May 2015
Well another month has flown by but any hint of summer
weather seems to have vanished!
At the beginning of May we headed off with Herbie (Coniston
Nadal) to the Badminton Grassroots Championships. The week started off with
gale force winds and heavy rain which unfortunately stuck around for the
entirety of the competition. On dressage day the winds were blowing but Herbie
was really mature and managed to perform a beautiful dressage test and go into
the lead. We led overnight which meant the pressure was on. That, combined with
heavy wind and rain meant I didn’t get the best night’s sleep! The second day saw
us tackle the showjumping and cross country elements of the competition. I have
put a lot of work into Herbie’s showjumping and had managed to jump two double
clears so far this season so I was hopeful he would go well but unfortunately
the weather got to him and he just wouldn't concentrate meaning we had 3 down
and added 12 faults to our dressage score - this was really disappointing but
you have to pick yourself back up and crack on! The cross country was causing a
lot of problems with eventually less than half of the field managing a clear
round. I was therefore really pleased that we were one of them. I took him
fairly steadily as by the time we set off the weather conditions had
deteriorated further and we had to deal with driving rain and poor visibility!
The course was challenging with lots of technical questions and the need for
accuracy as well plenty of stamina.
Overall it is disappointing after such a strong position
after dressage to move down the leader board due to poles down in the
showjumping and cross country time faults but overall I’m pleased with Herbie
as he did a lovely dressage test and a clear round a challenging cross country
course. That said it did take me a couple of days to forgive him!
Mum and I stayed down at Badminton for the rest of the week
and enjoyed some fantastic eventing (and also the opportunity to exercise
Herbie in front of Badminton House each morning!). It was also a good
opportunity to see the ups and downs of the sport at top level and to realise we
all have our own areas to work, whatever level you’re competing at.
Herbie is entered in his first novice this weekend at Bishop
Burton so I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles the step up in class.
Our beautiful foal, Ginny Rumba, is not so little anymore
and has developed some real attitude! As I write our broodmare is being scanned
to see whether she is in foal to Up With The Lark so fingers crossed Ginny will
have a little brother or sister on the way!
Here’s hoping the weather improves and we can all get the
sunglasses and shorts out soon!
Best wishes,
Lucie
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