Post by racaille on Jan 30, 2012 4:59:23 GMT
We had such fun! ;D Even though we were totally rubbish at everything!
The day started very early as I was due in the map room at 8.30am and we had to get ourselves down to near the Camargue. We'd got Racaille from the club the night before and separated the boys up, Lad and Mr T in together and R with Paco. I thought Paco, having lived with R for so many years, would be fine again but he acted like a stallie and kept racing around, cut above his eye on who knows what ... so I put P back in with his mates and R was left in the next paddock happily munching on a a vast pile of hay.
Next morning in the dark, R went straight into the trailer, bless him, but P was having none of it. Even with the Be Nice he threw his weight around and just when it was looking like we'd never get off in time, he gave in. Little beggar
I drove like the clappers and we arrived, in fact, in good time and were welcomed warmly by the organiser who is the driving TREC force down here (and local to us, but helps other clubs get started in TREC) He very kindly offered to let us do the POR together, which was fun.
We had a laugh in the POR but made two classic mistakes, at the beginning and very end, both caused by map copying faults
I also managed to drop my specs and had to hunt for ages to find them (time faults) but can't see a map without them. grrrrrr
The COP was, for P, quite brilliant. It was the first time EVER that he has not broken pace! Usually he charges off in canter but then does an emergency stop when he spots the judges. But he was fantastic!
We then had a long and very very cold wait for he PTV but amused ourselves by watching the carriage driving PTV, which was incredible. But then our PTV was delayed still further and having warmed up our horses all we could do was huddle around in a freezing wind and keep walking ... for hours ....
I made a lot of mistakes on the PTV but for the first time Paco was truly honest! I messed up the slalom (bit annoying after being so good on Friday but I took a risk doing it in canter and the last bollard was just too tight a turn).
I had been very worried about the contre haut as it was a biggish jump up on a path that was already going up quite steeply. It looked enormous! I felt P's head come up when he saw the judges but I was on a mission so I just put everything on and yelled at him .... and he sailed up it. Really nice!
I was very miffed to be penalised on the immobility though. Apparently I was not supposed to cross his stirrups so I was too long getting out of the first circle and was also marked down for 'blocking' his reins. The rules have obviously changed since my last one. It was a great shame as the lovely boy was fantastic and just stood perfectly still.
Anyway, it was great day out - if long and cold! There were only three of us in our baby class so I confidently expect to be third! ;D Or last, depending on your point of view! And Treccies are a friendly bunch so we had a great time and a huge bowl of steaming hot pasta for lunch in the clubhouse - the French do know how to make life comfortable!
Anyway, can't wait for the next one! ;D
The day started very early as I was due in the map room at 8.30am and we had to get ourselves down to near the Camargue. We'd got Racaille from the club the night before and separated the boys up, Lad and Mr T in together and R with Paco. I thought Paco, having lived with R for so many years, would be fine again but he acted like a stallie and kept racing around, cut above his eye on who knows what ... so I put P back in with his mates and R was left in the next paddock happily munching on a a vast pile of hay.
Next morning in the dark, R went straight into the trailer, bless him, but P was having none of it. Even with the Be Nice he threw his weight around and just when it was looking like we'd never get off in time, he gave in. Little beggar
I drove like the clappers and we arrived, in fact, in good time and were welcomed warmly by the organiser who is the driving TREC force down here (and local to us, but helps other clubs get started in TREC) He very kindly offered to let us do the POR together, which was fun.
We had a laugh in the POR but made two classic mistakes, at the beginning and very end, both caused by map copying faults
I also managed to drop my specs and had to hunt for ages to find them (time faults) but can't see a map without them. grrrrrrThe COP was, for P, quite brilliant. It was the first time EVER that he has not broken pace! Usually he charges off in canter but then does an emergency stop when he spots the judges. But he was fantastic!
We then had a long and very very cold wait for he PTV but amused ourselves by watching the carriage driving PTV, which was incredible. But then our PTV was delayed still further and having warmed up our horses all we could do was huddle around in a freezing wind and keep walking ... for hours ....
I made a lot of mistakes on the PTV but for the first time Paco was truly honest! I messed up the slalom (bit annoying after being so good on Friday but I took a risk doing it in canter and the last bollard was just too tight a turn).
I had been very worried about the contre haut as it was a biggish jump up on a path that was already going up quite steeply. It looked enormous! I felt P's head come up when he saw the judges but I was on a mission so I just put everything on and yelled at him .... and he sailed up it. Really nice!
I was very miffed to be penalised on the immobility though. Apparently I was not supposed to cross his stirrups so I was too long getting out of the first circle and was also marked down for 'blocking' his reins. The rules have obviously changed since my last one. It was a great shame as the lovely boy was fantastic and just stood perfectly still.
Anyway, it was great day out - if long and cold! There were only three of us in our baby class so I confidently expect to be third! ;D Or last, depending on your point of view! And Treccies are a friendly bunch so we had a great time and a huge bowl of steaming hot pasta for lunch in the clubhouse - the French do know how to make life comfortable!
Anyway, can't wait for the next one! ;D
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
