The highs and the lows (very long, sorry!)

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The highs and the lows (very long, sorry!)

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templars
Platinum Member

England

1852 Posts

Posted - 30 Aug 2010 : 12:17:55 PM

What a roller coaster of a month! Phew, I'm almost glad August is over, it's been such a mixed month!

First a brilliant day at Bold Heath when Harley did his second event with massive praise from the dressage judge and clear, inside the time for cross country!!!!!

I had read mixed reviews about Bold Heath in previous seasons but it was one of the best events we've ever been to and I can't recommend it highly enough for a first time or beginner event.

The dressage was spectacular and Harls just epitomises "uphill". The judge's comments blew our socks off - "massively impressive horse", "fluid and elastic", "going to be a star". To say it was only his second test, we were speechless.

Show jumping had a couple of tricky combinations and unfortunately, I influenced Evie - I should have left her to her own decisions. A friend had ridden the most complex combination wrong and she told me, I told Evie and influenced how she was going to ride it. Stupid me, if I'd have kept quiet, Evie would have got the right line but as it was, she did what the friend had advised - and rolled a pole! Damn!

Cross country was just magical. At one point, three horses passed one another in opposite directions and I wondered how Harls would cope. No worries, he kept his beautiful, rhythmic gallop with his little ears forward and just concentrated on what he was doing. Up steps, down drops, even over a little skinny, and - joy of joys - cantered straight through the water without a moment's hesitation.

A brilliant, super, day and we were all on a high.

These are the photos. Copyright BPG Photograpy - I have ordered all the prints on a disc but they haven't arrived yet and I have the photographer's permission to put these on this forum.

Show jumping:

Cross country:

Call me biased but I still get a tear looking at these photos - happy home bred rider on happy home bred horse (sob).

Next outing a horrible, nasty day at Beckwithshaw with Harls.

This time I heard first hand from friends that this wasn't a nice event. So I read a couple of reviews and saw that they are supposed to have re-vamped things so we decided to give it a go. WRONG!!! For anyone thinking of trying a first event, don't do Beckwithshaw. It's badly set out, the fences are way too big for beginners and the people are down right rude.

First the times for competing. Our dressage was after 4pm, show jumping at 5pm and cross country at 6.30pm.

So, the dressage! After the success of the previous week, we weren't too worried. The collecting ring was right next to the livery yard at the venue (and a good three quarters of a mile walk from where we had to park the wagon!) The stewards at events are usually so good and keep things moving and they keep discipline very tight. Not here! They stood huddled in the corner and didn't come out once, they didn't call riders when their tests were due and they didn't maintain any semblance of discipline.

Being next to the stables, the word soon went out that there was an Arabian stallion competing. Within minutes there were groups of people with cameras. Harls was being so good and working beautifully in that loose, soft outline that is Harls. Next minute there was an almighty set of flashes and laughing as all the people starting snapping away - and not turning the flash off their cameras! Harls shot sideways and became very tense. Evie worked miracles to calm him again and get him concentrating. He'd just settled when and was working the diagonal when a horse literally cantered straight into the side of him just behind Evie's leg, almost knocking him over.

The rider was looking over her shoulder and chatting with the camera toting liveries so she hadn't even seen Harls and Evie. She just laughed and said "sorry, wasn't looking where I was going". Her horse had hit with such impulsion, it had ended up mounting Harls cross wise on. Not a good thing to happen to a stallion in the dressage warm up! Needless to say, the test wasn't good when he finally got in the arena. Not bad, but definitely no where near the performance of the previous week.

Off to show jumping. On the long, long, long, walk from the wagon to the show jumping arena, we could hear the cross country commentator getting more and more exasperated. Thirteen horses in a row had either retired or been eliminated with five riders in a row, falling off and needing the ambulance. The commentator said, "this is the first time in 35 years that I've ever witnessed carnage like this. Can someone please get this event sorted out?"

Just as we arrived at the collecting ring, the air ambulance arrived for one of the fallers on cross country. The steward stupidly started saying, "oh well, it might as well stay, you lot look so cr*p that no doubt you'll be needing the air ambulance too"

More bad management of the collecting ring, with horses going every which way and jumping jumps from all directions. One woman lost control of her horse and ran it into the back of Harls as she yelled "sorry, I haven't got brakes"

The side of the actual arena was a dry stone wall next to the road. So at one point, the horses had to run parallel to the road to jump a double. Sounds ok but don't forget these were baby horses and they are building a wind farm next door so just as the horses were approaching the jump, wagons were hurtling along the road and to the horses, it looked like they were coming straight at them. It was no surprise when Harley was eliminated because three wagons in a row were coming along just as he attempted the double and after being run into twice by horses, he jumped sideways to avoid crashes with anything else!

Not a good day

Then last week, Evie and Harry went down to Sapey. I wasn't with them and it's the first time I haven't been there.

Can't comment much on what happened but they had a good day. Harry is definitely overcoming his demons with the show jumping and so they used the day to practice speed on the cross country. If you go over the allotted time, you get time penalties and until now, we've concentrated on getting round clear and not bothered too much about time. Now that Evie and Harry are getting to know one another a bit better, they are "upping" the speed a bit.

A good day and they achieved exactly what they wanted - clear inside the time. Oh, and they met Harry's previous rider, Louise Skelton who had a good chat with Evie about him and apparently she thought he was looking very good. That cheered Evie up immensely.

Couple of photos:

Then yesterday, a mixed day at Winkburn with Harry.

It was a very competitive JRN class.

Harry's dressage is just getting better and better. He does much better at the higher levels of dressage but he can get a little cocky so Evie has to make sure he listens properly. When they canter across the diagonal, the tests asks for a change of leg by transitioning to trot for 3-5 strides. Not Harry, he knows he's capable of more so he can put in the most amazing flying changes. Lovely, but not what's needed. Evie has put in a lot of work reminding him that he may be at that level, but she's not! So yesterday's test was pretty damned good given that he had two of those to do. We were all very pleased.

Show jumping was very testing and made even more difficult because it was blowing a gale and the jumps kept blowing over. Evie was nervous because this was a full up course and she was worried that he may freeze - especially in front of the JRN crowd. No need to worry, he did a really good show.

The cross counntry was odd. All the fences were fairly straight forward but huge. There weren't any really technical questions bar two but there wasn't a let up from the big, big fences.

Two professional riders that we rate had falls at the two technical fences.

Harry was going really well and then the rider before Evie had a fall so Evie was held whilst the rider was taken away in an ambulance and the fence rebuilt. After a ten minute hold up, they were started again and again, took up a good pace. One of the skinniest fences on the course was a combination of two hedges (very similar to the hedges at the Land Rover fence at Burghley). As Evie approached, she realised the flag was missing from one of the hedges so there wasn't anything to guide Harry or stop him from running out. No problems, Harrison just locked on and popped it. The two technical fences were cleared without a second look.

So, after a lengthy hold up, the pair were powering to one of the few clear rounds of the day and we were cheering.

Our mistake - at the final fence, Harry caught his foot in a furrow created by a previous horse who had stopped and so he stumbled slightly as he took off over a massive curved, upright palisade (not nice for a final fence). That meant he just clipped the top of the palisade and it made him wobble in mid air. Evie hung on as best she could but she came a crashing fall just 2 strides before the finish line!!! She was mortified. Harry has a completely blemish free cross country record with Evie and she was heart broken because she felt she'd let him down.

The organisers were just the best. They were supporting and encouraging, they helped her put it in perspective. As she limped over to Harry to give him a hug, she was crying but the BE people carried on giving support and encouragement. By rights, her record could have shown either elimination or a fall but bless them, they put it as a retirement which is much better. Thank you British Eventing!!

And the final up and down - it looks like it's bad but really it's good!

I think I've mentioned that Evie suffers quite a nasty illness that mirrors a stroke and leaves her completely paralysed down one side and in horrendous pain.

Well, after two years of some of the most invasive tests, the doctors have finally diagnosed the problem - only it's two problems, not one.

First, she has a problem with position of her brain and the construction of the skull. We're seeing the neurosurgeon on the 8th September and we have been told to expect immediate surgery on the brain. Scary but such a relief to know there is something that can be done to correct the problem.

Second, she has a structural problem with her hip and again, we've been told that she will need surgery to try and correct it. The surgery only has a 50% success rate and if it fails, she'll need a hip replacement.

We're trying to get it all sorted over winter so that it doesn't impact her riding too much.

She's had a really good year - she's got Harls going and it's looking very positive and encouraging; she's finally bonded with stressy Harry and he's coming good; despite missing so much school because of her illness, she's still got almost straight A's in her exams.

But there have been some very big set backs - first Heron getting injured (but the good news there is that we've got the all clear to start him back in work); and she's missed out on World Class Development selection. We were contacted at the beginning of the season to invite Evie to apply for the World Class Development training - this is the training for prospective future Olympic riders. Technically, she's still too young but she was invited anyway with Heron. When Heron was injured, she was told she could continue with Harry but because of Evie's illness, she hasn't been able to make the progress with Harry as quickly as was needed and so we elected to withdraw from the process. It's not the end of the world, we've been invited back for the next round in 2 years - and Evie will still only be 17, but I know Evie was looking forward to getting access to top trainers if she had been successful.

So, all in all a mixed time but with so very much to look forward to.

Glad it's Bank Holiday and we can all have a rest today!!!! And nurse our various bruises before starting all over again tomorrow!!!!

www.eviepeel.com

Edited by - templars on 30 Aug 2010 12:25:35 PM

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moatside
Platinum Member

England
3224 Posts

Posted - 30 Aug 2010 : 12:47:11 PM

Lovely write up and lovely pics! Harley is looking stunning!!