...A heavy storm set in that night. We all felt it.
Tucked up in our beds, the rain and the wind hammering on all of our windows.
Yet all the riders in the competitors quarters, to afraid to step outside.
The wind howling. The rain hammering down. Was this just a glimpse of the battles to come?
We could hear the horses in their stalls across the courtyard. Little snippets of movement heard between the gusts of wind. The odd neigh, shuffles.
As the storm settled and the sun shone through, we all began to surface from our rooms. One by one, the riders headed to the stables.
And I watch, wondering what will become of these young horses. I wonder how they will all be trained. What steps their jockeys will take to unlock their highest potentials.
All very different styles of training.
But currently, these foals are almost wild. Untrained. And certainly not backed.
For the last 3 years I have watched these young horses grow, their characters develop and their training begin to take shape.
I have seen their riders come forth with different pieces of equipment, training aids. Tack.
I have seen the calmer. Easier ones mould smoothly without much hassle.
And I have seen the wilder ones, tornado, no smoke, twister, Take a little more patience and a couple of A&E trips.
Each horse, to their own character. Proving to be something to admire, yet still fear.
I dont know how we made it this far. But we done it. These horses have had many a scrapes over the last 5 years. They have battled hard indeed.
And their first real challenge begun about a year ago. Shortly after they were all finished being backed.
Us show founders set the first challenge.
The battle of the best... the knock out rounds.
And this was pretty simple really ...
a series of one to one battles thrown at all...
a tally of wins and a tally of loses.
A constant fire,
The goal? To win as many of them in a row as possible, for once your win streak was broken, you were out.
Lets check out how the pairs proceeded.
The ones who took it seriously and the ones still thinking we were in the training stages. We arent. The battles have begun. The stakes are higher. Prizes now to be won.
Just days ago we had our final challenge for the next couple years.
A Puissance wall
The rules of the game...
This is set over many rounds. Each round the jump goes up. Everyone jumps it. Those who clear it move on to the next round.
Those who knock it down. Stop. Or dislodge their riders... are out.
24 starters.
Wall set at 76 in round 1...
Rachel approaches first... 3 strides out she gets distracted, slips. Trips. And splats right through the wall
Oh Rachel.... the others say whilst watching the aftermath through their fingers...
she scores 0 and shes out of this round.
Pan and marmalade both knock it down and find themselves back in their stables untacked and out of this challenge - 0
Chalk comes towards the ring. Throws the anchor down and refuses to move any further not today thank you.... and head back to join the previous 3 at the stables. Picking up a 0 also.
The others... all clear and through to round 2. 77
All clear expect poor sugar puffs. Who breaths on the top block... the crowd holding their breath... sugar puff lands, takes a stride, and the block falls AWWW NO sugar puffs heads back to the stable. With a score of 76.5 - team mate still in the running, can coco pops bulk up their final score?
Lets fast forward to round 5.
Weve lost a few more now ...
Dough - 77
Lyra - 77.75
Prejudice - 78
Pride - 80.25
Monica - 82.75
No smoke - 83
Good things - 83
In round 6 at 86 - we lose 5 more
Without fire - 83.5
Coco pops - 84.5
Paddington - 84.75
Cheese - 85.5
Small packages - 85.5
Round 7 - 88 - 2 more head back to the stable
Buffalo bill - 87.25
Twister - 87.75
Round 8 goes up to 89
This time we lose
Stunt double - 88
And cookie - 88.75
Anni Oakley
Tornado
and
high risk
The only ones left...
The wall goes up to 90
And they all find it that little bit too much. And each time. The top block falls.
They all finish on 89.5
How does that effect the teams final joint scores? Who wins the prizes??
1st - 250k each
177.5 - high risk + stunt double
2nd - 50k each
177.25 - twister + tornado
3rd -
176.75- buffalo bill + Annie Oakley
4th -
168.5 good things + small packages
5th -
166.5 - no smoke + without fire
6th -
165.75 cookie + dough
7th -
161 - sugar puff + coco pops
8th -
158.25 - pride + prejudice
9th -
85.5 - chalk + cheese
10th -
84.75 - Paddington + marmalade
11th-
82.75 - Monica + Rachel
12th -
77.75 - lyra + pan
They all congregate in their pairs and discuss their tactics going forward. Some have some serious catching up to do. Some serious work needed.
Training begins again tomorrow. They have 5 years to pull their socks up and make the changes they need to battle for the top.
The serious prizes are yet to come.
(Sorry they are now 6 and I didnt get this posted when they were 5. I was at a showjumping comp this weekend so just had time to sit and get it done now, I did however take screen shots just before they turned 6 which have been sent to couple players as evidence to use for scoring.)
Welldone everyone. Will see how they all have progressed in 5 years...
Picture, name votes etc will be up soon enough too :)
Sending prizes shortly
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