So Lexi went for her first BE90 at Portman today.
We staggered off the yard at 5am and had an interesting journey with my satnav giving us a lovely guided tour of the Wiltshire countryside. Eventually after wedging the bottom of the lorry on the road trying to do a 3 point turn in a narrow lane on a slope, squeezing through some insanely narrow lanes and ending up on the wrong side of the estate and having to drive through a golf course we got there.
I was pleasantly surprised at the ground - soggy in places but compared to my paddocks it was great, and the XC looked pretty good. It asked a few questions and given she went green on me a couple weeks ago, I wasn't too sure what to expect.
She was a bit sluggish warming up for the dressage and pretending she didn't know how to bend so worked her in for a while until she was softer. I was pleased with the test - no jogging, I think I kept her straight on the centrelines although her walk was pretty backwards and there were moments of unsteadiness in her head. I was disappointed with a score of 34.5 - I was able to justify it at Aston but without glaring errors and several on the board with 29, I admit I'm a bit confused where we're missing the marks. I'll get my sheet in the post in the next couple of days so will see then, and will show Warren my videos - she's capable of better marks so I want to start producing them!
She was far better in the SJ than at Snowball last week, although spooked at a white filler and was good to jump it, but had it down, then I held her into the skinny planks which we had too. So finished on 8.
I was feeling a bit grumpy at this point - annoyed with my dressage score (although she was good) and annoyed with my poor SJ riding so hoped we would get a decent run XC.
She had a stop at a house in the warm up (scary green roof?) which didn't exactly fill me with confidence but she was bouncing around the start box...then started off very slowly, took a pony club kick to make her realise we were supposed to be cantering....and then we were OFF.
She suddenly realised oh yeah cross country, I kinda like this, and ballooned over the first fence. Which almost had us eat dirt because she hit some deep ground landing and stumbled a little, but we were fine. Over the next few simple fences and I had to take a bit of a hold because she realised this was FUN and she rather fancied a good gallop. Little spooky over fence 4 which had a drop on the landing but over....then slightly faster than I fancied down the steep hill but I regained control to jump a decent roll top.
Next was the first combo, 2 slightly angled houses which could be done on a curving 3 or slightly angled 2. I went for the angle and she was great and roared off up the hill that followed. Easy pop over a brush fence, tried and failed to gain some control up a step to a house, then a decent corner. Got a little close but over. Took a stride out to a 'fake' trakner, then it was a double of hanging logs with the second one at an angle which she never doubted.
Two more plain fences which she sailed over, followed by the water. I grabbed my neck strap incase of a leap of faith but she dropped to trot but went in bravely and popped the house coming out. Finally a couple more fences then home and dry.
We won't talk about the pedestrian we almost murdered whilst I was trying to pull up.
She really felt great. I didn't intend to go fast as our SJ put us out of the rosettes but we only had 0.4 time faults which was nice as I know I won't need to push to get the time next time out.
Our next outing is Ascott under Wychwood BE90 in a week and a half, so intend to do some gridwork (her SJ shape wasn't great today) and a dressage lesson.
Onwards and upwards!!
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