After Savs great run at West Wilts last month I couldn't wait to get her back out competing with BE. The course at Goring looked great, a couple of questions throughout the course which I knew I would have to really get my lines right to but nothing too worrying.
In the dressage warm up Savs was slightly tense, so I couldn't to get her to completely relax and work properly over her back and neck. I was worried this was going to carry on into our test and bring the mark she was capable of achieving down, but as I walked over to the arena I felt her relax and as we trotted around the arena she felt much better. She produced what I felt was her best test, the canter was much more steady and ridable and her downwards transitions . The trot work was really good, we even managed to pick up an 8.5 for one of our changes of reins! Unfortunately I just overshot the last center line so we lost a few marks for that and our last halt, but overall the test was fantastic and we scored a very pleasing 29.3.
The Show Jumping was on grass, which Savs struggles with slightly as she is still learning to balance herself properly, but we are getting there so I was just hoping for a nice tidy round. She warmed up okay, if anything just a little behind my leg but she was jumping well so I wasn't too worried. As usual, she perked up a bit once we were in the ring and came towards the first fence in a great rhythm. It was a working hunter type fence, with a brush as the front of the spread. I'd seen a couple of horses before us balk at this fence, so I really pushed her into it. I was glad I did as she had a small look, but jumped it well and carried straight on. The whole round after that flowed beautifully, she jumped brilliantly for a near foot perfect clear round!
Savannah has now definitely clocked on to what XC is all about, and was very eager to get down to the course. The warm up area was quite narrow and so there wasn't much room. I just gave her a good canter round and popped both warm up fences before our go. Savs absolutely rocketed out of the start box and flew over the first fence before I really knew what had happened. She feels so much fitter now, and I really felt that I could put my foot down the whole way round, and she stormed round clear, 8 seconds inside the time! Now that the canter is so much stronger I can start to adjust her stride which allows me to steady her before a fence and then quickly move away again after.
We finished on our dressage score and managed to collect 8th as well - her first Eventing Rosette! I am so proud of how she ran today, she is really starting to feel like a proper little event horse and I'm very excited to see how the last part of our season goes!
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