Ahhh spring is upon us and so begins the extreme mystery weather game. Will our events get rained out or will we be blessed with spring sunshine. Luckily for us horsey folk, for the first event of our spring calendar it was the latter.
Friends of Werribe Horse Trials, held on the last day of winter (the Saturday) and the first day of spring (the Sunday) was a glorious introduction to what makes the spring eventing season so pleasant. We were presented with lovely spongy dressage arenas (not a puddle in sight), perfect going on the cross country and perfect temperatures for riding and recovery. You could tell by our farmers’ burn lines that this was an unexpected, but welcome change from the previous rainy weeks.
Serious Business (Jasper) showjumping at FoW
I always find the first event of the season a little hard. You know how your training has been going at home, but there are always still a few cobwebs to dust off. At this event I found most of my cobwebs were in my dressage and unfortunately my first test was on Jasper (Serious Business) in the Two Star. Jasper also tends to always be a little tense in his first test after a break so that didn’t quite help the situation. I came out of my test a little bewildered. He was tense and I sat and steered around the ring rather than really riding the test. My second test, on my beautiful new ride Pepperdene Pom Pop (owned by Kirsten and Millie Koad) was a little similar. I felt I rode her very well in the warm up, but again in the test I just sat a little quietly. I was feeling a little defeated at this point. Zone (ESB Golden Zone) was quite horse shy in the ring so our warm up wasn’t ideal, but I actually felt I was finally getting into the swing of things and rode the test well. So at the end of the day I’m sitting 20th on Jasper in the two star, 7th on Zone in the Pre novice and poppy moved from 7th after dressage to 5th after a clear show jump round in the Preliminary.
Pepperdene Pom Pop (Poppy) on cross country
Sunday was absolutely perfect for cross country. After some problems last season I’m determined not to take any backwards steps in my jumping, so I head out with a sound plan in mind. I was actually thrilled with how I rode all of my jumping phases on all three horses. Poppy and Jasp both came home from the cross country with double clears. Zone had seven time penalties where I think I set up for the fences a little early because after another horse shy warm up I wasn’t quite sure how much he was listening. It turns out he still loves his cross country and I could have let him go a little more. Show jumping can sometimes be my nemesis especially after a little bit of time not regularly riding courses, but I was so happy with how I rode both Jasper and Zone. Zone was one of only a few clear rounds and Jasper had one rail that I take full responsibility for.
Kirsten Koad lends a hand with Poppy
So at the end of a weekend that started a little shakey Japer finished 10th in the two star. Zone moved from 7th after dressage to 17th with his time penalties and then back to 7th after his clear show jumping round in the pre novice. Poppy moved from 5th after show jumping to 4th with her double clear cross country in the preliminary. I went home happy with two ribbons and plenty to work on before the next competition.
Spring eventing is most definitely upon us and as beautiful as Werribee was I’m now inside writing this while it pours with rain for the third day straight. With Adelaide looming the new challenge begins … finding dry ground to gallop on!
Photos with thanks to Jessica Cocks
