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An Emotional Bramham
Well Bramham was an eventful week, I took my little chestnut horse, Sultao De Valada (Sultan to his friends!) to compete and Snowy came along 
partly to keep Sultan company and mainly to keep him working as five days off would make him very naughty!
The action began on Thursday. In the afternoon, we had a briefing where the ground jury introduced themselves to us, explained who they were and where to find them if we needed them. Then we were free to walk the cross country course – my first of three course walks!
Later that afternoon, the trot up got underway. They were held in front of Bramham House with a lot of spectators. The trot up is always a bit of a fashion show for the riders too! I wore white jeans and a t-shirt with a smart black jacket over the top with some nice posh shoes that thankfully I was able to run in.
On Friday I was last to do my dressage test. We managed a respectable 59 penalties and were lying in 12th place in the under 25’s section.
Saturday dawned and being drawn last to go, I was able to walk the course again with my trainer and also go and watch some of the other competitors in action to see what the course was riding like.
There were quite a few difficult questions which were causing problems, and the water was a real toughie. It was good to get an idea beforehand so I knew where to aim! Course designer Ian Stark brought his many years of experience to Bramham and really beefed up the course bringing in some old fashioned rider frightener type fences.
In the end, I had two run outs on the cross country course and we finished with 40 jumping penalties and 32 time penalties, which left us in 24th place after the cross country.
On the Sunday, we had a few fences down in the show jumping and remained in 24th place, completing our first CCI***.
It was disappointing not to have gone clear on the cross country but it was excellent experience for both myself and Sultan – we will be back!
I will be sitting down this week to plan my next lot of competitions, and also hope to take out new horse, Data, to compete very soon.
I am also visiting my sponsor, EquestrianClearance.com at their head office to catch up with the gang and also edit some of the ‘how to’ clips we are planning to put on You Tube – they are small practical guides giving advice on flatwork, jumping and stable management.
I will also be spending some of my sponsorship money on rugs and a few other bits and pieces – there are so many great bargains to be had!
The weather seems to have gone a bit typical of the English Summer! My holiday to South Africa in May seems a long time ago now – as you can see from the picture whilst I was there, I was able to practice my stickability on a banana boat!
Bye for now!
Harriet
