CR Event Team - Journals

When I predicted fireworks for the forthcoming months, little did I expect to experience the highs and lows of eventing in such a short space of time!

Starting the Youngsters

This month's campaign began with outings by the younger members of the team, Glamorgan (Glam) and Lord Lan (Bill).

Our first event in April was the pre-novice at Larkhill, situated on the Plains, just north of the ancient town of Salisbury (made famous in the book "Sarum"). The area is steeped in history and the plains are often characterised as either picturesque or bleak, depending upon the weather. With the ever present gale force wind, we still counted ourselves lucky this year as the sun shone and the occasional showers were predominantly vertical!

An important consideration for the young horses is to try and gain competition mileage without the strain of long distance travel. We are fortunate enough to have 6 pre novice/novice (American Training/ Prelim) horse trials all within an hour's drive of the yard. Because Larkhill is one of these local events, we were given very early start times. Although it was dark when we rolled out of the yard, the journey was made all the better by the striking image of the sun rising behind Stonehenge just as we drove by. Very pagan!

Glam demonstrated that nothing is guaranteed with horses. After completing his best dressage ever, he decided that the tents and flags that were flapping like crazy around the show jumping arena were far too scary to concentrate on the job in hand. After pulling a shoe and sliding through a turn, he crashed an oxer. Discretion being the better part of valour, I popped a jump and retired to fight another day.

Bill's First Outing

Lord Lan (Bill) is a lovely animal. Another horse that was bred to race, Bill did not prove to have the necessary speed and found a job as a hunter. At 17 hands, the lady who rode him previously found him too big and strong, so Helen (his owner) asked me to give him some formal education with the aim of building his confidence. Helen's attitude to her horses is wonderful in that she asks only that we find them a job they enjoy and give them lots of TLC. Known affectionately as the 'Carrot lady', Helen visits the yard several times a week and loves to watch her horses in training.

After several hunter trials and team chases, Bill was ready for his first taste of eventing at Intro level (American Novice). Bovington is a new event located on an Army base in Dorset. With scores of soldiers on hand to help, this event runs with military precision. Although the home of a Cavalry Regiment, the horses have long since been replaced by tanks, which would explain somewhat the young soldiers' bewilderment when 'volunteered' to assist the riders amongst the chaos that is the show jumping warm up area!

Bill performed impeccably. Even the presence of a rather menacing looking tank next to the dressage arena didn't faze him! He did a lovely show jumping round, just a little over enthusiastic through the combination, for one down. He bowled along through the cross country and after some initial spookiness, settled down to take everything in his stride.

Originally coming to us to be a 'fun' horse, Bill showed a lot of scope for the future and really enjoyed being at the center of the admiring crowd of owner, rider and groom. Watch this space!

Harley Wins

As part of the quest to qualify Harley for his three day event, I took him on his own to his second Intermediate of the year at Portman Horse Trials, which is situated near the coast in Dorset.

Harley led from start to finish. The dressage was made all the more 'challenging' by being situated on the side of a hill, which made the bottom turn quite interesting! It was a good experience for 'H' as the course was not too demanding with just a few 'questions' and it gave him a good confidence-building run. With his great jumping ability he made light work of the track and pulled me around with just 6 time penalties.

Sensing this was one of Anna's (my Swedish working student) first efforts as a competition groom, Harley took complete advantage of her sweet nature and took every available opportunity to get loose and run around the lorry park. By the third time we had retrieved him, I think Harley figured that he had to win to redeem himself!

Great Weekend at Belton

Not far from Burghley Horse Trials lies Belton Park, the site of a lovely Restoration period house dating back to the last years of Charles II's reign. Now open to the public as a National Trust property, this imposing country house and its magnificent landscaped park is a great setting for a horse trials.

We traveled 5 hours on Friday for the competition on Saturday and Sunday. This event always attracts the best horses and riders in the country as it is probably the biggest advanced track before Badminton. This was Davey's first Advanced competition and I chose this event as the footing is generally good and he enjoys a big, bold type of course. I also knew that if he tackled this course well then he definitely has four star potential.

The dressage was a challenge with Davey's first attempts at flying changes in competition (one clean, one late!). He was quite lively as the cross country ran in close proximity to the dressage ring, but he managed a respectable score in a section full of world class horses.

The show jumping track is always big at Belton and I was thrilled with a clear round. I could definitely see that my recent lessons with top British Show Jumper Andy Austin were paying dividends. The cross-country is of maximum dimension and very bold and galloping. A difficult coffin, a big bounce into water and tricky sunken road and bank complexes were all quite challenging for Davey but he took them on like a trooper! He finished 8th out of 40, a result worth celebrating.

Things then just got better as Benny performed a lovely test despite the fact that he is an ex-racehorse and extremely claustrophobic when surrounded by other horses. He show-jumped well and bombed around a really big Intermediate track.

Benny is a joy to ride cross-country; not only is he quick and clever on his feet, but he has that rare combination of intelligence and courage. He is quite petite at just over 16 hands but has the heart of a lion. The course contained fences that he had never seen before, including a very thick Bullfinch (he of course tried to jump the whole thing!) In the face of stiff opposition, he won his class by six points and was rewarded with ample prize money and an excellent bottle of champagne with which we celebrated the successes of the weekend.

Scottie's Mom and Dad had come to watch and provided the whole team with yet another great picnic. As newcomers to the sport, Mick and Di like to take the opportunity to tour the historic settings where the events often take place. They particularly enjoyed Belton House and its picturesque gardens (in between phases!) Scott (31) enjoyed the woodland adventure playground! As is so often the case, the entrances to these historic sites were not built with large horseboxes in mind. With only inches to spare either side, the gateway to Belton Park proved to be no exception. Conveniently for the rest of us, by the time we went home someone had done an excellent job of 'widening' it. They do say that eventing is a dangerous sport!

Harley Does It Again - Bicton Horse trials

Bicton demonstrated the highs and lows of Eventing.

Bicton Arena is situated just west of Exeter in Devon and is a convenient event as we can accommodate the horses on site in permanent stabling.

This event was to prove quite a challenge for me as I have been carrying a muscle injury for some time now. It had been aggravated during the week when one of the youngsters jumped awkwardly, but I was determined to compete, as all the horses needed to run. I felt that Benny and Harley still needed the mileage over a stiff intermediate course and for Davey, it was a crucial advanced qualification for the planned three star CCI in June.

This pressure to qualify stems from the FEI attempts to make eventing safer and has resulted in the qualification system demanding higher standards from horses and riders. Also at advanced level, the limited number of spring competitions has made it difficult to achieve the qualifying runs required, particularly because last year's season was severely curtailed by foot and mouth disease. The upshot being a large number of horses are trying to qualify in the short period before the spring three-days begin. Bicton attracted a quality field of over 940 entries and ran 4 advanced classes of 45 each.

Benny and Harley both had good runs in their intermediate classes. Benny was uncharacteristically chilled out in the dressage, partially due to Kirsty's (my head groom) lunging skills, and Harley produced his normal consistent test.

They both show-jumped well and stormed around the cross-country, which was hilly and quite technical, but rides beautifully (as do all of Mike Etherington-Smith's courses). When Harley came to me 18 months ago, he refused point blank to get his feet wet, so I knew that the large water jump would be big test of his confidence. I was thrilled when he didn't bat an eyelid; in order to progress he has to answer these questions. One of the last to go of the day, Harley won and Benny finished a satisfying 5th out of 40.

Recognizing that this is a team effort, Bicton has always been good at encouraging the owners and grooms to attend the prize giving. As a winning groom, Kirsty won a bottle of Moet Chandon Champagne, which was most deserved. Despite his best efforts, Scott failed to convince anyone that champagne "doesn't keep" and is best drunk the same day! Mind you I think he was still a little put out at a corporate sponsor's insistence of congratulating every female rider who won a rosette with a kiss. Perhaps it had more to do with the fact that I picked up two prizes that day and had been asked to collect several more for other riders!

Although I had managed to ride both Benny and Harley around the cross country on Saturday, it had taken its toll on my leg injury. I was in a lot of pain whenever I had to squeeze or push with my right leg, and would have scratched Davey, but the strict changes to FEI qualification rules meant that I still needed a qualifying run for our planned three day event in Germany

Unable to guide and support Davey as I would normally, it was certainly going to be a good test of his confidence in me! He managed to perform a solid dressage test, without much help from his rider, and finished just 2 points off the lead.

Show jumping, however, was a different matter. I went in to the warm up arena to see if I could sit the jump; it wasn't pretty, but I felt it was worth a try. Once in the ring however, I could not maintain the precision required and found the landings excruciating. As I could barely stay onboard, it was clear that it was not wise for me to go onto the cross-country. I was bitterly disappointed as I knew that the course suited Davey. Sadly I withdrew.

Coping with Mid-Season Injury

First thing Monday morning I went to see a Physiotherapist at the Bath Rugby Club. The diagnosis was not conclusive but she felt that the root cause of the pain was a torn muscle.

I decided to take a break from riding to try to give the leg time to heal before the next all-important qualifying competition. I withdrew from all my competitions over the next three weeks and had to direct affairs from the ground. Kirsty has done a good job schooling the youngsters and keeping the older horses fit. In the mean time I have had to buy her a seat saver!

One advantage of my enforced break was that I was able to go to Badminton Horse Trials. Fortunately we live only 20 minutes from the Badminton Estate and so our home is often full at this time. This year Bob and Sally Futh were staying with us during their annual pilgrimage to the world's top three-day event. The Fuths have been stalwart supporters of mine for years and are part owners of Davey and Harley. Usually when they visit I am either competing or training, so it was great to be able to spend some quality time with them. I watched the dressage with great interest and enjoyed walking the course, looking for the problem areas and trying to gauge how Davey would cope!

Badminton proved a great success. The weather was perfect, the going good, the shopping excellent and the standard of competition a delight to watch. That said, I don't plan to be a spectator next year!

Rolleston

As physiotherapy was going well and I felt that my leg was healing, I decided to attempt to ride in the Advanced at Rolleston. I knew it would be touch and go as I was still uncomfortable when jumping, but I was anxious to qualify Davey for Luhmuhlen.

Rolleston is set in the beautiful rolling countryside of Leicestershire and is an extremely well organised event. It is eagerly anticipated by the friendly locals, many of whom volunteer their help during the event and provide overnight stabling for competitor's horses.

We were accompanied by a friend visiting from Australia, who was very keen to see how eventing compared to that back home. The first big shock was that the horses are stabled overnight and not corralled in homemade pens! Basically, he felt that the standard of the courses were similar but that the quality and finish of the fences was far better in England.

It was quite a luxurious weekend for us with one horse, four people, stabling only half a mile away and late start times. Normally staying away from home is a hectic whirlwind of activity, but this time we were even able to show our Australian guest the hospitality of the local village pub!

My leg felt ok and we managed to perform an adequate test, although our lack or preparation over the past few weeks was in evidence.

The show jumping caused a great deal of drama, with only three out of 60 going clear. Davey jumped well until half way around the course when I felt another searing pain as we landed from a fence. Because of the importance of this run, I was determined to hang on to the finish, and we did manage a decent score. I was doubtful about my ability to complete the cross country but decided to give it a shot and see what happened.

The course included a frangible fence, a new concept in world eventing. Introduced as part of the ongoing British Eventing safety program, these fences incorporate a special pin supporting the top rail. Designed to break under severe impact from certain angles, this pin allows the rail to fall thereby preventing the flipping accidents which cause serious injury to horse and rider. Although thankfully not tested at Rolleston, the frangible fence did prove its worth at Weston Park Horse Trials (GB). A horse would have somersaulted over a rail, but the frangible pin broke allowing the horse to land on its feet and throw the rider clear, uninjured. The fence was re-built in one and a half minutes and the event could continue without delay.

The cross-country at Rolleston was large and quite technical and caused many problems throughout the day. We set out determined to get round clear, but not necessarily concerned about time penalties. Davey took the course on like a lion and jumped beautifully through a narrow angled double of hedges, a drawbridge with a massive ditch behind and a difficult, blind bounce into water. Although painful, my leg had been bearable up to the bounce, but I felt something pop as we landed in the water. As I was no longer able to concentrate clearly, we managed the jump out and retired. I was the focus of bemused looks from many of the spectators (and from Davey!) who did not understand why a horse that was jumping so well had been pulled up! Needless to say I was bitterly disappointed as I knew that at that moment my spring season had just ended.

The Health Service in the UK is free and excellent in emergencies; however, treatment for injuries like mine can be (literally!) painfully slow. I have since come back to the States for treatment on a torn adductor muscle. With the German and Irish three-day events now out of the window, I will aim to be back in the saddle and ready for the fall three-day events. Benny, Davey and Harley will be let down in June and will come back into work hopefully ready for me to ride at the end of July.

Kirsty will continue to work with the youngsters. She and Bill completed their first Intro (Novice) this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It turned out to be one of those classic events: you know you're in for a long day when it is so wet that the lorries have to be towed onto the site through the mud! Helen, Bill's owner, said she came home with mud in her ears! Thanks to his experience as a hunter, Bill doesn't mind bad weather and completed a good cross-country round, finishing just outside of the placings. Kirsty and Bill will continue to compete together until I am fit again and will move up to training level at their next event.

Making full use of a professional web designer in the family, C R Event Team goes technical with the launch of our new website at www.cindyrawsoneventteam.com. Many thanks to my sister Blythe for all her hard work!

I now begin an enforced four to six week break from riding and so will fill my time with physiotherapy, fitness work, teaching and more physiotherapy! As my schedule is now much more flexible, I have the opportunity to use my time on the 'ground' wisely, auditing clinics and teaching in the States. Not the most patient of 'patients,' the end of July can't come fast enough!

Last modified: 2003-Aug-01 23:00:26

All material on this site is
Copyright © 2002-2009 Cindy Rawson Event Team
unless specifically indicated on each document.
All Rights Reserved.

Questions? Problems? Contact the site's Administrator