Hartpury BYEH - Not bad for my racing "reject"!

After Berrington was cancelled Busters weekend became a little less busy!

Hartpury today is our most local event so its always nice to go along to. This year they had the BYEH in the main arena which was lovely as last year they had it in the XC field miles away from everything else. We were on at 10.17 so got there in plenty of time today and went to watch a few. The course was only 6 fenecs with a double and the Dressage had white boards all around so no chance of us jumping out today!

Went back, tacked up and off we went. He was alot more relaxed than Gatcombe and finds working on a surface a lot easier so he was doing some nice work and jumping well as well.

Went in and the dresage judge was lovely - told us that we had as much time as we wanted before we went in. I trotted round a few times, waited for the other horse to jump and then set off. He went very nicely, didnt try and canter when we were trotting, i could really get him in to his corners and his canter was fab! He did change behind and he did no flying changes! Finished a bit like this :)

On to the jumping. It was the biggest BYEH i have seen this year (out of the 3 i have been to!) with a square oxer to start. He jumped well and did his 1st clear so couldnt have been happier. Conformation went well as well, he didnt try and canter and trotted at a nice speed for me! Judge was very hands on feeling legs and hocks and looking at them on one side before the trot up and the other after.

Waited for scores to go up and was very pleased. 29 for the Dressage, 32 for the Jumping and 10 for the Conformation so we broke the 70 barrier and got 71! For a long while we thought we would get in to the top ten but in the end we were 13th out of about 40 again, to get in to the top ten you needed 73 or more. As like Gatcombe we met our goal for today to be in the top 1/3.

Im so pleased with how hes grown up doing these classes and it just a pity this was the last one as i think with one more we might have got in to the top 10.

Gatcombe BYEH

Gatcombe was Busters second BYEH and he was very good!

Got there a bit late so only 45 mins to go - quickly studded up, tacked up and got on. Warm up arena was tiny more like just a SJ warm up so dressage on an ticking time bomb was not happening so i jumped him for a while and then he settled (got tired!) Did some sweet work before our time but i was having numptyness and could see a stride if it hit me in the face but hey ho!! Went in to the dressage - Hen Knight was judging - and did a nice test not as forward as Barbury but didn't do any flying changes! Went in to the jumping this time knowing i had more time so trotted past a few fences (including the 1st - the same first fence as they had at Stafford ) Went in to the first a bit tentatively so he looked i kicked and we had it down jumped the next few well, Thought there were bogey men under the 1st part of the double but got 2 good strides in just to tip the rail on the way out and jumped the last few well as well! On to Confo - we got 7 at Barbury so was hoping for more today! Again took our time untacking and didn't rush as mush as B. Today we only had to walk away and trot back - that my brain can understand - pity Busters didn't and we did some lovely canter making me run very fast up hill on slippy ground with leather boots!! Not to amused but did some good trot when i caught up!!

Another very interesting point was (not overly sure its right!) was that Buster was the only TB competing in the 4yo class! They did thou do a lovely piece when i was jumping how good ex racers can be as eventers! So the marks - got 23/35 for dressage, 32/40 for jumping and 10/15 for confo! Think they were being a little generous with the jumping marks as one horse got 40 and another with 2 stops got in to the 30s! We finished in the end about 19th out of 42! Wanted to be in the top 1/2 so very pleased!

He also stood very well on the box when song was gone and when we were having lunch!!

Summer House

After Stafford we thought we better get out quite soon to make sure Buster was still OK with jumping and he was! We had a lesson on the Monday after and that went well and then went to Summerhouse with him and Song to do the Clear Round on the Tuesday- B was very good just having 2 down but wasn't spooky at all so i think it was just the ground at Stafford.

The Highs and Lows of Stafford!

Stafford out 1st attempt at an Intro and my 1st event in almost a year!

The day started off well with having late times. Lawrence, a friend, was coming along to be groom for the day and chief - keep me calm duties!! The journey went without a hitch so got there with a nice amount of time to spare so went off to buy some new over reach boots and a shorter girth for B!

He was very good to have his studs in and tack up - que the heavens opening for the first time. Wandered over to the dressage and he warmed up very sweetly for him, over reach boots off at the last minute and in we go. Trot round up the center line track right and crunch! He pulled a shoe off :( Carried him through the rest of the test, a bit wobbly and then right canter, he struggles with this anyway but he just couldn't get it. Tried for the whole of the 20m circle at A and then did another circle but i think by this time we were both panicking so set off up the long side in left canter. Finished the test very disappointed.

Walked the XC and thought it would be a tough enough ask for him but was quite excited to get out there and see how brave he really was!

Showjumping - he warmed up nicely, then the heavens opened again so found some trees and took cover while Lawrence was still keen to do fences in the rain! Came back out from the trees popped a few more jumps and went in. It then all went wrong. Hes never jumped off anything but perfect ground and this was more like mud. We had two sliding stops in the to the first and then were off but unfortunately we had too many faults and were CR.

Its such a shame to have both marks on his record but we both learnt alot.

Preperation For Stafford

In final prep for Stafford we started off with some local Hunt dressage (Didnt go quite to plan!) We took mums mare as well as mum was jumping her so he squealed like a girl and didnt settle at all - did some great bits and got some 8's but did also get some 3's and 4's! To top it off he lost a shoe and then managed to loose another the next day waiting for the farrier!!

Shoes back on we did some Xc schooling which was very good - straight in the water and jumped everything very well - he had a look at a few things but there were puddles on all the take off and landings so i think i can let him off!

Then our final lesson the Wednesday before! He was very good but after only jumping a few warm up jumps and one grid lost another shoe! Jumped the grid again and called it a day - lovely farrier came the next morning so schooled him and pack for Stafford!

BSJA

Today was Busters 1st BSJA show at summerhouse! Took him for the clear round 1st and if that went ok we were going to do the British Novice! Well it went ok (2 down and babyish!) so did the BN as we had a free ticket from Horse a few weeks ago. After i had come out of the CR i had said i was going to try and ride more forwards in to the fences as i think thats what let us down at barbury and he jumps better if he take you in to the fence. Went in and rode positively and he was very good. rolled a pole at 3 as it was a simple upright with no fillers just 3 poles and then the last part of the last double - he jumped in so well even though it was a longish distance made up alot of ground so rolled that as well. Im very pleased with how he coped today - he was for the CR a lot more chilled than at Barbury just a little excited before the BN - think he had woken up and realised he was at a show - this was cue me holding on to the neck strap a few times! Any tips on keeping my toes in??

Clear Round

British Novice