This weekend was Brigadoon ODE and Crafty was entered in the Sr Intro I. He did a really nice dressage test in another 20 x 40 arena, (this time we fitted in it better) and finished on a score of 49 which was a really good effort. We then had SJ on the Saturday as well, and Crafty didn't miss a beat getting perfect spots to all his fences and feeling a lot more confident taking me to the fences, even the scary ones! The xc course was testing enough (As the lower grades tend to be in WA.....) but he set off out of the start box in a good rhythm and was getting the idea of what this phase is all about. He was more concerned about what the jump judges were up to during his round but was very focused on all the jumps. Again he covers the ground really well and everyone commented on how fluent he looked for a young horse, he is very sure footed and copes with the change in terrain really well. At the water jump there was a lot to look at for a young horse and a log jump in, I decided to trot him through the water first( to give him confidence as it was causing lots of problems) and then he was really amazing, jumping in huge with no hesitation. Overall I was really pleased with him and we finished on our dressage score which placed us 6th (out of ~50 horses in that class!). This has been a big year for Crafty, it has been exciting to see the transformation from an unbroken 5yr old in January to successfully completing his first 2 ODEs in. We now have a break over the summer from competitions, Crafty can have a couple of weeks off while I am in Adelaide and then he can come back into work and do some SJ days and some more xc schooling so we are ready for next year. Bring on 2012 and thank you Vanessa for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the ESB team this year and for selecting such a cool young horse for me to ride! We love him to bits and he has so much character!
Brookleigh ODE was Crafty's first event for the season and he was very well behaved all weekend. Our dressage was in a 20x40 arena and not only did we manage to fit in it but Crafty did a really cute test finishing up on a score of 48. He warmed up well and did not appear stressed trotting around with all the other horses, I just let him find his feet in the arena, not putting too much pressure on him as I felt his first time out needed to be an enjoyable experience. We also did SJ on Saturday and Crafty did a nice clear round jumping all the scary fill. Now I thought Sunday was going to be our biggest test as Crafty can be a bit spooky training, but I was pleasantly surprised when he cantered out the start box, found a lovely rhythm and took it all in his stride. It was a reasonably tricky Intro course with a lot of variety. We had a log on a mound two strides down to a narrow, a sunken road, ditch/palisade combination and two water jumps, crafty cantered around all of it with me needing to trot to the finish line as he has a deceptively large stride, finishing up right on time. Crafty finished on his Dressage score and placed 3rd! It wasn't until I looked at the score board at the end of the day that I realised we could have been 1st if we went a bit slower as 1st, 2nd & 3rd were on the exact same score and placings came down to whoever was closest to the optimum xc time. Overall I was very pleased and look forward to our next event :)
