February Round-Up

I’m planning on writing a round-up every month on the blog, so at the end of the year I can look back and see how good (or otherwise!) our year has been. I’ve missed January, I know,  but that was essentially training, training, training, one fabulous Team Quest dressage result of 67.88% and one less fabulous BRC Area 5 Points showjumping competition at Moreton Morrell, where I rode like a wally and Bells totally clammed up on me in the tiny arena and we had two poles and no team placing. And given that it’s 10th March, I’m a bit late on February too, but never mind!

So, in true horsey style, February was a proper month of ups and downs. We were supposed to kick off February with another BD Team Quest competition with our team The Only Way is Chessetts, which I’m loving, by the way. Getting out with the team means I’ve actually been enjoying dressage – and I know I said it was just for a bit of fun, but I’ve started to feel quite competitive now as we’ve been doing pretty well! Our team is currently 4th place on the leaderboard!

However, the weather gods had other ideas, and after a completely freezing week the venue made the sensible decision to call the competition off. To be honest, I was actually quite glad – although I’m enjoying my new dressage life, I’m not prepared to freeze to death for it…

With dressage out the window, I started focusing on the BIG competition I had on my calendar: the 80 class at the BRC Area 5 Winter Showjumping Qualifier, for the National Winter Championships in March. This time last year, I wouldn’t compete at this Qualifier because the jumps were just too big for me. I’m never actually sure whether I like showjumping. I know they say the jumps are 80, but they aren’t – the second round is 85 and then if you make it through to the jump off, you’re at the dizzy heights of 90. Give me eventing any day!

Anyway, the jumps are actually still too big for me and even the thought of getting through to the jump off made me want to grab the Imodium, but I thought it was time to just stick my big girl pants on and go for it. You never grow if you always stick within your comfort zone, after all. And plus, I’d planned in all these great training sessions for the weekend before, so I was going to have the perfect preparation. Right?

Er, no. Enter the equine flu outbreak, and the cancellation of my Friday night BRC team training. Which was a shame, but at that point it was better to be safe than sorry, and I had a jumping clinic with Top Trainer James McCullough booked in for the Sunday anyway, so I was still getting a chance to prepare for the Qualifier. Right? 

Er, no. Enter Storm Erik, and the cancellation of my jumping clinic because of 60mph winds. So, I was heading into the toughest showjumping competition we’d ever done without any of the preparation I’d planned in to make myself feel ready for it…

The Qualifier was at our lovely home venue, Solihull Riding Club, which definitely helped. The first round outside was absolutely fine, and Belle jumped a lovely clear round – wahoo! The second round inside was a different story, though – I know it’s only a fraction bigger but the spreads seemed crazily wide. When I walked the course I tried not to get too close to any of them so that they didn’t look so big – an interesting course walking technique, but it sort of worked…

Waiting to go in I was really nervous, and despite my friend Becky doing her best to give me a pep talk I definitely rode Belle less positively, and we ended up having two down (the first part of a double where we just came in on a dodgy stride, and the last one – slightly annoying!) But I was still mega chuffed – we’d made it round our biggest showjumping course so far, and it hadn’t been awful! And I’m very happy to admit that I was actually relieved that we didn’t go clear in the second round, as I think having to compete in the jump off at 90 would have put me off showjumping for life.

Totally amazing performances from the rest of the team meant that we stormed to a fantastic 2nd place out of 16 teams, and qualified for the National Winter Showjumping Championships! What an amazing start to our 2019 season, and a great confidence boost for us. Maybe we’re not so terrible at showjumping after all…

We also made it out for a couple of lovely hacks on sunny days, and had our first evening hack after work with Sophie and Edward:

And to top it off, the unseasonably sunny weather at the end of the month meant we had the perfect opportunity to get out to the Members’ Field at Solihull Riding Club to have a play over their cross country schooling jumps. Yes, you read that right – we went from having a competition cancelled because it was freezing, to cross country schooling in the sunshine in the same month. Mental.

Belle was an absolute machine for her first cross country session of the year – a slightly unrideable machine, actually, who spent most of the first 20 minutes either bolting after my friend’s runaway pony (who we were supposed to have been nannying…) or just standing on her two front legs every time I asked her to canter. But once she settled, she was totally lovely and reminded me why I love Eventing her so much.

So, that was February! We’re midway into March already, and we’ve popped our entry in for our first One Day Event of the season at Offchurch Bury on the 24th. I’m so excited about this – I didn’t get out to a One Day Event until May last year, so I’m feeling determined to get this season off to a better start if the weather plays ball! We’ve also got more TeamQuest lined up, and of course the BRC National Showjumping Championships on the 30th March. Eek – more showjumping! And on that note, I was supposed to have a jumping clinic today to help us prepare. And it’s been cancelled because the wind is insane, again. Is this sounding a bit familiar…?

Sarah and Belle x