Today I was competing in the unaffiliated at Shelford Manor. Unfortunately they always run the first BE over the bank holiday and, being a zookeeper, bank holidays are some of our busiest days at work - so no booking those off!
I was really pleased to see I had quite late times since I was at work until late on the Monday, had just enough time for a ride and to clean my tack but early times would have made my life a bit difficult! I was able to bath and plait on Tuesday morning before setting off about 10.30. Today was also Emmie's 12th birthday! I'm not sure she was too impressed by beign dragged out the field for a 8.30am bath as her birthday treat...
Very glad the weather held out for the day - it was threatening to rain throughout! My dressage was at 1.15pm and I decided to make sure I didn't have too long a warm up, so got on at about 12.40. She felt fantastic and did a really nice test - I came out grinning and said to my mum I didn't care what the score was because I was so pleased. As it happened, the score agreed with me and we came away with a 28.8 which is the best we've ever had at 100, and our second best including the 90s! I also enjoyed wearing my new navy jacket and hat, I think they look quite smart.
The judge gave some great constructive comments, I need to work on the size of my 15m circles and she also was very quarters-in during the canter which lost me some marks (an ongoing problem!). She did a beautiful square halt for a 9 which is pretty funny when I was convinced that would let us down!
We then had a very long wait for the SJ, so I walked the course and then watched some horses jump SJ before I went back to tack up. She felt great in the warm up, but our usual problems sprung up in the arena and we ended up with 2 poles, both from small uprights that got her. I am glad it's that rather than her struggling with the height, but it is frustrating when she jumps a great big oxer beautifully and then takes a pole from a teeny tiny upright!
Everything was running early so we did a speedy turnaround and came straight back out for XC. She started to get a bit excited and I had to pull her out of a warm up fence that she starting bouncing towards. I decided I was better not jumping over any XC warm up fences at all, she just gets too excited! She knows her job and she's already showjumped so it's not a necessity at all.
I had a great run XC, it was a big bold course that really had to be ridden which was great! She had a bit of a wobble at the corner but popped it lovely, I also had to get after her jumping into both woods - I suspect just because she hasn't jumped into the dark since last season, so it took her by surprise. All the big single fences she took beautifully and we got a great stride down the drop to the palisade. The course rode very well! I also have put her into a pelham with 2 reins, which I've been using at home, and she felt much better than last year- I have a lot more steering !
She also recovered really well and felt full of running the whole way, so I think with a bit more work she is going to be super fit! We were dead on the optimum time too. Shelford is definitely a good starting one for me because it is nice and flat - being in South Yorkshire makes hill work quite tricky when there are no hills! It's also a relatively short course.
We ended up finishing 4th which was just the icing on the cake - she was amazing all day! I never have high expectations for the first one of the season but I am so pleased with her, she tried her heart out.
And of course thanks go to my super groom, expert plait remover and biggest supporter, my mum!
Happy birthday Emmie! <3
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