Post by fleabitten on Apr 22, 2014 10:13:21 GMT
Couldnt have had a better first XC competition yesterday! Great day, murphy was excellent as usual, weather was amazing (normally youre frozen and sunburnt as the venue is beside the sea lol!) and ground perfect, so no need for studs which was a relief, one less thing to worry about!
Went to walk the course on sunday, looked at the showjumping first, it was nasty looking, a lot of horrible turns so it didnt really flow that well looking at it. Was very surprised it was so tricky looking considering it was a pony club event starting at 70cm, so that didnt really fill me with confidence lol! Moved on to the xc course, it was v long, mum reckoned about 2 miles, it started off in the field next to the beach which is just up and down hills and jumps at the tops and sides of hills etc. there was one point where you went up a hill, over a rail down a steep slope and a handbrake turn type corner straight up another hill and over a rail at the top. that was pretty much the style of the start of the course, having said that the first 2 jumps were in a straight line on the flat and quite inviting. There was about 10 jumps in this part of the course and most of them were rails or log type things, a couple had bushes under them and there was one or 2 sets of small tyres.
Then after jump 10 there was a big field with only 1 jump in it which was a portable flower box/feeder type thing in the middle of the field which was the biggest jump on the course and most people reckoned bigger than 70. Then through a gate into the next field which sloped up to tyres on the top of the hill and then down the hill and over another portable but this was just like an upright, no spread and more like the right height. Then jumped out over a white rail, to other side of the field and over a hidden ditch - there was an L option to go through the gate - the ditch had a slope in and a slope out so you couldnt see it till you were there. Then after that right hand turn and over a log and then out of the field through a small water (L option here as well) and over a cottage portable to finish!
So all in all the XC was fairly straightforward and met a few people out walking the course it was either their first time or the horses first time so made me feel a bit better there was others in the same boat!
We set off rather early yesterday morning and were there a couple of hours early (they were running the 1m class first, then 85cm and then 70cm so i wasnt riding till 3.20pm) but we had brought a picnic (essential lol!) and got the deckchairs out and had our sandwiches, murphy had a sleep, then went for a dander to watch a bit of the sj.
i warmed up slowly and got us both nicely chilled out although he wasnt on his toes or anything. the SJ rode ok actually despite looking very tricky, we got into a better rhythm as we went round and went clear! i think most people went clear so mustnt have been too bad!
warmed up ok for the XC but then had a long delay due to somebody falling off on the beach and no paramedic for the XC then. then when they started it back up i only had 5 mins to rev him up, then i was on the course before i knew it, i remember thinking omg im actually doing this, agh! haha!
anyway, he wasnt that keen to go at the start, had to bully him a bit over the first two but from 3 onwards he went like a train, i tried to slow him for the motorbike corner but he shook his head as if to say 'i know what im doing woman!' so i just let him tear on and tried my best to steer and ride lol! after that there was no stopping him until we got to the far field, we were getting close to the fella in front and he was running out of puff a bit so i let him trot for a short bit then we cantered on again and on the way back down the hill he was going like a train again, couldnt get him slowed much for the ditch, he had a wee look but i didnt give him time and a good kick and he popped it, tried to slow him for the water as well but he just ploughed through it, over the cottage and hard to pull him up at the finish lol!
and there i was worried about his fitness lol!!
felt like no time at all but my time was actually 6mins 14secs! I felt like i was going to pass out at the start but the more i got into it, i think i maybe relaxed a bit and i wasnt gasping by the end but def out of puff lol! I remember hearing my name on the loudspeaker as i was going along which was pretty cool! I ended up getting 3rd place as well, so was over the moon!
Shall put up pics shortly!
Went to walk the course on sunday, looked at the showjumping first, it was nasty looking, a lot of horrible turns so it didnt really flow that well looking at it. Was very surprised it was so tricky looking considering it was a pony club event starting at 70cm, so that didnt really fill me with confidence lol! Moved on to the xc course, it was v long, mum reckoned about 2 miles, it started off in the field next to the beach which is just up and down hills and jumps at the tops and sides of hills etc. there was one point where you went up a hill, over a rail down a steep slope and a handbrake turn type corner straight up another hill and over a rail at the top. that was pretty much the style of the start of the course, having said that the first 2 jumps were in a straight line on the flat and quite inviting. There was about 10 jumps in this part of the course and most of them were rails or log type things, a couple had bushes under them and there was one or 2 sets of small tyres.
Then after jump 10 there was a big field with only 1 jump in it which was a portable flower box/feeder type thing in the middle of the field which was the biggest jump on the course and most people reckoned bigger than 70. Then through a gate into the next field which sloped up to tyres on the top of the hill and then down the hill and over another portable but this was just like an upright, no spread and more like the right height. Then jumped out over a white rail, to other side of the field and over a hidden ditch - there was an L option to go through the gate - the ditch had a slope in and a slope out so you couldnt see it till you were there. Then after that right hand turn and over a log and then out of the field through a small water (L option here as well) and over a cottage portable to finish!
So all in all the XC was fairly straightforward and met a few people out walking the course it was either their first time or the horses first time so made me feel a bit better there was others in the same boat!
We set off rather early yesterday morning and were there a couple of hours early (they were running the 1m class first, then 85cm and then 70cm so i wasnt riding till 3.20pm) but we had brought a picnic (essential lol!) and got the deckchairs out and had our sandwiches, murphy had a sleep, then went for a dander to watch a bit of the sj.
i warmed up slowly and got us both nicely chilled out although he wasnt on his toes or anything. the SJ rode ok actually despite looking very tricky, we got into a better rhythm as we went round and went clear! i think most people went clear so mustnt have been too bad!
warmed up ok for the XC but then had a long delay due to somebody falling off on the beach and no paramedic for the XC then. then when they started it back up i only had 5 mins to rev him up, then i was on the course before i knew it, i remember thinking omg im actually doing this, agh! haha!
anyway, he wasnt that keen to go at the start, had to bully him a bit over the first two but from 3 onwards he went like a train, i tried to slow him for the motorbike corner but he shook his head as if to say 'i know what im doing woman!' so i just let him tear on and tried my best to steer and ride lol! after that there was no stopping him until we got to the far field, we were getting close to the fella in front and he was running out of puff a bit so i let him trot for a short bit then we cantered on again and on the way back down the hill he was going like a train again, couldnt get him slowed much for the ditch, he had a wee look but i didnt give him time and a good kick and he popped it, tried to slow him for the water as well but he just ploughed through it, over the cottage and hard to pull him up at the finish lol!
and there i was worried about his fitness lol!!
felt like no time at all but my time was actually 6mins 14secs! I felt like i was going to pass out at the start but the more i got into it, i think i maybe relaxed a bit and i wasnt gasping by the end but def out of puff lol! I remember hearing my name on the loudspeaker as i was going along which was pretty cool! I ended up getting 3rd place as well, so was over the moon!
Shall put up pics shortly!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
