Had a nice easy journey there - took us about two and a quarter hours and all motorway so easy on Monty's legs. Dressage first - disappointed to find we were in a lumpy bumpy grass arena when they were running several sections on the nice, big all weather arena but it is good practice as he doesn't work on grass nearly enough. He warmed up really well, soft and working nicely forwards. Went in and he just dropped me - really frustrating when he does this as not a lot I can do. He backs off the bridle slightly so it looks like he's just sitting behind the contact and he doesn't take me forward. Easier in canter to kick him back up to the bridle but not so much in trot. It wasn't a bad test though, just a bit backwards in one of his trot-walk-trots and his 2nd canter to trot. Still, going on previous scores I reckoned he'd get just under 30.
Went to walk the XC course and it certainly had enough questions to keep us busy without being overly technical or big. Fence 3 was pretty meaty - didn't walk up to that one! Fence 5 was the water, hanging log, 2 strides on dry land then curved line in the water and then brush fence out. Saw quite a few babyish horses wobble at it - quite a big water complex so lots to look at. Fence 6 was a step up, then 2 decent strides to a house then step down. Fence 9 was a log on top of a steep mound with a duck pond the other side. Fence 10 was a meaty box then 4 related strides to a triple brush but a much kinder one than those we have been jumping recently as it had a nice wide base to it. Fence 11 was a corner, fence 13 a trakehner, fence 14 a weird, bright white rugby post affair and then kick on to home. So, a few I thought he might take a look at but theoretically nothing he's not more than capable of jumping.
Went on to look at SJ and watch a few rounds. Big, up to height course on a nice surface. Looked huge to me as been jumping 90cm courses on grass and they never build up to height on grass. Not jumped any decent SJ fences since last lesson with Chris at the end of May! It was quite twisty and was causing poles to fly everywhere! Hoped the twists would play in our favour as helps me to sit him back on his hocks and get him power jumping.
Back to check on dressage score and disappointed to get 31. We were 12th after dressage out of 39 in a very competitive section which I guess isn't bad but I've got used to being closer to the top than that. My sheet was interesting - she did give us several 8's for his canter and the final 2 trot movements/final halt. But she wasn't very forgiving of anything not quite right so only a 6 for his first centre line because his head wasn't quite steady, 6 for his trot-walk-trots as not forwards enough, 6 for his medium walk as losing energy. 7767 collectives. "Correct and quite fluent. A pleasing test - could take contact forward a little more" Have been marked quite generously by BE judges recently, but this one marked it more like I would expect at BD and I don't disagree with the comments. Must stop the little beggar from dropping me in a test.
Anyway, onwards to the jumping. Hate the 3hr wait - end up feeling so sick with nerves. Long walk up to SJ arena to find they were running behind so went to watch a few more go. Then time to start jumping. Really haven't got my eye into seeing a forwards shot at the moment. Got in deep to the vertical couple of times so decided to move onto the oxer and just ride forwards and stop trying to see what I couldn't which worked a bit better! So, then it was our turn. Long shot at fence one, wasn't sure he'd go on it so sat back hunting styley - not the best start so to make up for it got in deep to the oxer at 2 - doh. Got a good shot to the wall at 3, then held too much for the big oxer at 4 and he ballooned it, ok over vertical at 5, then rather a long one to the triple bar at 6 but he flew. Right turn to 2 stride double at 7, saw a nice stride and put my leg on which made him flatten and he tipped the top rail before having to be a bit clever to clear 2nd part as was in a bit deep - doh. Got an awful stride to 8 which was on a related 4 strides to a bloody huge oxer at 9 - I let him jump right a bit to make some room which meant no way I'd make the 4 strides so sat him back and waited for 5 and got there on an ok stride and he absolutely ballooned it - crazy horse!
Disappointed to have the 4 faults where we did but very grateful for him putting up with my inability to decide whether to hold or kick for the rest of the round. He is an awesome SJer and giving him a few weeks off jumping to concentrate on dressage did not work out in our favour. I need to jump regularly to keep my eye in. Was feeling on top of the world about the jumping in May but no lessons since then really showed. Thankfully have a lesson on Tuesday and will let Chris kick me into shape again. Have then booked 3 day jumping camp with Nick Gauntlett the weekend before Goring so hopefully my eye will be well and truly in by then!
So, onto the important bit - XC. Got to the warmup to find no-one there and a very impatient steward who hassled me through my warmup which I really could have done without. Saw nice strides to the 2 baby warmup fences but god awful deep strides to the bigger one. Anyway, got shooed out of the warmup after 5mins and over to the start. Nice little chat with the starter, lots of strokes for Monty and he just popped into the box nice and calmly and off we went. New start regime is definitely working well. Got in deep to fence one, fence 2 not so bad, fence 3 was the whopper so I kicked and we got over that ok, bit deep to fence 4 and then the water. Hadn't really been kicking on yet but anchored him back anyway, wobbled a lot, couldn't see a stride for toffee, gave a little growl for good measure and over we went - don't think he was ever in doubt. Popped back to trot to go into the water then picked up canter again and saw a good forwards shot over the brush out. And then I kicked on! You can hear the difference in the wind speed on the hedcam. Got him back for step up to house and let him pop 3 little strides in as planned - was a long 2 for him after a step up and thought better to let him see the step down on the other side rather than try and chase him for 2 strides and catch him by surprise. Worked perfectly and over he popped. Saw an awful stride to the chair afterwards and jumped it far right. He was then really backing off the next straightforward oxer for some unknown reason so got a bit deep to that. Up the steep mound to the log on top and not sure what I was doing trying to add another stride but he just took over and gently popped over and down the other side - little superstar. Next to the big box, little deep so really rode for my 4 strides to the triple brush and he flew and then bogged off with me. Took me the whole hedgeline to get him back under control, had a minor panic that I'd missed my turning through the hedge and had no idea what fence came next lol. Fortunately we were ok and I realised it was the corner next but they are no probs now, especially when they are right handed ones :) Over we flew and onto a lovely brush fence - I saw a galloping stride a mile out - what a nice, feeling that is - why can't it come more often?! We flew - weeeeeeeeeeeee - big grin on my face. Spooked our way round the corner round a couple of other jumps, popped the trakehner no worries, tanked round the corner, anchored him back for the rugby posts which he glanced at but not really bothered and then kicked on for final 2 fences.
Very pleased to have got a nice, confident clear round under our belts at BE100. Keep forgetting but that is only my 7th run at BE100 and our 5th clear so we still have a lot to learn at this level. We ended up 2 secs inside the optimum time of 4mins10secs which left us on a score of 35. Came 11th out of 39 in the end which really isn't a bad result considering our recent problems. 10th place was on same score as us but 1 second closer to optimum time XC so we just missed out on a frilly! Top 4 were all on a score of 29 with 3 of them on exactly the same optimum time XC - what are the chances of that?! SJ caused carnage, very few clears so actually did well to just get 4 faults. Still frustrating as I know he should have gone clear with a bit more help from me. More homework needed! Positive day though. Did what we set out to do and feel confident to push on with BE100 again now. We might have the odd blip as it's obviously a new challenge for us but I need to not let it get to me so much. I have a superstar horse who really looks after me and I just need to make sure I improve enough to do him justice.
Next stop Goring BE100 Regional Finals! In the mean time it's BD Area Festivals at Elementary and as much SJ practice as possible!
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