|
Diary of the Novice PC Championships From the moment Henry gained his third qualification for the Novice Championships our household was taken over by championship fever. Suddenly there were all sorts of decisions to be made. Not least would it be possible to fit in all three disciplines. The organisers assured us it would be OK and the times would be spread out as much as possible. Once that was decided we set about trying to get Max a bit fitter and sharper in the Dressage. Suddenly he was going up Kevin Bishop’s gallop and having lessons with Helen Griffiths. The slightest sneeze or runny nose was a cause for concern. It felt as if we should wrap him up in cotton wool until the big day.
Finally we were loaded up and on our way with Mandy and Ryan Duddridge as backup and moral support. The journey took longer than expected and by the time we had Max settled in his stable we were erecting our tent in the dark! It soon became obvious that our planning and logistics were not quite up to scratch. The pump for the airbeds needed a mains electric socket and Henry had uncharacteristically tidied the kitchen and put the pasta for our supper back in the cupboard!
Saturday 5.45am Phone Rob at home to request more bedding ( cold) and a different air pump. 6.00 am Feed Max and skip out stable 6.30 Breakfast 7.00am Plait Max and sponge off stable stains 8.20am Henry gets on board and we make our way to the dressage warm up 9.07 Henry and Max go into the arena. Test goes well but Max is obviously tired and lacks sparkle. I start to worry that he will not cope with all that lies ahead. No time to dwell as it’s 10 minutes walk back to the trailer and we have to change tack for the show jumping and be back to the arena by 10.00am for a course walk. 9.30am Back at base camp Rob has arrived with pump and duvets. At least we should be more comfortable tonight. 10.20am Henry goes in for first round of show jumping competition. They jump clear but without usual enthusiasm. I make a mental note to keep warm up for the next round to a minimum. 12 noon Clare and Gill, 2 friends from home, arrive to swell our band of supporters 1.20pm Henry goes in for the second round of show jumping. Max is still looking very tired and has a pole down at fence 6, the first part of the double. The general feeling in Team Quantock was that it was actually for the best as a clear round would have meant going into a jump off and we obviously only had limited petrol in the tank! At least now Max had a few hours to rest until his Eventing dressage at 6.15pm. 2.00pm Time for a quick Burger before walking the XC course. First impressions were that it was the biggest they have tackled so far with several skinnies and combinations. Fence 6 was in three parts with one stride between parts a and b, which was a skinny, and then three strides to an even narrower skinny. I felt this was likely to cause problems but Henry seems confident so I kept my thoughts to myself. 3.15pm We return from walking XC to find that Henry has come 5th in the individual dressage with score of 68.9% Everyone is thrilled that no matter what else happens we will be going home with a rosette. 5.45pm Henry gets onboard Max to warm up for the Eventing dressage. A disagreement between Henry and I is averted when Clare, who has taught him since he was six, takes over. 6.15pm The test went well and the pony had much more energy and showed a lot more sparkle. We all went to bed feeling a good score should be in the bag.
Sunday 3.00am The rain is hammering on the roof of the tent and the XC fences are looming ever larger in my mind. I decide that we will pull out of the XC ! 5.45am The rain has stopped. I try to turn over and go back to sleep. 6.00am Can’t rest so get up and feed Max and skip out. He is very pleased to see me and quite impatient to have his breakfast. He seems to be back to normal. I start to feel a bit more positive. The going is still good despite the overnight rain. 7.00am Plait Max again. Henry appears looking disappointed. His dressage score is 33.4 and he is lying 7th. The best score in his section is 30.1 so there is less than a show jump down between them. Henry is not convinced. He is always ultra competitive which is sometimes hard to manage. 8.30am We walk the XC again and discuss how to ride each fence 10.15am Tack Max up and make our way over to show jumping arena. The Eventing show jumping arena is in a natural bowl with some of the fences at the bottom of quite a steep slope. Max was jumping better but tapped the upright in the bottom of the bowl. Everyone in our party held their breath but it stayed in the cup. What a relief! 11.00am Henry and I wander back to camp while Rob and Mandy went to check the scoreboard. We were enjoying a rare quiet moment when they came back to tell us that Henry was lying joint 2nd. Suddenly I felt sick knowing what was at stake on the XC. Max had gone clear in his last 4 ODE’S, had we used up all of our good luck? Only time would tell. 12.18am Henry sets off on the XC. We had people posted all round the course to pick up any pieces in the event of a disaster. I should have had more faith they did a beautiful clear round to finish on their dressage score for the 5th event in a row. In the end it went down to the nearest the optimum time and they were 3rd. The top three were all within 1 point.
It was a fairytale end to the weekend. We all had a wonderful time. I would like to say thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. Especially to Ryan and Mandy who had to endure all the emotional highs and lows. It was a privilege to represent Quantock PC and I hope we can get a team there next year
Jane Coate
|
