TTT Horse Trials - Day 2

The morning starts with a cross country pace. Delicious cooked breakfast, thanks to Anita's camp cooking setup. Then, within minutes, the whole camp setup is put away, and replaced by two horses happily munching on hay.

We walk the cross country course. "Which is the hardest jump?", I ask. "Well, the first one", answers Anita. "I actually think it takes about three jumps for your horse to really get going. So the first three jumps are the hardest", I add. We are standing at jump number three - the dredge. I put my foot on the edge of the boxy wooden jump. "This will be your hardest jump. Make sure you drive." The rest of the course is pretty basic. As it should be, at grade 5. Although I think the water and the slide might sort out a few combinations.

Later at the float, Anita makes a comment that it's really the dressage, which determines how you place. I've now been to enough competitions to know that's not true. "I think you will find that there will be a lot of place shuffling after both the cross country and the showjumping".

I warm up Crownie for the cross country. We do a nice walk, trot, canter and then over the cross country warm up jump. She's a touch hesitant. We do the jump again, this time following another horse. She gets a lot of confidence from this. Once more - she powers over the jump. That's what I am looking for. Attitude. And she's got plenty of it.

We're off. Crownie lacks confidence, but she gets over one and two. At three she seriously doubts herself, but I give her no options. She bangs her legs but gets over it. And from there on it just flows. At jump 7 I slow her down because I know the photographer is on the other side. She stops at the water, zig zags left and right but doesn't actually step back. We're through. She finds the slide easy, and we bound over the last two. About 30 seconds over time. What a hoot! Best 5 minutes of my life!

The showjumping round is beautiful and flows really well. Crownie gets a rail down on the double. That's fine, since she's not really up to doubles yet. But we're under time, and it rides splendidly.

Anita also has lovely rounds in cross country and showjumping. Also a rail down.

I finish 10th. Anita is 8th!!! And she gets a sash! But the best thing is, Kris wins her grade 4 division! I think we'll be opening a bottle of champagne tonight!