So it's been a month since I last posted, and in the past month I have taken and passed my trailer test (WOO!) and also been arena eventing at Port Royal, where she was a really good girl.
Last weekend we went to Skipton in North Yorkshire for our first affiliated BE100 of the year, and our first one since Richmond last year. Cue not being able to sleep the night before due to nerves... not something I usually suffer from, but I was so worried that we weren't ready for it!
No need to fear - she was a very good girl.
I got on with about 40 mins to warm up before dressage, and had a good leisurely walk over to the arenas. She warmed up very well, but started to have a bit of a tantrum just before going in which was a little annoying. I then discovered that my arena was on a downward slope, and Emmie took quite a bit of offence to that - she's not a huge fan of going downhill! So the test was not our best by a long shot, she had a bit of a tantrum in the first canter and was in general a bit tense and fighting the contact - but there were some nice bits in there. I scored an 'ok' 34.5, with some low scores in my section (the winner finished on 24.5...!!!!)
I then had a nice big gap to walk the xc/sj. I was pleased with the XC - there was the odd big fence but not too tricky. My only worry was that it was very hilly, and coming from Doncaster we are used to a nice flat landscape. I decided I wouldn't push for speed and just let her cruise, so as not to tire her with the hills.
Then went to walk the SJ, which is my most disliked phase. There were some big ol' fences in there, and I think I made my first mistake here of pretty much saying "she's going to hit that, that and that!" talk about negative thinking!
I went back to the box and tacked up for SJ. She warmed up a bit flat, and in the ring she was not her usual sparky self and was landing quite heavy in my hands. We had four rails, which was quite disappointing, although two of those were the last fence - a double of uprights. She didn't jump badly, but we can do much better.
I was half considering withdrawing from the XC as it was so hot and I was quite worried about her feeling a bit flat in the SJ. My mum suggested I see how she felt once I was on, so I got tacked up. Just before I got on, she had a massive wee, and then perked her ears up and looked much happier! Bless her, I think she might have been holding that one a while...!!
She was her usual mad self in the XC warm up (I don't bother doing many fences before I set off, as she's just too silly!) but as soon as she gets on course she focuses and concentrates. She gave me such an AMAZING ride, made everything feel easy peasy and just flew round in her usual style. She's such a cool pony on the XC, and makes all the stress worth it! I particularly enjoyed the nice big hedge, but the whole course was great.
Unfortunately we did get 6.8 time penalties, so adding that to our 16 faults from SJ took us right down to the bottom of the leaderboard. But, given that I only did one 100 last year and all the rest 90s due to losing my confidence on XC at this height the year before, I'm so pleased with her. Just need to sort the SJ now - god knows what's going on there!
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