Storm Stradbally
Friday morning I gave myself a little sleep in, I reckoned it was the last bit of enjoyable sleep I'd have for a few nights. Body clock still woke up relatively early though, but I felt refreshed. Made breakfast and had a massive cuppa tae with Rusty, while chillin watching tv. I put a list together in my head and then wrote it all down. Mam is always saying I'm like my grandfather for writing lists, truth is I'm such a ditz if I didn't I'd forget the horses nearly!
I packed all my stuff, ready to go, incl. tent and camping stuff. Then I went into town to get some snackage for the weekend and needed to get tracking done on the jeep. This all took a bit longer than I'd anticipated.
I got home and cooked some tuna pasta for the weekend, and had dinner. Then the proper packing began. I filled the jeep and literally stuffed everything in. I brought the boys in. I decided I'd be better off to just hit the road, rather than washing them now and going. Of course I decided on that before I saw Fred in the flesh and realised he'd given himself a bloody mud bath!!! God dammit Fred.......he knew exactly what he was doing!
We hit the road at about 2.30.
Tunes ready in the car.
The boys happy out with haynets in the back.
Stradbally here we come!!
Bar the getting slightly lost around Portlaois - stupid GPS, we got there in good time. When I opened the jockey door the two boys were still eating away, not a care in the world. I met some of the girls from the club and they told me what isle we were in in the stables. So I unloaded the two and we headed off to find their temporary new abode.
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| Look at the muck on him! |
I parked up and unloaded my tent and started the serious task of putting it up. I borrowed my brother-in-laws humongous tent, which was slightly different to my €20 5 min jobby tent. With assistance from the Queen of camping that was in my group ( I mean seriously, she is the Goddess of it all!!) we got it up.
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| Gotta start somewhere 😕 |
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| Checking out the Electric Picnic stages |
I'd organised to get a round bale of hay off a friend that lived nearby to share between a few of us - I didn't have the room to bring enough for the two for the whole weekend - so myself and Caroline headed off to get that.
When I got back, it was time to wash Fred. This was a difficult task considering his muddy state and the cold water situation. Also, he was minus impressed by the cold water situation. Gave him a full bath and brushed out his tail. We had hugs and kisses afterwards and he let me know his distaste at the cold water by headbutting me straight down on the bridge of my nose. I had a crunch. He's after breaking my fucking nose. Jesus christ. I broke it last year, so it is a bit weaker than before. So there was much cursing and ow-ing.....then I had to go and plait CC. Because injuries do not fit in to my time schedule. Eventually got CC done and it was after 10pm by the time I left the stables. Bar a few bars of chocolate and maybe a banana, I hadn't eaten properly since lunch. Starvin marvin over here. But before I could sit down ( and ultimately collapse) I had to blow up my air bed, so that when I was beyond wrecked it'd be there waiting for me. I got a foot pump off the Camping Goddess and started. But.....my tent was on uneven ground and whilst trying to aggressively pump up my bed my foot slipped and my ankle went over. SWEET JESUS THE PAIN. Like a wave coming over you. It was so bad I had to sit down. There were no words, no sounds. Just silent OOOOOWWWWWWW. That's how you know it's bad. When there is silence. I limped over to the jeep and got some of vet wrap and wrapped up my foot. That gave me some relief. I finished off my bed and got some food and sat down with some well deserved beers.
We'd set up camp with some other clubs from our region, so we'd a nice mix of people around. The weather had deteriorated massively from earlier in the day and it was now lashing rain. We all huddled under one of the gazebos, cuddling our drinks. Exhaustion kicked in and I headed for leaba. It's June and there are gale force winds and torrential rain outside. The wind whipped into my tent all night. It stayed waterproof at least. But there was no sleep to be had. I needed to go to the toilet too, but screw that. I was not going out in that weather. So all in all I got maybe 2 hours sleep that night, maybe. Alarm went off at 5.50am.
Fred was first up in lightweight hunter. Every year it's my first class at 9am. I had to give him another bath, plait him, pretty him up, put in studs, clean myself up, have a million bananas whilst I did all this and get up and go. I planned to be on him at 8.30 to have a nice warm up. Best laid plans and all that......I managed to get up on him around 8.45, but the stars were in my favour and the judges were late, so I actually did have a nice warm up. Bar the conversation I had with some perma-tanned ould wan that looked like the roommate from Theirs Something About Mary ( please do look her up). I got over that and went in for the class. Fred went beautifully and got pulled in in First place - absolutely delighted with that!! Our first time in that spot. I knew he wouldn't actually come first as his confirmation would let him down a bit in front and the various nicks he'd gotten recently would be more obvious. But he went very well for the judges too and came in 4th! Great start to the day. I put him back in the stable and got something to eat and got my phone. Then I pulled out CC and we went for a walk in hand to show him everything, all the arenas etc. Managed to catch my friend doing clear round, another girl in the cob class and then met Groom-In-Training (GIT) on our way back to the stables. I put CC back in and went back to the camp to get his gear and get the fancy dancey camera for GIT.
I unexpectedly met my aunt & uncle down by the stables, but as I was rushing around like a headless chicken I didn't get time to chat with them.
Fixed up CC's plaits, brushed him down, put in studs (his first time ever to wear them) and geared myself up. We were ready to go for the Coloured class. He was still tense/anxious so I wasn't expecting much from him, just really to tire him out before Working Hunter. The judges had gone to lunch, so again we'd a nice warm up. He was slightly more chilled, but still watching everything. At least I'd my friend Serena in this class. My sister & her two daughters & dog (Rusty's sister).
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| On route. Late. Still doing adjustments. |
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| Cu Chulainn & Sissco |
The class was pretty big. I've done a fair few showing classes, but I am by no means an expert. Very much a novice. I do however know that there is a showing 'etiquette'. And that was nowhere to be seen in this class. I was only using the class to tire him out, so I didn't really care but jesus..... People were passing each other out left, right and centre in front of the judges ( a big no, no, as you are hiding the horse your passing from the judge). Then there was a woman who had zero control of her horse and was cantering around non-stop while the class was trotting ( and that went crazily out of control when the canter came around!). Now, I felt sorry for her, it was all a bit much for her and her horse, but in the interest of safety, she should have been asked to leave, because I saw the horse canter straight in to the middle of the arena where there was a group of horses, very nearly crashing in to them. I kept my distance. To be fair to CC he behaved, he didn't take off, he trotted, cantered and my did he love the gallop!! But he was great, as soon as we get his flatwork together he'll be a showing rockstar. Maybe. Hahah. Serena was in the rosettes with her beautiful horse, Sissco, coming 6th. Delighted for them.
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| Bella ( Rusty's sister) |
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| Éimear saying hi to Cu Chulainn! |
After that class, I went back to the stable for a quick break and to change saddle. Another banana and some water. I put studs on Fred (I'd left CC's in, the stables are on grass, so it was grand). Swopped his saddle, and had my friend Laura bring Fred over, so that I could just do a tack change at the arena.
At the warm up I met my friend Eiméar and she did warm up jumps for me, which was great. CC was great, he was jumping well and as set as we were gonna be that day. There were a load of people ahead of us, but eventually we got in. He's not a fan of standing in the pocket when he's anxious, so we stayed walking around.
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| Warming up |
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| A few horses ahead of us |
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| Having fun!! |
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| Almost done! |
Not for me though. Quick change of tack and I was up on Fred. Poor Fred did not have a great warm up as we were the last to go and everyone else had finished. He went in and did his best, we'd a few down, but I was delighted with him. It was a lot better than our last attempt there. My confidence is returning.
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| The judge loved him (rightly so!) |
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| Happy faces! |
We were done. Day One over. At half 5. That was a long assed day. Well, I say over, I still had to untack, take out studs, feed etc.
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| Fred is Aoife's favourite |
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| Kisses for Cu Chulainn |
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| Happy faces |
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| He survived! And I look suitably wrecked |
The weather had improved at least and it was sunny, but that meant slight sunburn for me and a lot of sunburn for GIT 😂
We went back to our camping village, where the wind had picked up and unfortunately some of the gazebos thought they were in the Wizard of Oz and gave up the ghost! Had a few snacks and chilled for a bit and them myself and GIT went back over to the boys to give them more hay water etc and check on the others. I thought one of the horses had pooped in his water so threw it out to change it and realised, nope, there was beet pulp in it! Ooops...
I said goodnight to my boys and headed back for camp. It was now full on raining and windy. Lucky for us we had the Goddess of camping and her mahooosive tent, which had two bedrooms, a foyer and a kind of sitting room. So we settled in there for the night. The girls managed to get the BBQ up and running before the rain hit in, so we were fed and set about being watered! The craic was 90 in the tent that night and we were in stitches all night.
When I finally got to bed, I had no trouble sleeping. I did wake up after about 4 hours, but I managed to get back to sleep after awhile. The wind wasn't as bad that night, but still bad.
I didn't have as early a start the next day. Fred was on at 10.20 in dressage. I'd learned my test the night before, but as it turned out I'd misread one part of it 😔 Fred was tired and so was I. I think those stables really drain him as they can get quite hot. But we still gave it a shot.
After dressage it was straight back to the stables to Cu Chulainn to stud him up and get him ready for jumping. The course wasn't set yet, so I couldn't walk it. Of course it lashed rain just before I was going to walk it. Ran around the course, then ran back and got him. He was far more relaxed today and we popped a few in the warm up. Luckily there was a girl there I knew from home that set up some jumps for me. I was starting to get a bit nervous. I haven't done any SJ in National competition. I tried to keep my mind off that. We went in and I just said to him, each jump at a time. Let's give it our best.
And did we! I couldn't have been prouder. He jumped everything. He had a look or two at things outside of the arena, but didn't baulk at any of the multicoloured jumps. We had 2 down, but heck, I couldn't give a crap, I was delighted with him!!
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| In we go |
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| Absolutely delighted 😀 |
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| Job done, time for a rest |
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| Rebel without a cause |
I had planned to dismantle the tent in between the jumping and the dressage to music classes, and at least have that done. But, unfortunately, that did not go to plan. I went to watch my friend Amanda jump and get GIT to take some pics of her.
After I was on my way back to the tent to grab food, met my aunt & cousins briefly, as it was starting to rain when I realised that I'd got my time wrong for dressage to music. I was on in just over half an hour. Slight panic. I hadn't managed to get to practice either test during the week as they were being done in a 20x60 arena. So I was winging it. Also, I only made Fred's music up on Wednesday, so we were proper winging it. Eeeekkkk.
Got my music and headed south for the dressage. I had exhausted poor GIT and he hit the road for home before he couldn't drive. Lucky he drove down because there wasn't a free inch in my jeep! Would have had to put him in with CC and Fred!
CC was still in a more relaxed mode, so that boded well for us. He didn't mind the music, just the speaker it was coming out of. No major spooks and we made a test up. He did well and I was happy. Big pats for him, he was done.
Back up and got Fred. Got my phone and earphones to listen to my music while walking down. Thought I lost my USB stick with his music on it ( minor panic attack). We were both pretty tired. We went in and did a test. I was happy enough. And we were both happy to be finished. On our way back up I met some friends from Dublin. I put him back in his stable and made sure they'd water and hay. I went to get food, finally. I hadn't eaten since that morning and it was now about 4. I got to chat with my friend Trish for awhile over pizza. The food choices were minimal at the festival.
Then I went back to dismantle the tent. Thankfully GIT had packed everything from it into the jeep. I managed to get it down by myself and set about loading all the crap I had over at the stables. I still had a shitload of hay left in the box, so my friend Ashling helped me take some of it out and I pushed the rest to the front so the boys could happily munch away on the way home. Just as I'd loaded them in the box, I realised I'd never taken out Fred's studs. So I had to take them out again. Find the stud kit ( even harder) and take them out.
I said goodbye to my clubmates and hit the road. That was a tough drive. Drank lots of water and had music blaring. Not a sound out of the two. They were happy out.
We got home in one piece. I had to give them hard feed so I could take out their plaits. While I was taking out Fred's I heard a noise, out of nowhere appeared Rusty, delighted that we were home. Puppy hugs for everyone.
I threw the boys out and they trotted up to Pena and Pablo.
I went in and had dinner. Had an epsom salt bath. Chatted to mam for a bit and hit the bed. Exhausted.com
I am still recovering.
Stradbally........ you were
Epic
Mental
Non-stop
Chaotic
Windy as fuck
Mighty craic
See you next year!!
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