Weston Park (International) – BE90 ODE

Dressage Test: BE95 (2012) Judge: Richard Baldwin Dressage Mark: 30.0
SJ Jumping Penalties: 0 SJ Time Penalties: 0
XC Jumping Penalties: 0 XC Time Penalties: 0 XC Time: 5min 01secs
XC Distance: 2355m XC Optimum Time: 5m 14secs Placing: 6th

Finn was quite uptight when we arrived today – she was jumpy and tense – it took an age to get her studs in before the dressage.  I did consider not bothering with them but it was so very wet there was no way we’d manage without them……  Got them in eventually and went down to warm up for dressage, we were soaked before we even got over to the warm up area.  Finn settled quite well working in and did a nice test gaining mostly 7’s and 8’s – the centre line at the end of the test was quite wobbly as the wind a rain blew us off track!!  Judge’s comments were: “Bold rhythmical paces shown with promise.  Now could develop more support onto hinds with the energy for further lightness to the contact”.  I was really pleased with this.

We walked the Cross Country in between the Dressage and Show Jumping – it looked quite straightforward, but the conditions were so awful that there were still plenty of questions for us.

Show Jumping was a mud bath – both the warm up area and in the ring – so slippery the horse before me slipped and fell in front of a fence.  I jumped only two in the warm up and went into the ring.  Finn jumped a nice round, she felt balanced and was listening – she did knock a couple and Chris said that she actually had one down – Lynsey didn’t think we had and the scoreboard recorded a clear round, but I’ll always wonder about that.

The day never goes without some form of drama – After the SJ I headed back tot he trailer to change for Cross Country.  Got back tot he car and realised that Chris had given me the keys to the jag instead of the Discovery….  I spent about 20 minutes searching for him, had got the message form Jess Beasley that I was looking for him so he came back and helped me get ready.  We had lost two studs during the SJ though so had to do a quick re-fit before the XC.  The XC steward was fine and accepted my apology, they were running late anyway.  The XC warm up was treacherous so I only popped one fence and went into the start box.  Finn just flew round eating up the XC .  In fact, it felt so good (and fast) that I did wonder if I had missed a whole section out – but of course I hadn’t and we finished clear 13 seconds inside the optimum time.

By the time prize giving came the rain had actually stopped and it was starting to brighten up.  We were awarded 6th place, wining a lovely rosette, a Blue Chip baseball cap, some blue chip carrot calmer and a £30 Blue Chip voucher.  Fantastic!