It is now the beginning of April, just one month to go before the Mitsubishi Motors Cup at Badminton.
By this point in my Event program, Con Rico should have had two runs in preparation with one left at Bovington on the 14th April. However, the great British weather has thwarted any possible plans for anyone in the 2018 season. The rain has come out of the sky continuously and it is now oozing out of the ground as the ground just can’t take anymore and there seems to be no respite. I was lucky enough to be able to give him a run at Great Witchingham in the 105 class, but he did miss out at his first event at Isleham, which was a new event venue for me so I will look forwards to supporting them later in the season.
Today I should be competing at Portman with my Novice horse Kauto Cyreo, however, despite the organisers' best efforts to keep it running, it had to be abandoned. As much as this is frustrating for us riders, take time to think about all the others that these abandonments’ affect; the event organisers, staff, course designers and builders, BE officials, volunteers, judges (dressage, show jumping and all the ones required for the cross country), stewards, trade stands, photographers, caterers, scorers and starters and many more I am sure.
These decisions are not taken easily and as much as our safety is a large factor there are many other deciding factors taken into consideration.
With no real possibility to reschedule these events due to such a full calendar, there is a massive effect on all of the above. We, as riders can just enter another event, adjust out program and continue. So, I feel a greater understanding is required and support should be given to any decision made by British Eventing in these exceptional times.
In the meantime, the horses still need training which is becoming tricky for everyone with training facilities being closed due to the saturated ground, so we need to become more inventive with how we train and develop our horses keeping them ready for the competitions. I am lucky to have some all-weather gallops nearby to maintain the horses fast work which I am doing weekly trips there. I have also been bringing some cross country jumps into the school changing them with show jumps weekly to offer as much education to the horses as possible.
We all know that within a short time of this wet weather stopping, the ground will then become rock hard and by mid-summer we will no doubt be in a hose pipe ban with us the complaining it’s too hot. This weather delayed season will then become a distant memory, only to come up in years to come in conversation as “Remember 2018? That was one of the worst starts to the Eventing season in years!!”
So, don’t put your wellies away yet and let’s hope the season gets underway very soon.
