Hard Ground Cheese
I gave up a place at the UK National Championships of my sport this weekend to support THE RIDER.
Up at silly o'clock to travel four hours across country. Except that it only took 2 and a half hours. Our estimate was based on the time taken by a Citoen Xsara driver, who must end up with longer queues behind him than even we did!
Parking was atrocious - lack of space meant there was no room ti tie up and the organisers expected us to do everything on the wagon. Excuse me, but, STUDS!
RIDER made a tough decision after the dressage. It was obvious that THE FELLA was unhappy. All my photos show a hollow, tense horse, struggling to keep his grip on the rock hard ground. So hard in fact that it broke one of his studs.
RIDER ummed and ahhed out continuing. Finally she askedd me what I would do. Well, if it was THE MONSTER I'd have pulled here out. So THE RIDER did the same. I respect her for that. When you've paid a lot of money to compete, even if the venue doesn't come up to the usual standards you expect of an affiliatedd BE event you are tempted to continue. Deciding to quit for the sake of your horse (as many top riders did at Windsor the week before), is not easy, but is the right choice. Especially if you don't have a string to compete.
Obviously RIDER is disappointed, but at THE FELLAS age she made the right decision.
Up at silly o'clock to travel four hours across country. Except that it only took 2 and a half hours. Our estimate was based on the time taken by a Citoen Xsara driver, who must end up with longer queues behind him than even we did!
Parking was atrocious - lack of space meant there was no room ti tie up and the organisers expected us to do everything on the wagon. Excuse me, but, STUDS!
RIDER made a tough decision after the dressage. It was obvious that THE FELLA was unhappy. All my photos show a hollow, tense horse, struggling to keep his grip on the rock hard ground. So hard in fact that it broke one of his studs.
RIDER ummed and ahhed out continuing. Finally she askedd me what I would do. Well, if it was THE MONSTER I'd have pulled here out. So THE RIDER did the same. I respect her for that. When you've paid a lot of money to compete, even if the venue doesn't come up to the usual standards you expect of an affiliatedd BE event you are tempted to continue. Deciding to quit for the sake of your horse (as many top riders did at Windsor the week before), is not easy, but is the right choice. Especially if you don't have a string to compete.
Obviously RIDER is disappointed, but at THE FELLAS age she made the right decision.
posted by Nick on Sunday, June 12, 2005
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