Dressage Final........

Well, after the dramatics of last week I was in chill mode this week. I was absolutely wrecked after the training and the competition and then driving home, so it was time to bring it down a notch or three 😊

I didn't ride until Wednesday evening. It was time to bring jumping back into our lives. I jumped Fred over a few small jumps, he hasn't jumped since October. I was watching a few kids jump the course and I was thinking to myself shit, how the hell do you jump again?! Complete riders block. Then I popped a few cross poles and I immediately knew what to do. After that I did a club lesson with Cu Chulainn. We were doing a grid. He hadn't jumped since November and the first jump we did was a 2-jump grid with placing poles! He was super, had a small look but still went over them. Second time was no problem. By the end of the lesson we were doing a 4 jump grid with poles in between and he was fantastic! He's a real cracker of a horse.

The plumber was out on Friday and finally got the drinkers in the stable hooked up - wahoo!! That's a load of hardship out of my evenings. Fred drinks soo much water that my friend call him the camel and Cu Chulainn is nearly worse!

CC has decided that he prefers to drink from Fred's

We have the final of our dressage league this weekend and I'm not prepared at all. Last week completely took it's toll on me, combined with the stupid weather we're having, mild, wet, dry, freezing.....I have a cold that never quite materialises but yet doesn't let me have a good night sleep...... grrr


Friday night I was all set for a cosy night in by the fire as I'd a good bit to do Saturday, including test drive some jeeps! But the unexpected arrival of some family meant going out for pints.....which then made Saturday pretty unproductive. Starting with my jeep saying 'hell no, I ain't workin today'. So I had to borrow my dads car to go test driving some new ones. It's so much harder to look for a new jeep because it not only has to take me from A to B, but it has to be able to tow 1800kg at least 4 times a week....... but I have narrowed it down to two I think.

I managed to take Cu Chulainn out for a hack. Our first one in months on the main road by ourselves. It's only a small section of the main road that we need to go on, luckily, as people are ridiculous and do not slow down here...........and so many of them are farmers, I do not understand it, livestock on the road and you don't slow down????????? I invested in a helmet cam for this reason, in case anything ever happens. I tend to wear it if I'm riding in the field too, so that if I fall off whoever finds me can find out what happened.
It was pretty windy and BALTIC out on Saturday, so I was very covered up. A few bits of plastic flying around too which CC was not too fond of. We left a few skid marks in various points, but we survived!!


I had absolutely zero preparation done for Sunday final. I only looked up my test just after 11pm. Had to learn two new ones since the last leg, so needed to go over it. A friend offered to bring CC over for me and I was going to hack Fred over to the competition, luckily I'm only 2.5 miles away. I was supposed to be on at 5 so I asked the secretary if I could squeeze in earlier as it'd be too late to hack home, thankfully she was great about it.


Set my alarm for 6.50. Got up and had breakfast, fed the boys and then got dressed. Took my stuff out of the jeep, cleaned my boots, got my show gear ready.  Plaited up Fred and washed CC's legs and gave him a once over. My friend arrived and I packed up CC and Rusty. Then I tacked up Fred and we headed off. It was a pretty cold morning and he was feeling fresh, so we bombed it over, great fun.

We arrived in one piece and I found a free stable to put Fred in. I plaited up CC there. Then I got my gear on and warmed him up. It was quite nice not having a time. We headed in when to wait as soon as we were ready and there was a judges break on. So we stood there and waited, a bit of moving around at first, but he really relaxed there - such a change from the first week when I could barely get him in to the pocket, never mind actually stand there!!

When our time came, we walked in and walked around the arena, nice and calmly, did a bit of trot,and then we got the bell.  Everything was nice and calm for first half of the test ( a real change!!) he got a bit strong in the canter, but he came back. We halted and saluted and I could have burst with happiness!! He was fantastic.

Checking out the competition

Fred was up next. Threw another banana into me before I got up ( bananas are my absolute saviours at shows, I cannot give them enough praise, especially if you are nervous, like before XC or jumping, as I have been known to be!!). Did a pretty quick warm up on him because the wind had really picked up and there is NO shelter outside,so we pottered in to the pocket. He was in good form and I'd remembered my spurs, so all was good. He gave a lovely test, just broke into canter at one random stage, but all good again. Big pats for Frederico after!

I got CC ready to head home and put him back in my friends box. Then hit the road with Fred again. You'd swear he hadn't just done dressage, he was spooky and doing a lovely extended trot down the road, but then he chilled about half way and we walked for ages. The wind had really picked up and I was dressed as an Eskimo. We got home eventually and CC was chilling in his stable, like oh where were you guys?! I contemplated letting them out for a roll, but it was so cold that I figured they wouldn't mind staying in.

How cute is Rusty?!

 

So fed them and then headed off to get some local cuisine to feed myself..........taco fries, they were amazing!!!!

I headed back to get our results and see how everyone got on. It was certainly worth the hack over! The boys were 1st and 2nd for ages, but finished up 3rd and 4th and Fred came 2nd in the overall league. Absolutely delighted. Great start to the year!!

We'll be starting this week in lazy mode too. Have had to forget about going to the Dressage Ireland competition next weekend, but to be honest I was kind of happy to cancel it. I think I might take CC cross country schooling instead. So no washing, or plaiting, the joys!! Also, hope to get Rua back to start working on him again. In the meantime, it'll be early morning riding out.........


P.S. Does anyone else find that mucking out takes FOREVER when you keep looking at your beautiful horses and sneaking in hugs and kisses?