I’ve done it!
I have completed a Trec event and I had an absolutely
wonderful time!
The weather on Sunday was simply awful, with constant rain and wind. Even though we were all soaked to the skin, I think everyone involved enjoyed the day, or least they appeared to. I admit I became very cold by the end of the day, as my waterproofs turned out NOT to be waterproof.
Maud had a ball; she really enjoyed herself, eager to the end. She was pooped by the time we had finished, but would have done more if she had to. Honestly she is a star. As for me, I’m ready for the next competition, but I’ll hold back to let all my kit dry out first. When I got home, after feeding Maud, Ruth and Bazil, then transferring all my stuff out of the lorry and into my car, there were still pools of water at the bottom of the saddlebags! Gosh, it was wet.
Okay, I’ll not mention the rain again; I think you get
the picture.
On the Saturday night, I went with Mum to walk the
obstacle phase of the competition. There didn’t seem to be much that I didn’t
think Maud could not cope with. The raised S-Bend she had never encountered
before so could be an issue, the drop down perhaps she’ll hesitate and look at,
the step up, mmm, maybe not with me on her back and the other obstacle out of
16 that I knew she might not be able to do was the reverse. Other than that, I
was confident she could do all the other obstacles in her sleep as they say.
On the day, the first phase was CP – Control of Paces.
Here my concern was to keep Maud in canter for the full distance, regardless of
the speed. I know she tried to throw in a buck, but I’m unsure if she broke the
gait. I did ask if we had completed the canter in the fastest time and was told
that we hadn’t. Heavens, someone before us had done the canter section faster
than Maud!
The second phase was
the Obstacle course, with sixteen obstacles to negotiate correctly. Hey, not a
problem, I do Horse Agility and train my ponies most nights and elementary
clicker training too. Only 16 obstacles, that’s easy! WRONG! Oh dear, Maud
apart from being very excited, was just not playing the game. She hadn’t seen
red and white plastic flags before, either on the ground or on poles, she also hadn’t
seen painted onto grass, yellow circles or squares before, and I was asking her
to get close to them, even walk over them. Am I mad? Well obviously, as we
scored 0 for most elements. However, I
did ask and took the opportunity to lead her in hand over these scary
obstacles, which meant an awful lot of mounting and dismounting.
So now I’m going to make little red and white flags,
leave some on the ground and put others on poles in the paddock so that she
becomes desensitized to them, and in theory the next time she encounters them,
she’ll be cool and hopefully not even notice them. A lesson learned.
The final part of the day was the orienteering
section. This was the section I was really looking forward to. A six-kilometer
ride round Barskimming estate, new territory, new views.
It should have taken just over an hour to complete,
but through experience I told Chris I’d be back in about an hour and a half. I
clocked out just after 12pm and was clocked back in at 3:30pm! Okay, I met up
with an orienteering pair and we took the wrong turning and ended up at a
check-in point for Level 2 competitors only! I left the girls and retraced my
steps to where I had met them, found the correct route and made it round the
course.
About a kilometer from the finish line I met up with
another pair, and the three of us managed to find our way back to the finish
line. Hurrah! We were not the last people home, one pair were still out but
made it home about 5 minutes after us.
Chris had a miserable day, spent sitting in the car,
reading the paper. His treat for his patience was fish & chips on the way
home.
I could not have safely competed this Trec event on
the horse, apart from him having Head Shaking Syndrome, his brain would have
fried, seeing horses disappear round corners, over hills, trotting past him in
the opposite direction. I made the correct choice by taking Maud and the
experience gained, helps her education in becoming a well-balanced pony.
A big thank you to Liz and Alan McKay who organized the event, to Rhoda McVey who
was the Technical Director, to Lord Strathclyde and William Galbraith of Barskimming Estate for their kind permission to hold the event and
finally the volunteers, without their help events such as these just wouldn’t
happen.
