Longleat

Well what an adventure!

The Govers very kindly let us borrow their lorry because ours is not quite done yet. So Saturday morning we started making tracks at about 9.30 to Longleat in torrential rain. We arrived to see knee deep mud and tractors pulling tractors pulling lorries in and out! Due to some skillful driving on Dad's part we managed to get in without getting pulled in.

I walked the xc course it looked like such a good course and the people who rode it said it flowed really nicely, even though the ground was wet and boggy.

I did my dressage in mud and torrential rain, with very noisy sea lions behind me, which was interesting! It was the first test I have done wholly in sitting trot and after really getting my dressage in rising trot, I have to start all over again in sitting and develop that feel for when she is to long and really getting her back end underneath me. I did however have a blonde moment and I thought I was meant to do a medium trot but I was in fact meant to do leg yielding. As soon as I went across the diagonal I new I had gone wrong! Hey ho first time for everything, so it would have been a 33 but it turned out as a 35 because of the the 2 marks penalty as I went wrong but apart from that I was overall quite pleased.

After having a good look at the show jumping we decided that if it was not right to run when I was in there then I would retire but I had planned my routes to try and avoid the slippery bits, BUT as things go there was no need, the whole thing got cancelled because it was way to dangerous to carry on which was disappointing but in the end it was for the best and the safest option, so we packed up and got towed out.

But of course that wasnt just the end there is never a dull moment with the Unlucky Uptons a bolt from the gear box had come off leaving us with only 5th gear and stuck on a hill of a slip road but somehow my lorry driver who I have officailly employed (my father) did a very swift maneuver and managed to get us up the rest of the the hill gosh nows how and into a petrol station where we sat for 2 hours for the breakdown people to come. So over all it was a very adventurous day, we got home at 10pm!