Thursday 8 September 2011

Four days to go before my first TREC competition


Maud and me. Photo taken in May 2011

This Sunday, Maud (Sherberton Jollytime) and I will be competing in our first ever Le Trec competition, Level 1, and I'm so excited! It is a one day competition held at Barskimming near Mauchline in Ayrshire.
Although I have a lot of the kit required to compete in a Trec competition already, I did have to buy quite a bit of stuff otherwise I would loose points, and there is no point loosing marks before you even start! The stuff that I had to buy were; first aid kits for Maud and one for myself, saddlebags for all the said stuff, new flexible map case (which I was going to do anyway), batteries for my torch, address tags for us both and a BE Medical Armband. It all adds up at the end of the day, but will be worth it.

Due to the weather this week, my training schedule has gone completely to pott! The rain has been heavy and incessant, and the light levels too low to safely ride out or even walk in hand. The fields also have been water logged and exceedingly slippy too. So I have just been clicker training Maud to stand and stay and other wee bits that will help in the cross country section.

I received my number (16) and start times today. At 10:45 we start with the control of paces (CP) and six minutes later we start the cross country or obstacle phase (PTV). After half an hour, we start the orienteering section (POR), which is the part of the competition I'm really looking forward to. I think we are expected to cover the distance in an hour, which means Maud and I will have to "run like the clappers", as it takes her twice as long to cover a kilometer as it does the horse! However, I plan to try and complete this section in the allotted time, but being accurate is more important and I just want to enjoy myself and take in my surroundings - after all, it is not every day you get to ride around beautiful countryside.

On Saturday afternoon, there is a guided walk around the obstacle course, which will be very useful, knowing what obstacles have been planned and what the ground is like and how it might be after many horses have travelled it. I think by the time it is our turn, the ground will be very chewed up, which will affect how fast and how we approach the elements on the day.

So Saturday night there will be NO gallavanting around town (as if!) as there will be tack to clean, my kit to check, Maud's kit to check, water, buckets, hay nets, the lorry to fuel up, rugs, packed lunch, the COFFEE flask (most important). Oh, and a hundred and one other things to do.