Wet Weekend Team Chasing!
Monday, 2nd November 2009
Luckily for Bisto, Bob was sound by Thursday and able to have his dressage lesson with Paul Friday on Friday morning. He went really well, as ever, and Paul was pleased to hear he’d qualified for a regional final too! We worked on improving the canter; getting Bob to sit more so that it became more engaged and rounder.Mark has been away since Tuesday so his horse, Bisto, has had an intensive few days being schooled, lunged and jumped by yours truly. I was getting a bit worried that he might have to do the team chase instead of Bob so I popped him over some show jumps on Thursday but they were way smaller than the 3’3” that the team chase course should be. I’d planned to get him clipped too on Saturday morning but, right on cue, the heavens opened and, since the stables are just too dark to see what you are doing, that put the “kaibosh” on getting the clippers out.
I was also meeting the rest of my “team” to walk our team chase course in the afternoon so just had to ride him instead but, annoyingly, by lunchtime the sun was shining again. Still we met, as arranged, and found there really was nothing scary and that it wasn’t even really up to height (3’3”) which was slightly disappointing as it didn’t feel quite so challenging (Bisto would have been fine!). Still, given that the ground was still quite firm, and rutty in places, that was fine and we were all in it just for a bit of fun anyway.
Sunday dawned fine but it wasn’t long before the forecast rain set in and, boy, did it set in?! The “Baileys Bouncers” were due on at 11.22am so I aimed to leave at around 9.30am to get there around 10.30am and much of the way, it hammered down! It did ease up from time to time but it literally chucked it down all morning. Still, the event was going ahead so we had to get on with it.
The plan was for me and Bob to go in front, then Lucy with her Novice eventer, with Gavin and his daughter at 3 and 4. We’d watched a few teams go in a nice single file so did a couple of practice fences “in formation” before setting off. Bob was fairly sure he was out hunting so was jogging around at the start; the others were totally unfazed!
We had a great round and felt we’d gone a fair pace although I hadn’t kicked Bob much and just let him go in his rhythm. The ground was not as slippy as expected but some of the rutty bits were now bogs, over which I wasn’t too keen to push on, to be honest. Carrie-Ann over took me and Bob coming into the last, so that she could cross the line first, and this was the first Bob really knew about the other horses that were with him. We were soaked and muddy but quite hopeful of a decent time so were rather disappointed to be awarded 7th place of eight teams.
When we checked the times though, we found that we should actually have been 6th but the other team had gone home so we couldn’t swap our rosettes. The times were fairly close – we were 22 seconds off the leaders but quite close to some of the other teams. Mark and I stayed to watch some of the open teams go which was quite interesting; their fences would have been perfectly “do-able” if we’d been going Novice BE all season so, maybe next year…..
True Ups and Downs!
Monday, 26th October 2009
Bob and I were dressaging again at Bluegate Hall on Saturday and, much to my delight, he won the Prelim again, this time with 69%! Having won two weeks ago with 67% I just needed another win, with more than 65%, to qualify for a Regional Final. I was really pleased with his test but didn’t dare to hope so it was great when the results went up!He’s been on the Nupafeed Calmer for two weeks now but I gave him extra on the day and certainly noticed a difference. Mark was being picked up to go hunting at 6.30am (!) so I got him to give Bob his breakfast, which contained “double dose”, then, plus he had a “syringe full” before I started plaiting. It was great to get comments from the judge about his “good attitude to work” rather than the “some tension today” which, to be fair, he did get in the second Novice test for which everything was running late and we both were getting a bit fed up. Still he was 2nd of the Restricted riders and 5th overall with 67% so I mustn’t grumble!
I was going to Jays on Sunday to present prizes for the Absolute Horse BSJA Intro League Winners so ignored the clock change and got up early to ride beforehand. To start with Bob felt “short” but, by the end of our ride, he felt horribly lame! Aaagh! Luckily, when I got off, I found he/Bisto had stood on the coronary band on the outside of his off fore hoof and it was oozing serum stuff – at least it might not be the suspensory again which was what I was fearing.
Anyway I put him out and went off to the Jays where I spent an enjoyable day with the team from Absolute Horse magazine and the local BSJA representatives. The Intro Leagues are based on points accrued in BSJA competitions from 70cm up to 1m and there is one for each region. There were loads of great prizes for the winners, including Baileys vouchers!
Mark got the horses in in the evening and Bob was really lame. This morning he was still not right so I did alternate hot tubbing/cold hosing to try to ease the bruising on the edge of the hoof and heel. He was better behaved than I expected so will do it again tomorrow, if I have to. It’s blooming typical, having mustered a team for the Essex & Suffolk Team Chase this coming Sunday, it’s now looking like I might have to cry off! I’ve got my farrier, Gavin Adams and his daughter, Carrie-Ann, in the team and fellow eventer, Lucy Browning-Smith. It was my idea so I shall be really annoyed if I have to withdraw but then again, I could draft-in Bisto!
The Final Event of the Season
Tuesday, 20th October 2009
I had entered Bob in the BE100 Plus class at Little Downham, in the hope that we might take the step up a little more in our stride than we did at Great Witchingham, earlier in the season. Having had our little “crisis of confidence” in the summer, I didn’t feel we could tackle a Novice as our final event, although I was sorely tempted, but I like to feel challenged and to progress so went for the BE100 Plus. This has Novice dressage, between BE100 and Novice height show jumping, then BE100 cross country.As soon as Mark realised I’d got Sue coming to “support” me at Downham, he resigned as groom for the day so I headed up to Ely on my own on Sunday with my head still rather racing about why Snoopy had stopped the day before. I thought I’d got plenty of time and was casually watching some show jumping when Sue rang my mobile and I realised immediately that I’d got my time wrong for my dressage!! Luckily she warned the stewards who were able to get other riders to go ahead of me then came and helped me throw the tack on Bob.
I did manage 10 or 15 minutes of warm up but couldn’t really work through the tension, although that could have had something to do with the fact that the Pony Club had been at our livery yard on Saturday and Bob was still wound up about it in the morning (despite my best efforts with the Nupafeed)!! Anyway, as I trotted round the arena and realised it was my “bogey” judge as well (I never get a good mark with either horse from this one!), I didn’t think things could get any worse! Still we did our best with BE113, which has leg yield and change of leg through trot, but it was a bit rigid, though we were ended up mid-ish division and not bottom!
There was then a bit of time to unwind before the show jumping when Sue was going to stand in and put my fences up etc in the warm-up. I was really looking forward to this bit and hoped that, with our “trainer” around, we could achieve an elusive clear to finish the season. She certainly “whacked” the fences up and Bob was jumping really well, though did have the “obligatory” one down just so he could “feel the firmness of the poles”! We managed to walk the course too, which really wasn’t over huge as they’d only put it up one hole all round from the BE100 – smaller than it was at Great Witchingham, anyway!
Well, we started with a superb jump over the first, only to stop and demolish the second, much to my utter horror! Still, I “regrouped” and we got over it, although he half thought about stopping again, then flew the third and the next few. I got him a little close to the upright at seven and he touched that to have it down before I really, really couldn’t see my stride to the last oxer and held him in to the bottom for another rail down. I got time penalties too, though I’m not sure why, but it was all fairly arbitrary by then and I was totally gutted!
It was good to talk through the round with Sue though, as it helped me realise that it really wasn’t all my fault and that, as far as she could see, Bob is getting a bit “ring shy” and going “all green” on me in the ring. She said she’d never seen him like that so it was really useful for her to understand what I was experiencing in competition so that she could help us overcome it. Bob really is not the easiest to ride as he seems to swing between ultra confidence and no confidence and had stopped because I’d just trusted him a bit too much and softened my hand too early. He also drops off my leg in the blink of an eye although it’s quite hard to tell because he’s taking a hold of the bridle!
Anyway, I was still going to run him cross country this time so there was no pressure and I let run in his rhythm without pushing him on what was still, in places, firmish ground. He’d had his gel pads out the week before too so I didn’t want to jar him up but he stormed round, even through the sunken road, which was a relief. We did get 0.8 time penalties, which was bit annoying but I didn’t cut any corners or push him, as I said. So not quite the double clear I’d been hoping for (well, I always hope for a win, actually!) but an educating day and, although I was upset and about to sell him as I put Bob on the lorry, I’m now determined to learn to ride him in the show jumping and get him out at Novice next season.
Stress at Work and in the Saddle!
Monday, 19th October 2009
This week at work was rather manic not helped by the fact that we had a Directors’ Meeting on Friday to discuss and decide on the new customer database which we have been planning for some time. Victoria, from Equine Affairs, had done all the research for us into our options and was to present these to the Board along with the guy who will be ultimately implementing the new software. The system will bring so many advantages to all departments but I wasn’t confident that everyone would see that so we had to make sure we did our homework! Luckily, however, our proposals were well received and now the real hard work for us at Baileys begins as we have a lot of preparation to do to ensure the installation of the new system goes smoothly. Wednesday saw me travel up to Stoneleigh for a meeting with the team behind the BEF Futurity Young Horse Evaluations which Baileys have sponsored since their inception. They have grown enormously over the last four years and it is really gratifying that breeders are seeing them as a genuinely valuable assessment of their young horses’ potential as sport horses. It was interesting to hear the feedback from assessors, exhibitors and vets and I was pleased that my proposal for Baileys to get more “hands on” on evaluation days, was well received.
Bob and I had a great jumping lesson with Sue on Thursday when he was really pinging and we finished early as we were so “in tune”. It is a great feeling when you see the stride and it all comes so easily! I’m really pleased that Sue can be there at Little Downham on Sunday too, to warm us up for our jumping, as I really want us to go well. I’ve never had “help” on a competition day so it will be a whole new experience.
First there was Snoopy to ride in the Novice on Saturday though and, unfortunately, I hadn’t managed to ride her during the week although Barrett had jumped her. Our times were fairly civilised and I travelled with Sue in the horsebox then walked the cross country course when I got there. It was almost identical to the spring course so I wasn’t too worried about anything and they had done their best to aerovate the ground as we’ve still had precious little rain. We were riding a new dressage test BE114 for which Snoopy warmed up well enough and our mark put us in the top half of the class at about joint 12th place.
The show jumping looked fairly do-able and not too big but we ended up with one down as I was rather struggling to get Snoopy to the fences in the ring and ended up holding into one of the oxers so she was too deep. Still, she jumped the treble clear at the end and we survived a hairy moment, where I lost a stirrup on landing after fence 3 but recovered to clear the fourth! I did vow to try spurs again to help try to keep the canter more forward, although Barrett had been against them in our lessons!
There’d been a fair few faulters in the show jumping so we were quite hopeful as we set off cross country – if we could go clear we might finish in the rosettes! Oh dear – never think that far ahead! We set off ok and cleared fence four which is quite a big shark’s teeth palisade over a ditch, then galloped across the field to fence 5, the parallel of blue plastic pipes. Well, Snoops was having none of it! She stopped unexpectedly and my two further tries were also unsuccessful so, for the first time in a very long time, and the first time ever for Snoopy, I was walking back to the lorry park without completing.
It is a horrible feeling but one I’ve had a lot in the past with horses that just don’t want to play ball. Experience says that there must be an underlying reason, though, as this mare is normally so genuine so I think we will have to have a bit of a “regroup” before next season. It really wasn’t the note we wanted to finish on and Sue took her straight home while I quickly walked my BE100 course for Sunday then came home in the car with Tim (Sue’s husband), who had come over to meet us and see how we were getting on.