For most people the winter ended last Monday when the temperature soared to a sweltering 20.3 degrees, the hottest on record for a February day. For me however the winter ended today in a monumental fashion...
Like many other event riders I have spent the winter training hard and dreaming harder. I've had lots of jump lessons, mastered my flying changes (important when you event at novice?) and done a handful of xc schools and arena eventing competitions... I even posted a few clear rounds which for me is the epitome of having a great day, they are few and far between but this winter seem to have made a more regular appearance. So I think it is safe to say that we have had our best winter ever and my confidence had peaked at an astronomical level... I was the next god damn Pippa Funnell and 2019 was in the bag, I was going to move up to Intermediate, win all my novices and have a SJ record that rivalled Michy Jungs.... And then winter ended today and I realised just how unrealistic I had been. You can't win events on optimism alone. It's good to be positive but you also have to be realistic!
Today reminded me that the biggest skills you need to master to enjoy eventing and horses in general are positivity and being realistic. Yes Smarty will probably always frustrate and test me in the dressage, Show Jumping will always be my nemesis and no matter how hard I try, my horse will always be a hooligan xc for his first run of the year! But there's no horse I would rather be sat on when I'm heading to those fences, we know each other inside out and he would jump the moonfor me if I asked!
Now it's not all doom and gloom, yes my unrealistic hopes and dreams were shattered and I came crashing down to earth with a bang but there are so many positives to take away from today and here are just a few...
So to sum up my day at Aston Le Walls today I think the best word is "educational". Yes I may have had my hugely optimistic bubble popped, we are a million miles away from moving up to Intermediate and I am not the next Ros or Gemma, but I had a bloody blast today, learnt tons and feel 100% more prepared for Tweseldown than I did at the start of the day! And the best thing about today was no bloody SJ nerves... None, not even when we had fence 4 because I had killed his canter off the turn. Normally a mistake like that would send me spiralling into the pit of despair, causing my round to get worse and worse, but I just parked it and kicked on for the next which we cleared easily and continued on with our round.
This season might not contain all the glory that a winters hard training and optimism had me believing was winging my way but today reminded me why I do what I do. Its not for rosettes and prizes, it's because I love my horse, I love eventing and I love the little personal wins like nailing that dressage test or overcoming your SJ nerves. That feeling you get when you cross the finish line xc with a clear round or soaring over a huge table on the perfect shot. Nothing compares to the comradery of our sport and I am going to bed tonight absolutely buzzing with excitement at the prospect of an exciting 2019 season filled with realistic goals and fun times with my Smarty Pants <3
Like many other event riders I have spent the winter training hard and dreaming harder. I've had lots of jump lessons, mastered my flying changes (important when you event at novice?) and done a handful of xc schools and arena eventing competitions... I even posted a few clear rounds which for me is the epitome of having a great day, they are few and far between but this winter seem to have made a more regular appearance. So I think it is safe to say that we have had our best winter ever and my confidence had peaked at an astronomical level... I was the next god damn Pippa Funnell and 2019 was in the bag, I was going to move up to Intermediate, win all my novices and have a SJ record that rivalled Michy Jungs.... And then winter ended today and I realised just how unrealistic I had been. You can't win events on optimism alone. It's good to be positive but you also have to be realistic!
Today reminded me that the biggest skills you need to master to enjoy eventing and horses in general are positivity and being realistic. Yes Smarty will probably always frustrate and test me in the dressage, Show Jumping will always be my nemesis and no matter how hard I try, my horse will always be a hooligan xc for his first run of the year! But there's no horse I would rather be sat on when I'm heading to those fences, we know each other inside out and he would jump the moonfor me if I asked!
Now it's not all doom and gloom, yes my unrealistic hopes and dreams were shattered and I came crashing down to earth with a bang but there are so many positives to take away from today and here are just a few...
- We started the season at Novice, something I have never felt confident enough to do before.
- We posted a top 10 dressage score despite having learnt a new trick of chin on chest resulting in me having to completely change how I rode him.
- We jumped an amazing and confident round in the SJ which isn't reflected in the score of 12 (3 down) but they were all upright of turns. Normally we struggle with oxers as I get tight to them if they are a little big and historically we always have fences in the triples but he jumped all the combinations foot perfect today and I know exactly where I went wrong it the fences we had.
- Finally we posted a great clear xc, albeit a little slow due to me not letting the hand brake off on my little hooligan. He is always wild on his first run of the season and after chipping one in to the 3rd and almost having a horse fall I felt it was wise just to school round with some semblance of control. I am going to pop a bit burr on him for Tweseldown on Friday as historically this has helped me get his attention before a fence so that I can leave him alone more in between.
So to sum up my day at Aston Le Walls today I think the best word is "educational". Yes I may have had my hugely optimistic bubble popped, we are a million miles away from moving up to Intermediate and I am not the next Ros or Gemma, but I had a bloody blast today, learnt tons and feel 100% more prepared for Tweseldown than I did at the start of the day! And the best thing about today was no bloody SJ nerves... None, not even when we had fence 4 because I had killed his canter off the turn. Normally a mistake like that would send me spiralling into the pit of despair, causing my round to get worse and worse, but I just parked it and kicked on for the next which we cleared easily and continued on with our round.
This season might not contain all the glory that a winters hard training and optimism had me believing was winging my way but today reminded me why I do what I do. Its not for rosettes and prizes, it's because I love my horse, I love eventing and I love the little personal wins like nailing that dressage test or overcoming your SJ nerves. That feeling you get when you cross the finish line xc with a clear round or soaring over a huge table on the perfect shot. Nothing compares to the comradery of our sport and I am going to bed tonight absolutely buzzing with excitement at the prospect of an exciting 2019 season filled with realistic goals and fun times with my Smarty Pants <3