Bulla Horse Trials - Ricky Bannister Fundraiser

The alarms goes off at 4:50am, and I groan.  Daylight savings started a mere 3 hours ago.  But my brain surges ahead with the plans: get dressed, feed the horses, attach the float, come back to get Sabina, then load Lil.  Phew!  I like a girl with a plan.  Plan executed, and at 6:13am we are driving out the front gate.

The journey is boring at best.  We roll up at Bulla Pony Club, park, unload, visit the bathroom, and register.  The usual stuff.  Lil has clipped herself during the travel - it's totally minor, but I make a mental note to float her in bell boots on the front legs in the future.

The dressage warmup is in a huge grassy area that, in a couple of hours, will become the cross country course.  Our ring is right next to the road, with a strand of small trees, bush and scrub acting as a screen.  So you can hear the cars coming, but you can't see them until they are pretty close.  Lil's "relaxing" is not going well.  I try my best.  I think it's my best.  But I know it's not.  In addition our two weeks of holidays and daily feeding for Lil means I am on a fairly hot horse who just wants to canter.  That's great for cross country.

We ride up to the judge, and on the gravelly surface, next to the road Lil tenses up, and I can't really find the right button to push to change it.  So the dressage is terrible.  It's something that would be "just ok" with Dingo, but I really expect a lot more than that from Lil.

The showjumping, in contrast goes brilliantly.  Lil is a bit hot during the warm-up.  But she is keen rather than disobedient.  She does a showjumping round that the onlookers call "stylish".  Shucks.

After the jumping we get a breather - lunch, coffee, walk the cross country course and check out the results.  The cross country course is beautiful.  For the first time in my life I am not nervous about cross country.  I re-walk the course in my mind, and start worrying that perhaps I should be nervous.  I manage to grow respectful, rather than foolhardy, and leave it at that.

The results are another matter.  After the dressage I am coming =14th (last!) in a field of about 18 riders.  Hardly surprising.  However, after showjumping I move up to =12th.

The event is running early, and by the time I make it to cross country warm-up it's actually time to ride.  A few riders skip the queue ahead of me, and we get enough time for trot, canter, and a few jumps.  It's all Lil needs.  She's keen.

We head out of the starting gates at an easy trot as Lil assesses the course.  Lil's not quite sure what to lock onto just yet, and she takes the odd look at the jumps judges.  So it's a bit all over the place for the first four jumps.  Then we get our groove.

Number 5 is a double, the second part being a little brush and we almost have a run-out.  After that I take a bit of a stronger hold.  We bowl along at a fast canter, and I get the feeling that Lil is really happy with the pace, but also happy to come back when I ask.  It's magic.

Just before the water I slow her down to a walk.  I know my daughter is just there, watching, and I ensure that we do the perfect pass through the water - that is, the speed at which we approach the jump, is the same speed through the water, and the same speed after the water.  Then we bounce back into the canter and head over the last and towards the finish line.  Clear.

I am all ready to just pack up and go home, but Sabina forces me to see the results.  What?!  We are 6th!!!  And the girl that was equal with us has pipped us at the post.  We're on the same score, but she is 5th because Lil and I were a bit too fast cross country.  So of course we stay for the presentations.

It's 7pm by the time we get home, and it's been a long day.  I feed the horses, and then return later to collect their buckets.  Lil comes up to me, and pushes her head gently towards me.  I rub her lovingly on the forehead, between the eyes, between the ears.  I think I'm not the only one who enjoyed the day.

As soon as I have a moment spare I'm on the blower to my instructor "I think you need to re-grade Lil to Level 4.  How soon can you come over?"