Post by racaille on Nov 16, 2015 5:20:46 GMT
Paco did not put a foot wrong yesterday! Wish I could say the same for his rider 
but I did have a great day out.
There were five in my new, elevated class and I made the classic mistake of checking them out on the FFE site, only to find they were serious, highly qualified competitors. Oooh errr.... But the appalling events in Paris on Friday night made me even more determined just to enjoy myself - you never know what is around the corner. (Those poor people and their families .....
)
The T came with me for company, even though we had to be up well before dawn (5am in fact) and I was very grateful to have her along. I set off on the POR as the sun was rising and the countryside around Mt Ventoux was very beautiful. It started easily enough, around vineyards, and Paco was walking out very well. It was a well-subscribed competition, with lots of teams. I was annoyed with one of them as they came powering up behind me in total chaos. I moved over to let them pass but one of them just went sideways into P's bum ... and stayed there until I told the rider that P kicks. He managed to unstick his horse and it shot off, not a lot of control there. But P was pretty cool about seeing them disappearing, he wanted to follow but did nothing naughty.
We had a couple of hairy moments with hunters. I was in a sunken lane with a group of hunters very close on one side so I shouted to them to let them know I was there. Did they care? Did they co-co! They shot four times over my head and poor Paco was terribly frightened - it was very loud. But again, he did nothing terrible, just jogged for 20 minutes until we started the serious climbing.
The second incident involved a nasty hunting dog which came flashing out at P and started nipping at his ankles. I called to the hunter but he did nothing so when P kicked out at the dog I thought it was only fair. He didn't connect but the dog got the message.
The orienteering was hard in the hills. I came at one control from the wrong direction - I was on the right path but the descent down a slippery, chalky promontory was not safe IMO so I took a more reasonable course. I missed at least one marker (which was apparently on the ground and face down) and had one where-the-fock-am-I moment but was generally happy that I got round the 20km. And I really enjoyed it.
Paco was marvellous, he was pretty zen about being overtaken and also about going past other horse groups. He may not have the beautiful paces of my mate's anglo but he is a perfect TREC horse!
Then we did the COP and I could not help grinning from ear to ear as he did a lovely canter all the way to the end! He did not like the judge being there but I kept a narrow corridor with my hands and my legs on and he did it. Lovely boy!
The PTV was in a small grass arena and a bit of a mixed bag as the rules have changed recently. There were a few in hand things to start with which went well except for the jump over the ditch which was entirely my fault as rather than jumping over it I skipped out to the side and Paco followed me. Not his fault, silly old bag rider.
The wrong side mounting (despite a block which is now allowed) was embarrassingly awful - all I can say was I was tired.
The rope gate was tricky but we did it eventually and I mucked up the one-handed loop - which was going really well in canter- by taking the loop too tight and not keeping my legs on hard enough.
Enough of the negatives! The things that went super well were the slaloms and chicanes (both of them in hand as well as ridden), the reversing, the canter corridor, the wooden bridge, the water - and he did a really beautiful jump over a largish pile of vine roots even though I did not choose the approach very well.
I came off the PTV and got a HUGE bullocking from the T for my mistakes. I deserved it as they had all been caused by my rushing at stuff and not taking the time to prepare properly. This is a terrible fault of mine and one I will make an effort to address.
But I was very pleased with the day as a whole. We left before the results were up but I am certain I came last and I don't care at all, I felt that it was a fair outing for a first one. The most important thing was that I had a ball!
but I did have a great day out.There were five in my new, elevated class and I made the classic mistake of checking them out on the FFE site, only to find they were serious, highly qualified competitors. Oooh errr.... But the appalling events in Paris on Friday night made me even more determined just to enjoy myself - you never know what is around the corner. (Those poor people and their families .....
)The T came with me for company, even though we had to be up well before dawn (5am in fact) and I was very grateful to have her along. I set off on the POR as the sun was rising and the countryside around Mt Ventoux was very beautiful. It started easily enough, around vineyards, and Paco was walking out very well. It was a well-subscribed competition, with lots of teams. I was annoyed with one of them as they came powering up behind me in total chaos. I moved over to let them pass but one of them just went sideways into P's bum ... and stayed there until I told the rider that P kicks. He managed to unstick his horse and it shot off, not a lot of control there. But P was pretty cool about seeing them disappearing, he wanted to follow but did nothing naughty.
We had a couple of hairy moments with hunters. I was in a sunken lane with a group of hunters very close on one side so I shouted to them to let them know I was there. Did they care? Did they co-co! They shot four times over my head and poor Paco was terribly frightened - it was very loud. But again, he did nothing terrible, just jogged for 20 minutes until we started the serious climbing.
The second incident involved a nasty hunting dog which came flashing out at P and started nipping at his ankles. I called to the hunter but he did nothing so when P kicked out at the dog I thought it was only fair. He didn't connect but the dog got the message.
The orienteering was hard in the hills. I came at one control from the wrong direction - I was on the right path but the descent down a slippery, chalky promontory was not safe IMO so I took a more reasonable course. I missed at least one marker (which was apparently on the ground and face down) and had one where-the-fock-am-I moment but was generally happy that I got round the 20km. And I really enjoyed it.
Paco was marvellous, he was pretty zen about being overtaken and also about going past other horse groups. He may not have the beautiful paces of my mate's anglo but he is a perfect TREC horse!
Then we did the COP and I could not help grinning from ear to ear as he did a lovely canter all the way to the end! He did not like the judge being there but I kept a narrow corridor with my hands and my legs on and he did it. Lovely boy!
The PTV was in a small grass arena and a bit of a mixed bag as the rules have changed recently. There were a few in hand things to start with which went well except for the jump over the ditch which was entirely my fault as rather than jumping over it I skipped out to the side and Paco followed me. Not his fault, silly old bag rider.
The wrong side mounting (despite a block which is now allowed) was embarrassingly awful - all I can say was I was tired.
The rope gate was tricky but we did it eventually and I mucked up the one-handed loop - which was going really well in canter- by taking the loop too tight and not keeping my legs on hard enough.Enough of the negatives! The things that went super well were the slaloms and chicanes (both of them in hand as well as ridden), the reversing, the canter corridor, the wooden bridge, the water - and he did a really beautiful jump over a largish pile of vine roots even though I did not choose the approach very well.
I came off the PTV and got a HUGE bullocking from the T for my mistakes. I deserved it as they had all been caused by my rushing at stuff and not taking the time to prepare properly. This is a terrible fault of mine and one I will make an effort to address.
But I was very pleased with the day as a whole. We left before the results were up but I am certain I came last and I don't care at all, I felt that it was a fair outing for a first one. The most important thing was that I had a ball!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!