The long awaited day arrived and what a beautiful one, well weather-wise perhaps! (It wasn't too bad in other ways as well!). Mattingley is Fox's favourite track. He seems to find the jumps quite appealing - maybe it's those exquisite carvings (did you see the one trunk with the spider?) and the ground, which today was just perfect. Springy and very few lumps and bumps. Blaze hadn't been to Mattingley before, but Ruth has seen me ride there a few times and was really keen to give it a go.
Dressage was a strange affair. I watched Ruth's test and, to me, it looked pretty good. The trot work seemed rhythmical and the canter was not too onward bound. She had to haul him to walk at one point and the free walk was not too liberated, but otherwise all looked fine. 37.9 was the score and the comments suggested that the pony needed to go forward more! We've not had too much advice on that front before, but - hey- judging is not a science!!!
Fox was really forward for his test. Before the warm-up, he had managed to upset both Sam (by breaking off the tap in the stud hole when he stamped down out of pure bolshiness), then me and the farrier by not standing still to have the shoe removed and replaced. But bolshiness was quite useful as it made him quite lively all the way to the test, and through it (until the very last piece of canter when he again ran out of steam and broke!) Never mind, we got 32. A good start.
Show jumping was a blast. We both went clear. Fox really tried and only trotted one fence. (The Saddle Club outing on Friday really helped as a warm-up). Blaze just pinged round as only those Welshies can (Hugo agrees, doncha)
Cross country was the weak phase of the three really. For me, that's no surprise. I went clear but god knows how many of the 21 fences we jumped out of trot. He was sweet and honest at every fence and never felt like he was going to stop today, but oh for a bit more oommpphff!
Never mind, the goal was to get a double clear and that we achieved!
Blaze did his usual. Blasted round the first two thirds of the course. A veritable flying machine, as I think these photos depict. He pitched onto his nose in the water (when he hit a hole) and then jumped over the brush on the other side with the rider clinging on for dear life - no reins or stirrups! Bless his cottons!
The problem came after the corner, when Ruth took the wrong track and ended up hauling Blaze towards a chair fence, which - had he jumped it - would have meant a head-on collision with a tree trunk (upright!) so he decided to opt out. And that put paid to her clear round - just 2 time faults for all that!
A super day, though. Our next outing is to the Garth South Pony Club Summer show at Wigmore Farm next Sunday..... report backs to come.
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