Post by brigadier on May 7, 2013 17:07:37 GMT
On sunday I went to watch the teenager ride Sam in his first competition, a showcross. These events are new to me as I dont think they existed when I was active as a rider but it turned out to be really good fun. There was a nice showjump course with
several inviting fences and a final joker which was optional. This was a bit of a stinker, being narrow, quite high for a novice competition and had flappy union jack planks. The competitors then went onto jump a really interesting and well built cross country course with some varied jumps.
Spectating was tricky as after watching the show jumps a mad dash was required to the top of a hill to see some of the XC. I havent had so much exercise in years.
Anyhow Sam arrived after a short hack over and he was very very excited. He was squirting liquid poo everywhere and doing some very fancy footwork, but the teenager kept her cool and kept him active and steady during the warm up. He was a bit inattentive at times and she really had to ride him in a calm non aggressive but strong way. Fortunately on the course he simply got on with it as though he knew that his real job had begun. He jumped well in the showjumping, was a bit unbalanced at times but cleared everything and gave the teenager the confidence to jump the joker fence which he cleared with ease- really trying to get his long legs out of the way. Then it was onto the XC and he was a star, steady, fast and accurate with just a short pause on the steps down but not hesitating at anything and really covering the ground as youd expect an ex racer to do.
They finished in great style flying over the last but he obviously couldnt contain himself as he was squirting green poo as he jumped.
Anyhow it was fantastic and they finished second out of 40 (later found to be fourth as an error on the course demoted them) not bad at all for his first outing and very exciting for me to watch as he has come on so much from the puny yak that left my yard. Well done Sam and well done teenager.
(Will do pics once I work out how to compress them so they are small enough!)
several inviting fences and a final joker which was optional. This was a bit of a stinker, being narrow, quite high for a novice competition and had flappy union jack planks. The competitors then went onto jump a really interesting and well built cross country course with some varied jumps.
Spectating was tricky as after watching the show jumps a mad dash was required to the top of a hill to see some of the XC. I havent had so much exercise in years.
Anyhow Sam arrived after a short hack over and he was very very excited. He was squirting liquid poo everywhere and doing some very fancy footwork, but the teenager kept her cool and kept him active and steady during the warm up. He was a bit inattentive at times and she really had to ride him in a calm non aggressive but strong way. Fortunately on the course he simply got on with it as though he knew that his real job had begun. He jumped well in the showjumping, was a bit unbalanced at times but cleared everything and gave the teenager the confidence to jump the joker fence which he cleared with ease- really trying to get his long legs out of the way. Then it was onto the XC and he was a star, steady, fast and accurate with just a short pause on the steps down but not hesitating at anything and really covering the ground as youd expect an ex racer to do.
They finished in great style flying over the last but he obviously couldnt contain himself as he was squirting green poo as he jumped.
Anyhow it was fantastic and they finished second out of 40 (later found to be fourth as an error on the course demoted them) not bad at all for his first outing and very exciting for me to watch as he has come on so much from the puny yak that left my yard. Well done Sam and well done teenager.
(Will do pics once I work out how to compress them so they are small enough!)
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
) so well done Sam and well done Teenager. Pity about the demotion from 2nd to 4th, but 4th out 40 is still pretty darn good...particularly when it's Sam's first 'real' competition!!!
