Since Dustry is ‘off games’ I have hijacked Mummy Groom’s mount and set about getting to grips with him in prep for some competitions this winter.
We went XC schooling and he was ace, check out the video below.
We then went for a show jumping lesson with my instructor Amanda Brewer and he was double ace! Compared to Dustry, Bolly feels like riding something that’s about 2 inches long, and made of rubber….reading that back that sounds very wrong! but horsey peeps will get what I mean 😉
It’s taking some adjusting to get used to him and so I entered him up for the Novice class at a local Hunter Trial. This was his first XC round since 2009 and our first competitive outing together.
Being the pro that he is he only got a little lit up when tacking up and riding over to the warm up. Warming up like a complete gent we popped a couple of practice fences then made our way to the start box.
Out the start box like a long dog and he was off! He was a little sticky, backing off and concertinaing up for a few strides over the first 3 fences and pretending to be terrified by a strategically placed xmas tree, but by fence 4 he was ‘in the zone’ and flying.
Not sure of his pace XC I just let him canter round at his own speed, which turned out to be a lovely 5th gear, cruise control. He didn’t take a second’s thought at the drops or water and stayed true to his line over skinnies and combinations.
We passed the horse in front just before the corner as they were having a sticky round, and stormed round the remaining 5 fences to come home clear.
Smiles all round and a long out of breath walk back to the lorry park for carrots and washing off.
Things however were about to go from terrific to terrifying!
Whilst Bolly was stood munching hay on the lorry 2 horses broke loose and galloped right past the back of our lorry where the jockey door was open. Bolly lost his cool and attempted to jump over the breast bar into the small living area of the lorry!!!
This was definitely one of those ‘Oh sh*t’ moments with horses when you suddenly think…this is NOT going to end well!!!
Thankfully he managed to get his legs back the other side of the wall and he had full length travel boots on which protected his limbs from any damage. The on site vet kindly sedated him for us to travel him home, but that short 30min drive was a very tense one indeed!!!
Back home and less drowsy Bolly seemed none the worse for his acrobatics, although the same couldn’t be said for Mummy Groom and I’s nerves!
We drove back to check results to see what sort of pace the furry marshmallow had set. Faced with the results sheet that seemingly had us at the top we stood blinking and thinking before turning to each other and tentatively saying….I think I won!?
Bolly beast had only gone and cruised round to win and scooped us £30 and another rozzie for the collection! Talk about a come back!
Slightly in shock mother and I drove home, alternatively grinning and giggling about how weird the day had been – terrified, elated who knew hunter trials could be such an emotional roller-coaster?!
Now we are faced with a bit of a dilemma with regards to the lorry. We don’t want to travel Bolly in it again now that he has attempted to jump the breast bar and so we’re looking into what modifications could be made to make it safe. I’ll keep you posted on developments….
