Fairy tales and nightmares at Iping

Saturday was Hectors first BE Event and for those of you that are following Hectors progress, Saturday was a fairy tale with a happy ending. He was simply fantastic. So chilled, he just looked like he enjoyed every moment. That little horse put in a 29 dressage, which was just fantastic, there were some tense moments still but he gave me so much more than I ever dreamed he would at this stage. In the show jumping, he jumped in a perfect, calm rhythm all the way round. He did have a pole but it was a momentary lapse in concentration and who can blame him with so many people around. Then the XC he did not look at a thing, really good rhythm, controlled all the way round. We went quite slowly because this is about training him and getting it right. We incurred time penalties but still came 2^nd. It was a dream come true. So excited for his future.

Sunday, well we went from fairytale to nightmare!

I’ll start with Yara. 33 dressage which we were quite pleased with, I have been working on slowing her down which then meant that although we had impulsion it was perhaps a little too slow, but we can gradually increase and lengthen. I was just pleased she did not rush it. The she had a clear show jumping – this is a phase was have been really working and she struggled with before she came to us, so I am very pleased. The unfortunately she incurred 20 penalties at the first water in the XC. Later we discovered she lost a shoe, but she can be sticky at water so not sure what it was or maybe it was the combination of the two things.

Then came the mull man.

Well we certainly did some fancy footwork in the warm up of the dressage, all looked good, we had to wait a while to go in to the test so Mull was a little past his best but still did a decent test we ended up on a 31 even with a buck in the middle of it! He was certainly full of himself, rearing 4 times on the way back from dressage. Then the show jumping. Oh God – what happened. Jumped superbly in the warm up and then when he went into the ring, he became so strong, I struggled to hold him together, he spooked at everything, then because I couldn’t getting him sitting back, he got too long, flattened  most things in his path and then did a last minute slam of the brakes on. That was when I ended up on the floor. No harm done, little bump to the head. Pride dented. Back to the drawing board. I felt even though he was being naughty, I could have ridden it better and was a bit cross with myself but Alice and Sarah both said was a difficult horse to jump, they have been very supportive, given me some excellent advice and I am determined not to let it get the better of me. Since last weekend we have been out twice show jumping. He has had a bit change and some other tack tweaks and we are back on form – fingers crossed!