I had been really unlucky in a few days away with work in London fell in the days leading up the competition, but thankfully my instructor was around to school Ceaser one of the days for me and all I could do after that was hope for the best.
The journey to Vale View was quite a pleasant one, it wasn't as far as I initially thought it was and thankfully the new road from Newark to Leicester made it quite straight forward - even in our little old lorry.
Finally it was time to get Ceaser off the box, stick the massage pad on for 20 minutes whilst I got ready and then tack him up. I'd gone through a new warm up routine with my instructor in the lesson I'd had with her the previous week, so I wanted at least half an hour on him to warm up and plan what I was going to do.
I started by warming him up long and low. It's quite interesting really to watch everyones faces as we enter a warm up ring full of huge, big moving dressage horses and there I rock up with my coloured cob, that doesn't look exceptional when being ridden long and low. I got a few questionable head turns - especially given that Ceaser had dragged us nearly half way across the car park before we'd tacked him up (but that's another story!).
I worked on suppling him up, doing lots of transitions and remembering to flex left, right and then ask for a transition; especially in the step up to canter. It works in keeping him through and round as we still have that tendency to hollow. He felt fantastic and was doing everything I asked, when I asked. Surprisingly we only had one interesting moment in the canter when a lorry came speeding down the road near the warm up arena and Ceaser bolted to the other end. Will he ever act 21?Apart from that he felt on form and after a quick 5 minute breather it was time to pick him up, drop the whip and ask for more. Having not been ridden without a whip for a good 3 months, I half expected him to back right off my leg and produce issues - but he didn't. Like a poppet he popped into canter when I asked, did some lovely shoulder fore and leg yield and felt really light in my hands.
Quick tack check and it was our turn to go in - eeek! Quick panic of could I remember my test? Yes I could; it was now or never!
The three judges were sat on tables at the end of the arena and Vale View had nicely dressed up the edge with flowers and draping curtains. It looked fantastic but was catching a few horses out. I knew I needed to get him around the arena in the trot round and I'd be fine. Two of the judges we knew and one I didn't. One of them always marks us rather harshly so I went in with the expectation to just not come last. With 40 in the class I decided to aim for about 30th, which I thought was fair given how long we hadn't ventured out for!Ceaser produced a lovely, foot perfect test. I honestly couldn't fault him. On the left canter transitions he slightly backed off my leg, but that's all I can say! Apart from that he was light in my hands, obedient and listened to my every leg movement and body shift. I kept having a sneaky peek in the mirrors during the test and from what I could see it looked nice - I had to just hope the judge thought so too!
All too soon we were trotting down the centreline and it was out of my hands now. I was proud of Ceaser no matter what the outcome - I honestly couldn't have asked for more from him. I popped him back on the box and went to check my score!
Roughly 15 people had been, and there were 35 more to go after me, so I didn't hold much hope, however I really could not believe my eyes when I saw our score of 66.99% WHAT?! Surely I'd read the wrong mark, or they'd got mine wrong? Surely? I couldn't believe it! That's our highest Novice score for a good 12 months, and one of the judges had us on 72%, with another putting us at 70%! Wow! With a quick tally up, I noticed that put us into 4th place - so well within a top 10 placing and into the ridden prize giving!!
Throughout the next few hours I watched the scoreboard like a hawk. Slowly we were put into 7th place and there we stayed for such a long time! It was such a nail biting and tense experience watching the scores go up and anticipating whether we'd be knocked out of the top 10. I wanted this more than anything and to be in the ridden prize given would be an amazing experience!Finally there were 5 more people to go and that's when it got tense. This was it, I could either stay in the top 10 or all 5 of them could produce lovely tests and knock me out, leaving me in 11th!
After what seemed like an eternity and with several people gathered around the score board, the final 5 scores were put up, with the last rider going in winning the class with an amazing 70% test! I could not believe it, this left us in joint 8th place, a top 10 placing and a chance to ride in the mounted prize going!
We ran back to the lorry and quickly got both me and Ceaser ready for the prize giving. He behaved impeccably in there and produced the most amazing trot, with his ears forward the whole time - like he knew what he'd just done for me. He always feels like he's proud of himself when he's in prize givings - it's like he just knows.I was emotional, over the moon, proud of Ceaser; everything! Honestly, what would I do without my once in a lifetime pony that never fails to exceed my expectations of him! I'd gone expecting to be placed about 30th, and we'd had the opportunity to ride in the mounted giving. With everything that's been going on over the last few weeks and months, I genuinely think my boy knew he had to pull out all the stops and try his heart out he definitely did. There will never be another pony like him - he really is my one in a million and what a come back from our short break!!
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