won the class overall! We were unlucky with the weather again at Borde Hill this year. Those competing on the Saturday were blessed with a dry day, but the conditions on the Sunday when Alfie and I were competing were very wet. Alfie did a much better dressage test than he did at Tweseldown, although I don't feel the improvement was reflected in his mark of 43. He show jumped in abysmally wet and windy conditions, and did very well just to have one pole down, particularly as Borde Hill is renowned for the trickiness of the show jumping phase due to its undulating arena. By the time I set off cross country, the ground was very wet and muddy so I didn't go flat out for time, but Alfie coped well with the conditions and jumped a clear round with only a few time faults, leaving us 14th out of a big section of 38, so very pleased with him. I had entered Pop for this originally, but as he wasn't quite right after Badminton I decided to take my Dad's horse Alfie instead. Alfie always finds the dressage phase hard as he is not ideally built for it, but his dressage has been improving. Unfortunately, I underestimated how long it would take us to get to Tweseldown and ended up not having as much time to warm up as I would like, which resulted in a rather tense and resistant test for my worst ever score of 47! We then went over to the show jumping arena to find a very full up course and saw lots of people having problems and many poles falling. Alfie tried really hard though, and just tapped a couple of poles to end up with 8 faults. Then finally off to the cross country, which is Alfie's favourite phase! He didn't jump fences 1 & 2 that fluently, but then flew over the imposing spread fence at 3 and went up a gear, taking everything else in his stride. Was particularly proud of him at the water where another horse had stopped and was standing just beside the fence, but Alfie ignored it and just kept jumping and we ended up clear within the time. It was a rather busy run up to Badminton Grassroots for me. I took my Dad's horse, Alfie, to do the BE Novice at Chilham on the Sunday, just arriving home in time to get bathed and changed, then off to our Hunt Ball for the evening. Monday morning saw me running around getting everything ready, including washing my breeches and stock shirt which had been used at Chilham. When we set off the living in the lorry was festooned with drying washing! We had a good journey up and soon Pop was settled in his temporary stable. I gave him a little time to chill, then tacked him up and took him for a ride to stretch his legs. Of course, the minute I got on it started raining, so we were soon pretty wet, which basically set the tone for the whole competition! In the last few days before Badminton I had the feeling that my saddles weren't 100% but was unable to get a saddler out before we left. I decided that Pop felt slightly better in the jumping saddle so I decided to ride the test in that rather than the dressage saddle. However, I still felt he wasn't going his best and was not as fluent as usual, particularly on the right rein. The test started OK, but suddenly I heard a car horn sound. I assumed it was from the other arena and carried on, but when it went three times repeatedly I realised I had missed out the second trot/walk transition - I couldn't believe it, I haven't gone wrong in a test for years! I got going again but it all went a bit downhill from there with Pop anticipating and putting in some unneccessary upwards transitions where they weren't required. So with all that, and him not working at his best, we ended up on a disappointing score of 39.8 - his lowest ever at BE. I had to put my disappointment behind me, however, and get on with the rest of the competion, so in the afternoon we set off to walk the XC course, which I felt had plenty of challenges in it! The next morning brought both the show jumping and the cross country. Lots of poles were falling in the show jumping but I was really pleased with how Pop warmed up and felt he was really pinging. Soon it was my turn to enter the arena and I'm glad to say he jumped a lovely clear round! Back to the horsebox for a quick change into cross country gear and then set off on the long trek to the cross country start. As I got there the weather took a distinct change for the worst and we were swept by driving rain and gale force winds. I also discovered that they were behind on the cross country already, so Pop and I dived under a large tree to take cover whilst we waited our turn. Eventually I was able to warm up, but I was soon soaked to the skin. And then we were off, and Pop jumped the first few nicely, although a little cautiously in the appalling weather. However, as we approached the first of the WHW Brushes we suddenly found ourselves on the wrong stride and with Pop being 'Mr Careful' he suddenly put the anchors on, incurring 20 penalties. He jumped it willingly at the second presentation, however, and we were off again. Eventually we came to the Shogun Hollow that I had been rather worried about, but to my delight Pop jumped the first rail sweetly and popped over the ditch, but I think in my relief at getting over the first part I didn't ride the line to the final element carefully enough and we swerved out to the left. I couldn't believe it. I had to jump back over the ditch to represent at the third element and then jumped everything else nicely before we crossed the finishing line. I must admit I was very disappointed that we hadn't gone clear, but still pleased to have completed as several riders before me had retired or been eliminated. However, once Pop had been cooled down and finished off, it was time to cheer myself up with some retail therapy in the Badminton tradestands! I couldn't take Pop to Chilham as it was too close to Badminton Grassroots, but as this is one of my favourite events, I decided to take Alfie along for the BE Novice. I was pleased with his dressage as he was concentrating on me much more than before, although he did occasionally creep above the contact. I was fairly satisfied with a dressage score of 38.8. Our warm up for the show jumping did not go well as Alfie kept demolishing the warm up jumps and I felt this didn't bode well for our round. However, when he got into the ring he jumped much better and just unluckily had the final rail of the treble down. Then off to the cross country where he jumped a clear round, although I did have some trouble getting him to focus in between the fences! I was pleased with only 8.4 time faults, which left us in 15th place in a class of 38. Alfie and I were lucky enough to be captured during the cross country by professional photographer Stephen Bartholomew who took this amazing beneath the fence shot at the hanging log to the corner, below left. Many thanks also to fellow Sevenoaks Riding Club member Jessica Leroy of Team Leroy Eventing for the photo of Alfie show jumping. For a final run before Badminton Grassroots, we decided to take Pop to Hambleden Horse Trials for the BE Novice, where we thought the course would be quite challenging for him, with two water complexes, both with jumps into, or on the edge, of water, plus a coffin. As my dad's horse Alfie finished hunting the previous weekend, we decided to take him along as well, which entail a crash course in dressage the week beforehand! Pop did a fairly nice test, if a little distracted, to gain 32. Alfie's dressage has been improving at home, and he even went nicely in the warm up, but as we trotted over to the far arena he decided to spook at all the boards and cars which resulted in a rather tense test, but was pleased to get 38 which is his best score to date at BE! In the show jumping, Pop started off really nicely, but somehow we got completely the wrong stride into two of the jumps, and took two poles down. Alfie's jumping at this level can be rather erratic, and true to form he knocked the first fence down (the easiest and smallest on the course) but then jumped everything else clear, even the double and treble, which I thought he would find hard. We knew the first water complex in the cross country was causing trouble with many having refusals at jump in front of the water. There was an longer alternative option which many took, but I decided Pop had to man up and tackle the direct way in, as I know this is the type of challenge he will get at Badminton. He did have a stop here, but jumped it at second time of asking and then was fine round the rest of the course and flew into the second water via the direct route, so hopefully he might have learnt his lesson! Quick change onto Alfie and what a star he was! Jumped everything without hesitation going the direct routes. I was a bit worried about the steps as he has struggled with them in the past as his feet are a long way from his brain, and these were the biggest steps he has been asked to do. But he managed them, even if it was not in the most elegant fashion! I didn't push hard for time as this was his first event of the season, so we finished with eight time faults. So no rosettes for either of the boys this time, but a very educational and productive outing for them both! Many thanks to Nigel Goddard of KS Digital for the lovely photos of the boys galloping through the bluebell woods. Got a lovely surprise when I went into my British Eventing account and found a notification that Pop and I have qualified for the new Restricted Novice Championships at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, as a result of our placing at South of England!
Well what a week it has been! The weekend before South of England I was attending the Pony Club National Tetrathlon Training Course at Bishop Burton College, near Hull. I set off on the long drive up to Hull at 5am on the Saturday and then it was three days of non-stop running, swimming, shooting and jumping the college horses, before driving all the way back home again. Not surprisingly I was tired and aching from all the exertion the next day, but there was no chance of a rest as I then set off to Walton on the Hill to take my Pony Club B+ test which I thankfully passed! Poor Pop was rather tired and fed up by the end of day as we were in the saddle for about 3 hours as not only did he have to do flatwork, show jumping and cross country with me, he had other candidates swap onto him for flatwork and jumping as well! The poor boy had a Pony Club rally the next day as well! However, that didn't seem to affect him at South of England. He did a very respectable and obedient dressage test for 32.3. He wasn't quite so obedient in the show jumping and was very forward and keen, so we ended up just rolling one pole. The show jumping was obviously proving tricky for a lot of people as there were only 6 clears in my section of 30 competitors! Then off to the cross country warm up where it was apparent that the course was causing problems, by the fact that a couple of loose horses had to be recaptured, and the announcements of a number of refusals and eliminations. Then just as I was about to go down to the start they had to hold the course, as a rider and horse had fallen and needed to be checked out by paramedics (thankfully I later learnt they were OK). Not the best mental preparation for a cross country round. However, I needn't have worried as Pop was on fine form and set off really confidently around the course. A little too confident as he took an almighty flyer at the imposing ditch palisade, giving it a good foot, which gave me a bit of a shock (photo from Spidge top left)! He was foot perfect through the tricky combination that was causing problems, and then jumped beautifully through the water complex, the drop combination, the quarry etc., and soon we were heading to the final fence to finish clear! I hadn't worried too much about time as just wanted a confident clear for our first Novice of the season, but as he covers the ground well we actually only incurred 4 time faults. With no-one in our section getting the time, this was good enough to secure us third place! Absolutely over the moon with this result and especially with the way he tackled the cross country! Many thanks to Nigel Goddard of KS Digital for the two photos of the drop combination below, and also to Louisa Day who provided the photo from the water complex. After our problems at Tweseldown, we decided to take Polly along to Firle Hunter Trials for some more competition cross country experience. I'm happy to report that not only did she jump round clear, she also managed to gain a rosette for 10th place in a big class of over 60 competitors! It was a very early start of 4am to leave for Great Witchingham, which was really only 3am due to the clock change! Made worse by the fact that I had only got home from France at 9pm the night before! I was pleased with her dressage test, but the judge didn't feel the same and gave us a score of 37, although the whole section was quite harshly marked. Unfortunately we then had a couple of poles in the show jumping. However, the main purpose of the outing was to complete the cross country course, and I'm pleased to say not only did we manage to complete, we did it with no jumping faults either, although we incurred a lot of time faults due to a little disagreement in one part of the course! Pop was very excited to be eventing again and came off the lorry rather wired and dragged my poor mum around the lorry park for a while, but thankfully then settled down into his normal chilled mode. He warmed up very sweetly for the dressage and went in and did a nice, fluent test, apart from inserting an extra canter transition into the trot work when it wasn't needed! Very pleased with a score of 25.5 but there were some fantastic tests in my section so there were actually a lot of scores in the twenties. The show jumping was interesting as I didn't ride my best and let Pop get rather long and fast, but thankfully he helped me out and jumped a clear round regardless. Finally on to the cross country and he stormed round a fairly testing course to finish clear and inside the time which gained us 6th place! So a very positive start to the eventing season. Really grateful to Nigel Goddard of KSDigital for taking these fantastic photos: I was back at Tweseldown on the Sunday to ride Polly Affect for Ania Cox - she is a fantastic mare with a lovely temperament but has had some problems cross country. Really pleased with a score of 30 in the dressage and clear in the show jumping, and she jumped nicely round most of the cross country course but unfortunately then decided that the jump before the water was far too scary and we ended up walking home.
Finally managed to get Pop out cross country schooling - the first time this year! We went to Nurstead Court which was a first for us, and found it was worth the drive with a good variety of fences and some interesting options at the water jump. Pop was very keen to be going cross country again, and I could have done with a bit more control at times! Was thrilled to win this, despite Pop doing the most appalling halt at the start of the test - he went sideways, backwards and sideways again and absolutely refused to stand still whilst I saluted! Thankfully, after that he then went back into dressage diva mode and produced a nice test, although the simple changes were not as smooth as we get them at home. However, winning the Qualifier left me with a bit of a dilemma, as a couple of days before the competition I had received a letter from Pony Club headquarters informing me I had been selected for the national tetrathlon training course, which was to be held the same weekend as the Dengie championships. So I had to decide between the two, and as I've competed several times at the Dengie championships, I chose to opt for the tetrathlon training weekend instead - so I asked for my qualification to be passed down to the next competitor. Had the fantastic opportunity of a photoshoot with Nigel Goddard of KSDigital Photography, who has very kindly offered to support me this eventing season, and these are a selection of the lovely images he took. If you would like an equine photoshoot, then be sure to check out his website. He does gift vouchers too which would be great as a present for a horsey loved one.
Really pleased to report that Pop was on top form today and scored 26.7 in the dressage and followed it with a pingy clear round, which got us 4th place in the BE100 class! Alfie also jumped a lovely clear round, but was very distracted in the dressage, which was a shame as he has been working much better at home, and worked nicely in the warm up.
Well this wasn't the most auspicious start to the 2015 competitive season! After a change of plans, I entered this last minute and the BE100 (which I wanted to enter) was full, so I ended up entering the Novice, which meant jumping in the evening. The warm up was outdoors under floodlights and he was jumping very well, really pinging and taking me into the jumps. Went into the indoor arena to compete and suddenly he was totally different, rather sticky and was backing off everything. Completed the show jumping part with lots of effort but eliminated in the cross country section. Back out to the warm up and he was jumping really well again, so we have assumed it was something to do with the lighting. With hindsight, the only other couple of times I've been eliminated on him have been jumping indoors having warmed up outdoors under floodlights, so there seems to be a pattern. So have decided to take him outdoors for the next outing over a 100 course and see what happens!
Had a productive jump schooling session with Emily Baldwin Eventing at St Leonards Mayfield. Having been jumping a four year old point-to-pointer most days, I thought I needed a refresher session to get back into a more conventional jumping style! I had to really focus on keeping my shoulders back into a fence, which I managed most of the time! Pop was feeling very keen and really enjoyed himself! We started off over some showjumps and then did some work over arena XC fences, then put the whole lot together as a course, which Pop jumped well. |