What A Great Start To The Season.....!

We started the Easter weekend of in great style as I had my first event of the 2016 season with Diaz and after great outing show-jumping the weekend prior and a confident XC schooling session at the beginning of last week I felt we were as ready as we could possibly be!

On arrival at Munstead I headed off to walk the XC course with Diaz's owner who had come along for the day out. The course looked nice there was plenty of questions but it was a nice inviting course with alternatives at the more difficult fences and combinations. After walking the XC course and collecting my number it was time to start to get Diaz ready and with the lorry park being next to the XC and the start box she very quickly realised what she was doing!

Despite the slight excitement whilst tacking up she soon calmed down and focused on the job in hand as we were warming up for our dressage. Sarah from Global Herbs had come to the event to meet us and Diaz soon put on her twinkle toes when she heard the camera clicking as we went past! We went in and Diaz did a nice test, there was room for some improvement as she felt slightly  excitable so I had to ride quite 'tactfully' for some movements but I was very pleased when we finished our test and was hoping for a mid 30's mark. I was very pleased when I heard our dressage score was 32.3, which put us into 11th place after this phase!

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With a change of tack we headed over to the show-jumping and they were waiting for people to jump so with a quick warm up and watching the person before jump so I knew the course, we headed in. Diaz jumped round like a pro, she continued her current streak of not touching any poles and jumped a super clear for me!

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Now it was time for the fun bit and Diaz marched her way back to the lorry, I think she knew what she was to do next! With a change of boots on Diaz and me into my XC gear we headed over to the warm up. We jumped a few fences in the warm up and then some on an angle to make sure we were as ready as we needed to be. In to the start box, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....GO! Off we went out the start box and over the first few fences steadily. I let Diaz go at her own speed throughout the round and as she got into it she picked up pace and was jumping out of a lovely forward rhythm, very confidently! We took all the direct routes and she jumped a brilliant clear round for me.

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After untacking Diaz, I gave her a wash off and took her for a walk around to chill out, whist walking around the car park she felt the need to have a roll in the dust / mud which obviously made her feel much better! We headed over to take a look at the score boards and I was pleased that we had finished 4 seconds inside the optimum time so there was noting to add to our dressage score of 32.3! I was pleased with our time as I didn't really push her at all for speed so shows she was travelling at a nice pace naturally!

I was very pleased when the results went up and we finished in 6th place.....not a bad way to start the season! In fact I couldn't have really asked for a better results to be honest. The dressage mark of 32.3 is a new PB mark for us at this level and to follow that with a double clear inside the time I was thrilled with her and can't wait for our next outing. Please Click Here to view more pictures from the day along with a video of each discipline.

Talking of our next outing I have a very busy weekend of competitions coming up, with Diaz competing in the BE90 at Goring Heath Horse Trials on Saturday, over the new BE90 course so I can't wait to see what the course looks like. Then on Sunday Roxie is out at the Riding Club Winter Dressage Qualifier competing in the Elementary part of the team competition........
Wish Us Luck :)

Fingers crossed for another successful report early next week for you!

SG Equestrian
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***Keep Calm & Canter On***
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