Last Sunday saw us return to Moreton Morrell, competing at the British Riding Clubs Area 5 points Horse Trials for Solihull Riding Club. As I mentioned in my last blog, I had two main aims for the day – not to forget the dressage test this time, and to be more competitive with the time cross country. Anything else would have just been a plus!
Off goes my alarm on Sunday morning, and I could hear the rain outside. Disaster. It was absolutely pissing it down. I lay in bed for a while, wondering why I couldn’t have just chosen an indoor hobby like squash or baking, and then made my way off to the yard.
We arrived at Moreton Morrell slightly later than planned, faffed around putting studs in and rushed off to the dressage warm-up in the rain. They were running slightly behind schedule – lucky for us! – and so we had plenty of time to warm up for our test. The dressage arena was really squelchy, but Bells felt great – she was absolutely on it. I needn’t have worried about her slipping; the studs did their job and we ended up with a mark of 30.5 – our best ever Eventing dressage score!
On to the showjumping, and this was the bit I’d really been worrying about – while we were walking the course on Saturday we’d seen a couple of horses sliding through the mud and through the fences. Showjumping is probably our weakest phase and Belle can sometimes not be that confident in sticky ground. But to my surprise she was the opposite of hesitant, and wanted to tank me round the whole course! I gave up trying to hold her together (i.e. I rode her completely ineffectively and she’d have been better off doing it on her own,) and unfortunately we just clunked the last fence, so we had four faults to add to our dressage score.
A quick change into our fab new team colours and a welcome appearance from the sun, and we were ready for the cross country. Warming up in the mud, all thoughts of making the time had gone out of the window and I was just focusing on getting round.
Stopwatch on (using it for the second time ever – still not sure how it works and whether the beeps just stress me out more, but it cost me 60 quid so I’m not giving up on it) and off we went, over the first and up the hill. The ground was riding perfectly and Belle was absolutely flying, taking on all the fences with her ears forward the whole time.
Our only hiccup was at Number 7, a palisade style jump out of one field and into another, with a slight drop on the landing side. Belle launched over it and, failing to channel my inner Michael Jung quick enough, I landed awkwardly and my hat came down over my eyes! And obviously it would be the fence with the photographer! A quick readjustment of my hat and a massive pat for Belle, and we were back in business. To be honest, I think I could have left my hat completely obscuring my eyes – I don’t think she actually requires any input from me at all!
The rest of the course rode fantastically and we came over the last and through the flags, hooray! I had no idea whether or not I was in the time as I forgot to stop my watch, but I didn’t care – Belle had given me the best clear round and I was so chuffed!
After giving Belle lots of hugs and taking her back to the lorry, I realised I was absolutely STARVING and so off we toddled to the burger van. In true totally amateur fashion, and because I wasn’t expecting anything, I was completely oblivious to the fact that prize-giving was at 2pm and that we had not one, but two rosettes! Our Solihull team had come fourth, and Belle and I had also come fourth individually out of over 20 in our arena! And, we’d achieved both our aims – no mistakes in the dressage, and NO time penalties cross country!
I’m over the moon to have done so well, though slightly gutted that if we hadn’t have had that last fence down in the showjumping, we’d have WON our section – but hey, the winning doesn’t matter. I just feel unbelievably lucky to have such an awesome horse, who doesn’t care if I’m stressing, if I’m riding like a sack of potatoes or can’t see a stride to save my life. She just tries her heart out for me, every time, and helps me do what I’ve always dreamed of doing.
Onwards now to our last event of the season at Offchurch Bury – our entry’s in, and we have showjumping training tomorrow!
Sarah and Belle x
Totally Amateur Eventing 