Do you think the nerves will stop?
Excitement, first CDE, remembering the dressage test & all the new surroundings. I should be relaxing in the beautiful surroundings at Bundanoon. Myself, Tamara Abed (groom) & top little Tammy are getting ready for the SHCC CDE.
Our time has arrived to harness pony up & drive out to Shibumi Grounds to complete our dressage test. It has started to rain and we arrive a little early, we scope out the grounds & then everything starts happening. It’s my turn to go to the warm up area, I’m so nervous & Tamara keeps saying “you’ll be fine” but I can’t shake it. Then the bell goes I complete the first part of my test come around do a 20m circle, all good, come to the top around the side … there goes the bell, oops I forgot to go down the diagonal ( after all those sleepless nights of remembering the test). Back around again and I complete my first test, Yay, now off to the cones course.
We arrived at the cones course, we went over & had our wheels measured, saw the judges and there goes the buzzer, through the first few sets then there goes a ball, then some more down “oh no”, I kept looking down at the cones, big mistake, as the next would come up on me I would knock it again. In the end we went through the course the correct way and didn’t get eliminated, we all had a great laugh as it was very amusing to my family that came to watch.
After we put Pony away we went over to have a look at he marathon course over at Shibumi. What a lovely property owned by Sheryl Leibowitz. The first MO looked pretty good. MO2 Oh dear, it looked a bit scary, I walked through the water to see how deep it was & I got stuck in the mud “Tamara, I’m stuck” twist, twist & I’m out. Down the hill more nerves & though the rest of the course was more enjoyable & I settled down once again.
Saturday night SHCC put on a lovely Italian dinner with salads & yummy desserts. Thankyou Cooks :). After dinner everyone settled down for the night & here I am thinking about MO2 do you think I slept? Nope, how silly I was.
In the morning we set off for another look at the marathon I’m not feeling any better. A couple of hours pass & it’s time to harness Tammy up, who’s calm, Then off to our gear check, 6 min, 1 min to go, 3,2,1 & go trot, trot stop!!! Oh pony is just doing a poo “L/B movement” then squeeze & here comes this runny poo straight towards us”OMG”, over the dash and it stops mid air and drops straight onto my shoe “eww”. We move on & laugh all the way to section D.
Pony was moving along in great time, we completed the walk, vet check & now it’s MARATHON TIME. 3,2,1 & we’re off, we came into our first MO & done, now MO2 & done what was I worrying about? It was so much fun I was laughing all the way down the hill whee, it was so exciting. With Tamara guiding me through all the course, yelling directions, telling me to go faster or slower what would I have done with out her. I’m sorry Cathie Macarthur you can’t have her at the next event.
We were cruising with our top little pony powering along & enjoying herself, here comes the last 300m mark & there’s the finish line & it’s all done. Yay we did it I would do it all again. Tammy passed her vet check with flying colours.
We waited for the last riders to come in & by now it was pouring with rain, then 5minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out, what!!!! That’s Bundanoon “Sunny one minute, raining the next” It all adds to the challenge.
We had our presentation & I came 3rd for the Marathon and 4th Overall, I couldn’t believe it I was in horsie heaven. Thankyou to all who made it such an enjoyable time, I had the best weekend & I will be returning very soon.
Elizabeth McIntosh