We headed off to Offchurch Bury today for our first One Day Event of the 2019 season – starting with the same event that we finished with last season (and, you may remember, that we actually ended up doing pretty well in!), with no aims other than hopefully having a confidence-boosting run to start the year.
We set off from the yard this morning at about 8am and arrived at Offchurch in plenty of time for my dressage start of 10.04. I’d gone to walk the course last night (in the dark!!) so I had nothing to do before dressage – I was feeling really quite chilled and prepared!
I tacked up, hopped in the back of the lorry to get my hat on and then… Johnny went to shut the door for me, and accidentally trapped my finger in the hinge!! This next part makes me sound like a right baby, but it was so painful the tears just started streaming down my face. So there I was, crying in the lorry park before I’d even gotten on my horse. Johnny was apologising like crazy and, because I was crying so much, he was worried that I wouldn’t be able to ride. But, after a good cry, I was very brave (in my opinion) and decided that I would be able to to carry on. My mascara was now making me look a bit like that psycho from A Clockwork Orange and I think everyone around thought I was absolutely insane, but let me tell you – trapping your thumb in a door REALLY bloody hurts!
I pushed the thoughts of my painful thumb to one side, and started to warm up for dressage. My dressage preparation had been a mixture of practising the test at home a couple of times (i.e. physical preparation), and attending William Fox-Pitt’s Eventing demo at Hartpury College and listening to his dressage tips (i.e. psychological preparation). Trotting down the centre line, there was something very particular stuck in my head. William had said, “Enter at A, and stare the judge down as you trot down the centre line. Look her directly in the eye, and dare her to give you less than an 8 for your entry.”
So, I gave it a try. I imagine that might have actually been quite scary for the judge. A dishevelled looking girl with a blotchy red face and mascara everywhere, glaring at her through the windscreen. But, guess what? I only went and got an 8 for my entry, and a score of 30 overall – so it worked! Thanks, William Fox-Pitt!
Sitting in the top three after dressage, I definitely had a smile back on my face after thumb-gate, and we headed back to the lorry to get changed for showjumping. A quick warm-up and hello to our wonderful support crew who had just arrived, and off we went! Over the first, Belle felt slightly sluggish, and rather than just sit there like a numpty in my usual style and let her jump however she wants, I *think* I actually did something right and really asked her to go forward. She actually felt a bit too forward around the rest of the course then, but I tried my hardest to trust her and go with it, and we actually went clear – I was so chuffed!!
So, we were top three heading into the XC. I started to feel a bit competitive, but I tried to stop myself as I just wanted to have a positive experience round the cross country. We’d only been cross country schooling once since October and I knew Belle isn’t as fit as she was last season yet (understandably). She’s not a naturally fast horse anyway, so I thought we may end up with a few time penalties, but I didn’t want to push her. I just wanted us both to get back safely, full of confidence for the rest of the season.
Into the start box we went, and the countdown began: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 *this is where I always start my watch, to have some seconds in hand – only this time, I pressed the wrong button and it wasn’t bloody starting*, 4 *panicking about stopwatch*, 3 *more panicking about stopwatch*, 2 *oh f**k the stopwatch!*, 1 – GO!
Off we went, and it took us a couple of fences to get into our stride. By number three, I felt like we’d got into our rhythm and I was remembering how much I loved taking Belle cross country. She just gives you the best feeling into the fences, she never backs off and just takes on everything for you. She’s such a little gem.
We only had one moment where my approach to a fence was a bit skewiff (i.e I’d been looking at a different fence and suddenly realised which one for us) and my right foot smacked into the right flag. I turned round and shouted “SORRY!” to the fence judges, as I wasn’t sure if I’d actually bashed it off the jump – whoops!
The rest of the course felt great, and I just let Belle cruise round. We crossed the line, and I was absolutely beaming, and so pleased with Belle! Double clear at our first event of the year – what a mega result!
Obviously the very amateur mess up with my stopwatch meant I had no idea how many time penalties we’d incurred, but we waited around for the results as I was hoping we might still have a chance of taking home a rosette. I got me and Johnny our obligatory lunch from the burger van (that’s the deal, whenever he comes to support me!) and we sat in the sun – who’d have thought Eventing in March would be so sunny!?
The results came out, and we’d managed to come third in our section, out of 29 in total! What a totally amazing way to start the season – and not a bad end to a day that started with tears!! A big thank you to Johnny for being super groom (despite the thumb thing) and my wonderful support crew who came all the way over to watch. And as always, I am SO grateful to my absolute boss of a horse, who gives me the opportunity to not only have a fantastic, safe, fun day out doing what I love, but also do pretty well. She’s a babe.
Sarah and Belle x
Totally Amateur Eventing 