Jodie's Blog - Seriously, how good is it to be back eventing again?
Seriously, how good is it to be back eventing again??
Having never ventured South in early March before, our season started earlier than usual with Lincoln on 16/17 March. We had intended to start the week before at Oasby but life had been so busy for me with work and renovating our new house that I didn’t quite feel organised - and it’s now getting a bit too big to not be 100% in the game! So, we withdrew from Oasby and waited patiently for Lincoln.
It certainly paid off! Clover did a VERY fresh dressage test; apparently you don’t get extra marks for freestyling, who knew? Medium jog has become Clover’s trademark dressage move - the joys of a sassy mare, determined to do everything at a million miles an hour…what is it they say about animals like their owners??
She had a silly pole down show jumping but stormed around a really strong Intermediate for so early in the season. She now makes massive courses feel like she’s just skipping round which is the best feeling in the world, so it was well worth the long drive home for such a great start to the season.
Next was Dalkeith and I was really sad for the organisers and all those that didn’t get a run late Saturday and the Sunday - the weather was not kind to us at all! Clover and I were lucky as we did get a skip round the Intermediate and she felt absolutely fantastic, plus my whole family came to watch, including my baby niece and nephew, which made the day extra special.
A very leisurely 1pm dressage meant we didn’t need to be up at the crack of dawn and arrived in plenty of time to walk the cross country. We were very late to go in the section by which point the dressage arenas were very muddy and holding - I loved it, finally something to slow Clover down in a dressage test! We came away with a very smart 33 dressage. The show jumping was a bit trickier with really deep ground conditions but she just tapped the one pole so I was really relieved given how slippery it was as we neared the end of the class.
In what is steadily becoming “Clover-fashion” she bossed the cross country, again feeling like she was skipping round a BE100! I swore we would never do an Intermediate but the way she’s going, it’s hard to believe she wouldn’t be capable of an Advanced…
Our next event is this weekend with another new event for us - Kelsall Hill, Cheshire. I will be sad to miss Forgandenny and catching up with lots of friends (and our lovely sponsors Apt Cavalier who have a stand there) but now that we are aiming for bigger challenges I have to be willing to travel more. Hopefully this weekend will give us a good run prior to the 3* at Floors Castle (one of my all-time favourite events!). Pops is feeling as good as ever and we are already introducing some Advanced dressage movements into our lessons which is a little bit exciting!
Hope to catch up with everyone again at Floors.
Love Jodie and Pops x
