Two solid runs and two placings.....!

Roxie is continuing her recovery very well after our fall at Tweseldown last month. She is now allowed out for small walks and to have some grass in hand which cheers her up a bit as she's still a long way of being turned out I think! Her knee wound is looking very good though and is really starting to close up well, despite it still being rather big!!!

Unfortunately the riders recovery, aka mine, isn't going as well. I was so focused on Roxie's recovery that I just soldiered on as normal, I did ache a lot so didn't ride for a few days but then just got back to normal when in actual fact I've done quite a bit of damage to myself too!

I was very sore for a while after but didn't think much of it, I ache quite a lot anyway with my injuries from the car crash in 2010, but I’ve just got used to it! So far I've had two physiotherapy treatments but there's still a fair bit to do apparently, hopefully with regular visits for the foreseeable future I should see the benefit soon and be completely pain free and not ache at all - well you can wish can't you?!

Anyway, back to the results update, and despite the physiotherapy sessions I am allowed to carry on with everything as normal, so we were out eventing at Tweseldown with Milli last Monday. After Roxie's fall, Milli had a bit of time off (I think she was jealous of Roxie getting all the attention) so with this in mind, and me not being 100%, I entered her in the BE100 class so we could get a good run under our belt. This we did and in great style.....

Click on the picture above to see more from Tweseldown.....

Dressage first and she warmed up well which continued and she performed a great test. We scored 31.0 which put us in the top 10 after dressage. On to the SJ and it seemed to be causing quite a few problems but after jumping 1.15m plus tracks it looked quite straight forward. Milli thought the same and jumped a super clear round for me! 

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The XC was a great forward track with a few questions but I was hoping she would find it easy after previous novice runs this season and she sure did! She popped round making it feel easy and we finished clear, well inside the time :) There was 3 of us that finished on 31.0 in equal second but to decide the exact placings it came down to who was nearest the optimum time XC, and seeing as we were the fastest in our arena XC we finished in 4th place which I was chuffed with. It was just the confidence boost we both needed after all recent shenanigans.....

On to the next event.....

With a good result behind us I was very looking forward to the next event and the week up to Brightling went quickly and it was another early start! The weather wasn't looking too good for the weekend and other than the odd shower we managed to miss getting completely soaked, well until we got home anyway!! On arrival I went and walked my XC course and it was going to be a bit of a test for Milli as the majority of the Novice fences were in the 1* course as well......

I had had another physio appointment the Friday before Brightling which had made me feel a lot better in myself but to Milli I wasn't sitting as I normally do and she failed to co-operate with me in the dressage unfortunately. Best way to describe it is it was just 'one of those days' in the dressage but she has been working very well so once we've got used to each other again we'll be on flying form :)

On to the SJing and as always at Brightling the course was at the top of the hill and can cause some problems and quite a lot of faults due to jumping up and down hill. Milli coped very well seeing as she's only just 6 but we did pick up 4 faults at fence 3 which was an upright down hill...personally I would like to say it was the wind as she barely touched it but there wasn't much wind that day!!

With a quick change of clothes I was in the XC warm up going through the course in my head and although it was a  tough course I couldn't wait to see what Milli made of it. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! Off out the start box we went and Milli settled into a beautiful rhythm very quickly which I was very pleased with as it was a long course and the final two hills can be very tiring for the horses, especially young horses like Milli! She was flying round, taking it all in her stride, if anything a bit too bold and keen as we found out when trying to turn in some of the tricky combinations but Milli clearly knew exactly where she was supposed to go! She made it feel very easy and finished really well and as you can tell by the 'flyer' we took to the last fence (below) up the hill she had plenty of energy left in the tank!

Click on the picture above for more pictures and a video from Brightling Park.....

After sorting Milli out we decided to head over to the score tent and get a bite to eat. We picked up 6.4 time faults which was the 3rd fastest in our arena, with many combinations picking up 'double-figure' time faults so I was very pleased with this. With our 'not so good' dressage I wasn't sure if we would have managed to climb into the top 10, so with the rest of the crew at home to sort out and Roxie's bandage to change we set off home. I looked on the BDWP site later that evening and was very pleased when I found out that we managed to move our way up to 9th place! This is a PB result at Novice level so far for us!

So, with a bit of work on our dressage, and I know we can achieve a mark in the low 30's, we should be able to make it more towards the top of the leader board which is very exciting, especially when she is our first home bred horse!!

#onwardsandupwards

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***Keep Calm & Canter On***
***Eventing 2014***