Seville Pony Club Horse Trials

We're off to a competition today, and Gally will not get on the float. Luckily, Pete is happy to help, and we're on our way. (Where is the magic patting trick? Clearly, not working.)

We arrive at Wandin and settle in. I tack up for dressage and report to gear check.

"Oh, I am sorry, but you can't ride with spurs or with that whip", says the gear checker. "But you can ride with a crop. Oh, and you must have a medical arm band."

I zip back to the float, make the necessary adjustments and return to the gear check.

"Oh, I am sorry, but you must take your earings out." Now, is there any reason they couldn't tell me that the first time around?

I do as told, get a cute little dot on my arm band, and proceed to warm up. Bang! We find ourselves on the opposite side of the warm up area, in an unseated, uncontrollable rush. I end up on the ground, still holding onto the reins.

A lady runs up to me. "I am so sorry, my daughter's horse tripped." "So?", I think to myself. "Now according to the new pony club rules, you can't get back on until you've been cleared by the medical team", she goes on. I roll my eyes. "But I am a doctor, and I think you're fine to get back on."

Another woman runs up. "Oh you just dismounted, didn't you?", she asks. Yeah. Like I dismount at almost flat chat gallop on the off side all the time. It's a little trick I do at competitions.

I mount up and continue my warm up. A horse snorts, and Gally rushes off again, but this time I stay on. Someone sneezes, rush. A horse comes up behind, rush. On the one hand, I have a horse that's not going forward, on the other hand I get mad rushes and leaps every now and then.

Then a friend arrives, and I allow Gally to stand while we chat. I've given up on the dressage warm up.

Finally it's my turn. I ride up to the judge, introduce myself, and commence the test. It's two points short of brilliant. Gally doesn't shy once, and while he's a bit wobbly on the left rein, the right rein is just perfect. Excellent trot. Brilliant canter. Sure it could all do with some spurs. But, as my friend puts it, it's 200% better than 3 months ago.

I put Gally away and walk the cross country course. It looks Gally friendly.

During the warm up for XC, Gally is jumping well, but his behaviour between jumps is rediculous. He does this thing where he twists left, then right, then rushes off. Or he puts his head down after the jumps and starts humping. By this stage, my brain seems to have kicked in, and I manage to catch him with the rein on his first twist. Or on his first or second hump. It all happens so fast though, that it's never a conscious reaction.

Finally we're on the course, and Gally thinks it's time to race back to the float. I slow him down. "Oh me gott, there's a jump in front of us", freaks Gally. "Oh, and there's person to the left", he veers a metre off course. I refocus him on the jump and we get over number one. "Now it's time to go back to the float", Gally tries to gallop off.

We approach nubmer 2 at trot, with Gally trying to go left and right. "Oh mee, there's a person", he freaks at the judge. Those judges on course, they sit really still, but I am starting to wish they'd wave.

Number 3 is a boxy little tractor, and he just can't do it from a standstill. We circle and he jumps it on the second approach. At the ditch he still gawks at the judge. At number 5 he nods at the judge. Then he freaks out at the fallen log in the middle of the paddock. It's not part of the course, but Gally just cannot believe we can just cruise past it and not get eaten.

Then we get our groove. Six is a breeze, and we're half way over 7, when "click" goes the camera. Gally freezes mid-stride. I laugh at the camera man, and on we go. A few more jumps, then ... water. Like last time, we don't actually have to do the water, but we have to do a jump on the other side of the water. It's not "flowing", it's not fast, but we succeed. And the rest of the course is put away without another hiccup. I am very proud of my little horse.

The showjumping is running very late, and the line up is absolute chaos. People are pushing in under the pretext of work and funerals. Finally, we get our turn, and Gally jumps a very calm round. Albeit so slow, that we get 4 time penalties.

The results read something like this: after the dressage we were equal fourth! Then we got two refusals and time penalties in cross country, and time penalties in showjumping. Which leaves us second last. But ... but ... not eliminated. Yay!