Recently I headed down to Pontispool Horse Trials to see my sister, Katherine Begley, eventing due to the wind delaying my other plans for the week. To say it was breezy would be an understatement with the remains of Hurricane Katia hitting the UK. Other than the wind it was a pleasant day without any rain and even some sunny spells. It will unfortunately now probably be my last event of the season due to heading back to university and the season coming to a close anyway.
Due to the wind my sisters horse, George, was looking fairly wild before the dressage and this was unfortunately reflected in the test, though the mark given could have been worse as the score given was 41. A quick tack change and it was on to the show jumping where it was so windy that the planks had to be held on in the arena until the rider had jumped the previous fence and Katherine is still getting to know her new horse and had 3 down.
It was then on to the final phase, the cross country which is my favourite phase so I went off to the furthest side of the course to get her over the water and another couple of jumps, ignoring a few shouts of protest about my position by the over enthusiastic fence judge I was in a great position for photos of the direct route, though she dropped a rein so had to do her first long route cross country ever!
The cross country caused carnage so Katherine going clear was a great achievement and overall she came sixth despite the problems earlier in the event, she is really progressing with her eventing and new horse as she has now come fifth and sixth in consecutive events.
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