What a month it’s been! WE’RE GOING TO MELBOURNE!!!
Since we last caught up, Archie has had two more Pre Novice runs, at Wandin and Albury Wodonga and has also had his first two 1* starts, finishing them both and meaning that he’s fully qualified and Melbourne 3DE bound! Muz has been declared ‘on holidays’ until after Melbourne and I’ve also taken on another owner horse, Jeremy, who is a real spunk! Busy busy!
Wandin was a huge success, with Archie running his first double clear cross country - that is, clear on jumping and on time! He’s such a strong horse I am always a little hesitant to really let him go, in case I can’t get him back before my fences. At Wandin he listened to me and stayed with me the whole time!
Albury was also great, we had a lesson on the Friday with super-coach, Megan Jones, who helped us HEAPS to clean up our act in the dressage, resulting in a 9% increase in his score when compared to his test at Wandin. I walked the cross country and my feelings on the course was that there were some challenges out there, but nothing that was crazy difficult. However when looking at the score board after the event, only 17 riders from a class of 34 actually completed the cross country phase, so I was very pleased with his clear round after seeing that! He also finished Albury with his best final placing at a pre novice event, 12th!
Two weeks after Albury, we competed at the Camperdown Horse Trials in our first CIC 1* and had an absolute blast – although we almost didn’t make it!
On the Thursday morning leading into the event Archie came out of the paddock with a big fat back leg, no temperature to speak of and no abrasions just a mystery swelling. He felt bright and was happy to work, but the work didn’t bring the leg down and I feared that after a busy few weeks leading up to this event, perhaps I’d pushed just a little too hard and he had a virus or was run down. So I spent most of Thursday using epsom salt wraps, icing, Equissaging and clay poulticing in an attempt to bring the inflammation out of the leg and by Friday morning it was looking a little bit better after a light work. I decided to just take him, at least do our dressage and if he didn’t feel right then withdraw him before the cross country, as his temperature had never gone outside of a normal range. Friday afternoon we had a dressage lesson with Megan where he worked really well and was feeling good although we did discover just how much more challenging counter canter is out in an open space though, so it looks as though we have some homework...
Dressage at Camperdown - our first CIC*
Photo: Victorian Eventers Association
Dressage day dawned nice and crisp and Archie’s leg was back to looking normal after another round of epsom salts wraps and when I got on to warm up for my test he was ready to go. I was so proud of him - he really came to the party and worked better than he ever has before when out at an event! Unfortunately the 1* ring at Camperdown was not on my side and was running 25 minutes late, so for a horse who is normally happy with a solid 35 minute warm up, I had been on his back for close to an hour by the time I made it in to do my test … needless to say he was very pooped but I was proud of how hard he tried. Previously when been that tired he just chucks in the towel and starts grinding his teeth and says ‘I don’t want to play anymore’ but he stayed with me and really did his best when I got him into the ring, he was just flat and tired unfortunately which showed in our scores.
Archie really tried his best
I was pretty comfortable with the cross country track. I knew it would be a challenge but I also know that it is easily his strongest phase and I’d also jumped a couple of the fences already in the Pre Novice 3DE at Lakes & Craters in December. Once we were out on course Archie was amazing and had a huge amount of fun and really ate it up! I learnt a few things too! When we were coming over a slightly ‘spooky’ hanging log under a tree I thought we were taking the long spot and Arch decided there was an extra stride in there and I ended up on his neck … shoulders back Nicole, shoulders back. I must learn how to wait for the fence to come to me and don’t go jumping it FOR the horse. Thank god he didn’t buck on landing as he sometimes does if I sit too heavily, or I would have been a gonner!
My second learning experience (and a good one for Archie as well) happened coming into the water. He had been very strong coming down the hill and I’d had real trouble pulling him up, nailed the roll top into the big apex in the corner but he was getting strong again by the time we made it to the water jump. Anyone who has watched or ridden the 1* water jump at Camperdown will know there are often several problems at this spot on the course. The horses come up the little mound and see the water as they reach the base of the log at the top and also see the big crowd of people sitting there watching. Unfortunately Archie and I were not immune to the problems this fence has caused over the time that it’s been there and and he came up the hill and really didn’t jump quite as high as he really probably should have … I think it would have looked more like we were climbing the log than jumping it. The collective gasp from the crowd and Barry’s commentary saying “Well, that is one way of doing the water jump …” told me just how far out of the saddle my backside was and how quickly I needed to get myself together in time for the B element on the other side of the water. Fortunately for me, Archie has never really had a problem with water so kept going straight down the hill. Had he decided in that moment that he didn’t want to get his feet wet, I would have been taking the trip down the hill into the water by myself, but bless him he kept going straight and I got myself up and jumped the B element with only one stirrup, but got the job done! He pulled up beautifully with a heart rate of 67 in the vet check, laying to rest any latent concerns that I’d had about his health, I was very very proud of his efforts!
Camperdown cross country
Photo above: David Kelley. Photo below: Chris Esh
The show jumping at Camperdown left me a little bit disappointed. Being such a bold horse Archie really does need to warm up properly before show jumping or he is too brave and will pull me past my distances. He is the kind of horse at home that rarely ever jumps courses and spends most of his time jumping and halting over small grids and related lines so that I can half halt in the corner, see my distance early and ride to the fence, rather than pulling down to the fence like I did on the weekend. The warm up area was pretty crowded and we were pushed through pretty quick smart, so I didn’t really get a great deal of jumping in before I rode the round, and we finished up with five rails down. He had most of these down behind because he was just jumping too flat, so plenty of homework to do there and some visits to Jamie Coman’s place between now and Melbourne 3DE! I know this will improve with experience at the new grade as well as he learns to watch the new height and hopefully one day he’ll even back off his own fences!
Last weekend we tackled Heytesbury CNC 1* as his final qualifier. We had a big improvement in the dressage and finished up 6.5% better off and in 18th place after our test. The cross country track looked rideable with a tricky enough water jump and quite a few tight little turns that I thought would be interesting on Archie. Turns out we’re most definitely revising our cross country bit before Ballarat in two weeks time. I got only a couple of time faults but it still felt like I was pulling him up 20 strides out from the fence so I could have some control. The 1* fences were absolutely no trouble for Archie, he is jumping them with room to spare and oodles of confidence, now I just need to find my half halt again!
Archie puts in a good leap on the Heytesbury cross country course
Photo credit to Chris Esh
Show jumping at Heytesbury was a definite improvement from Camperdown, although we did have a sticky moment going into a double where I saw the slightly open distance and Archie decided there was one more stride in there. We finished with three rails down and our first 2** qualifier under our belt as well.
Show jumping at Heytesbury
Photo credit to Chris Esh
I am super duper proud of how quickly the little man has found his feet at this new level. We both obviously have LOTS more to learn and I plan to be hanging around at 1* level for a good 12 months to consolidate our skills and confidences.
Melbourne 3DE entries will be going in this week and I’ve figured out my goals for the event. At Melbourne 3DE Archie and I are gunning for a 63% in the dressage, a clear round cross country and no more than one rail show jumping! Giddy Up!
My friend Leah Blackmore, who groomed for me at Camperdown and Heytesbury, is coming along Melbourne to groom for me as well. She used to turn show hacks out professionally so Archie has been looking pretty spunky of late!
Lastly I’d like to introduce you to the new kid on the block … this is Jeremy.
Here he’s having his first lunge with the side reins on, he’s been off the track for about 6 weeks. Thinking that if he jumps well that he might be taking up the position of the next team member with NS Eventing!
Phew! So much going on, I’m looking forward to the next month with Archie, we’ll be hitting Ballarat HT, then heading to South Australia for a week of intense training with Megan at Kirby Park before Woady Yalloak horse trials to lead us up to Melbourne.
Catch up with you next time!
Best Riding,
Nicole
