Sophini
15th Aug 2005, 04:30 PM
Not been around for a while but know most NR's like an event report so hear goes - sorry it's a bit long :p
Kerry and i thought it would be really nice for Saatchi to have a little outing and as her other horse was entered for a nice little evening stressage class hacking distance away with no roadwork we thought we'd enter for it as well :D
Chi has actually not been in the school for 15 months because of his ligament injury but i thought i should at least do a few circles so I schooled on Monday night and pretended to school in the field on Friday for a grand total of 30 mins :o
Decided that if i looked the part i might get bonus marks so dug out the white jodhs and black jacket, cleaned tack, plaited, put chalk on socks etc....we looked AMAZING!!!!
Now prelim 10 is the teardrop test so i thought i better see if he was capable of doing one as we warmed up - yep not a problem. Was starting to get REALLY nervous now, is it wise to take a horse into an arena with no preparation?? Did i actually know what the test was??? :eek: Had a fag to dispel these irrational thoughts.....then Kerry appeared and commented on how well behaved he was being given she'd not taken him to a show before :eek: !!! Had another fag.....
Got into the indoor arena (he'd never been in one before) and he was a star, so i thought "hey, we might just pull this off" The bell went, his trot was light and balanced, no sign of shortness on his bad leg and beautiful self carriage - could we be onto a winner :D Our canter transition was bang on A, we circled in the middle of the school, we started motoring down to the C end, the stride got longer and longer, the outside shoulder was drifting, i needed to blow my nose, then it happened....my hands found the only bit of coat shine on the reins and i dropped all contact with the inside :eek:
The vision of the judge and writer leaping from their little desk as i careered towards them will make me laugh for weeks God knows how i didn't bank the table Hickstead style (though i think i hit someone with my super long schooling whip) but i was still alive and whats more - STILL CANTERING!!! :D
We FLEW across the diagonal, the corner marker died, someonehow got back to walk for our free walk at which point i could see into the gallery at everyone watching and that's when it went REALLY wrong. You know those giggling fits that start with a sort of snort/explosion?? Did you realise that if you do one of those giggles during your free walk you only score 4???? Well you do....if you then continue that giggling fit for the remainder of prelim 10 and take out the other corner marker as you motor across the diagonal you also don't get more then 4's...though if you finish with the cheesiest grin imaginable you get "nice positive finish" in the comments box
I hasten to add that after all the drama's we did come 14th.........i am ignoring the fact that there were only 14 in it :o
At least we had fun :D
Kerry and i thought it would be really nice for Saatchi to have a little outing and as her other horse was entered for a nice little evening stressage class hacking distance away with no roadwork we thought we'd enter for it as well :D
Chi has actually not been in the school for 15 months because of his ligament injury but i thought i should at least do a few circles so I schooled on Monday night and pretended to school in the field on Friday for a grand total of 30 mins :o
Decided that if i looked the part i might get bonus marks so dug out the white jodhs and black jacket, cleaned tack, plaited, put chalk on socks etc....we looked AMAZING!!!!
Now prelim 10 is the teardrop test so i thought i better see if he was capable of doing one as we warmed up - yep not a problem. Was starting to get REALLY nervous now, is it wise to take a horse into an arena with no preparation?? Did i actually know what the test was??? :eek: Had a fag to dispel these irrational thoughts.....then Kerry appeared and commented on how well behaved he was being given she'd not taken him to a show before :eek: !!! Had another fag.....
Got into the indoor arena (he'd never been in one before) and he was a star, so i thought "hey, we might just pull this off" The bell went, his trot was light and balanced, no sign of shortness on his bad leg and beautiful self carriage - could we be onto a winner :D Our canter transition was bang on A, we circled in the middle of the school, we started motoring down to the C end, the stride got longer and longer, the outside shoulder was drifting, i needed to blow my nose, then it happened....my hands found the only bit of coat shine on the reins and i dropped all contact with the inside :eek:
The vision of the judge and writer leaping from their little desk as i careered towards them will make me laugh for weeks God knows how i didn't bank the table Hickstead style (though i think i hit someone with my super long schooling whip) but i was still alive and whats more - STILL CANTERING!!! :D
We FLEW across the diagonal, the corner marker died, someonehow got back to walk for our free walk at which point i could see into the gallery at everyone watching and that's when it went REALLY wrong. You know those giggling fits that start with a sort of snort/explosion?? Did you realise that if you do one of those giggles during your free walk you only score 4???? Well you do....if you then continue that giggling fit for the remainder of prelim 10 and take out the other corner marker as you motor across the diagonal you also don't get more then 4's...though if you finish with the cheesiest grin imaginable you get "nice positive finish" in the comments box
I hasten to add that after all the drama's we did come 14th.........i am ignoring the fact that there were only 14 in it :o
At least we had fun :D