Sadly our BE100 Plus debut wasn't to be. Torrential rain on Friday and again on Saturday morning led me to withdraw. We went last year for the BE90 and after all the effort of getting there, the SJ warmup was a bog, he wouldn't canter in it let alone jump and because we weren't warmed up properly I didn't ride well in the arena and it was all just a bit waste of time with me then withdrawing before XC as I knew he'd hate the ground. No point attempting our biggest class yet in the same circumstances so sadly decided to stay at home. Practiced our flying changes instead and managed clean ones both ways (amongst some not so clean!) - the penny is definitely dropping!
Sunday we went to BCA for some BSJA. About time I used my membership - it cost enough! Why is it the jumps look so much bigger indoors? The British Novice looked small so I'm glad I didn't enter that but suddenly the 95cm looked plenty big enough. Ridiculously twisty course with turnbacks after almost every fence. Finally after 3hours (this is why I hate SJ!) it was time to actually get on. He warmed up well enough (warmup outdoors) although I was struggling to see forward shots and did crash through one oxer due to hooking him back to nothing. So frustrated with myself after jumping so well at Parwood - it must be subconscious nerves as I don't see why else it was so different to literally 4days previously. Went in and because it was so twisty I really struggled to get a good rhythm going, some of the turnbacks were so tight he had to trot and I just held him into a big oxer at 3 so he had the back rail. He saved us at fence 6 by going on a long one when I was definitely trying to hold for another non-exiistant stride. No second phase for us. Bit disappointed with my riding.
Half hour break. New course to learn for our first Discovery. Definitely looked big enough although sure no bigger than Parwood but indoors and tight turns made it seem huge. Final fence of second phase full up 1m10 oxer looked massive and sort of hoped I wouldn't have to jump it! Course was nicer for us - still the silly 270degree turn back from 1 to 2, then there was a sharp left turn after 3 back to a one stride double, 4 stride related distance (glad we had practiced that at Parwood!) and then round to 2 fences on a straight line down the long side that walked on 6.5 strides so I knew I'd have to hold for 7 as unlikely to make 6 indoors. Tight turn back to planks as final part of first phase. Warmed up more forwards, practiced some tight turns from one warmup fence to another convincing him to trust me and go on the long one. Didn't jump anything decent before we went in as no-one there to help me and no-one jumping anything big in the warmup so just had to go in with what we had. He went sooooo much better - was really pleased with how he jumped. Still trotted round the corner from 1 to 2, but sharp right turnbacks like that definitely still our weak point. Thrilled with how he jumped the big oxer at 3 then the difficult line at 4-5, great shot at 6 and then donut here sat and held a little but wasn't actually effective in my holding then thought 3 strides out maybe I could make it on 6 strides and pushed him on only to have him chip in a 7th and take it down in front. Nice turnback to the planks to finish. Bit annoyed with myself for cocking up what should have been quite an easy related distance after the 4-5 line but did get out of jumping the second phase! Still, I guess 4 faults for our first Discovery wasn't too bad and I was pleased with how much better we went second time in. Just frustrating that he rarely touches a pole in training yet almost always has 4 faults in competition. Chris always says he doesn't understand why I ever have a fence down when he sees us in lessons.
Next week there is BSJA on my doorstep at Parwood. It's outdoors so hopefully the fences won't look so big although apparently they built well up to height last week. They don't have a 95cm though so I'm stuck with the Discovery and 1.05m!!! I really don't want to do the British Novice as it's just so small I don't ride it with any purpose so I'm gonna man up and enter the 1.05m. If the Disc goes horribly wrong I can always ride it again HC but we really should be able to do the 1.05m if we're going to get round Badminton next year! Let's just hope we don't make it through to the second phase as 1m15 is quite frankly terrifying!
Next stop is training at Lyneham Heath with Owen Moore on Thursday. Chris is away at the moment so taking the chance to get some training in at a completely new XC schooling venue to encounter some new questions as he's seen everything local to us. Bargain course through BE - £48 for an hour SJ in the morning and 1.5hrs XC in the afternoon. Gonna be a long day though as 2.5hrs each way without allowing for rush hour traffic - eugh!
No comments:
Post a Comment