Sunday 2 September 2012

Goring Heath Report

Well yet again I can report a good weekend, that's two in a row and I am really feeling like my mojo is back.

The 3.30am start wasn't too bad in the end, well not for me. I wasn't driving and I slept all the way there and all the way back, Mum might tell a different story! We still weren't the earliest there, 3 others got there before us. Sat Nav took us straight through the centre of Reading, Mum said thank goodness it was 5.30 in the morning and it wasn't during the day, she would have hated driving the lorry through the centre of Reading. At least we knew which way NOT to go home.......oh but wait guess what on the way home we missed the turning and ended up going back through ...... the centre of Reading in the middle of the afternoon. Few cars and pedestrians wiped out but we came out relatively unscathed!

Anyway on to the report. When we arrived we got straight on to walking the cross country. Its always quite big at Goring but usually rides well. Then as we were there early I got to walk the show jumping, which was well dressed and up to height.

Michael Rogers from http://www.mdr-photo.co.uk/ met us there at 8am and took some fantastic photos all day. David and Will also met us there. We have such a slick operation now. David sorts the horses out with Mum, Will makes the coffee and tidies up after us, (he is great at packing the lorry back up too). Michael holds the horses, I could go on but you get the idea. In between rides we sit around and eat, drink, laugh. I just feel so lucky to have such wonderful support and they help to make the day so enjoyable. Funniest thing that happened that day was when Mum tried to pass the lunch out of the lorry window and it all fell on top of Micheal's head, it literally rained olives, bread rolls, ham and pasties!! That had us chuckling for ages.

My first ride was on Beanie. She was fresh and not helped by the fact the we were right next to the show jumping. I would say she wasn't always attentive. But Beanie has such lovely paces and through the tense moments there were also some lovely moments and we ended up on a respectable 35.

On to the show jumping and Beanie was such a good girl. This was probably one of the biggest and most technical courses she has done in a while, but she stepped up to the plate and was amazing. We went straight on to the cross country, a slight sticky moment on the jump coming out of the woods where Beanie forgot she needed to pick up both front legs but other than that, this was a course made for her with lots of galloping and we made perfect time.

Beanie's showjumping video
http://youtu.be/nWa23hUASpE

I have only ridden her twice in recent months but we do just click and I find her so easy to ride. She is also one of the best mannered horses I think I have ever come across so easy to do in every respect.
Final result: 35 + double clear = 10th place

Next came Yara

We thought the dressage was really good, she was really attentive and is really developing her core strength but the dressage judge just didn't like her. She gave me an 8 for my riding and overall we got a 34.5. She is a correct mover but not flashy and I think we will always have this problem.

Next came the showjumping, could I make this two clears today and three in succession. She warmed up well, we went into the ring. You really had to ride for every stride of the show jumping but I just knew she was going to clear. Again we were able to go straight on to the cross country and again she was awesome, she wasn't green in the slightest, took me to every jump and we made the time for the first time too. I think riding Beanie first really helped me get the time on Yara as I got a feel for the speed.
Final result 34.5 + double clear = 6th Place

Yara's showjumping video
http://youtu.be/o61BgMMRLx4

After both rides we finished an hour early, such was the efficiency of the stewards. Sadly not so when it came to prize giving and at 3pm we were told it would be another hour. Mum thought she might fall asleep if we waited any longer so we left and sent out apologies for not attending. The lovely Katie Waples picked up my rosettes for me the next day.

Not sure how I managed it but I still managed to go out that evening to a Young Farmers do and dance all night! Sunday has been a quiet day.........

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