We arrived at Tweseldown on Sunday to perfect weather and going. As the course is relatively local, we had been up to walk the XC course the previous afternoon. I had good early times so I collected my number and walked my showjumping course before tacking up and hopping on for dressage. Humbug warmed up well and I tried my utmost to stay calm and relaxed myself so she had a chance of staying soft in our test. Well this seemed to work and she did one of her more pleasing tests for a 38; I lost some good marks for a few mistakes here and there but all in all I was very pleased!
We had very little time between dressage and showjumping so, again, I had no time to get worked up or nervous! This along with a very successful bit change to a rubber pelham with double reins resulted in a frighteningly responsive horse and our best clear yet! I was over the moon with her and feeling more confident than ever about the XC course that stood between us and that elusive double clear...
Well of course that would be far too good to be true! She warmed up like a pro once again; hitting every spot I put her on and jumping out of her skin. We set off out of the start box at a strong pace with her pulling me hard into every fence and taking off without even breaking her gallop! She popped through the angled and skinny combinations like they weren't there and flew the open corner that was causing a good few problems on course that day. Until the water... Where she decided she absolutely did not feel like getting her feet wet today! She very uncharacteristically had 3 dirty stops at the first element and eliminated us. So all that was left to do was start the walk of shame back to the lorry park; I suspect she had a very sore bottom as I certainly had very sore pride! When I arrived back at the trailer, i noticed she had green tree mould and blue paint from the fence all over her chest and legs where she had skidded into the fence so stubbornly!
So a thoroughly frustrating day all round but that's eventing and I am pleased we are starting to crack the dressage and showjumping which are usually her weaker phases. We took her to a local course on Monday to put her through some water so she hadn't won and got it into her big marey head that she is boss! We will be making a trip back to Tweseldown sometime soon to tackle the water complex again but until then, I am off for a short holiday in the South of Ireland to chill out for a bit! We are entered for Mattingley BE100Plus a couple of days after I am back so I have lots to look forward to.
Here is our Showjumping round and I shall upload my dressage test and XC warm up clips as soon as I am back in the country.