Well it was a trip with both the girlies Puzzle & Candy to Bold Heath for the BE 5yo and Novice classes. Candy was up first, and after seeing who was in our 5yo section we knew our chance of qualifying would be very slim! She did a really nice test we guessed around a 34 because it was much more accurate and forward than her last test which scored a 35. I was a bit disappointed with her mark of 39.5 but then I suppose being against Ruth Edge did us no favours!
The showjumping was coursing lots of problems and poles were flying all over. It was extremely twisty and and all sorts of dog leg lines which for a 5yo would certainly unbalance them! Candy jumped a lovely round just catching one pole as I couldn't quite shorten her enough. This is definitely what we need to work on shortening and lengthening so she can get herself out of the difficult strides. The cross country was testing and had 2 waters complexes, doubles on angles and boldly built fences. I came back with a HUGE smile on my face.. Candy was absolutely awesome! She was taking me into fences, no hesitation and kept a forward stride throughout the 5m 18 sec course. It was the longest course she has done and coped so well only 2 seconds over the optimum time. I am so excited about her future and think she will be a really competitive novice horse.... fingers crossed!!
The showjumping was coursing lots of problems and poles were flying all over. It was extremely twisty and and all sorts of dog leg lines which for a 5yo would certainly unbalance them! Candy jumped a lovely round just catching one pole as I couldn't quite shorten her enough. This is definitely what we need to work on shortening and lengthening so she can get herself out of the difficult strides. The cross country was testing and had 2 waters complexes, doubles on angles and boldly built fences. I came back with a HUGE smile on my face.. Candy was absolutely awesome! She was taking me into fences, no hesitation and kept a forward stride throughout the 5m 18 sec course. It was the longest course she has done and coped so well only 2 seconds over the optimum time. I am so excited about her future and think she will be a really competitive novice horse.... fingers crossed!!
Up next Puzzle! Well she had lots more energy for the dressage then usual.. she was slightly distracted due to Candy being in the next field so I had a fight on my hands! She rushed a few of the moves and I came out say blimey that wasn't great! She still managed to get a 37.5. Its becoming a bit of a joke now.. the last 3 events we have done she has got that exact same score and every test was so different! I really hope it will just drop down to 33 all of a sudden haha.. well I can hope!!
Warming up for SJ was chaos! It was way to small for the amount of people trying to jump so I had a quick jump and went straight in.. she was so up for it and I could hardly hold her off the fences! Pokey is well and truly back!! She was going great until the wall fence 7 when she backed off and totally messed up the stride we were on.. I just kept my leg on and left her to it! She jumped it but knocked it good and proper! After that it felt like a jump off! She was on a right flyer and managed to come out with just 4 faults! I nearly missed the last fence number 10 because it came upon me so quickly! It was a great feeling to have so much power from her and I was buzzing going into the cross country. There was only about 3 clears in my section so I was chuffed with just 4 faults.
I new it was going to be a fast round XC as no one yet had made the time even the professionals were struggling with 5m 22sec. Puzzle was loving it and soon got into her stride. Damn I forgot my watch again!!! We were going a good forward pace so to still get 10.8 time pens I was a bit surprised! What I thought was fence 18 was 3 skinny houses on a very tight curved line.. I was on a complete flyer and new I couldn't make the last house so popped a circle in.. I thought this would result in penalties but when I got back I found out it was fence 18 a b and 19 which meant you were aloud to pop a circle in between the 2nd and 3rd house... PHEW!! In the end Puzzle was still placed 12th even with the time pens only a few managed to make the time and it was shocking how many people got time pens and lots of them! Really pleased with both of them. Tried to book Puzzle into the IU21 at Winkburn however it was full so currently on the wait list and entered into the Novice. Looking for another run for Candy but not to fussed if she doesn't do another until September. Lots of training for her!
Warming up for SJ was chaos! It was way to small for the amount of people trying to jump so I had a quick jump and went straight in.. she was so up for it and I could hardly hold her off the fences! Pokey is well and truly back!! She was going great until the wall fence 7 when she backed off and totally messed up the stride we were on.. I just kept my leg on and left her to it! She jumped it but knocked it good and proper! After that it felt like a jump off! She was on a right flyer and managed to come out with just 4 faults! I nearly missed the last fence number 10 because it came upon me so quickly! It was a great feeling to have so much power from her and I was buzzing going into the cross country. There was only about 3 clears in my section so I was chuffed with just 4 faults.
I new it was going to be a fast round XC as no one yet had made the time even the professionals were struggling with 5m 22sec. Puzzle was loving it and soon got into her stride. Damn I forgot my watch again!!! We were going a good forward pace so to still get 10.8 time pens I was a bit surprised! What I thought was fence 18 was 3 skinny houses on a very tight curved line.. I was on a complete flyer and new I couldn't make the last house so popped a circle in.. I thought this would result in penalties but when I got back I found out it was fence 18 a b and 19 which meant you were aloud to pop a circle in between the 2nd and 3rd house... PHEW!! In the end Puzzle was still placed 12th even with the time pens only a few managed to make the time and it was shocking how many people got time pens and lots of them! Really pleased with both of them. Tried to book Puzzle into the IU21 at Winkburn however it was full so currently on the wait list and entered into the Novice. Looking for another run for Candy but not to fussed if she doesn't do another until September. Lots of training for her!
RSS Feed
