Georgie Wood Blog 40: A Quieter Month

Suddenly the evenings have become noticeably shorter and early mornings have a certain autumnal chill in the air which points towards the time of the year that us eventers hate.. The last event of the season is fast approaching. Final entries are in and the bay boys have just one more event to go. However, before I get too depressed by that thought I have got to fill you all in with the exciting things that have gone on over the last month! So since I left off, Smarty has run at Goring Novice and South of England CIC* and Coco has just had a run at South of England CIC2*. I hadn't been to Goring in 5 years so it was nice to go back to an event where I have had some of my best placings and great rides. He started off performing a nice, settled test, but there were a couple of mistakes and it was lacking the real 'wow' factor which left us on a score of 34.8. He warmed up amazingly for the show jumping and rolled an unlucky pole coming out of the related distance and then as I came round to the next fence the arena party ran behind it and it just took his attention so he finished with an undeserved 8 faults. We put that behind us and I headed out on to the cross country to enjoy it and get another confidence giving run under our belts. He cruised round, I never had to take a check I just let him run and jump which he did with his ears pricked. He finished 4 seconds inside the time and one of very few to make the time all day which was good enough for 10th place and Smarty's first ever BE placing! You can see the video by clicking here. The boys then had a bit of quiet time whilst we headed off to the Lake District on a family holiday for a week. Mum and Dad, my brother and two of his friends and Rob and I stayed in a cottage very close to Esthwaite Water and a 2 minute walk from Beatrix Potter's hoat 'Hill Top'. The location couldn't have been better and my only complaint would be that we weren't there long enough to fit everything in! Rob, Mum and I climbed Helvellyn via striding edge and during the first hour Rob and I were getting dangerously close to having to carry Mum who was being overdramatic and convinced she wouldn't make it. But with lots of encouragement and positive re-enforcement we stormed it and the reward was definitely the incredible views at the top.. A classic glaciated environment which my inner Geography nerd very much enjoyed! We also headed to Go Ape and the canopy activities. There were 6 different stations and each one finished with a zip wire which was good fun! The weather was incredible and Rob and I ended the week by heading out Ghyll Scrambling which is basically climbing your way along a river, jumping off rocks into pools and generally pretending to be a kid again! I can't recommend the company 'Crags Adventures' enough and Craig who took us was so much fun and really made the experience what it was. Rob and I only did the short version but we can't wait to head back and do 'the big one' which is 4 hours in the water jumping off cliffs several metres high! Whilst we were away Theresa hacked the boys and my cousin Katie schooled Coco a couple of times for me which I think they both rather enjoyed (Katie and Coco that is!). After getting back there was just a week to fit in some practice before South of England, both boys felt on great form and I was excited about the performances I knew they could pull out of the bag if it all went to plan! We started off with Smarty's dressage on the Friday and it was really lovely to have his owner Amy down for the weekend to watch and help! He performed the best test we have done to date for a very respectable 52.5 but a big discrepancy between the judges, however he was in touch and all to play for. On the Saturday it was Coco's turn to do dressage and Amy and I were left to our own devices as mum was taking my brother up to Uni where he has just started a Geography degree (clearly runs in the family!!). He warmed up brilliantly but unfortunately a bit of tension crept in at the beginning of the test. He then settled into it for another respectable score of 54.5 with some of the best quality work we have ever had. Sunday was jumping day and a bright and early start with Smarty jumping just after 8am, luckily we are local. I realised I needed to ride him a bit more forwards in the show jumping as he prefers it like that, stop trying to protect him and let him attack the fences a bit more and do his job. I was rewarded with him rolling a really unlucky pole coming out of the combination, but there were very few clears in a section of 60. Onto the cross country and I knew a quick round would leave us in with a shout. He flew out the start box and never looked back, every combination he was switched on and listening to me and aside from a horrible moment coming out the water where thankfully he jumped me out of trouble, the round was faultless. He is such a bold and scopey horse you do feel that you could aim him at anything and he would give it a really good go! He was the first horse of the day to go inside the time and by the end of the class, just 3 more had managed to finish inside the time. All this and he is barefoot, which is how he came to us, he very rarely slips and happily hacks on roads and bridleways without any problem at all. He finished 12th out of a big and competitive field and it is so hard to believe he is just 6 years old. The video edit I have made can be seen by clicking here. I also bought the video of his cross country round from An Eventful Life which can be seen here: https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/ride/georgina-wood-touch-optimistik-south-england-2016-2 Once Smarty had finished Amy and I stayed at South of England whilst Mum drove the lorry home to swap him for Coco as we didn't want them both standing on the lorry all day as it wouldn't benefit either of them. Coco was not jumping as well as he can do in the warm up as he was a bit tense, but as soon as he walked into the ring and saw everyone watching it was like he took a deep breath and went 'these people are here to see me and I am going to show off'. He absolutely flew round for a great clear which moved us up the leader-board considerably. I went out to attack the cross country and see how much further we could move up with a quick clear round. He was absolutely flying and making good time when we were held just before fence 10 due to a fall further round on the course. On this occasion it definitely worked in our favour as Coco got five minutes to get his breath back about half way round the course. I made sure he was awake before we restarted and we continued where we had left off. I crossed the finish line with the biggest grin on my face at how lucky I am to ride two unbelievably talented horses who give everything and bring me home safe. Coco finished with just 4.8 time faults, 4th fastest and only one horse made the time which was Chris Burton on Adelaide winner TS Jamaimo so not too bad. Not only this but we had pulled right up to finish 5th and receive the award for the highest placed South East Eventers League combination in the 2* which was so so exciting. Coco's video can be seen by clicking here. We also bought the video of his cross country round which you can watch here: https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/ride/georgina-wood-sjapo-le-sursaut-south-england-2016-2 There was yet more excitement as we had a new arrival to the team just before South of England. A 5 yr old Irish pony that Mum and Dad have bought for me from Rapkyns. He was bred on the farm that we picked him up from and he had never left the farm before we picked him up to bring him home. Yet he is so laid back and is one of the kindest horses I have ever had the pleasure of riding and caring for. He learns unbelievably quickly and just wants to please. We have taken him over to Littleton to have a jump with Ernest where he excelled himself and proved what a lovely temperament he has so I have got big plans for him. We also said a very sad good bye to Oscar this month. He will be very sorely missed both to ride and to have on the yard. He was a seriously special horse who really turned his hoof to absolutely everything and I wish his new owners all the luck in the world with him. A huge thank you to his owner Peter for allowing me to produce him for the past year as I have loved every minute of it. It must be some sort of record too becaI have managed to write my blog within a month of writing the last one.. This is what happens when your boyfriend goes back to Uni and you find yourself with free time in the evening that you didn't have before! So the next blog will be my seasons summary but if I can have a run at Aldon anything like that of South of England then I will be extremely happy! Georgie xx