Well I qualified for the RDA Championships which are to be held this weekend at Hartpury. I'm riding a horse that I haven't riden yet, so fingers crossed it'll all go well, I've seen a picture of him & he looks lovely. My test is on saturday, I'm hoping to get away a day or so early so I can have a ride on him beforehand.
I've been to Hickstead, I went away a week before the competition to ride Polly who I was taking, she belongs to another Para rider who had qualified for the Championships at Grade IV, so it made sense that I rode her to keep costs down for both of us, she's a gorgeous horse & behaves so well, her owner, Lara, also competes her at Advanced Medium. It's really difficult for a horse to get used to a new rider, just as much as it's difficult for a rider to get to grips with a new horse, especially para as she has to get used to my different aids & balance etc, so I could have done with a bit longer with her before the competition so she could get to know me better. It took us 5hrs to drive down to Hickstead, all pile in the car, a great little road trip. We stayed, with Polly, at a B&B about 10mins away from the show ground, Mum & Angela met us there after a long drive down from Liverpool, passing through many of the counties in the country. That night we had a yummy picnic in the garden, Lara's delicious homemade quiche, then an early night before the competition.
When we got to the showground I went and had a look at the arena, to size up my circles etc, Lara warmed Polly up for me, grade 1 & 2 riders are allowed someone to warm up for them as long as the rider is on for the last 20mins before they go in the arena. It was my warm up test first, she went lovely for me, I was so happy with her & so was Lara. We then had an hour until my next test, again Lara rode her in for me but not for so long this time, I think I wanted to win so much that my nervous energy transferred to Polly & made her a bit tense so the test wasn't as good as the first one unfortunately, but I was still pleased because Polly & I don't really know each other, so we gave it our best shot. It was brilliant experience & the weather was gorgeous, so the tan was a bonus!!!
The weekend before I went away I had a competition on the island. I took Bernie in the Prelim & a para class had been put on for me which I took Buzz & Scrumpy in, Scrumpy is a gorgeous big chestnut who I've been offered the ride of, he's a show horse & has done extremely well in the showing world, but now his owner, Hannah, is re-training him to do dressage. I also took him in a Novice test. My test on Bernie didn't go great, there was too much going on around us & he hasn't been to anything in ages as I've been away when the competitions have been on, there were horses trotting up & down the road, other horses banging in the box, so he wasn't concentrating on me! Then it was my para test on Buzz, he was great as always, and strutted his stuff. I did the same test on Scrumpy, my first test ever on him & he was brill too. Pretty much straight after that I had to do my Novice test, so three different tests in one day was a bit much for my brain cells to take & I managed to forget it twice, and lost points by not doing give & retake, so I reckon 57% wasn't a bad mark with all the ones I threw away!!
I've had two lessons with Clive this week, I had one on Bernie & one on Scrumpy, Bernie has been great the last few times I've ridden him, I think (fingers crossed) we're getting there, at home anyway, will be good to take him to another comp to see how he goes.
So next stop Hartpury, good luck me!!!
