Our last competition was Team Quest at Snowball Farm and it was the same test as the week prior - P14. After 'scratch gate' I really wanted to get out and have a good test. So as I went to the warm up I was a bit shocked to hear that they were running incredibly early and the person before me was already riding their test and I was next in! I then had to explain that I wouldn't be going straight in as I needed my full 20 minute warm up and was a bit shocked that that was the expectation. Usually I would have let that put me in a fluster but I maintained my warm up routine and went in when I was ready.
The test wasn't as nice as the week before as I didn't have total control of his shoulders and he was feeling rather full of himself in the canter but it was still a good test and I was pleased with it. The judge gave me some feedback at the end and said what a lovely horse he was which was a pleasure to hear - it's never happened to me before so to have it happen twice in two weeks is still a huge novelty.
We ended up on 66.46% with the team on 196.92 which was 6.92 ahead of second place so a nice comfortable win which was really nice as it has been a while since we've got a red frilly. The best bit about this result though is that it has bumped us up to 1st place on the Central Leaderboard with a grand total of 48/50 points. Our next TQ is 12th July and then 9th August, both at Wellington and are just practise runs - Lucy is going to do the Novice whereas I'm still wanting to nail that test riding so will stick at prelim for now.
The following week BUBD had a slight change of scene and we went for a lovely farm ride at Cholsey Farm. The scenery was stunning, the weather was rather warm but most of the ride was through woodland so was lovely and cool and as we were at the top of the Chilterns there was a beautiful breeze as well. It was a perfect day and the ponies all enjoyed themselves - Fryday was bucking and squeaking for joy when we went for a canter and decided to race the big boys which made us all go a tad out of control (which may have also been because we were laughing so hard we couldn't pull up).
It was the perfect way to start our more relaxed July. As June was full of competitions I had always planned to have a quieter July and focus on a bit more training and hacking as Buddy's feet need a bit more attention than they've been getting. The only competition we have is this weekend and then nothing until August but I've got lots of jumping, dressage and xc practise in the diary and am super excited about getting out and about again.
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