Competitive debut

I took Buddy for a spot of show jumping over at Forest Edge. As I drove there, I realised this was actually the first time I’d taken him there to compete! Bonkers huh?!

I have lost count of the times we have been there for camps or clinics. But not competitions. After today, I think we will be competing there again. It was a very good competitive debut.

I’d entered the 70cm and 80cm. After our rather disappointing Hickstead, I went with the aim of letting it flow and see what happened.

Arrived in good time to find they were running a bit behind. By the time I got ready, the course walk was on. With my new show shirt and new lucky socks (need to ride in my new competition boots before I actually compete in them), I checked out the course. It was quite twisty, but flowed too.

Thought I’d watch a couple before tacking up. That was a bit of a mistake as the first few were either eliminated or had poles down. So decided to just go with it.

When it was our turn, my little boy absolutely flew round. Till we got to the new Bearts jump. He backed off, I growled and shouted ‘it’s the food lorry’. That worked as cleared it – along with everything else for a double clear!!

There were some speedy ponies in the class, so imagine how thrilled I was to get 5th place. It was a big class too with 32 forward.

That had exceeded my expectations. So moving on to the 80cm, again, I just kept thinking let it flow. It’s our first 80cm competitive round since his injury last year, so wasn’t sure how he’d be. He was awesome. I fiddled and he took two poles out. But I’m over the moon.

My little boy is back and I’m getting my competition mojo back again.

Highlands

This is my favourite jump on the Scone Palace International Horse Trials course. I spotted it on Wednesday, but today I got closer as we walked the course. How cool and adorable is it?! Not sure it’ll fit in the caravan though.

Flynn did his dressage test this morning. Think I was holding my breath for most of it. They scored 33 and are in 7th place overnight. Amazing!

I must admit I was a bit giggy with it all. And then I met Ian Stark!! What a lovely man he is?! 71 and still competing. He’s in the 2*L. Murphy Himself was a legend of a horse. I’ve always had a soft spot for a grey. Then I got a grey called Murphy.

I also got to watch London 52 do his dressage test in the 4*S. I’ve watched some great tests in the past two days.

Tomorrow is the start of the XC and for Flynn too. My step count is high, my heart rate will be as well. Bert is settling into eventing life. I still can’t quite believe I’m here…

Deferring

The plan had been to take a friend and her horse with us for a ride in Thetford Forest today. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling very well, so we deferred our outing in favour of a hack at home instead.

We were out for nearly 2 hours all told. It was fab. She’d even made lunch for us to take. So we when we got back, we had a picnic in the tack room. I did offer to unlock the lorry so we could sit in there. Lunch in the lorry has a lovely ring to it.

Sometimes plans work out. Sometimes you just make a new plan. This one worked out well after all. Happy Sunday everyone.

Evenfall

What a wonderful way to end a rather frustrating day. Customer Service is a dying art. Or maybe we’ve gone too far with the whole ‘keeping your account secure’ thing. I’ve been stuck in an email loop trying to prove who I am. Honestly, it made me laugh and almost cry at the same time.

I have to admit, they got off on the wrong foot by sending me an email addressed to ‘Valued Customer’. That’s rich when you hear where we went next…

Questions like ‘what’s the email address associated with the account?’ Umm that would be the email address you’ve emailed me on.

‘What’s the account number?’ Oh the one on the email I originally sent you?! That one?!

‘What’s the name on the account?’ The name I put in the original email? No, I’ll repeat it. It’s Philippa.

‘Sorry we can’t accept your answers as you signed your email Pip. Not Philippa…’

Give me strength!! So I called them. Ranted for a while. Still getting no further with answering the questions I had. Eventually the poor person on the phone said she’d raise a complaint for me. I did apologise to her as it wasn’t her fault.

Please tell me it’s not just me?! Then they had the cheek to send me a ‘customer satisfaction survey’. Lock and load people…!

At least my ride was much more pleasant. It was the perfect temperature. Perfect ponies. Perfect company. Just perfect.

Nettles

I think most people know that I love nature. I love being out in it. I love almost everything about it. I say almost, I’m not mad keen when nature fights back.

As it was a nice day, I thought I’d mow the lawns and have a bit of a tidy up of the borders. Great plan I hear you say…

This is me, so it wasn’t going to run smoothly. But even by my standards, I excelled myself. There were a few rather large nettles. No problem, I have protective gloves for them. Unfortunately, they don’t protect against ineptitude. I am now the proud owner of many stings. I peaked when I managed to pull one up and smack myself full in the face. I can confirm that flipping hurts!!

Bert tried to come to my rescue, but ended up taking me out with his cone. We’d been doing well with the body suit. Till he had an accident. I wasn’t quick enough with the fastenings (the clue is there). It needed to go in the wash. So we were back to the cone of shame. My legs are covered in scrapes and bruises from him bashing into me.

I managed to mow the back lawn after nearly falling over him several times. Then it was onto the front. Where a dog rose decided to attack me. Seriously?! They hurt too I can tell you.

Thankfully a full brown bin ended my gardening efforts and I headed to the yard. Buddy had excelled himself in the poo stakes. So that was fun!

Even though I covered him in fly spray, he spent the whole ride trying to get the flies off. There were so many today.

All in all, I’d say it was a draw between me and nature today. My face is really sore. Not as bruised as Bert’s Crown Jewels. He keeps rolling over to show me…

Appropriate clothing

My choice of t-shirt was absolutely on point today! Love it when that happens. I had a very lovely day planned. I was going to meet a friend for a lovely relaxed hack round Blickling…

First I overslept, then the weather forecast looks a bit suspect and it being school holidays all put pay to that. So we went for a very lovely lunch lunch instead. Just as enjoyable. We managed to sit out for some of it, but after being buffeted a little bit too much by the wind, we headed indoors.

Good job too as the heavens opened! That was a rather regular occurrence for the rest of the day. One minute sunshine, the next minute rain. I had to laugh as I ended up being stuck in a stable mid-muck out. Reminded me of the quote ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing’. My t-shirt was may have been apt, but didn’t really help to keep me dry. Maybe not that appropriate after all…

Little D

Another day, another horsey venue ticked off for Bert. He’s getting quite the pro now! This time it was a trip to Little Downham to catch up with some friends. And watch one of my friend’s horse Flynn in the OI.

Bert got to meet Jeff the dog too. Who was rather amorous. Let’s just say there was a lot of humping. Given Jeff is at least half the size of Bert, it made for comical viewing. Bert’s legs were getting a lot of action. Not that he seemed bothered.

We did get to see lots of horses in action too. Between the chatting, laughing and catching up. It’s been a while.

Today was very good for the spirits. It reminded me how wonderful friendships can be when you pick right up where you left off.

The Thai meal we had afterwards was very good for the stomach. Well we needed to celebrate Flynn’s win! Winner, winner, Pad Thai Dinner.

Equilibrium

I bought Buddy a present at Hickstead. Not sure he totally deserved it after our poor showing, but it’s been on the list for a while now. They had a show offer on, so I saved nearly 25% on it. So technically it was a bargain. Horse girl maths at full play there!

He is such a pampered pony. Totally worth it though. Anything to help him feel at his best. He will still have his regular treatments. This is to keep him loose in between. After Hickstead, I was tempted to wrap it round me too. Definitely feeling all those steps back and forth. It’s a huge site!

Buddy seemed to be enjoying it. He was drifting off at times. I wish I could do that when I’m having a massage. I clearly talk too much…

Lucky socks

I think I might need to buy myself some new ‘lucky socks’. I bought these when I first started competing Murphy. That was a very long time ago now. Well I bought him in 2010. I wonder how many competitions I have worn them for. I’m not usually a superstitious person, but when it comes to competing, it appears I am. I have to put my right sock on first. Funny huh?!

I bought myself a new competition shirt when I was at Hickstead. Typically I didn’t look at socks.

I can’t even remember why these became my lucky socks. Maybe I just liked them. Whatever they have served me well.

Hickstead the return

I’m home after a very long, very emotional and very wonderful weekend at Hickstead. My god, I bloody love RI.

I am so proud of each and every one of the 11 other Carleton riders today. If I thought being team manager last year was an emotional rollercoaster, adding riding in too and it was one hell of a ride!

With hindsight, my focus had been on getting us and everyone there, rather than my preparation with Buddy. He was in one of his more feral moods. Still we started well and ended well, shame it unravelled a bit in the middle.

He got his legs in a muddle at Fence 3 and had it down. After a rather awkward jump at Fence 4, the arena came rushing towards me at an alarming rate. Thankfully I managed to stay in the plate. Just. But it killed our canter and we had a stop at Fence 5. He cleared it at the second attempt and we headed to Fence 6 – the iconic planks….

Yup, you guessed it. He had it down. He was in good company as so did many other competitors. And Fence 5 saw a number of stops. So I didn’t feel quite so bad about our round.

I realised that it was only his second competition of the year. Talk about throwing him in at the deep end. I know I can ride better. I didn’t eat or have coffee before my round. I didn’t get the best night’s sleep. Driving the new lorry took more out of me than I thought. These are things that I can work on.

Overall we did it. I can now say that I have jumped twice at Hickstead. Maybe third time will be the charm?! For now I have more memories and another two photos to add to the collection.