Saturday 1st May 2010
On Saturday we took Lucy to our local venue, South View, to do the 90cm Combined Training Qualifier. I wasn't expecting too much as the dressage test was Novice 27, which was quite complicated with some tricky movements in it.
I had a very reasonable time of 13.07, so we got up with plenty of time to give Lucy a clean and do her plaits. We got to South View with lots of time to work her in, this was because I had ridden her on Thursday and she was in season (and with that being a bit cheeky and difficult!). I expected her to be the same so I gave us a good hour and a quarter to get settled onto the job. As it happened, she was a lot quieter and I got some lovely work from her in the warm up which was encouraging. I was a bit worried about remembering the test as I only had 3 days to learn it and I hadn't really managed to have a run through on Lucy before the day.
Lucy was lovely, really relaxed and listening to me, but when it was our turn to go into the arena she had a naughty little spook and spun around. She refused to go into the arena without a telling off from me, which wasn't a good start as it meant she went tense. I managed to get her settled a bit before we began the test, but the first half wasnt as fluent as I hoped.
She began to relax for the second half, and just as I started to think 'great, this is going well' I had a horrible blank moment in my mind, and realised I had gone wrong! The judge kindly re-directed me and I finished the test but knew I would get 2 penalties for my error.
Turns out I was right to be worried about forgetting the test, that teaches me a lesson for next time, 3 days is not long enough for me to learn a test 100%! I came out a bit upset as I thought I had messed it up for the horse, as she did try for me.
I went onto the showjumping and was determined to enjoy it as I thought I'd blown all chances of a placing. We went in and Lucy jumped well, a little hesitation at the second fence when she took her eye off it, but jumped a clear. She is getting extremely consistent at 90cms which is brilliant news.
We untacked her, gave her some hay, and went to look at the score board. I couldn't believe my eyes that I was in the top 6 after the dressage even with my error - what a great surprise! I was also shocked to see from 18 competitors that there was only 4 show jumping clears.
Lucy and I finished a brilliant 5th, with a couple of Pro riders ahead of us. The top 6 qualify for the Championships, so me and Lucy are off to the Final in September!
This horse is being amazing at the moment!!
Next Sunday we are off to Bold Heath BSJA to do the British Novice and the Scope Festival Novice qualifier as a bit of jumping practice and to jump a bit bigger as we havent jumped all that much since our break over winter.
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