Jumping at Denman
I realise I divide my life at least 3 ways, and probably don’t proportion my time responsibly! There’s riding, family, NCHTA and so I thought I’d summarise the past month accordingly.
RIDING- John and I headed up to Denman last month. It is quite a distance to travel for us as it took around 7 hours. Denman is located in the amazing Hunter Valley, and the backdrop to the event is quite spectacular. Last time we went, the drive home was rather painful as I’d been eliminated. I was delighted to see that the offending jump had been turned around! I was pretty astounded when Sue Gunn (amazing course designer and organiser of Denman) told me she’d changed that jump because of what happened to me last time. Luckily for us both, the course caused no problems, and I had a great time. On Saturday evening, the club lit a massive bonfire and served wine and a BBQ, and even had a live band playing, it was a great night! The weather on Sunday was somewhat miserable, and we were lucky it didn’t actually rain, but it was decidedly fresh and very similar to Canberra – we’d driven a long way to try and avoid bad weather! As usual, our entry into the dressage arena scored well, and then once I had to turn corners and other stuff like that, marks weren’t quite so flattering. One rail in the show jumping and the clear xc meant the journey home wasn’t bad at all.
Next up is SIEC this weekend. Last time we went in February we actually scored well in the dressage – mid field! What was especially memorable about it for me was forgetting a movement, the judge not realising, and giving me an 8 for it. If only it was always that easy.
NCHTA – last weekend we ran an Eventer Trial and pairs competition. The weather in the lead up to the day was quite simply dreadful, with rain and very cold temperatures. But on the day, the temperature when I arrived at the park at 7am was minus 6 and it was clear! It was a lovely crisp day, and it warmed up to about 12C – this felt positively balmy. The water jump was frozen solid, so we drove through it, and the sound of the ice shattering was quite impressive. In total about 80 horses attended the day, and everyone seemed to have a great time. In the pairs competition, we encourage fancy dress, and it was fun seeing all the efforts that some went to. We had a pair of clowns and thing 1 and thing 2 from Dr Suess. It was tough judging them apart, but Thing 1 and Thing 2 quoted a few lines as they started and this got them over the line!
The Princess gets her pony ready
My performance in the 105 class was passable – I’d decided to use the xc section as a training run, attempting to get Astro to come back to me so I could ride forward to the jumps. He was rather fresh and it was a challenge, he tends to know his way around that track quite well!
Planning for the CIC that we are running in October is underway, which I think I’m looking forward to! There will be a clinic with John Twomey in early September too, so it seems there’s always something to do!
FAMILY – school holidays – what more can I say? We’ve been limited somewhat by the bad weather, so the DVD player is getting a bit of a work out. We went to the movies and saw How to Train your Dragon 2 and I reckon I cried about three times, probably would have been more if I hadn’t needed to take Laura to the toilet several times. The girls are totally besotted with the movie Frozen, and constantly are requesting Elsa hair styles. Ben (9) is not so keen on the soundtrack playing in the car constantly, especially with his mother and sister singing gustily. Abby (6) has a fondness for helping me cooking, and is forever asking when she can help crack some eggs – so I’m about to indulge her and make a bacon and egg pie to take away to SIEC.
I know I’m so very lucky with this busy life I lead, and tend to live by the motto that the more you put it life, the more you get out of it. Possibly to the irritation of my husband, I tend to throw myself into it wholeheartedly! Until next month, enjoy!
Stay warm and keep smiling!
