24th June 2007
Today Troy and I did the Area 10 BRC Horse Trials Qualifier for our riding club Dartford and District.
I have to admit I was really really nervous..we hadn't done any Horse Trials since April last year!
It was also pouring with rain and very slippery..and Troy doesn't wear shoes..so I couldn't put any studs in.
I missed all the events I entered last year because he knocked his sesamoids because he was wearing shoes and decided the best thing for Troy was to not be shod again.
Luckily he is very balanced and even in the awful conditions today he didn't slip once :)
He was nice and calm for his Dressage and we got a good score of 31.6 :-)
Lots of people were having trouble in the Show Jumping because of the slippery conditions but Troy did great although we had two fences down..he was doing his usual thing of leaping about a foot higher than the actual jumps lol..they were actually 3'3" though.
He was brilliant in the Cross Country :-)..and went clear :-)..we took it fairly steady though and got some time penaulties. Only one competitor went clear without time penaulties in our class.
We just missed out on a rosette as we came 7th individually out of 22. He was our highest placed team member :-) our Team came 3rd overall too :-)
17th June 2007
The boy done good this weekend :-)
We went as a team for our riding club Dartford and District for the Area 10 Dressage Qualifier.
It was a totally chaotic day as all our team members are part of the committee and therefore we didn't really have any help on the ground as our other committee members were stewarding.
So we were calling tests for each other inbetween riding our own!
Our team of me on Troy, Katie on Mic, Clare on Connie and Flair on Paddy came 1st !!!!! YAY! out of 32 teams!
I also did the Dressage to music on Troy and picked something unusual for our music..we did it to Bob Marley lol
Our trot work was to 'Waiting in vain', our walk to 'Jammin' and our canter to 'I shot the Sheriff'..I think it turned a few heads lol but we didn't get any negative comments about it thank goodness lol and we came 5th out of 14 !
Katie and I were entered for the pairs Dressage but we have both been so busy we had decided not to do it BUT 10 mins before we were due to ride it we decided we would have a go lol
We hadn't even worked a test out and about 5mins before quickly worked one out and just went and did it!
To ours and our club members amazement ..WE WON !!!!
The boys were really good and stuck together like glue :-)
So we are off to the Nat Champs at Lincs in September ! :-)
15th July 2006
I took Troy to Brightling Park Horse Trials today :-)
We didn't do any horse trials last year and the only horse trials I had done this year I fell off in the showjumping phase..doh! so I decided to enter an Intro instead of a Pre-novice at Brightling to get my confidence back.
We had taken Truly and Ullie the day before to Kent County, then went to Jacks 18th Birthday Party for a couple of hours in the evening, when we got home we found we had no water in the house or on the yard! so we had to phone the water board to try and sort some water out for the horses.
We hardly had any sleep and were exhausted from the day before :-(
Luckily my start times were midday for my Dressage so didn't have to leave at 6am but planned to leave at 8am..we ended up leaving at 9am!
After a total rush walking the X-C I saddled up Troy just in time for my Dressage..which was miles away from where we parked the horsebox.
We hardly warmed up but he did a reasonably test and didn't get too excited but was a bit tense as I hadn't warmed him up properly...we got 38.4 and were in the top half.
We then did our showjumping and he was a good boy but justed over jumped (like always) and knocked the second part of the double down.
He loves his cross country and Brightling is a very hilly course..well we were like a bullet at the start as it's mainly downhill until about 3/4 of the way round lol. We had a few close calls at the start from being a bit too keen but then settled down and went clear :-) Unfortunately we got time penaulties which I was surprised at but I think trying to check him when he was pulling so hard at the start my have caused those.
I think we came about half way out of 50 so not too bad but we had to get back for the horses and didn't wait for all the scores.
Troy was a happy boy when he got home :-) I think he'd missed going x-c lol I enjoyed it too :-)
20th May 2006
Today we did the Individual Open Horse Trials qualifier for BRC's area 10 at Ardingly.
It was our first horse trials of the year and I was really looking forward to it..although pretty nervous as the last time we did it I fell off in the showjumping :-(
We did a reasonable Dressage even though it was pouring with rain lol and we got 33 penaulties.
I was really looking forward to the cross country as it was a lovely course and suited Troy but I had to do the showjumping first !
They say lightening doesn't strike twice ? you've guessed it... I fell off again!!!!!
I couldn't believe it we were nearly home and dry and I came to fences 7 and 8 which was an upright then three strides to a parallel and in typical Troy fashion of over jumping everything landed so far out over the upright that even though I gave a pull in the middle we didn't have room for three strides and he chested the parallel and flung me over landing me on my back on the furthest pole!...OUCH!
I can remember thinking 'Not again! I won't get to do the X-C!'
Troy was fine :-) I laid there for a while rather winded lol really pee'd off that it had happened again!
I'm now nursing a very briused back and walking like a 90yo lol and also thinking 'Thank goodness I was riding as an individual and not a team member' lol
On a good note :-) Katie with Mic won her section of the Novice qualifier and has now qualified as an individual for the Nationals at Offchurch Bury :-) WAY TO GO KATIE!!!!!!!!!!
Her team came third too with Clare, Emma and Sarah :-) Well Done Dartford and District Riding Club ..we are so proud as we are only a small club and have qualified almost every year for the Nationals :-)
">Troy at Milton Keynes 2004
Well this year Troy and I decided to have a go at Affiliated Eventing and joined British Eventing! Our first event was at Milton Keynes in the Pre-Novice on 25th June 2004. We travelled up the night before so I had time to walk the cross-country without panicking! We did an okay Dressage with 43.3 penaulties! and had two down in the Showjumping (rider error as usual!) and in the cross-country we had a couple of runouts which was just down to lack of experience on both of our parts! the first at the second part of an angled log! we just came down the hill a bit too fast and couldn't get the two strides in! and the next runout was at a two strided double of corners, one corner facing one way and the other corner facing the other way! they had flower pots on the top and we had a gap of about 2' that we had to jump through in a dead straight line! he ran out the first approach and the second time realised where I wanted him to go and sailed through like a 'pro'!
We came 22nd out of 34! I was very pleased with him! Not bad for our first attempt! :-)
Our second go was at Tweseldown on the 9th July again the Pre-Novice. Again our dressage wasn't too bad was 43 penaulties, but in our showjumping he went into cross-country mode and was a little too eager! we had 3 fences down! In the cross-country we had an hour wait just before we were about to start! evidently there was a fall at the water and a horse was hurt and the vet Ambulance had to be called! This was very unnerving and I felt like going home ! There were actually horses halfway round the course that had to wait an hour to continue! Eventually we were told to get ready and off we went! Troy was Fantastic and the lessons he learned at Milton keynes paid off and he jumped some technical corners and angles really well! we went very steady in the water as I was worried what had happened to the other horse and he sailed through and went clear! We had 6 time penaulties though as I found it very hard to see where to go as it's a very woody course, so overshot a couple of turns which is where we must've got the time penaulties!
Our next event is at Little Mattingley on Thursday 29th July! if I live to tell the tale! I will update you after!
Well we went to Little Mattingley in Hampshire which is a beautiful place! the weather was very hot and we were allowed to ride the Dressage in shirts but only if we had sleeves! which I didn't so had to wear my jacket, I was BOILING lol. Troy did a good test (for us anyway) and got 37.6 penaulties which put us 15th out of 34. our showjumping was not so good as we had 4 down! I was fairly pleased though as I had fallen off showjumping the week before and had really knocked my confidence! The Cross Country course was beautiful! so much thought had gone into building the course. Troy was very excited at the start box and away we went, he flew over the big ditch with a palisade behind, and fence 9 was a difficult corner, we had a runout so I took the alternative route. Fence 12 was painted blue which must have come as a shock to him as he slammed on the breaks about 20 metres away and I had to encourage him up to it and he jumped from a walk! I was surprised as they counted that as a refusal although he never actually stopped and kept moving forward! We had a silly stop at the second to last, jump up a step then two strides to a log then four strides to a logpile, I was exhausted by this time and had a stitch in my side as I'd been drinking coke all day instead of water! I didn't sit up enough coming to the step and he landed flatly and couldn't get the two strides in to the log, so we came round again and he did it great. The last fence was a jump through fence with a chinese dragon theme, he flew it and ducked his head and flattened his ears in mid air! he he ! he must have thought he'd hit his head on the beam above him even though it was about 15 feet above his head! I was so hot when we finished and could hardly breath, I had put my body protector on tooo tight and had to take it off straight away! lol Troy was fine and felt like he could have gone round again!:-) We have entered Brockenhurst and Firle but there is the chance we will get balloted out, but fingers crossed we get to go !
We had a lovely day out yesterday! We went to Brockenhurst Park Horse Trials in the middle of the New Forest in Hampshire! it's where the New Forest Ponies come from and they roam round everywhere with no fences! they even lay down on the roads and you have to drive around them! we didn't see any on the roads yesterday but plenty grazing alongside! Troy neighed at them everytime we drove past! Brockenhurst is a lovely stately home in gorgeous parkland, the cross country course was beautifully built by Captain Mark Philips, it wasn't as difficult as the previous ones we have done so I was fairly confident we'd get round .He did a really good dressage test (for us anyway) 35.5 penaulties! he was nice and calm and on our sheet the judge said 'calm and obediant' so I was very pleased. I was determined to be more confident showjumping and help him instead of hindering him! we went really well until the last three and my cool went and I pushed him on a long stride to the double and he knocked the first part down, cleared the second part and then I checked him too much and we got to close to the last fence and had that down! But I was pleased! I get myself so worked up that I was heaving as I came out the ring, luckily I didn't throw up as it would have been really embarrassing! I rode back to the horse box to get changed for my cross country and passed Mary King I so wanted to say congratulations to her for getting an olympic medal but was too embarrassed! I couldn't believe she was out competing having just got back from Athens! Pippa Funnell was there to, but I didn't see her! I get exhausted with one horse and yet there are people there with 4 or 5, the girl next to me had 4 horses and her team of grooms and her mum were fantastic to watch, they were so organised! mum got all the buckets (about 10 ) ready filled with water to wash down for the horses return, and had everything laid out ready, I was impressed as I get in a state just with one horse! lol We went for our cross country round and Troy knew where we were going as he was jumping about and raring to go! I had to time my start so to keep him moving right up until the starter counted us down from the start box by walking him in it on the last 5 seconds and then turning him to go on the final second. he flew round and jumped everything really confident, the first half I was really checking him back and by halfway he settled, I was surprised as we got time faults, we were 9 seconds over the time, but most of the other clears had time faults so I guess it was tight! I was really happy with him and he looked pretty happy with himself too! It's such an adrenalin rush when you finish, I can't really discribe it . After we sorted him out we went and watched the Advanced class do their dressage, well any thoughts of thinking I'd rode well were quickly gone and I realised I'm pants after watching the 'Big Boys' LOL After a three hour drive home I turned Troy out in the field for an hour while I finished the other horses off for the night, he went to bed with a proud look on his face and I went to bed exhausted ! LOL
Thru the water, his face says he's enjoying it!
mine says ' I'm a masacist! lol
Following Jane’s (Brixton) brilliant win at the Area 10 qualifier at Matfield, I was eagerly awaiting the paperwork to enter her for the champs. As expected it arrived, and as I opened it I read “Congratulations to your riding club for qualifying Jane Brixton and Rushcroft Grace Novice Section and Leigh Ann Kerr and Point Scally Open Section” – me! My partner, Philip, worriedly enquired what on earth was wrong. After several minutes of silence I managed to lift my jaw off the floor and said “I’ve qualified too!”.
This left Jane and I two weeks to get the horses 3DE fit. They were already fit but we knew we had to do some serious work to cope with the roads and tracks etc. For those of you unfamiliar with eventing the novice section is a 2 day event with dressage and showjumping on the first day, and on the second day Phase A (roads and tracks), Phase B (steeplechase), Phase C (roads and tracks) and Phase D (cross-country). The open section is a 3 day event on the first day of which you have 1st vet inspection and dressage, on the 2nd day you do Phases A, B, C and D, and on the 3rd day 2nd vet inspection and then showjumping.
The next 2 weeks was spent getting everything organised for our 4 day stay at Offchurch. We had to take both lorries as we had so much stuff to take, including shavings, feed etc. Jane was very organised and packed everything including the kitchen sink, and she and her fiancé Chris managed to load up and were on their way in half an hour. I, on the other hand, had been loading the horsebox since the night before, and still left late completely stressed out. We were on our way with Philip driving and me trying to chill out in the back. As well as feeling really nervous I was not relishing the thought of being confined for 4 days in the horsebox with my 15 year old daughter Laura who is suffering from the “Kevin and Perry” syndrome at the moment!
Three and a half hours later we arrived and what a beautiful setting it was with glorious parkland, a big mansion house … get the picture? It was very exciting passing the stables and seeing all the other horseboxes (including one from Scotland for Ian Stark’s squad) with their flags strewn everywhere – there were so many people and horses! We found the horses’ stables, which were metal and plastic portables, and settled the horses down for the night. They were very calm despite me pointing out to Troy (Point Scally) that he wouldn’t be so calm if he knew why he was here! We had a lovely relaxed first evening and Chris did a barbeque for us all.
Next day (Friday) Jane helped me with Troy as she didn’t have to do anything until Saturday. We had our 1st vet inspection at 1pm so he had to be plaited and clean whilst I had to dress smart casual. Even this part was a big occasion with an announcer saying your name and club etc. Talk about nerve-wracking! I though they were going to fail him – they called me back to trot Troy up again, scrutinising his every move. Troy has very wonky legs and I don’t think the younger lady vet could believe what she was seeing. I had to explain that he was a premature foal (I bred him so he’s very special to me) and it took a while for his ligaments to strengthen, so his toes turn out in front and his off hind leg is crooked. Fortunately the older lady vet kept saying “No, no, definitely a pass”. I was very relieved, thinking I had come all this way and wasn’t even going to make the dressage.
Anyway, it was then back to the box to tack him up for the dressage. The 7 dressage arenas were lovely, set in the “polo field”. Unfortunately Troy was very excitable which was not surprising as I concentrated so much on getting him fit. We got 47 penalties, which was about 80th out of the 130 starters. We all then went to walk the cross-country course, but had to split up at times as the novice and open took different routes. Now this was where I started feeling rather ill. The jumps were huge and technical - it was meant to be BE Novice equivalent, but some of these fences were like intermediate. Jane assured me that Troy could do them, but I had doubts that I could! “Think positive” they all said. There were 2 river crossings which were very technical, the first of which was up to intermediate BE standard and caused lots of problems.
At 5pm we had a cross-country briefing, mainly to explain the roads and tracks, to tell us to drink lots of water and the procedure at the ten minute box etc. Jane and I rode the horses round the roads and tracks which luckily you are allowed to do, as we didn’t fancy walking it!
The next day was so busy for all of us. Jane had her dressage at 9am and then showjumping at 11am. I started at 11.30am so only managed to see Jane do her dressage, and as always Grace went beautifully. For the first time ever Jane went blank (as you do under pressure) and made an error. Just as she realised, the judge beeped the horn which would have put most people off, but Jane coolly carried on and did a very good test, only getting 36 penalties (2 of which were for the error).
As Jane was doing the showjumping I was getting ready for my bit. As you know, this was the hottest weekend in history, and we were getting worried about the horses overheating. As I was off to start my roads and tracks Jane came back from her showjumping, where Grace had jumped a brilliant clear round.
The roads and tracks section starts promptly, so you have to synchronise your watches – you can’t be late otherwise the clock starts without you! Off we went on Phase A of 3,300 metres which we had to do in 15 minutes, most of it at trot with about 300 metres at walk. As you come through the finish of Phase A you have one minute to rest before you start Phase B. This is the steeplechase and is 1,100 meters which you have to do in 2 minutes. I really enjoyed the lovely scenery on Phase A, and as I trotted into the finish Jane, Chris, Philip and Laura were waiting with buckets of water to cool Troy down (and a drink for me!). Then off we went, twice round the steeplechase over 6 fences – what a thrill that was! Troy’s mum was a winning point-to-pointer who unfortunately died in January aged 27. As we were flying round I was thinking that this was what Troy was bred to do. WOW! What a buzz! We came flying through the finish where Jane and Philip threw 2 buckets of water over us, then off we went on Phase C. My stopwatch was all over the place so I didn’t have a clue what time we were on. Phase C is 4,160 meters which we had to do in 26 minutes. This was slower so we had a bit of a breather. So far I had really enjoyed myself. We had to trot through the finish of Phase C, straight to the ten minute box where the vets are waiting to check your horse’s heart and breathing. After 5 minutes they check again. Once again my wonderful support team were there to sort Troy out and pour lots of water down my throat, just in time for our next check. I can tell you that the adrenalin was building up by now. In to the start box 30 seconds, 10 seconds then 5, 4, 3 ,2, 1, a “Good luck” from the starter, and we were off. Fences 1, 2 and 3 were close together through the woods, fence 4 was huge coming out of the woods (about 3’7” high and 6’ wide). We were wrong at it and Troy gave an almighty leap, clearing it, just. It frightened me and as we came to fences 5 and 6 (the first water crossing) I took the alternative route over 5, jumped into and out of the water, landing on a steep slope which at the top had a narrow brush fence at an angle about 4’ high. Our inexperience showed here and we got so close we almost somersaulted over it. Troy landed on his nose and I thought we were going. I just hung on and somehow he found an extra leg and kept going.
I had lost my stirrup and was frantically trying to get it back before fence 7, but over we went followed by 8, 9 and 10 (2nd water crossing), clearing them all. As we approached fence 18 (the sunken road) I knew we had to meet this right. Troy had never seen one but he did it like a ‘pro. Jane was there, shouting out “well done”. I had a big smile on my face and with just 3 fences to go Troy flew home, over the last just as fresh as when we had started. I can’t tell you how I felt – it was such a high. The funny thing was that I didn’t really feel the heat (that was to hit me later!). Once again my support team were there with buckets of water for Troy (and for me).
Troy recovered really quickly despite being too choosey to drink any water with electrolytes in it – we ended up with normal water. Later Troy had a well-deserved graze on the lunge in the polo field. Afterwards we went to the ox-roast which was superb. I must just mention the showers at this point. They set the temperature at hot (as in very hot) so they were like a sauna – we came out of them hotter than we went in!
Day 3 was Jane’s big day. She was in with a chance! I just had the vet inspection at 10am and my showjumping at 12 noon. Unfortunately we clashed times again so I couldn’t return the help Jane had given me, but luckily Chris was now the “professional groom” and knew exactly what to do.
Troy had the same trouble at the vet inspection, with puzzled looks from the vets, but he passed. However, I did see one horse which was definitely lame on it’s near fore which was passed by the vet whom I overheard saying “don’t jump him unless you are in with a chance”. I was not at all impressed by that.
My showjumping was really bad. Troy is very inexperienced at this and tends to clear jumps by the height he jumps rather than tucking his legs up. As we went round I could feel he was tired as he was not putting his big leaps in, and the poles were falling all around us. I heard the bell go to eliminate me as I was coming to the last – I was so wrapped up in the number of fences we had knocked down, I missed fence 8 out! Stupid me! It didn’t really matter because I was just to pleased with our clear cross-country – only 40 went clear out of 130. In fact he was the only horse from Area 10 to do so – all of Maidstone’s team were eliminated and Sevenoaks’ individual fell off and ended up with over 200 penalties, so you can see why I’m so proud of him.
Jane’s road and tracks went really well, as did her steeplechase. We all thought it was Jane’s big moment, but alas it wasn’t to be. Grace jumped really well up to fence 7, but she shied at some people in the hedge and veered out across the field, and by the time Jane got her back she was at an angle and Grace slammed on the brakes with poor Jane ending up on the fence. Luckily she wasn’t badly hurt, but she did graze her arm. Wisely calling it a day, they retired. That’s the ups and downs with horses, and nobody can take away the fact that Jane came 10th last year. Hopefully they will be there again next year for another go.
The last night was rather eventful! We could all now relax and have an early night but that wasn’t to be. We had been told there was a possibility of having to move the horses to another block of stables on the last night. I had rung the stable manager and she told me they could stay put as it was late and the men coming to remove the stables wouldn’t be there until the morning. However, at about midnight we were woken to the sound of tractors and bright lights – they were here and had started taking the stables down! We ran out to get the horses, but couldn’t see a thing as our torch battery was now flat. We were waking people up in their horseboxes to get the horses out – it was chaos! Try to imagine lots of people, in the dark, looking for spare stables in the other field. Not only that, but we had to move the horsebox as we couldn’t sleep with all the noise.
The next morning everything seemed so different. There was hardly anyone there, and half the stables had gone (to Hickstead apparently). We packed up, Troy had his last graze, and we set off for home.
I can honestly say that I had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Troy and Grace have had a week off, but I think it was for us humans to recover really!
Thank you to the club for giving us the opportunity to go, and to our “support team” for all their hard work.
LEIGH ☺
ps – Troy thinks he’s joined the Territorial Army after his weekend away doing roads and tracks and midnight manoeuvres – TE-HE! I will try and get the photos of Troy’s near fall on the web for you.
