Okay okay okaaaaaaaaaaaayyy...I’m sorry. I’ve
been a bad blogger! My last blog was written in early February and Romy was
suffering from mud rash...nasty little bugger, that stuff. It eventually cleared
up and we headed out to try qualify for the Winter National Championships. We
qualified (just about) at medium level with some nice tests and some really not
so nice tests. I must admit, there is a specific judge who I know doesn’t like
Romy and I. We got an absolutely shocking score of 53.97% at one show. Yes, I
admit...I went wrong...twice (numpty). But still, 53.97 seemed incredibly harsh
and looking across the entire class, the winner was on 58%. So I’ve etched the
judge down as being a particularly tricky judge to impress and if I’m
completely honest, I will withdraw from shows if I know that judge will be
judging in the future. And I know that seems incredibly unsportsmanlike of me
but it’s less to do with the score and more to do with what it does to my
confidence as a rider. I KNOW Romy and I are better than that. And I know the
other people in that class were better than that too. Does anyone else have
judges they try to avoid?
Anyway, I digress. Winter Nationals came around
in April and I wasn’t feeling overly confident, given Romy’s mudrash which hadn’t
totally cleared up. The mudrash had meant he didn’t have the turnout which he
so desperately needs. Thankfully we had a walker at the yard so he got the
movement but it’s not quite the same as Dr. Green, in my opinion. He had been
quite sore on the hooves effected by the mudrash and I’m not sure if it was
that or if something else was going on but looking back on my video at
nationals he wasn’t totally sound in front. Refreshing, given Romy’s issues
have always been behind, but he actually felt good to ride so I’m annoyed at
myself for not picking up on it. And guess what...I went wrong. AGAIN! I’ve
actually been considering having some sports psychology sessions again to try
figure out what the hell is going on in the little Barbie brain of mine during
tests. So the first test on the Saturday I felt went quite well although he was
tense in some spots. He was quite forward and I enjoyed riding the test. A
couple of little blips and lack of concentration (or perhaps TOO much
concentration) on my part landed us in third place, which I was delighted for.
One judge had us in second place so I went into day 2 feeling confident. Maybe
TOO confident. And then went wrong. And Romy wasn't totally sound. And the surface of the
arena was AWFUL so I spent the time looking at places to avoid. So we got a measly
score of 61.397, however our score from the day before was good enough to end
up on an overall placing of fourth in the medium. I was really happy with
Romy...his attitude as always was the best. He’s just the nicest horse to be
around and it really felt like I was having a weekend away with my bestie
(insert heart emoji).
Till next time,
V&R
After that we had some changes in our lives. We
found out the lovely yard we were stabled at with Sandra Blake-Farrell
(Dollanstown) was for sale and all liveries had to find a new yard.
Coincidentally, I was tagged in a post by the owner of my old ride, Woody
(horses name...humans name is Amy), who was letting me know that UK trainer and
list 1 judge, Mark Ruddock, was opening up a yard with his partner in crime
Sean Burgess in Kildare...IRELAND! Yes, a bit more of a drive but after speaking
to Mark and Sean and going for a little trip to visit the yard it was a
no-brainer. Yes, the journey is long but less than the journey I drove for
Woody when I lived in London. The surface is great, the facilities are / will
be great and having two trainers plus a list 1 judge live on site has so far
been an incredible help. And the yard itself backs on to the Curragh, a gorgeous
part of Kildare with rolling hills which has been great for Romy’s fitness. We’re
also close to the Equine Aqua Centre so easier to get to the water walker in
future.
Very shortly after arriving at the new yard,
Brownstown, I decided to give advanced medium a shot. Most people are fond of
getting really high scores, some accused of ‘pot hunting’...staying at the same
level for as long as they can in order to bag a first place and red rosette.
Not me. If I thought I could enter a grand prix tomorrow, I would! Ready to
wear tails...HELL YEAH! So probably a little too unprepared, we went into our
first ever advanced medium test together. And guess who was judging us? See
paragraph 1 above (rolls eyes). So expecting to get in the 50’s I wasn’t too surprised to
see our score of 58.5%...but it was better than our last medium test and we
didn’t come last so while I was disheartened with the score I wasn’t completely
disheartened by the performance. I'd also like to point out that EIGHT riders either withdrew or went HC when they saw judgewhoshallnotbenamed was judging.
Vowing to prepare more, ride the test more,
get more lessons ahead of the next competition I decided to try again last
weekend. The sun was beaming, I was excited to be out and DELIGHTED that judge
ala paragraph 1 was not judging us and rode two advanced medium tests...one not
so great and one way better. I was super happy with Romy, as always...he’s my
little darling. Any issues we had were because of my poor riding rather
than his effort. We got 64.67% in the advanced medium 85, ending up fourth in a
class of nine and in the advanced medium 91 we got a score of 64.74% and came
second from six. I was over the moon. So much to learn and as a rider I learnt so much
that day. I know I, for some reason, don’t ride well in tests but Sean was
there to help me warm up and he kept telling me to ride...it was like my body
froze and I stopped really riding once I went into the warm up arena and the first
test. I don’t know why or what makes my mind go but I need to figure it out...stat!
He spoke to me after my first test and put a fire under my arse so I went into
the second test and rode like I would at home...willing to make mistakes for the
sake of trying to get Romy going correctly. In fact I think that’s it, I’m so
scared of making mistakes in a test I kind of sit there and baby Romy around
the arena instead of putting my leg on and really riding him.
Romy is still very green in the changes but the
scores varied from a 4 because it wasn’t on my aid to a 7 (most of them were
6.5 or 7 so I was happy with that!). So I think I’ll stick at this level now
until we are getting comfortably in the high 60’s before donning the tails and galloping
head first down the centre line!
We have one qualifying score under our belt and
I need another score from a qualifying test before we can start thinking about
summer nationals. Romy, as always, tests me at every show and the last show we went to I withdrew from because he just wasn't feeling it. But I just keep reminding myself that it's the nature of the game and they're entitled to off days, just like us. I'm putting less pressure on summer nationals now and will try to just see what happens......pretty tough for a planner like me!
