We had a great day out eventing on Monday with Roxie, despite the weather not being that nice to us!
We were at Tweseldown and it was mine and Roxie’s first attempt at Intermediate level and only her second run of the season, so I was a little nervous if i’m honest! Thankfully it stopped raining just before we got there so on arrival I headed off to walk the XC course. Fence 1 a lovely inviting flower, ‘this looks fine’ I thought…….then there was fence 2, a nice filled in oxer type fence which was just below my shoulder in height and wider than my arm span! I did contemplate turning round and heading home at this point! As I continued to walk the course it got bigger and more technical, but I was getting extremely excited about cracking on with it and giving it a go. I knew to get to have a crack at the XC we had to get round the SJ, which has always been our nemesis and, as usual at Tweseldown, the SJ was a very big track!
Anyway before either jumping discipline we had to do our dressage and as it was only Roxie’s second time out this season she was rather excited to say the least! She did a good test but was slightly tense and it is a test I’ve done many times before so she knows what movement is up next…..and they say horses aren’t clever!?! After our dressage ,when I went to learn the SJ course, I looked at the scores of my arena and they ranged from 27 to 55 so was hoping for somewhere in the middles! We scored 40.9 which isn’t a great score but I know what needs to be worked on for next time.
The SJ course was testing with very few clears and looking at the scores last night only 4 in my arena jumped clear showing how thought the track was! I was determined to jump a good round as couldn’t wait to get out on the XC! It was by far the biggest track I’ve ever jumped on Roxie and she was SUPER! We did pick up 4 penalties at the first part of the triple, which was off a tight turn where many horses were slipping, so to ensure she didn’t slip my approach was too steady! But I was chuffed to bits with our round as it felt the best round I’ve ridden on Roxie in a long time.
So with a great SJ round behind us, it was now all to play for and I couldn’t wait to get out and attack the XC course! I was a little anxious, as she was such a handful at South of England in April, but she proved me right and was more than ready for the step up to intermediate level as she flew round the course making it feel the BE100 track! We did pick up 20 penalties at fence 17a, a skinny brush with a sharp right turn on landing to fence 17b – which was upright racing rails. One thing I hate with a passion are uprights on a XC course! I think because of this I fiddled a bit too much before the skinny, focusing on the upright rails and Roxie just wasn’t quite sure where I wanted her to go! I was very annoyed with myself as it was completely rider error as she was jumping brilliantly all the way round. If i’m honest, I was really quite annoyed with myself when I found out without the XC penalties we would have won! Oh well, there’s always next time.
We did finish 14th in my section so a very respectable result considering it was our first run at this level! I am so so pleased with how it all went!
Best regards,
Sarah
Follow Sarah on twitter @SarahGadd
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