Competition Report - Frickley (2)

Our second BE event of the year - and first one since Emmie was diagnosed with arthritis in both hocks - finally rolled around! I'm not going to lie, I was more nervous for Frickley than I have been for anything for a long time - just because what if she was sore and didn't want to jump, went quiet again, or wasn't sound by the end of the day!




However, I needn't have worried - she was well prepared, we'd been out for an arena eventing lesson and she was nice and fit and ready to go!

The dressage, she was a bit chompy on the bit and kind of tense - however, she pulled a really lovely test out the bag. She was a bit spooky to begin with which cost us some marks, and also broke into canter on a trot over the diagonal, but as the test went on she relaxed into a nice rhythm. We were awarded a fair 33.3.

We had a pretty quick turnaround and straight over to showjumping. Now showjumping has always been our bogey phase - the last time we had a clear round was in 2014, so we nearly always take a pole or 2 at the least. We have been working really hard on it in recent times and also, being only 90, I was fairly confident that she could hop round with ease. She didn't disappoint and jumped a beautiful clear round, even with me on top throwing her at the base of the fence and putting her in bad spots - she's a very good girl! I did decide to jump her in her pelham as I was a little worried that with the smaller fences she would just go really flat, and it definitely helped me to keep her together between fences! I did get 3 time penalties, but mostly because there were a couple of places that I took some wide turns and the time was tight - lots of people getting penalties! 

So with the stressful part under our belt, it was a quick tack change and down to the XC! I had no worries about the cross country and she was her usual amazing self and made it feel so easy. She was a little sticky about the water, she jumped in and nearly unseated me, and then trotted through it! Bit strange for a seasoned 100 horse, but she hasn't been schooling much so I'm just pinning it to that. Because of the water we picked up 5.6 time penalties but had a lovely confidant clear - and she finished the day bright and sound, which is the most important thing!

So all in all, I'm really pleased and it was such a positive day for us. Even better, we finished up 11th out of 37 competitors.Without some of the time we would have been up there in the top 10, so I'm  thrilled with her. I've got a busy few weeks ahead now - moving house next week, followed by 5 days at college, but I've entered Askham Bryan BE90 in early October and am looking forward to it already!