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April 24th and 25th Two Day Event
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On the weekend of 24 and 25 April, I attended a 2-day-event with my wonderful horses, Bronze and Badger. This was my first time eventing on Badger and my first time doing a Pre-Novice (90cm or 3ft) event on Bronze. Now, for those of you who do not know, eventing consists of three phases: Showjumping, Dressage and Cross Country. You accumulate penalties through all three phases, and at the end of the event the horse with the least penalties wins.
We started off with dressage on Saturday morning. Both horses performed superbly and I am pleased to say that, for once, I ended with a competitive dressage score on each horse! Badger was lying 4th with 56,6 penalties, and Bronze was tied for 5th with 58,6 penalties. These were very promising results, especially seeing as dressage is usually my weak point, and tends to leave me at the bottom of the class!
The showjumping on Saturday afternoon went very smoothly! Both horses had flawless clear rounds which allowed them both to move up one place when another horse knocked a pole, leaving Badger lying third and Bronze tied fourth. Everything was resting on the cross country!
On Sunday morning we took the horses down to the cross country field to warm up for the challenges ahead. Badger went first, and everything was going brilliantly until we reached jump 7. At that stage I had one of my brainless panic moments and rode back to check if I had jumped the correct jump. I had. So, a few time penalties later I was back on track! Again, the horse went brilliantly and jumped better than I ever expected! When we reached jump 13, I turned the wrong way and had to circle back to the jump, leaving me with even more time penalties... Such an amateurish mistake, and a dreadful reason to lose what otherwise would have been a third place! Nevertheless, the horse had a superb round, though finished with 20 time penalties due to my error, dropping him from 3rd into 12th. All the same, I was incredibly proud of him!
Next was Bronze's cross country... A few months ago I would never have believed that Bronze, the legendary chicken-horse, would be an eventer. It just proves that first impressions are often incorrect. I'm not sure about 'chicken', but that horse must have morphed into some sort of bird, for he grew wings and flew around that course! It was one of the most amazing rides of my life and I left the course grinning like a Cheshire cat and patting my horse so much I thought my hand might fall off! What a splendid creature! That round left him tied for 3rd, though he was dropped to 4th place because the other horse had a faster showjumping time.
Overall, I think it was a hugely successful event and a great learning experience for myself and my magnificent mounts!
Also, on the Tuesday after the event, the event organizers held an 'open day' on their cross country field. This means that you pay a small sum on money and that allows you to spend the day on the course practicing the jumps as you see fit. Strictly speaking we were allowed to jump 1 grade higher than our registered grades, but my wonderful instructor, amazing horses and I all seemed to have other ideas and proceeded to jump all of the Novice (1m or 3ft3) jumps and some of the Intermediate (1,10m or 3ft6) jumps and even some of the CNC* (One Star) (1,20m or 4ft) jumps! It was absolutely incredible! I had no idea that these horses of mine could be so bold over such intense jumps!
All the photos included show Bronze (bay) and Badger (chestnut) at the open day, jumping the Intermediate and One Star jumps.
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Equestri
Your horses are so awesome. I dream about having your life xD
Your horses are so awesome. I dream about having your life xD
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May 14, 2010
• 4,230 views
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Polo the Weirdo
MOD
Hehe! Thanks dear. :) They are amazing... ^_^ *shifty* My life... O.O *hides under rock* :P
Hehe! Thanks dear. :) They are amazing... ^_^ *shifty* My life... O.O *hides under rock* :P
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May 14, 2010
• 4,195 views
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May 14, 2010
• 4,334 views
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Topthorn Equestri
That's awsome! I want to try eventing oneday. I'm actually in the middle of talking my parents to helping me set up a crosscountry course over at my trainers. She has a HUGE field that would be perfect for X-country! I'm not any good at dressage either. My horse does great in the show jumping arena though. :P
That's awsome! I want to try eventing oneday. I'm actually in the middle of talking my parents to helping me set up a crosscountry course over at my trainers. She has a HUGE field that would be perfect for X-country! I'm not any good at dressage either. My horse does great in the show jumping arena though. :P
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May 14, 2010
• 4,237 views
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Polo the Weirdo
MOD
Thanks guys. :) Topthorn: It is really fun! :D You are lucky! O.O I do not have a field to practice in... Haha! Poor horses only get to school XC at open days or the actual events. :P It is really fun though. :)
Thanks guys. :) Topthorn: It is really fun! :D You are lucky! O.O I do not have a field to practice in... Haha! Poor horses only get to school XC at open days or the actual events. :P It is really fun though. :)
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May 15, 2010
• 4,195 views
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