Stepping up at Burnham Market (MARCH 08)

Another event. Another meteorological challenge..

After a long six hour drive south to Norfolk, I was pleased to discover the choice I had made for the overnight base from which to attack Burnham market was a good one. Bagthorpe Hall a charming B&B run by Gina Morton is conveniently located for both Burnham and Houghton International, and I am looking forward to returning in late May.

The forecast for the Friday at was poor, but how poor we were about to discover….

Horizontal rain driven in by a strong south west wind, and of course as Norfolk is flat, there were very few places to hide. Dressage was a huge challenge, the showjumping arena was set to provide the biggest talking point amongst the riders, but the cross country in general held up very well being on sandy soil. There were plenty of time faults but there wasn’t the same issue for the safety vehicles because of good access roads.

As a first time visitor it was possible to see more than 60% of the fences from the spectators mound, and that would be my first port of call for others new to the event. The world cup qualifier ensured a quality field of top riders, and there were also a good number of trade stands. It was a shame I had to leave on Day 2. The spectator numbers had definitely increased and the top riders seemed very approachable and were happy to sign autographs for wide eyed children.

The only slight qualm I had arose for the lack of strident whistles as event riders continued round the cross country course. This had been noticeable on Day one, but there were very few spectators (swimmers would have been more appropriate). With many more on Day 2 I could see potential problems, and after a fence repair delay, followed a change in class which brought a route change, it was only superb rising by Nicola Wilson that averted a tragedy. A seven year old girl crossing the course remained transfixed as master Blaster approached the last, with the rest of her family moving to safety. Nicola bore down with a look of increased horror as the girl then tried to move one way, then the other. Only sensational riding averted a near disaster,(she avoided the girl) and managed to finish fourth. Her only concern was the girls safety as she finished, but fortunately all was well. As I had been caught in a similar situation in my first event two years ago I realize how alarming the whole thing can be.

The Borders group seemed to be parked closely together with Nicky, Caroline Powell, Ruth Edge, and The Agnews all within talking distance and the Galbraiths not far away. Les Smith was also judging the two star to add to the Scottish contingent and it was good to catch up with them all so far from base.

The showjumping, as mentioned previously was probably the trickiest of the disciplines as the ground cut up dreadfully, which tended to favour those on the track earlier. Because there was a desire to protect the ground for the world cup qualifier on Sunday some of the arena undoubtedly took a bit of a beating. The results in some classes looked more like rugby scores, hence our satisfaction with the results achieved in this discipline.

Stepping Up –

The reason for entitling this weeks blog Stepping Up, was that three of the five horses were stepping up in classes and with freddy only having his second outing this was more a week for experimentation than trying to set the leader board alight. That proved even more sensible given the weather.

Fiddlewood was trying his first pre Novice, Trig Point his first Novice, and Mistral his first Intermediate

Dressage

The conditions were foul on Friday and Fiddlewood, Trig Point and Freddy all persevered though it was more a case of them not making huge mistakes than having the chance to shine. Each of them performed very reasonably. There was less excuse for Mistral who decided to have a more petulant day showing his French background and his 40.5 wasn’t anything like his gatcombe performance the week before. Rare Hero actually produced one of his better tests a good 35.2

Showjumping

Given the conditions and the ground this was a very encouraging phase. Rare hero knocked a couple down and Trig Point knocked the third behind. In his case his size dint help on the heavy ground but otherwise he jumped really well. Pride place goes to Fiddlewood, Freddy Curtis and Misral all who went clear in side the time. Freddy produced some amazing jumps from almost a standstill as Nicky was trying to keep him in check on tricky ground. Very impressive, and Mistral produced another polished round.

Cross Country

Time faults littered all the classes and very few riders went clear inside the time. Fiddlewood was one of the exceptions and produced an double clear, a very encouraging first outing. Trig Point was withdrawn, with conditions particularly tricky, (poor light and heavy rain) , which didn’t seem a sensible time to experiment. Rare hero went round clear with 12 time faults, and both Mistral and Freddy left their brake pads at home which necessitated a degree of extra caution, which proved very sensible given the conditions. Mistral incurred 19 time faults and freddy 32.8. The both went round clear and both proved that they clearly can jump. Its now just a question of what bit to use.

Overall

Severll good qualifying scores. Three points for the double clears for Mistral (2) and Freddy (1). I can see what work needs to be done to get greater flow cross country and to some extent in the showjumping arena. Thank goodness I don’t have to be the one trying to execute it. Overall to have three double clears in five rounds is pretty satisfying, and when conditions for dressage really meant it was more like a lottery on the Friday, it certainly gave me a good base to see progress over the rest of the season.

Roll on Belton in two weeks.

Trig Point- Novice

Mistral - Intermediate

Freddy Curtis- stepping up to Intermediate

Rare Hero- Intermediate