During a month off from eventing due to selling my flat and Eglinton being unfortunate abandoned, I have been working hard on our dressage.
This weekend we finally we're off eventing again much to Corky's delight who has been desperate to get out galloping! We were traveling up to Perth for a new fixture at Forgendenny.
It was a nice easy drive up (only an hour north) and we were the last class of the day with times of DR 3pm, SJ 4pm and XC at 4.50pm.
On arrival it seemed to be a nicely laid-out event. Dressage off to the left hand side next to the lorry park, SJ, trade stands and secretaries/scorers tents over to the right and the XC up a hill out of the way.
Our dressage warm-up went well and I was looking forward to seeing how our scores on grass would compare to our BD scores on a surface. The test went well but still lots of room for improvement. We almost had a unplanned arena exit while trying to come back to trot from canter as Corks was really to hit the XC! We ended up joint 15th out of 40 after dressage scoring 33.3%. I know we can do better but it was a fair score for our test so I can't ask for more.
This weekend we finally we're off eventing again much to Corky's delight who has been desperate to get out galloping! We were traveling up to Perth for a new fixture at Forgendenny.
It was a nice easy drive up (only an hour north) and we were the last class of the day with times of DR 3pm, SJ 4pm and XC at 4.50pm.
On arrival it seemed to be a nicely laid-out event. Dressage off to the left hand side next to the lorry park, SJ, trade stands and secretaries/scorers tents over to the right and the XC up a hill out of the way.
Our dressage warm-up went well and I was looking forward to seeing how our scores on grass would compare to our BD scores on a surface. The test went well but still lots of room for improvement. We almost had a unplanned arena exit while trying to come back to trot from canter as Corks was really to hit the XC! We ended up joint 15th out of 40 after dressage scoring 33.3%. I know we can do better but it was a fair score for our test so I can't ask for more.
Moving onto the SJing which has not exactly gone to plan all season. We demolished an oxer in the warm up but worked through the issues and managed to jump it nicely before going in. The ground was a little churned up as we were jumping so late in the day but it fortunately didn't cause Corky any issues and we managed our first event clear round at BE90! Here is a video of our round. Big smiles all round. Bella almost stopped filming as she was so excited for us!
Is this how it's meant to feel?
Now the pressure was on as the XC is our most consistent phase as we have never picked up a XC fault. All I could think was 'please go clear and don't get lost so we can get our first foundation point!!'
I was using an optimum time watch for the first time so that added an extra level of complexity. I used the cross country app to walk the course and work out my minute markers. It was easy to use and extremely accurate.
Walking up to the XC warm-up Corky suddenly had a new swing in his step. We popped a couple of jumps and he felt extremely keen so we went straight out onto the course. I remembered to start my watch at the 10 second count down and we were off - Corky was on fire, flying round the first few fences and didn't drop his pace the whole way round. He made everything feel easy and you could tell he was loving it. He ate up the course only chipping in once and sliding over a fence. We hit every minute marked almost exactly but I got a little mixed up with the 5 minute beep and thought it was for the finish so pushed a bit too much at the end finishing 10 seconds under the time which cost us a placing. It didn't matter though as finally we had competed all three phases well!!!
Here ia a clip of Corky flying through the water.
Now the pressure was on as the XC is our most consistent phase as we have never picked up a XC fault. All I could think was 'please go clear and don't get lost so we can get our first foundation point!!'
I was using an optimum time watch for the first time so that added an extra level of complexity. I used the cross country app to walk the course and work out my minute markers. It was easy to use and extremely accurate.
Walking up to the XC warm-up Corky suddenly had a new swing in his step. We popped a couple of jumps and he felt extremely keen so we went straight out onto the course. I remembered to start my watch at the 10 second count down and we were off - Corky was on fire, flying round the first few fences and didn't drop his pace the whole way round. He made everything feel easy and you could tell he was loving it. He ate up the course only chipping in once and sliding over a fence. We hit every minute marked almost exactly but I got a little mixed up with the 5 minute beep and thought it was for the finish so pushed a bit too much at the end finishing 10 seconds under the time which cost us a placing. It didn't matter though as finally we had competed all three phases well!!!
Here ia a clip of Corky flying through the water.
RSS Feed
