Welcome back guys! So I’ve had a very very busy and exciting month. As I mentioned to you all last month, we had three qualifications for area festivals. Two at Elementary and one at Medium. The first Elementary qualification we had entered at Solihull. The preparation in the weeks before wasn’t ideal. Rabbit had a few weeks break and I hadn’t been riding. It turns out if I have a break from riding I completely forget how to ride! With this in mind it was a bit of an uphill shove to try and get everything together for the test. Thankfully a few days before the show I was starting to feel like we had just about got everything together.
The times came out and the class was huge. 43 entries, the class wasn’t being split for 1st and 2nd would qualify for nationals. We were in the outdoor arena there so decided not to do the arena walk. My time was 09.42 and the class finished at 4pm so it was going to be a very long day.
Rabbit warmed up well on the day but was a little tense as it had been a while since we had done a show. We worked a lot on making sure he was in front of my leg and listening to my half halts. When the time came and I must admit I was nervous. We have been at Elementary level for long enough to be quite established now so I was hoping for a good result.
Rabbit was an absolute star and went beautifully. There were bits I wasn’t happy with and I know we can do better, but overall I thought it was a nice test. The wait began, the score came out and I was thrilled we managed 69% and were in the lead!!! Now the wait felt even longer! We decided as there wasn’t a prize giving to take Rabbit home, since I had another test the following week and I didn’t want him stood in the trailer all day. So we packed up and headed off.
Now this was complete torture. I knew we had a competitive score but there were many good combinations still to come. I was obsessively checking my phone and killing my phone battery but I was staying in the lead. Unfortunately about ¾ of the way through the class I was beaten by 0.5%. I was gutted but knew I was still in a qualifying spot.
Once we had sorted Rabbit out we headed back to Solihull for the prize giving. I wasn’t sure what my place would be but I was hopeful for a rosette placing. The tension was unbearable and finally I refreshed and the last 8 scores popped up. We had qualified for nationals! I was so pleased I nearly cried. This is a lifelong dream and I have been working towards this with Rabbit for three years. I can’t believe we’ve finally achieved it and I am so appreciative of the team around me who have helped and supported me along the way.
© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2021
Treating your horse with care, connection, curiosity and compassion
