So I start my first blog rather late in the season as currently I’m sitting in the lorry in the car park at Hickstead premier league dressage- the penultimate premier league in the series.
I’m sat quite comfortably in the lorry with a glass of wine while there is torrential rain and thunder and lightning outside and some poor unfortunate souls are being towed in- the scene is not unlike the pictures I’ve seen of Glastonbury! Fortunately, my tests were this morning when it was dry!
The premier league competitions are a great opportunity to compete against some of the best riders in the country and though this is only my second season competing at this level we have managed a placing at each of the premier league shows that we have contested. Last year I was just pleased to be here and happy if I wasn’t last so it’s great to start to feel that if we go well that we are competitive.
Wringler the hors that I’m competing has really settled into life on the road this season and where last year we had quite a lot of tension issues this year our partnership is a lot more established and we tend to have more small (silly/frustrating) mistakes- for instance wriggles did a good line of 2 time changes today in out intermediare 1 test however we are meant to do 7 changes but wriggles popped in an 8th and then a one- time change at the end, I guess he was just showing off??? At this level one mistake in a decent test really makes the difference between making the top ten or not. I was really pleased as yesterday we managed a 6th place with a personal best premier league score in the inter 1- I must admit to have a glass or two of wine to celebrate!
s I said previously it’s great to feel that we are getting to a point where we are in or nearly in the top ten consistently- I feel we’ve come a long way to this point and there is still more to come. It’s also interesting getting to know other riders at these shows, you soon realise that everyone has different stories about the issues they have had or still can have to get to this point. I think the message there is that it really isn’t easy to progress but you have to just keep going and try to keep smiling through the difficult days.
So one more test tomorrow providing we aren’t under water in the morning- then home to make improvements before the final premier league show at Hartpury in a couple of weeks.
I’m sat quite comfortably in the lorry with a glass of wine while there is torrential rain and thunder and lightning outside and some poor unfortunate souls are being towed in- the scene is not unlike the pictures I’ve seen of Glastonbury! Fortunately, my tests were this morning when it was dry!
The premier league competitions are a great opportunity to compete against some of the best riders in the country and though this is only my second season competing at this level we have managed a placing at each of the premier league shows that we have contested. Last year I was just pleased to be here and happy if I wasn’t last so it’s great to start to feel that if we go well that we are competitive.
Wringler the hors that I’m competing has really settled into life on the road this season and where last year we had quite a lot of tension issues this year our partnership is a lot more established and we tend to have more small (silly/frustrating) mistakes- for instance wriggles did a good line of 2 time changes today in out intermediare 1 test however we are meant to do 7 changes but wriggles popped in an 8th and then a one- time change at the end, I guess he was just showing off??? At this level one mistake in a decent test really makes the difference between making the top ten or not. I was really pleased as yesterday we managed a 6th place with a personal best premier league score in the inter 1- I must admit to have a glass or two of wine to celebrate!
s I said previously it’s great to feel that we are getting to a point where we are in or nearly in the top ten consistently- I feel we’ve come a long way to this point and there is still more to come. It’s also interesting getting to know other riders at these shows, you soon realise that everyone has different stories about the issues they have had or still can have to get to this point. I think the message there is that it really isn’t easy to progress but you have to just keep going and try to keep smiling through the difficult days.
So one more test tomorrow providing we aren’t under water in the morning- then home to make improvements before the final premier league show at Hartpury in a couple of weeks.
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