While riding in the morning a few weeks ago a couple of things occurred to me ... Time, or lack of it, and not everyone will win.
I had got super on early that day and started working Astro, when a truck arrived to deliver a load of sawdust. The only problem with that was the sawdust pile is in the corner of the indoor arena, so I had to stop and wait until the truck was emptied. Luckily Astro wasn’t really fuss so I was able to walk around. However, it reminded me of the differences between an amateur rider and ‘the others who ride better and seem to take home all the ribbons. I only have a limited amount of time that I can ride for each day. I can really only be away from home for 2 hours and that includes driving time (of 30 minutes) so I have one and a half hours to do all the things you need to do to ride and somehow I usually end up riding for about 30-40 minutes. That means if he’s not working well or I get held up by something (such as the sawdust) then it’s too bad. I have to get off at a certain time. That particular morning, I was lucky if I got to canter on either rein! This is therefore my disclaimer when I am most likely fill the bottom of the scoresheet at the next event – which I did; maybe I can get an award for coming consistently last after dressage?
Not everyone will win. I am a mildly competitive person (well ok then I play netball on Thursday nights and I admit to keeping a close eye on the score) and just like the next person I don’t like coming last. However, just getting out there and having a go requires a huge amount of effort, so just to complete should be enough. But just once or twice I’d like to see my name in the middle of the final results page rather than the bottom. We have all made sacrifices to be at an event and we’ve all had fun, otherwise why would I get up before those screeching cockatoos, in the freezing cold when the rest of my family is tucked up in bed! When I tell Ben (who is 6) about an event, he says ‘Did you win Mummy?’. Only once I’ve been able to say nearly! His reply is usually ‘well you need to go faster” (someone watches ‘Cars’ too often). Hard to explain that it’s just not the speed that is important, more a case of prancing around in a rectangle!
ALBURY
I’d never been to Albury before and now I’m kicking myself that I never made the journey before. What a fantastic event! I had to run around like a mad woman to get everything ready (standard behaviour for me I’ve decided) and we left Canberra at 6am. I snuck out of the house at 5.15am thinking I had everything packed and it wasn’t until we arrived at the event that I realised with dread that I had left Laura’s bag behind! So – if you saw a baby in a pram wearing a FILTHY bonds suit that was covered in mud, then a few hours later, only a top, that was Laura. Luckily the shops weren’t too far away and I was able to buy her an outfit and a bag of nappies! (Mental note, pack nappies into my tack box just in case!) I was 2nd last after dressage (surprise surprise – but at least I had remembered the bag with my riding clothes!). That afternoon Sam Lyle kindly walked the course with me and we discussed how to ride it. I really liked the look of it. It was reasonably big but nothing really worried me. Sam warned me about fence 10 and I really did listen – honest! However, I must be getting old as my reflexes weren’t quick enough and we stopped (pathetic really). I wore John's Sunnies cam and I’ve relived my ride over and over again.
I was so freaking nervous about the showjumping that when warming up, Astro might as well have been going backwards. Luckily, my trusty Canberra friends (yay Ellie) gave me the verbal kick up the backside I needed. Only one rail down in a class that produced very few clears, so I was pretty chuffed with that.
At the moment (a couple of days prior to the Canberra event) I’m fielding calls while walking kids to school/bathing them/force feeding them/or catching up with the never ending pile of washing. We’ve received more entries than we can run through in a day, due to limited space and helpers, but hopefully everyone will enjoy the event. Thank heavens for smartphones and email is all I can say. My HTC phone flew out of my hand and kissed the concrete a few weeks ago and I nearly had palpitations about how I was going to cope without it. Luckily one of my friends came up trumps and lent me her old phone. I really hope this one doesn’t get airbourne!
After Canberra, I’m aiming for Camden … guess I’d better let Mack (my ever so patient and understanding hubby) know before he reads this blog!
