After Badminton we were all down in the dumps, and couldn't really see where to go next. Had we pushed our family pony just that little bit too far?
'Todd' is very much part of the family!
Well there was only one way to find out! We carefully analysed our performance over several bottles of wine and decided that we would change the bit - perhaps we needed something that would get Todds head up, but give Abi a happy medium between being able to keep the engine going and being able to control it. So after several discussions with the bit bank ( a rather marvellous business that lets you rent the bits before you buy and are equally fantastic with their advice) we ordered an 'Elevator' bit.
We only had the month of June to qualify for the regional finals - to qualify for Badminton 15, we have to compete and finish in the top 20% at a regional final in the autumn of 2014, to do this we had to finish in the top 10% of an event before the end of June 14 - yes we were cutting it a bit fine. However we managed to squeeze into 3 events, on back to back weekends through June!
After a couple of brush up dressage lessons with Gemma, and armed with our new bit, we headed off to our local event at Tweseldown. The old Todd was back, with dressage in the early 20s and a double clear inside the time, 2nd place was ours. So a ticket to the regionals was secured. Off we went to Berkshire college the following weekend where we went one better and won - so with one ticket and a spare, off to the regionals we go. You can run in as many regionals as you have qualifications for - thus we have 2 'bites at the cherry' so to speak. Our first is at the end of September with the following one a week later.
All we have to hope for is that Todd does not go down with his mysterious illness, that seems to get to him every autumn. We have never evented him this late in the year before, due to him always being out of action.
After many long and in depth conversations with our resident vet Charlie, Abi consulted with the nutrionalists at Baileys horse feeds. They concluded that rather than it being caused by a bug he is picking up, it could be that at this time of the year the grass is losing its goodness, and it is something that he is lacking. So for the last couple of months Todd has been on a balancer that will be adjusted as the autumn approaches - this hopefully will enable him to maintain nutritional balance.
As if sorting out Todd, holding down a full time job and being a Mum etc etc wasn’t enough, it was time to get Nellie a new pony.
The pony Nellie had been riding, Max - bless him, had decided that being a pony club pony wasn't really his bag, and as Nellie had more or less grown out of him, I went on the perilous journey of pony buying!
Meet 'Oscar' - the new pony
It is a journey I never want to travel again! After Miles and miles were travelled, endless heartache was suffered and ponies that were either lame or 'not as described' we finally met 'Oscar' who I thought would just be a Dum-de-Dum, kick along pony which was just what we wanted. However with a Pony Club Camp and several small shows under Nellie’s belt I think we have bought a little superstar!
Badminton here we come (perhaps with more than 1 entry!)
Many thanks to Marsh Ponies for their great photos of Nellie and Oscar in action!
