I have just had a tidy of the pile of rosettes and things on my desk and have discovered that I have finished the season well up on the baseball cap front! This would be good if I actually wore them, but I don’t! I have a very small head and they look totally ridiculous on me!
If only BE would sort out their prizes into something decent, caps really don’t cut it!
So this is my BE cap and rosette collection from 2009:-

• Joules cap from my sponsor In The Field Countrywear, signed by Mary King.
• KBIS Cap from Kelsall Hill JRN - 4th
• 11th Place rosette from Chatsworth IN
• Blue Chip cap from Goring Heath JON - 1st
• KBIS Cap (Team Prize Giving) and Completion Rosette from Weston Park JRN CCI* Championships.

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So I then schooled him that day in his Pelham and he went really well! YAY

I also took him for a little hack:

Although I was selected as an individual for Wales and borders, one member had to drop out so Sylvia put me into the 8 potential people for the team, which was cool, but it did mean I had to wear team colours which aren’t as nice as my new ones!

So the dressage, Marie helped me warm up but it was a disaster. I won’t dwell on it, but I couldn’t flex him at all he was rigid in his head and neck and felt like something was wrong (like his tongue over bit) or something, but there wasn't, so I have no idea what was going on, but I was crying even before I went in, so interesting. Anyway I hope no one saw it as it was the most horrendous thing ever, he ran around the place with his head in the clouds and me bouncing around on his back and hanging on. It deserved 80-90 something but I got an INCREADIBLY kind 73.7. We even managed three 7's
anyway I did hide in the lorry for a while; I didn’t want to see anyone I was so ashamed, it was that bad!

Lunging:

but we went out for a team meal in a village that evening which was nice

CROSS COUNTRY day wooooot!!
The course wasn’t very difficult or big, more like a very long novice with the odd thing slightly harder. E.g. the water which caused a lot of head scratching. I went down in the morning to watch the first few through and sat there with some friends (also competing) scratching my head as to how to get from B - C. I ended up terrified about what I was going to do!! haha.
anyway, finally it was my turn and we set off, popped one and two and then he took off, it seemed that he was very excited to be out on the XC finally and although we normally never have any breaking issues at one day events, here he was very strong all the way round!, I was desperately trying to get him back, and just did before 3 ab, then he took off again through the wood on the way to 4 and 5ab a skinny barrel, then a drop barrel and then downhill on a curve to another skinny barrel. I needed him back and he was soooo strong. you can’t really see in videos as he never looks fast as he has a HUGE stride, but I was slightly worried
anyway, in the end I got him back for the first barrel but we got a bit close and then stood off the drop one and so I sort of just pointed him at the skinny barrel and let him sort himself out. that was all fine, he took off again and again I just tried to get him back between the fences wasting so much time. jumped everything really well and then I came to the water. well again I had to set him up for that from MILES away, but he was fab through it. I collapsed on his neck over the B element as I didn’t want to let the reins slip through my fingers as I knew if I did I would lose him. so fabby through that and galloped on over the big table and straightforward fences. then we flew the ''into space'' huge drop hedge. the sunken road at 19 was quite a test as it was near the end and very short strides, anyway again I took ages setting up for it, but he was soooo nippy through it and didn’t touch it! bless. I let him go his own pace up the hill up to the main arena. he was still strong here!!! popped through that and then kicked on a bit for the finish. 7 seconds inside which I was dead chuffed with as we have done no fitness work for this and I didn’t go for the time and wasted soooooo much time trying to get control!!!!!

It was quite a relaxed evening as he had no bumps or swellings and wasn’t stiff at all.

and then it all went belly up the next day...
Passed the trot up, but he was very sleepy. just wanted to mooch about not doing much...
Not helped by the fact that the SJ was really rather massive and the poles are unbelievable thin and light!!!!!!!!!!
however he warmed up really well, he felt great over the jumps and didn’t knock any down in the warm up!
I went in, and he jumped one well but unseated me a bit, so I was a bit flustered to two and I screwed it up totally and we had a stop.
when I came round to do it again we knocked it, then we came round to three a large spread and we ended up going off a silly long one but cleared it, so gather the knitting round to 4ab and we were clear through that. came round to 5 and tipped that off, cleared 6. flew the huge spread at 7, and then everything went TERRIBLE. we tipped 8, came round to 9 and got deep and had that off, and then came to the treble at 10 and had a nice stride to all three parts,,,but had every element down.....

So a shocking 7 down, 1 stop and 22 time....
32 jumping and 22 time pens = 54 overall....

Need I say more....
Totally gutted.
I don’t really know what to say or what to do..
But I had to hang around on belvedere for our prize giving because our team had not done well so my score was one of the 4 that counted. so we went in and got a completion rosette and a cap and things, but poor Belv was really tired and just stood there with his ears back, all I wanted to do was get off and let him sleep in his stable..


Prize Giving Pictures:

it’s all very odd. he finished his XC very strongly and his heart rate was fine...so I don’t know why he was so tired. and when I walked him round early in the morning he was wild.... but even though he sat around really tired,,,when I was jumping him..e.g. warming up he felt absolutely fine...so I’m just really confused and upset.

so yeah, it was dreadful, and totally gutted in everyway...

although I only dropped one place from XC to SJ!! how ridiculous!

all I wanted was a QR...but hey ho.....

it was nice to meet up with some friends from HHO Forum and I had a good time up until Sunday.. Also we saved money on the video, only ended up getting the XC as obviously I don’t really want the dressage or SJ!

Well, with Weston Park JRN Championships next weekend we have been busy preparing!

On Saturday we took belv Showjumping at Summerhouse. We just did the Discovery as we wanted to get a good round in even if it was small, rather than a big round going pear shaped. He jumped very well, but just was a bit careless at one of the last fences and so we got 4 faults, and therefore didn't get into the jump off. But he went well.

On the way home from the SJ we stopped off at the Pincus' for a lesson. I decided to use the Market Harborough so that we could have a relaxed and happy lesson where we could practise movements rather than a tense and upsetting pointless one. He went very well with the MH and did some good work.

Today we took belv for a short and light SJ lesson with Brian. We changed belv's bit to a Vulcanite Pelham to see if he went any better in it. And it seems that he likes it a lot. He was more round, more collected and happier in his mouth. We need to practise with it for a while though before we use it in competition as it is a very different feeling. Very pleased with how he went in the lesson.
Also Brian said that I rode with ''great empathy'' in the ring (RE my BSJA at Summerhouse) and he also said ''next year will be a big year for you!!''

Recently we discovered some Gallops right on our doorstep so on the way home from the SJ lesson we took him for a gallop. I walked him down the gallops and cantered back up to warm up and then trotted down and galloped up twice, and to cool off I walked him down and cantered up at his own pace. He went quite well but I found it hard to gauge his fitness as there were so many factors affecting it. E.g. fairly deep sand surface, thick fur coat, hot day, no adrenalin etc.

Finally, just an update on his cut, it is doing very well. Have a look for yourself:

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