And just like that we are back out again! It's a bit of a strange feeling starting our season in the middle of July, but it's just great to be back out doing what we love.
I was a lot more nervous on Sunday morning than I thought I would be, not because I doubted either Belle or I, but because (as usual) I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to have a 'good' day. However, I tried my best to ignore those thoughts, and distracted myself by focusing on getting everything ready!
I had plaited and bathed Belle the night before, so that was one less thing to worry about that morning, but we had quiet a civilised morning not having to leave until about 8:15. Packing the lorry, I realised that I had forgotten quiet how much kit you need for just one day of eventing! With everything but the kitchen sink packed (along with all Harry's kit for four horses as well), we loaded the horses and squeezed into the lorry.
When we arrived, I unloaded Belle and tied her to the side of the lorry before heading off to walk the course. We'd had a quick look at the course online the night before (thank you Shoestring Eventing!) and there was nothing that I was too worried about, and walking it confirmed my confidence. It was a lovely course to come back out to, full of big open running fences, with a couple of simple combinations throughout. The only thing I was slightly concerned about (and this was for the whole event, not just the XC) was that I had no idea what Belle was going to be like. She'd given me no reason to be worried, but I didn't want to assume she'd be fine and then regret it.
We headed down to the Dressage with about 30 mins to warm up, which was just right. Belle warmed up very well, very calm but moving extremely well off my leg and listening to my aids. She did a very sweet test, we had one annoying break in our left canter which would have lost us a couple of marks, but I was only irritated with myself for letting it happen. The rest of the test was lovely, apart from a classic move on my part of dropping my reins in our final halt. We were awarded a very respectable 30.5 that I was very pleased with (although absolutely kicking myself that without my 'mistakes' it could easily been a sub 30), and were sat in 3rd place going into the SJ.
The SJ warm up was organised brilliantly, with two separate arenas to minimise the number of riders in one place. This allowed us to warm up well, without having to worry too much about the other riders as normal. Personally I think this was fantastic as it meant that our warm up was calm and relaxed, and we were able to jump what we wanted without to much pressure to jump in when you can. We jumped each warm up fence a couple times, watched a couple riders around the course and then it was our turn to go! I was super pleased with how Belle jumped, she was so responsive and off my leg and I couldn't have asked more from her. Annoyingly, I just half halted a bit too much down a related distance meaning we had an unlucky pole, but I was still very pleased with our round.
I couldn't wait to get back out XC! After our recent visit to Boomerang, I was itching to get Belle out on a course and see what she has in the tank. In the warm up, I was slightly
worried she might not take me into the fences quiet as much as I would have liked as she just didn't seem raring to go. However, the second we made it into the start box was a different story. She felt full of energy, and absolutely rocketed out towards the first fence. She gave me the most incredible ride across country, not hesitating at anything. She cruised around to finish exactly on time, so no time faults either!
I am so over the moon with how our first event together went, there are a few details to just iron out and work on, but we have set a great bench mark and (fingers crossed!) it can only get better from here! Unfortunately we were competing HC as there was a bit of a mix up with our entry, but would have finished 10th over all if we were in our section. Really looking forward to Bicton BE100 in two weeks now!!
