RC Champs at Aston le Walls 5th to 7th August 2011

What I have to remember about this weekend is that this was only my 8th event with Monty and only my 8th event ever.  My ever present super must be perfect at everything personality appears to be forgetting this!

We arrived on Fri teatime, settled him in then took him for a wander round the roads and tracks. Last half of phase C ran round the outside of the 2nd field of the XC which was interesting and meant for some very excitable horses on phase C!

Met up with poorlypony from HHO forum who kindly left a note on my stable door as mobile reception was diabolical. Gatecrashed High Wycombe RC who were amazingly friendly and welcoming to a complete stranger so if anyone from there is reading thanks for making my weekend brilliant fun! Sat up till late then headed back to my trailer only to find the airbed had gone flat. Very uncomfy night on the floor ensued!

Up early Sat for 9.40am dressage. Luckily had left heaps of time as predicted he might be a bit excited. Total nightmare to plait, broke free from the trailer, pawing and spinning. Got on an hour before our time and took him out to the 2nd quieter warmup field and did loads of walk and trot long and low until he chilled a bit. Then into proper warmup and all ok except the dreaded give and retake reins where he kept bogging off with his head in the air! Into the test and he did die on me a bit - prob overcooked the warmup but better than being totally out of control. The G&R's were both awful but the rest wasn't too bad if lacking a bit of sparkle. Was v pleased to see 33.2. Got 8 for his paces, rest 6's and 7's except 5 for 1st G&R so not too shabby. Ended up =12th after dressage out of 31 other indivduals.

Long wait until SJ so walked the SJ and XC course and watched some of the Intermediates. SJ v bright and v twisty!

Rubbish SJ warmup - he was backing off and crashing into things. Went in, picked him up, rode him and we got a fab clear - got in close to a couple of things but he was super and really tried for me.

So, that put us into 10th place overnight, but only 3.9pens behind 1st place and only 4.2pens ahead of 20th - all v v v close.

Went and walked XC again, still deliberating over fence 12 - bank complex with a left hand bend to a corner 3 strides after the drop down - turning not our strong point and he tends to launch off drops but the alternative was miles away and was gonna waste a lot of time.

fence 12:


Course pics (and individual results sheets) here:
http://pets.webshots.com/album/58068...BZT?vhost=pets

Then went off and forgot about it and had a fab fun BBQ with the HWRC and poorlypony. Finally to bed and had a look at my course pics again before trying to sleep at about midnight. Huge thanks to whoever suggested taking earplugs when staying away as the team camps for the CIC** champs were having huge late night parties and I'd have got no sleep at all if it weren't for them. Managed to borrow a thin mattress from another kind HWRC member which made my night a lot more comfy although it was kind of chilly in the trailer so slept in jumper and socks!

Awake bright and early so went and fed the pony who hadn't eaten his dinner and had no intention of eating breakfast. Think he ate properly Fri night and that was it.

Went off and sat on the bank at fence 12 still trying to decide what to do, then rewalked the sunken road at 9 before my RC team manager called to say she'd arrived. Went off and watched the first few on the steeplechase then got the pony ready. He was completely wired again - pinging around all over the place not standing still for his boots etc.

Set off on roads and tracks phase A and trotted the first 1.5km then had a nice canter then just walked the last half km and came in a min under time.
Finishing phase A:


Steeplechase was excellent fun - did the first circuit in bang on a minute so then pushed on a bit for the second circuit and came in 7secs under time.
Start:

round we come:



woohoooo - love this one:

jump:




Straight onto phase C, kept to all our min markers, walked most of the last km and came into the ten min box with a HR of 60 which I was happy with. After 5mins it was down to 42 so we got the all clear to go which was a relief - be embarassing to get spun considering the vet was in my yr at vet school!
finishing phase C still pulling!:


getting vet checked:


all greased up and ready to go:


Off onto phase D and he jumped the first fine
after fence1:


Then he leant right round the left hand bend, napping back towards the 10min box - this should have been my wake up call - he can tend towards nappiness and has had to be led into the start on more than one occasion and this was a lot for him to deal with. I didn't really think enough about it though. He jumped fence 2 off to the right and gave it miles of room:


then flew onto 3 no probs, 4 was a corner and he sort of thought about going a bit right, but kept leg on and flew no probs. Backed off a bit coming to the double at 5 as random xmas tree stuck on the wrong side of the first part but jumped it well then flew the steeplechase brush at 6. After that we had to cross our tracks from the R&T and instead of turning left down the side of the field we had to go straight on into the next field. He tried to take me left, we had a discussion, I made him go straight on past the field boundary when he tried to go left again, we got straight for the double at fence 7 which was then right in front of us and he was still focused left, I was holding too much looking for a stride instead of kicking on and before I knew it he'd shot past it to the left. My jaw nearly dropped to the ground - this horse doesn't get jumping pens XC - he's a machine, a spooky one, but normally I can sit there and he does it for me as long as I point him at the right jumps.

This is fence 7:


I got my act together and he jumped it fine 2nd time, flew table at 8, I had planned to take the sunken road steady as the final element was on a long 3 strides downhill and was v skinny, but he was a star - locked on and didn't even think about running out. 2 easy let up fences next - a house and a log pile then a wiggle round some other jumps before the bank complex at 12. Tried to steady but he was running through my hands, leapt off the bank and I just didn't think I could turn to the corner, knew we had an alternative so decided to play safe and go for the brush alternative which he jumped fine then quick turn back to our original line. In hindsight maybe I should just have gone for the corner as we already had 20pens so weren't going to get placed and it would have been a good test, but he was tired and flat and not listening so opted not to teach him he could run out again! Then onto another double before the water splash with brush rolltop out which was fine

getaway from the water:


Flew the final fence still full of running. Ended up 17secs over so if we hadn't had the runout and then me easing up at the top of the course as couldn't decide whether to still press on or not it may well have still given us time to do the alternative at 12 and make the time. If we'd done that we'd have been 2nd! Even with a couple of time faults we'd have been top 6. Instead we were 26th out of 31. Gutted doesn't come close. We were so up there in contention and then one stupid mistake and it's all over. Well, it's certainly taught me a lesson or two. Need to attack my fences more and not trust him so much to do it all for me and walk courses looking for potential napping routes. Also think I need a bit more control XC so maybe a change of bit/noseband (currently in a french link full cheek and a flash as he doesn't like anything strong and will back off, but I really need him to listen and come back to me when we've got something difficult coming up).

So, a v disappointing end to a fab weekend, but a lot of first new experiences for us both and we're still a new combination really and it's a totally new sport for me so really trying not to kick myself too hard.


little vid of the steeplechase: