Northland GP Show- By Amara Green
Northland GP Show- By Amara Green
Northland GP Show- By Amara Green
Yes! I’m back from the dead aka studying for and sitting exams and am finally doing update blogs about my last few shows, how the horses have been going and our season plans!
Northland GP Show (24/10 – 25/10):
This show was super exciting for me as this was Yoyo and I’s first GP show together! We had great preparation, training at Northgate with Mark Wells beforehand and was feeling super confident for the weekend.
On the Saturday, both horses were entered in the Welcome Horse Stakes 1.10m which they both did a smooth, controlled round and went clear, I was super proud of Daisy as this was her 2nd ever 1.10m and first clear one. Neither horses placed as we weren’t the fastest and didn’t plan to be either. Then in the afternoon Yoyo and I had our first Junior rider together (1.15-1.25m since it was a GP show), I was super nervous about it and it didn’t help that I had a little tumble in the warm up! But we pulled through with a super smooth round just picking up 4 faults in the first phase!
We started off early on the Sunday with Daisy competing in the young horse style class (1m for 6-year-olds), which didn’t really go to plan. She went clear, but was an absolute dragon all the way around not wanting to change leads and tanking off around the turns… we still got a rosette for going clear but definitely not the round I was hoping for! Then had a quick gear change and got on Yoyo for the Northland Vegetation Control speed 1.20m! I then, yet again took a bit of a tumble in the warmup, but landed on my feet so I sprinted to the ambulance and back, doing one warmup jump after my fall to go into the ring… not the ideal lead up. Although I was nervous, we went around in a quick time, taking inside turns to pick up 2nd!! We then (again) quickly swapped the saddle over, tacked Daisy up and went to ring 2 to jump the Dunstan Horsefeeds speed 1.10m. She warmed up great so I was really confident going into the ring! She jumped a clear round, with a few ‘ugly’ take off spots, but we took inside turns and kept a nice, forward place. Although it was forward I didn’t think it was enough to pick up a placing so took her back up to the float to later find out she placed 2nd!
Big thank you to all of the sponsors, organizers and judges of the show, it was a very well run show and we had a fantastic show!
Also massive thanks to Mark for all his help in preparation for the show and at the show and my Mum for driving me and for making it all possible.
- PHOTO CREDIT – LINDY WAIJENBERG
