A recap of the past few months from Anna Bailey

My blogs have been delayed slightly because I have been busy finishing my Equine Sports Massage course work but I have now passed all my exams, woo hoo! And dare I say it I am still on target for this seasons eventing goals! 

Firstly I’ll go back to July to the 1* at Brightling.  After finding the course at Eridge very easy I was confident that Timmy would be fine with the cross country at Brightling.  July is a lovely month for me as we have Eridge which is ten minutes away from me and Brightling which is half and hour away.

I had dressage on the Saturday and then jumping on the Sunday which is great because I can work Timmy for a long as needed for the dressage without making him too tired to jump.  This turned out to be a blessing as I ended up working him for an hour and a half before the trot up to get rid of the anxiety.  He was then still so excited and sweaty I had to wash him before the trot up and then work him for another hour before my test! It’s a good job he is awesome as I was shattered!

The dressage test went well, one judge loved him and the other was not so impressed so we ended up half way up the leader board, so at least we weren’t last….  His test was fairly accurate up still a little tense in places and rein back is something to be worked on all winter!!

The next day I went back for the jumping. Well I couldn’t have asked for more.  A double clear around out first 1*!  I went as fast as I could across country and only got 4 time penalties.  We finished in 21st position in our first international event.  Woo hoo!

The only problem with going so well around the 1* was that this meant I had no excuses to then take him to do the intermediate at Wilton….

After being thoroughly spoilt with the previous two events, I had the shock of my life in August.  Wilton was three and a half hours away, Aston Le Walls was the same and Highclere was three hours….. not only was this exhausting it has also bankrupted me in diesel!!

Wilton was a lovely event.  Everything is fairly close together and the arenas were nice and flat.  Timmy is a fairly good dressage test for this level.  He is getting better every time out.  He then had two down show jumping, one of which was my fault and the other his.  He then flew around the massive cross country course to gain his first clear at intermediate! The course at Wilton is quite complicated but half way around they have a huge drop into a quarry, then you have to jump up two big steps at the bottom to a skinny arrow head.  I was so proud of him as he made nothing of it.  That was definitely worth the trip.

Aston Le walls, however wasn’t…. I should know by now that if I get early times to an event far away I should either not bother going or go the night before.  I do sometimes think I am super woman and try and do everything.  This never goes well.  A 3am start to leave the yard by 4am – drive 3.5 hours, walk the course and then ride….. sounds exhausting.  By the dressage I had lost the will to live and coffee/red bull wasn’t even helping.  We did an great dressage test to get 35.5 (maybe because both of us were so tired).  I then went to show jump and not only were they running an hour late but the heavens opened.  By the time I went in the arena we were both soaked and shivering.  Needless to say we had SEVEN fences down!!! I have never in my life had this many fences down in one round.  I wont even begin to explain how this happened as I think the explanation is earlier in this paragraph.  We put this day down to a learning experience and a long road trip!

I had two weeks before Highclere so decided to take Timmy show jumping to make sure the Aston Le Walls trip was just a fluke.  He jumped two super clear rounds so this put my mind at rest.

So not dwelling on the bad day, we headed out to Highclere.  I had never been to Highclere before but I would definitely go back as the courses are amazing and it is a beautiful setting.

The day started well with a good dressage test in the pouring rain.  Both my mum and Nina thought it was his best test all year but the judge gave me 41.  Oh well, it is work in progress.  We then had three down show jumping which was a little disappointing but it was a very big distracting arena with lots of people watching and walking around the stands.  I will get this sorted over the winter!  The cross country course was big and technical but jumpable.  Again as I set off across country it started pouring with rain but this didn’t phase Timmy.  He hopped and skipped around the course with only one slight wobble coming into the water as the rain was making circles but he jumped in so I was really happy.  Another intermediate clear!

Our next trip will be fairly local again, thank god! South of England 2* - scary!  The main aim of next weekend will be to complete and give Timmy a good educational run around the cross country course as it will be the biggest and most technical he has done. 

Our dressage test on the Saturday went okay but he is very capable of doing a smart test when he’s more relaxed so this winter will be spent doing lots of dressage and show jumping.  He actually warmed up very well but the movements do come up quite quickly and he has never competed at this level before.  Apart from the tension our only major mistake was in the turn on the haunches to the right where Timmy decided it would be much easier to lift both front feet off the ground and spin to the right rather than just step around…..  We have lots to work on but there is a definite improvement.

Sunday was jumping day.  This competition was the first he had ever done where you go cross country and then show jump in reverse order on the Sunday afternoon.  I must admit that as he is usually full of himself, I found this much easier!

The cross country course was the biggest we had ever tackled but it demanded bold riding which is exactly what I did.  The first five fences were fairly straight forward with the first question coming at a huge trackhener over which he went vertical (this was the fence judges comment over the loud speaker).  The next few fences were again bold but fairly straight forward until we came to the first water.  This was an egg nest in the water with three forward strides to an arrow head to come out of the water.  As I was warming up, I saw a horse flip over the nest so I came to this with a little caution but I need not have worried as he popped over it like a pro.

The second water was next with a massive drop into the water and then a curving line to the skinniest fence on the course which is unfortunately where we had a run out.  I think this was just a green moment as he came back around and then jumped it fine.  Poor boy just couldn’t get his brain to work quick enough.  The rest of the course didn’t prove a problem as he stayed straight and when direct everywhere.  I was so proud of him!

The show jumping course was not as big as I was expecting but still tricky enough.  He jumped a good round but I think he was a little tired and had two down but he was much easier to ride! I think three day events may be better for him.

We did it!!!!! I am so proud of my little orange pony for completing his first 2*! Timmy will now have a well earned break as he has exceeded all expectations for this season.  This will then give me time to work on the others – no rest for the wicked…..

I will keep you posted with show jumping news in October.