Well we warmed up for the Dressage okay, went in and did a fair test. Nothing fancy, nothing wrong, and reasonably flexed through the poll and through his body.
Ended up with 35 which at BE I would have been ecstatic about, but at pony club I was a bit disappointed with. But not bad, and not unhappy with it. It was a fair mark. Mainly 6's and 7's with one 8.
The Show Jumping I was crapping myself. It was fairly large and a VERY technical course. The warm up was DISGUSTING, and we only had his smaller studs in and he was slipping everywhere. We haven’t been going well SJ recently so he doesn’t have much confidence anyway, and although he has never worried about mud etc before, I think it threw him a bit..
We put the big studs in, but I feel the damage was done. Went in, popped one, and came over to two, not great stride but nothing bad. I didn’t ride 100% convinced at it though, and he slid in and stopped. Popped it well the 2nd time, great over very large upright at 3. Dog leg to the double at four, and the same thing happened, I think in normal conditions it would have been fine, but again as I wasn’t 100% after him he slid into it and stopped. Carried on and from then on I made sure that at every take off I was 100% committed and dug my spurs in and he went really well (just had one pole down).
So ended up with a cricket score, two stops 12, one pole 4, and 22 time.
So NOT GOOD. However, I am not too worried about the stops, as I could feel that he wasn’t enjoying it and he was worried. I am also very pleased that we only had one fence down- that’s progress!!
The Cross Country was mostly small and easy apart from fences 5 and 6. 5 was a large log at the top of a steep slope, 6 was a sizeable skinny on an angle at the bottom of the slope. So it was my main area of concern. But he popped the log beautifully, listened to me steadied on the turn and slope and straight at an arrow over the skinny. Flew round the rest and was one of very few to go inside the time.
Ended up with 35 which at BE I would have been ecstatic about, but at pony club I was a bit disappointed with. But not bad, and not unhappy with it. It was a fair mark. Mainly 6's and 7's with one 8.
The Show Jumping I was crapping myself. It was fairly large and a VERY technical course. The warm up was DISGUSTING, and we only had his smaller studs in and he was slipping everywhere. We haven’t been going well SJ recently so he doesn’t have much confidence anyway, and although he has never worried about mud etc before, I think it threw him a bit..
We put the big studs in, but I feel the damage was done. Went in, popped one, and came over to two, not great stride but nothing bad. I didn’t ride 100% convinced at it though, and he slid in and stopped. Popped it well the 2nd time, great over very large upright at 3. Dog leg to the double at four, and the same thing happened, I think in normal conditions it would have been fine, but again as I wasn’t 100% after him he slid into it and stopped. Carried on and from then on I made sure that at every take off I was 100% committed and dug my spurs in and he went really well (just had one pole down).
So ended up with a cricket score, two stops 12, one pole 4, and 22 time.
So NOT GOOD. However, I am not too worried about the stops, as I could feel that he wasn’t enjoying it and he was worried. I am also very pleased that we only had one fence down- that’s progress!!
The Cross Country was mostly small and easy apart from fences 5 and 6. 5 was a large log at the top of a steep slope, 6 was a sizeable skinny on an angle at the bottom of the slope. So it was my main area of concern. But he popped the log beautifully, listened to me steadied on the turn and slope and straight at an arrow over the skinny. Flew round the rest and was one of very few to go inside the time.
Guttingly had I been a bit more committed at those two show jumps and just had the 4 faults, we would have been 3rd and qualified for the championships for the 2nd year running. But hey that’s life!!
I am not overly upset as I know the stops weren’t naughty or me totally missing the stride, just him not having much confidence.
Poor sausage!!
I am not overly upset as I know the stops weren’t naughty or me totally missing the stride, just him not having much confidence.
Poor sausage!!
