Eventing Team Trials

[Lottii]

Eventing Team Trials

The Dress Code

• Shirt
  
• Plain coloured jodhpurs
  
• Show-Jacket (Jumping/Dressage)
  
• Jersey (Cross-Country)
  
• No boots for dressage
  
• Closed front boots for cross country
  
• Boots for show-jumping (optional)
  
• Crop (optional)
  
• GP saddle (recommended)
  
• Dressage saddle (if not GP, for dressage)
  
• Jumping saddle (if not GP, for jumping)
  
• Medical armband (for cross-country)
  
• Body protector (for cross-country)
  

The Courses

For the dressage phase, you will have the use of a 20 x 40 arena on grass with the standard markers and dressage boards. The test you perform is freestyle, but should have between five and ten movements and show off what you can do. Remember you don't need to do only amazing things, a good circle is the base of so much other work.
Click here for the cross-country course. You will be opening the gate before fence five on horseback, which is the start of the course, and continuing until fence nine. Yes, it is short but it will show me what I need to see. Fence five is a log pile, six is a roll top, seven is an arrow point, eight is a apex (corner) and the final fence, fence nine, is an open ditch. The fences are around three foot.
For the show-jumping phase, there is a small course of five jumps, two uprights, followed by an oxer, and then finally a bounce combination of an upright then an oxer. I know it's not a long course but the turns are quite tight from each fence, and you will need to be aware of striding. The fences will be set at three foot.

The Judge

Mike sat himself on the chair stuck in a small gap he had created in the hedgerow. If he faced one way, he could see the cross-country fences the students would be attempting, if he faced the other he could see the two grass arenas marked out with rope, one set up with dressage markers and boards and the other with jumps. Currently, he was looking out towards the dressage, waiting for the first student to arrive for the trials. Rolling the pen between his fingers, he glanced over the list of students who had put their names down to try out. Several looked like they would be good additions to the team, but others he wasn't so sure about. Anyhow, he thought to himself, that is the point of a trial, to compare their skills and pick the best for the team.

[meg]

Charles wasn't nearly creative enough to make up his own dressage tests. He had decided to use last years novice test, with a few modifications so it fit both his mount and the arena better. The test had been designed for a 20x60 arena, not any smaller. He was going to make to best of the arena given to him, although he wasn’t quite sure how his mare was to work in a smaller space. Her dressage recently had been showing signs of something quite special, and he was hoping that she would work well.

He chose to do his working trot in sitting, as his sitting trot, due to strong lower legs and the length of them compared to the size of his horse, was much more sightly than his rising trot. He entered just as his warmblood decided to spook at someone walking along the side of the arena, and the first steps of his test weren’t at all straight. Her halt, bar one hind leg that was stepped a little back, was pretty, and nicely round. The couples next movements were a leg yield on each side, both of which went smoothly. Al’s lateral movement was nice. Pity it wasn’t the most important thing in eventing dressage.

Across the diagonal, Charles push Al into a more open, extended trot, and willingly her strides floated and her knees snapped. He was happy with that. The first loop of his serpentine was slightly dented, due to an unexpected spook, and she came above the bit on their canter transition. The combination’s collected canter on both reins was nice though, and the mare’s second extended trot was as pretty as, if not nicer than the first. After a free walk from B to E, they had a nice straight trot up the centre line, saluted, and exited the arena in a nice free walk. All in all, it had been a good test to show their meddle.

The Cross Country course was stupid in Charles’s opinion. It consisted of a measly five jumps, and hardly had room for a gallop. They jumps were tiny and easy too. There wasn’t even a water combination. If this was a trial for a team to represent to school, wouldn’t it be worth actually seeing what both horses and riders were capable of? Charles was sure that, although Alouette was not a perfect Cross Country horse, this was an insult to her abilities.

The first part of the course, although not a normal part of eventing, was to open a gate. This was not something that Al was used too, however she did it willingly, if for a spook when the unoiled hinges creaked like a bullfrog. She tried to bolt forward, but Charles sat on his posh bottom and waited for her to sort herself out. When she calmed her farm a little, Charles put her into a forward canter and popped the first fence, a little log pile, no bigger than 2’9, with ease. There was a short gallop space before the next jump, and wanting to show the degree of control that Charles had over his horse, he really pushed her into a fast gallop. Her breaks weren’t perfect, and it was only about six strides out before the jump that she was back in a canter. He jumped the rest of the course clear, although Al hesitated for a stride before that nasty wee apex, and had Charles not been such an aggressive rider, would have stopped.

Charles didn’t even have time to hose off his mare before entering the ring for show jumping. He managed to whip his cross-country saddle off and replace it with his more forward cut pessoa show jumping saddle before entering the ring. He had walked the course of five jumps before his cross country session, and thought that although Alouette should make it around the course nicely, it was more suited to ponies.

He had not given his mare too much time to warm up, as he knew that too much time to think would get her excited, and over a course that was at least twenty centimetres smaller than she was used too, she would get lazy with her legs and drop poles. He popped her over the warm up jump on each rein, and made his way to the roped off grass ring that had been penned off for show jumping. He had, of course, studded her for cross country, and left the same ones in for show jumping. They were, perhaps, a little big for the ground, but it was soft enough for them to get some grip, and the mare was well booted with a good leather stud guard to protect her belly. He cantered a circle around the jumps, which looked like a typical eventing show jumping course- no fillers or anything too difficult, bar the turns. He told himself that he would need to steady his mare around the corners. The time allowed for this height was much slower than what he was used too, and he was better off not letting her slip. The mare flew over the first jump, her strides eating up the ground after it. He sat her up, half halted, half halted again, and took the corner wide. No point in shaving seconds off a time that was going to be quick enough anyhow. She cleared the second upright easy too. Although the set up for the third jump, an oxer, was alright, she slipped a tad just before the jump and leapt it like a stag to clear. Charles was behind the momentum on take off, but managed to get himself organised in time for the double. He slowed her right back, held her in his hands, and made her strides about two inches smaller. She took the double in two strides, easy, and flew through the finish flags.

He patted the little mare on the neck, and let his reins relax. He was happy with that.


I swear when I grow up, eventing team trials
I won't just buy you a rose, 1000 + six
I will buy you a flower shop, The Gambler by the ever-so-amazing Fun.
And you will never be lonely. finally
Just take my hand, and know that I will never leave your side this was made by meg.

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