Clothes – check! Purse – check! Passport – check! Unfortunately I wasn’t packing my own passport for a week away in the sun, I was packing Ziva’s. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was getting the car and trailer ready for a 10 hour journey (yes you read that right!) to Hartpury for the NAF 5* Winter champs.
On the Monday before we headed down to Hartpury we popped along to see our trainer Elisabeth Leslie for a training session. We decided to concentrate on running through the test with Elisabeth coaching us through every move. It was a fantastic pre run and we really ironed out all those little problems that I wasn’t aware off (which is a tad concerning!). I also learned that I am atrocious at riding 15m circles and halting square and still! However I am pleased to report back that they are now drilled into my mind and we received 7’s for the circles in the test! Up until August 2017 I had trained Ziva myself, I felt like I couldn’t click with anyone enough that I wanted to commit to training with so plugged away until I realised I really needed the help to move up the levels. I had my first lesson with Elisabeth at my local riding club and we haven’t looked back since. Elisabeth’s input so far has been incredible, and it only excites me more for the future, So after having such a confident lesson on the Monday I couldn’t wait to get there and get on with it.
We set off at 6am on the Wednesday with everything bar the kitchen sink packed and started our first leg of the journey. We decided to stop off at Myerscough half way down so Ziva could have a leg stretch, she is such an easy horse to travel and is always super chilled when she comes out of the trailer at a new place. We set off again and arrived at Hartpury around 4pm. Ziva stepped of the trailer like we had just popped down the road to a local venue, lucky her, because I certainly didn’t feel the same! We were stabled in the furthest away block in the furthest away stable without anything on wheels (cue numerous cursing over the next few days but lesson learned – the wheelbarrow will never stay at home again!). The weather was rubbish, it was cold and dull and it slightly dampened our spirits but soon faces I recognised appeared and that was all forgotten. On the Thursday we had a warm up around tea time and Ziva was feeling super fresh and supple, we schooled for around 20 minutes but the arena became too busy so we headed out. She really didn’t need any more than that anyway, she is the type of horse who just gets on with it.
Friday the 13th arrived, and we headed of at 6.30am for an arena walk. Ziva didn’t look at anything so after a few laps each way we headed back to the stable block and I went back to bed! My stomach was churning and the countdown to our test was on, I just wanted to get on with it, but the day dragged in. Mum and I spent a few hours grooming Ziva and plaiting her up and she really looked fantastic, we headed off to warm up and she was feeling on the ball despite the busy atmosphere. In hindsight I could have done with shaving off 10 minutes from our warm up but I wanted to be prepared. At 2.13pm we were called up to the main area…. Eeeeek! We trotted around the outside and mum alongside our friends Joe and Malcolm who so kindly came down to cheer us on were all rallied around the side with their phones at the ready!
DING! And down the centre line we went! I could hear Elisabeth in my head saying ‘ it’s a long journey home if you regret not giving it your all’ so with that in mind I really went for it, Ziva gave me 100% and really listened, the transitions were spot on, and the mediums were fantastic! She went a bit tight through the neck in the right canter but I think it felt more noticeable than it looked. I can honestly say I really enjoyed riding this test, far too often I go in on auto pilot and come out thinking I wish I had done this or I wish I had done that, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I am pleased that I went in with a better mind set, I set up for every movement in plenty of time, I kept the rhythm throughout and kept her together afterwards, something I so often let her down on. We headed down the final centre line to the dreaded halt, I kept the leg firmly on and she stayed still! Salute….and breathe! (A sigh of relief more like) I wrapped my arms around my wonderful horse, she really gave me everything and I truly believe she knew how much this meant to me. I was really thrilled with my test and headed back to untack with the biggest smile on my face. I unplaited not thinking we would be in the top 6 never mind the top 3 and headed back to see everyone. I started to receive messages saying well done and great score! We headed to the leader board and I was sitting in 4th with 69.58% (with one judge having us on 72%) …. So close to breaking that 70 barrier! However with another 15 competitors marks to go up I didn’t hold out hope for a top 6.
I am thrilled to say we stayed in 4th place with only 0.8% between myself and 2nd. I literally felt like I had won, no one could take away how pleased I was and I always will be. I watched the top 3 prize giving whilst eating Hartpury’s renowned chicken nuggets – if you go to Hartpury I urge you to try these! You can thank me later. I couldn’t stop laughing as life had already resumed back to normal. We caught up with so many friends and it was so lovely to cheer them all on.
Back home Ziva has enjoyed a little rest as we have been working hard over the winter in preparation for Hartpury. We have been back to Elisabeth and have started to concentrate fully on the elementary work with the aim to start teaching half pass and shoulder in. A wonderful thought especially on a horse you have had since a 2 year old, I would never have guessed we would be doing what we are now.
Next on the list is the Eventers camp at Kirriemuir, Ziva really enjoys jumping so what better way than to have a weekend of fun with some top instructors!
Lots of love
Ferne & Ziva
