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South Of England

29/9/2011

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Well, I have to say this post is much happier and more positive than the last one!!
2 weekends ago we headed off to Felbridge for some combined training. It was a very successful outing despite coming home unplaced. Punch was very tense not helped by my anxiety but relaxed nicely to get a 35.5 for his dressage. The showjumping his cheeky streak continued with a stop at fence 3 - a small upright away from home! A quick smack bottom and the rest was a lovely clear. I did a clear round just to cement in his little brain that jumping is a good idea and he jumped clear, so mission accomplised on that front.
Ozzie worked in fantastically, but I did my test in sitting trot so a little bit of tension crept in, however I was able to work him through it and I came out with a 40.5, which I was pleased about as before that would have been a 45. Ozzie was on form and jumped a beautiful clear show jumping to finish on 40.5, just outside the placings. On the Sunday I took Ozzie xc schooling at Littleton - he hadn't been phased at all by the fall at Goring and pinged round everything like it was about 2 foot!
Filled with confidence, we set off to South of England, however my mum was taking my cousin to The Sunshine Tour Championships, so Sally George was very kind to take me, luckily it was a nice late start! I walked the course with Chuffy Clarke and we had a good old catch up! Back to the lorry in plenty of time as without having mum there I was groomless and therefore had to stud up and do everything myself!! I got on for the dressage and Ozzie was so relaxed, but still with a spring in his step. It felt promising! I was sure he would blow up when we got to the arena, but he didnt! He did the most fantastic test, he was listening, it was accurate and there was even walk in the test!! Mum had arrived in time to video too - which was an added bonus!
Utilising the fact I now had a groom, I went to look at the show jumping whilst mum got Ozzie ready, it was decent enough, but a nice track!
Ozzie jumped the best round that he has jumped all year, a beautiful clear despite me getting more than deep to the wall, he just pretends he is a cat and goes straight up in the air.. I still can't quite work out how he does it - but I just feel very lucky that he does!! Mark suggested afterwards that I tried to add another stride next time! Great advice!
Onto the cross country, and with a new set of brakes again we were about to see whether I had any control at all! Well it seemed to work, he popped round the track like it was pony club. The brakes were just right, apart from when Ozzie saw a nice big open field that looked good fun to gallop round, but I got him back under control and he finished very well! I crossed the finish to hear that my dressage score was 32.5!! I nearly fell off but managed not too.
After cooling Ozzie off we heard the results, I got 1.6 time as I didnt really push him - sadly this dropped me from 2nd to 6th which was a shame, but I could hardly be disappointed, double clear on my best dressage score ever, wow my pony is a superstar!

Off to Weston Park for the Junior Champs next week ! I am so excited - c'mon the Saaath Est!
Love you guys

Updates during and after Weston

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This week was much more of a range than the last one!!

11/9/2011

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On Sunday 4th September, we headed to Goring Heath BE with Punch for the BE100 and Ozzie for his last run before Weston. We managed to get there without any lorry dramas this year and didn't even have to pay the toll on the bridge!!
After a bit of the usual faffing I was on Ozzie and warming up for the dressage. He was going beautifully even if I say so myself, as after Firle last week we had swapped bits and I now am trying to do dressage in a hanging cheek, which seems very effective thus far! After someone withdrawn, I managed to go in early, which was great as he was still going well - which makes a nice change! He did a really nice test with a few mistakes, however the number of mistakes is decreasing with each test. He finished up with a slightly harsh 41, but I was pleased with how he went.
A quick change and onto show jumping. We put off going for as long as we could due to torrential rain, however it was clear that it was very unlikely to stop anytime soon so we would be better to brave it before conditions started to deteriorate. I was really nervous as several horses had been eliminated! I needn't have been as he was a star and flew round - he was really unlucky just to roll one pole behind, and he only brushed it - although in the conditions it was very good!
That was where the good day ended. Up to the cross country, he warmed up beautifully, I then had stopwatch trouble nearly resulting in us both ending up on the floor at the second fence. Pulled myself together and gave myself a mental slap and the round started going really well! He was flying, over the skinny, down the step - through the water and up the two steps to a skinny brush. A trakenah to a skinny triple brush, up the hill and over a nice palisade, then back down the hill to a brush, three strides to a step up and bounce over another skinny brush which he did beautifully. The next fence was a wide hay cart on four strides to a corner. My new brakes proved too much and I never got a good enough canter coming in. When he got there we were on a complete nothing stride, and he tried his very best to clear it, but unfortunately caught his tummy on it. This caused very quick deceleration, meaning when his front feet landed, he went down on his knees, and the muppet jockey fell off! So that was the end of our round. That was when the panic started as I needed another run before Weston. Thankfully I got into South of England, so hopefully that will go a bit better!

Punches day wasnt much better, he did a nice enough test to get the standard mid 30s mark - which considering wasnt too bad! He warmed up for show jumping and jumped the first five fences really nicely. Came round to the double at 6, and he stopped - after a smack bottom, we jumped through the double, only for me to let him get a bit flat and stop again at 7 - I then got my act together as I was not going to be eliminated and he finished clear over the fences, but only after checking out that two of them were ok first!! The cross country was barely better. I should have got my act together by this point - but no, had a stop at 5! But after that he flew round and still made the time!! So 3/6 phases went well, and the other 3 were rubbish, but at least there were some positives!

Then Friday 9th Sept, we set off for Blenhiem with Surrey Union as part of the team for the Pony Club Eventers Challenge! Ozzie was struggling with the heat and humidity a bit and felt very flat. I have never been so nervous about jumping round a 1 meter course in my life! Charlotte White on Sienna went in first and jumped a lovely clear, just inside the optimum which gave me confidence! Ozzie jumped a lovely round, bar hitting the first two fences, luckily they stayed up! Jockey had a few navigational issues, but they were sorted and another clear inside the optimum was posted by Surrey Union. This was a very rare occurance throughout the day! Next in was Genevive Clarke and Welton Jazz, they jumped a cracking round until having the dreaded last fence down, the planks, for the second year in a row, however this meant we could finish on no more than 5 faults which put us jointly in the lead. Lucyanna Westaway and Raindance III were unlucky to have the fourth fence however we had finished on 5. Liz's time keeping had paid off, as we were closer to the optimum than the other team on five. We got to the end of the competition and we had kept hold of the lead! We had jumped in blue and yellow war paint - which was much admired I must add, however we were told to take it off for the prize giving - the war paint had done its job and scared the opposition so we didnt mind too much!
All in all a very good fun, but long day! I cant wait to take Lily back there next year!

I am off to some combined training next weekend, and South of England the weekend afet

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