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!
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!