Life of The Eventers , the highs and lows! Birch Equestrian @ Gatcombe Park

 

Well got to say I was rather looking forward to two days with Birch Equestrian at Gatcombe Horse Trials! I thought it would be a great opportunity to show everyone a little snippet into the eventing life, and what a weekend it was to do that!

I arrived there on Thursday Evening, and was re-united with Hels who taught me everything I know on the grooming side and horse management. Hels has worked for Sammi for countless years now and they have a wonderful partnership both in work and as friends.

The night began with meeting a few more Aussies!! which I started to think my northern accent was going to disappear very quickly seen as I am a sucker for picking up new accents! We had a good laugh and some wine  but we were all in bed before 12pm!

The morning soon came thankfully I had no headache and felt ok! The alarm went off around 5.45am and Hels was soon downstairs as i caught her early on in the video (touch dark for filming though!) we had a quick brew and the others were soon down to grab their breakfast. Hels was off down to the yard with the dogs (you are doing well if you beat Hels onto the yard! I learnt that years ago you have to be up like an hour and a half earlier!). The first job of the day was obviously to feed Hygain horse Feed to the yard and I have to say all the horses were very polite – no kicking the doors or doing anything else highly annoying!. Then we had to get the horses their hay and obviously the mucking out had started when the other girls arrived on the yard at 6.30 am. The yard is very clean buckets are all washed out daily and hay provided accordingly  = nothing is left to chance. There is a Whiteboard at end of the yard and the days jobs are wrote on their as well as a yard diary which states which horses are doing what that particular day.

We had to have two horses on the box for 7.30am when Ed (Sammi’s husband) was picking the lorry up giving Sammi a little more time with Charlie her new born Son to get him ready for a days eventing!. The first day we had Gizmo (a favourite of mine)  and Jester both going to compete in the Advanced Intermediate Section , a tough section it was to as it had lots of Big Names in their including Mark Todd.

The horses had both been plaited up the night before but Jester just needed his forelock doing but they both looked so clean and well and very smart by the time they had their competition show rugs on and had been groomed (by me of course!) Ed was on time without fail and we were soon loaded up and on the road. I happened to ask Ed what it was like to be an eventers husband and I have to say his response was definitely an interesting one so we agreed to make this another article and interview so stay posted!

We arrived at the event in good time and Hels and I started to get the kit ready and the horses of course from filling water buckets and getting travel boots off  and studs in! The weather was on our side with beautiful sunshine so hoped for a succesful day for the Team. The next job of course was to get the first horse tacked up and ready for dressage! On went the makeup and the beautiful quartermarks. Then out the lorry came Sammi (she arrived earlier with Charlie) she was all kitted out in tail coat and then we had a moment as the top hat needed fixing which somehow became my job seen as Hels was in the middle of studding the second horse up, Ed had Charlie and Sammi was going through the test. Thankfully it was soon fixed and Sammi was on board and warming up. She did two fabulous tests and both herself and the owners were pleased. Though when we had the horse swap over and Ed had got Charlie to sleep in the lorry i had the luxury of putting Gizmo or #naughtygizmo as he is known as on the lorry to which Gizmo decided it would be a fine time to have a moment on the lorry and try pawing his way to china! Got to say Ed was not a fan of this either and i think Gizmo had his warning of a bullet! Charlie managed somehow luckily sleep through this so Gizmo lived for another day (lucky Gizmo).Even Charlie got into the spirit of the day after his nap and had a little sit on Jester which he loved so defo a budding Eventer and future star! I only saw one horse come through the lorry park from Dressage with no rider so guess not everyone was having a great day.

We had a gap which is not unusual at events so Sammi, Meg and I walked the xc course and the course was up to height and certainly had enough questions in it to which Sammi’s response was well they have to go the straight route as it is a build up for the Three Star! We just happened to be walking the course the same time as Sir Mark Todd who Sammi Knows so they had a little catch up mainly about their dogs who accidentally made puppies one year!! (These things happen I guess!) We then continued to walk the course and then had a little check in at the scoreboards on the way back to which Sammi was right up their 0.8 behind Sir Mark Todd and not more than 2 penalties behind the leader so pretty good going I would  say!

 

The next phase was the show jumping and Gizmo was first up so there was a tack change and the Butet Jump Saddles purchased from Sederholm were on the horses and off we went down to the warm up as Sammi was early  on and so walked course after she had warmed up a little bit! Gizmo was awesome and jumped a lovely clear so next it was Jesters turn but Jester was not a fan of the softer ground and unfortunately had some poles but spirits stayed high and Sammi very relaxed and still pleased with his performance. Then it was the xc phase the best part for the Eventers! There was a quick change of boots on the horses and saddle re-fitted the xc boots that were used are from Style  which a lot of eventers use as they are a great fitting boot and don’t rub. Also Equine Star provide Sammi with tack including some lovely Pelham roundings.

Sammi headed off down to the xc warm up and i wandered down behuind her which was a good job as I called Hels whilst down at the warm up and asked her to bring Gizmo down as they were moving quite quickly. Sammi was soon off of the xc and Hels arrived just in time with Gizmo when Sammi returned with Jester who unfortunately had a naughty run out! As Sammi stated it was something to work on before the three star so she just but it behind her and we rushed a tack change over and she was soon on her way out of the start box with Gizmo . Hels and I headed back to the lorry with Jester and got him washed off studs out and ready for the journey home we also cleaned all the tack as soon as it came off the horses so less to do at end of day or following day. Gizmo returned home safe and sound and had done a lovely clear to land himself and Sammi in 4th Place so a good day. The owners also treated us all to soup and Sandwiches which was lovely and just what we needed. Gizmo was washed off and studs out and ready for journey home they bothn had ice water treatment on the legs to cool them down and were then bandaged till the following day to help with any strains that may have occured. We then all set off home and spirits were high even though we were all tired including Ed who had done a fab job keeping Charlie entertained all day!.

We arrived back at the yard and the other girls came out despite having finished the yard for the day and we all helped unpack the lorry clean the lorry and put horses to bed. The girls had got three more horses plaited and ready for the following day back at Gatcombe. We all had a reasonably early night as had been a long day!

Day 2

Well the weather was not going to be on our side and we woke up to rain which never pleases anyone! Three of us were on the yard for 5.30 am so alarms went off about 4.30am. Again the horses got fed and hay provided, we then got the lorry packed up and the three horses loaded and on the lorry for 6.30 ready for Ed at 6.45am, The girls arrived at yard to start the mucking out as we were leaving and the two horses from previous day were trotted up in front of Hels before we left:  both were sound so all happy days! Well we got to Gatcombe and to be honest the weather was miserable but our spirits were high and to be honest we either laughed or cried! the weather was cold and it felt more like winter than spring! Some lorries had to be towed on which shows you how wet it was. However we cracked on as the times were tight and there was a lot of tack swapping and horse swapping, One horse completed all three phases then the other two did dressage then the second novice horse did showjumping and xc before what seemed the longest break in history! The two novice horses did fantastic and only just missed the placings despite Sammi just going for safe clear xc rounds Rod also did a great dressage but the weather turned greatly in the break and we were being wind swept and getting soaked! Sammi was wondering if it was going to abandon but didnt seem like they were . We started to get Rod ready for the show jumping when the horse ambulance arrived behind our lorry bringing a rider and an injured horse back from the xc just showing the reality of the sport but we tried to keep that out of our mind and was glad to see they were both ok sore i guess but ok. They loaded up but unfortunately they got stuck so had to be towed out so we guessed we were going to have to be towed out as well though Ed was going to give it a go at getting out!!

We set off down to the showjumping and Hels and I had to move the jumps to the best bit of the now ploughed warm up arena! there was barely a blade of grass left! I went to see if the course was changing or whether they were just moving fences slightly to better ground, It was the latter so as i returned to the warm up I saw Sammi on the floor (on her feet but on the floor) she was covered head to toe in thick mud and the rain by this stage was bouncing down,  she gave the horse to hels and walked over towards me and i think her words were ” well i think that’s enough for today!” (whilst still managing a little smile) Hels and Sammi headed back to lorry whilst I went to withdraw her.

By this time a lot of horses had withdrawn and by the time i got back to the lorry i was soaked to the skin and 12 lorries had hazard lights on as they had got stuck trying to leave and they announced that the event had been abandoned we soon got packed up and headed off back to the yard after getting towed out. It just took us a little longer to clean the tack and her boots than the previous day!

It just shows that it happens to the best of them even the top riders have good and bad days but i find the way they deal with it much more professional and they just put it down to a bad day not a disaster or a life melt down they just laugh it off and crack on with the training for the next event that’s what makes these guys so special, it is their attitude to the sport they don’t have big egos don’t think they are awesome they just get on with the job in hand they also have fantastic teams behind them and owners.

I would like to Thank Sammi and her Team including her owners for allowing me to come and write this article and for all your hospitality and I look forward to writing one later in the year at one of the internationals!

 

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