Post by racaille on Mar 8, 2010 6:27:11 GMT
Unbelievable but true!!!!
Mind you, there were only five competitors in my class - rather alarmingly called the 'grande épreuve' but apart from one flashy arab they were all TBs. Plus Eric the Carthorse, as the teenager calls P.
But Eric was on autopilot! He was active and round and went soooooooo well that as soon as we got the correct left lead canter I started grinning from ear to ear. The terrain was appalling and there was a bog at one end where we had to canter the circles but P did not slip like most of the others, luckily. We even got a 9 out of 10 for our serpentine, which was a real miracle! We are marked differently here, each bit marked out of 10, with general horse and rider marks at the end. We got an average of 8.1 and just pipped the flashy arab to the post!!
I'd noticed that a lot of the other riders in earlier classes were being marked down for failing to hold their halts, so I made sure we were perfectly still for the whole five seconds, we used the corners as well as the slippery ground allowed and my sitting trot was better than it has been for ages. ;D We lost a few marks for me letting P be too 'open' in right lead canter - I think I was having a bit too much fun and losing concentration, and for not enough 'incurvation' in the circles - but at least they were circles and not my usual ovals!
So I have a nice little silver cup!!!
The teenager did well in her class too, coming 9th with R, who tried hard but was his usual over-exuberant self, and fifth with the little pony she borrowed (who is called Pacquita - the female diminuitive of Paco, oddly enough). She was very pleased too, especially when she got a special commendation for her extended walk on R, who can get very hyper but she managed him extremely well.
And she overheard a gaggle of trainers talking about Paco during my reprise, saying what a nice little horse he was ;D ;D ;D and commenting on his lovely Spanish neck and his big Barb muscley bum and then everyone went hysterical when they realised he was bitless!
We had to be up and about at 6am to ride down to the club where P was a right pain to load, both ways, but he really didn't like the very narrow trailer. We unloaded him at the bottom of the village to save us a good half an hour's hacking home as it was by now snowing. We just chucked on their bridles and slung ourselves over their fleece coolers and got back as fast as possible, frozen to the core. Finally turned the boys out at about 6pm, so a very long day, but lots of fun and I made a couple of new friends - one of them a more, ahem, mature lady who is a novice but has a great 'up for everything' attitude.
So it was a fabulous day all round, even the foul weather held off until the end, although it was very cold.
Sorry this was such an essay, glass of rosé for anyone who got this far.
Mind you, there were only five competitors in my class - rather alarmingly called the 'grande épreuve' but apart from one flashy arab they were all TBs. Plus Eric the Carthorse, as the teenager calls P.
But Eric was on autopilot! He was active and round and went soooooooo well that as soon as we got the correct left lead canter I started grinning from ear to ear. The terrain was appalling and there was a bog at one end where we had to canter the circles but P did not slip like most of the others, luckily. We even got a 9 out of 10 for our serpentine, which was a real miracle! We are marked differently here, each bit marked out of 10, with general horse and rider marks at the end. We got an average of 8.1 and just pipped the flashy arab to the post!!
I'd noticed that a lot of the other riders in earlier classes were being marked down for failing to hold their halts, so I made sure we were perfectly still for the whole five seconds, we used the corners as well as the slippery ground allowed and my sitting trot was better than it has been for ages. ;D We lost a few marks for me letting P be too 'open' in right lead canter - I think I was having a bit too much fun and losing concentration, and for not enough 'incurvation' in the circles - but at least they were circles and not my usual ovals!
So I have a nice little silver cup!!!
The teenager did well in her class too, coming 9th with R, who tried hard but was his usual over-exuberant self, and fifth with the little pony she borrowed (who is called Pacquita - the female diminuitive of Paco, oddly enough). She was very pleased too, especially when she got a special commendation for her extended walk on R, who can get very hyper but she managed him extremely well.
And she overheard a gaggle of trainers talking about Paco during my reprise, saying what a nice little horse he was ;D ;D ;D and commenting on his lovely Spanish neck and his big Barb muscley bum and then everyone went hysterical when they realised he was bitless!
We had to be up and about at 6am to ride down to the club where P was a right pain to load, both ways, but he really didn't like the very narrow trailer. We unloaded him at the bottom of the village to save us a good half an hour's hacking home as it was by now snowing. We just chucked on their bridles and slung ourselves over their fleece coolers and got back as fast as possible, frozen to the core. Finally turned the boys out at about 6pm, so a very long day, but lots of fun and I made a couple of new friends - one of them a more, ahem, mature lady who is a novice but has a great 'up for everything' attitude.
So it was a fabulous day all round, even the foul weather held off until the end, although it was very cold.
Sorry this was such an essay, glass of rosé for anyone who got this far.
;D
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
....................... 
