Walliston Combined Training Event 3

What a weekend! I don't think I sat down for more than 10 minutes all weekend, so coming to work seems like a nice little rest.

Saturday was an early start to ride, wash and plait Henry before getting myself all dressed up for a hens party. We had so much fun and I drank maybe a little too much.

My lovely, not at all horsey friends

After not enough sleep we were up early to load the horses and head to the Walliston Combined Training competition, the last event in the series.

Henry was up first and he was really unsettled from the get go. I had a solid plan and stuck to it but unfortunately we didn't make it in to the arena because it just would have been far too unproductive. So I made the call to not compete and instead spent my morning plaiting Coolie and chatting with friends. I wasn't too nervous though so that is positive.

Kiddo is not afraid of balloons 

Coolies test was later in the morning and I had quite a bit of time to faff about getting him ready. I hopped on with about the right amount of time to warm up. Then I found they were running about 20 minutes late. I decided that I would start with a really good walk to get him stretched out and moving forward. We used the extra time productively and thoughtfully, I made the most of it without wearing him out.

He is so much better to the contact. He looks like this all the time now!

From the second we entered the arena Coolie was switched on. He was in dressage mode and was all about dancing. This is a first! The test went ok. I possibly should have practiced a few elements a bit more in the lead up to the competition, but I was very pleased with how it was overall. Coolie definitely put his best hoof forward. I needed to be more organised in a few places and lost marks as a result but I was pretty chuffed. I was even more thrilled when I saw our sheet. A nice solid improvement! 62% is a big deal for us and the judges comments were helpful and encouraging.

I had time for some lunch and more chatting (yeah, I talk a lot!) before we tacked up for show jumping. I had a really great lesson on Friday so with that fresh in my mind I went into the arena after a short warm up.

Coolie flew around and other than getting too fast down one of the related lines, we had a really amazing round, and we were clear.

The 100cm round we went in feeling mostly confident. The course was the same, so I picked up what I thought was a good canter but proved to be too slow. We got deep to the first 2 jumps and had a rail at both. I asked for a more forward canter to the third fence and Coolie jumped it so well. We landed and stumbled in the heavy sand. I think everyone thought we were goners, because apparently the paramedics started to run forward. But we are eventers. I sat up, and let Coolie work himself out. We had to circle to get ourselves sorted out picking up a technical refusal. From there our round improved and holy shit, that horse JUMPED.

This bit was fine

The moment you think 'oh shit!' 

I got the canter in exactly the right spot and Coolie did the rest. He jumped the crap out of everything and I had to hang on! He was adjustable and the round was great in the end. We kept it together and although we picked up 12 faults and time I was pretty pleased I didn't let anything shake us. We just took our time to recover and kept going.

We ended up second in the 100cm combined training, my friend beat us with a really solid dressage test and clear SJ round. I am so happy for her! We won the 90cm jumping with our clear round. I'm pretty chuffed with that!

This event was one in a series, and so along with individual event placings we were up for series placings too. I knew we were up for winning the 100cm combined training because we had the points. Nothing beats having your name called to collect your winning rug, I'll tell you that!

Lauren and I

Then they announced the show jumping series winners. They got to 90cm, which had loads of contenders. When my name wasn't called in the 6th-2nd place getters I thought we were out of luck in the series. Imagine my surprise when we were called for first!! I was OVER THE MOON. Now Coolie and I have 2 rugs to our names. They are the first ones we have ever won, and I am ridiculously proud.

Emily, Lauren and I. Our last group photo before Emily leave us to go East as a working student. I'm going to miss her!

This series has showed us steadily improve over the year. Coolie is feeling better than ever and has shown me he is so happy doing his job. I couldn't be happier to have him as my trusty steed. This morning when I went to feed him he was happy to see me with his carrots and I know I have my horse of a life time.