Gidgegannup CNC

One of my favourite events of the year!

We had a very wet few weeks int he lead up tot he event. Wet weather makes it very hard to train without an arena. I was feeling a bit under prepared but had high hopes. I knew that our dressage was steadily improving and our show jumping and cross country was strong.

On the job

Friday I chose not to ride. It was wet but also Coolie was feeling a little sore. I chose to massage and heat pack him to give us the best chance to compete at the weekend.

My dressage test was at 10 on Saturday. We got up there with plenty of time to spare. I had to plait and I wanted Henry to settle in before I ha to take coolie away to ride.

I hopped on with about 45 minutes to warm up. He was tense and the warm up was small, making it hard to get him to really relax and use himself. The moment I went into the arena, he was tense. I just couldn't get him to relax and use himself. the test was rubbish and the mark reflected that. i was very disappointed.

I walked the cross country seriously questioning why I event. Dressage is just so hard for us and our hard work doesn't always pay off on the day. Maybe I should just show jump.

There were some seriously big fences on cross country but nothing technical.

Into the water

Sunday we were up early for show jumping. The course walked well. Coolie was feeling really great over the fences. He listened well and I was able to really give to him and allow him to use himself without him rushing.

Out of the water

He jumped well but just lost the rhythm coming into fence 7 where we had the A element down. I was happy as he is improving with every round.

Cross country was an hour after show jumping so after a quick change over and rest, I popped the studs in and headed down to warm up.

Nailing it

He was feeling really good and on the job. He knows exactly what we are there to do at Gidge and as soon as we were out of the start box it was game on. he felt brilliant and on the job. I really left him alone and it worked so well. He knows what to do and he flew everything. It was such a good round and I was really proud of him.

Looking very pro

Both our jumping phases made up for dressage, and I will keep plugging away and chalk it up to experience.

Such a weird fence