A FIRST WIN AND A BUSY MONTH OUT AND ABOUT! – Victoria Bax Blog
Courtesy of Victoria Bax ’s sponsors Aloeride www.aloeride.com & Golly Galoshes www.gollygaloshes.com
Having almost been written off for the rest of the season due to injury, Alberta’s Rose made a return to competition a couple of weeks ago at Chilham Park, after nearly a month off games. She was very very rusty in both the dressage and especially the showjumping however, I was very pleased with the confident cross-country run that she produced. She did the exact same course back in early May and encountered a couple of green stops and made use of a black flag option, however this time she had improved tremendously to produce a clear with a handful of time penalties.
It is very easy to forget she is only 6 years old and it is still very early days for her eventing career, I must remember this when things don’t quite go to plan!
Alberta’s Elegance aka Milli, my 7 yr old, who went out on temporary loan a couple of months ago to a friend of mine who sadly lost her horse earlier in the year has been home now for just over 6 weeks. At the time she went away I was extremely busy coaching and competing and didn’t really have the time she required to further her education. Thankfully life has quietened down a little for me now so I have had a bit more time and a spare stable to both have her back in my yard and continue her training.
I have done a lot more work on her jumping as she is notorious for not concentrating and being very spooky. A few weeks ago we went out to jump a couple of clear rounds at 80 & 90cms very well indeed. We have since been out again and jumped a double clear at 80cm, then had a couple of rails in the 90cm class round a very spooky filler filled course, which was a huge test for her that she dealt with very well.She has been back on the cross-country course twice since being back for schooling sessions and was very much a different horse to when I last took her out at the end of last season. She is the most confident now that she has ever been which I am so pleased about. She appears to have matured and is now taking life as it comes rather that worrying about it. She returns to eventing competition in two weeks time.
Sunday 14th August was a very special day for us as out of nowhere we managed our first win with 6yr Alberta’s Rose in the BE100 Open at Horseheath leading from start to finish, having been the first rider in for dressage and no one else getting close to our score of 28.3. Our jump training obviously paid off as we went into jump two great clear rounds and inside the time cross-country to take the win. Happy days and here’s to many more!
However, two weeks later we were reminded that horses certainly are great levellers; two weeks ago we won, then we finished 19th!
A trip to Wellington Horse Trials, one of my most favourite events in the calendar arrived next, but sadly the spooky box bushes placed either side of A caused huge tension issues for Alberta’s Rose resulting in a disappointing but deserved score of 34, nowhere near her average or capable scores! We moved onto jump a beautiful clear show jump round until the last line; a double to a curving left 4 strides to an oxer and somehow took 2 rails with us; my hubby thought we finished clear as it was such a nice round but he couldn’t see the last line. An easy clear and bang on the time cross-country followed.
I had planned to have two horses competing that day but sadly I was forced to withdraw Alberta’s Pride from his debut 5YO class as he managed to injure himself a couple of days before in the field; although fit and well now, I was not able to complete the necessary work required for stepping up a level, so this will have to wait another couple of weeks!
With lots more training going on over the next few weeks in order for all the young horses in my team to be fully prepared to move up a level I am going to be extremely busy!
Until next time…”
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.