Recently I competed in my first pairs XC in about 10 years.
It was the Hunter Trials at Trebudannon Point to Point which is one of the biggest Hunter Trials in the area, it only runs once a year and is always a very well run day out.
It was suggested that for a bit of fun that I joined with my friend Gemma and her horse Flame for the 2’6 pairs.
I was stupidly excited - we did the whole matchy matchy thing too! Gem borrowed one of my Stockinjur sets with a HUGE pompom so we were both rocking the grey attire.
We warmed up as we actually had no idea if they’d go over a fence together - turns out they were happy to take turns to lead. Anyhow we were called up to the start box and then the count down began
3
2
1
Good luck!!
Both horses were quick off the mark and jumped the first three fences at the same time - completely synchronised. This wasn’t the plan, I just didn’t have any brakes 🙈
We then got to the 4th fence which had previously caused a lot of the other pairs a problem, unfortunately it caught us out too. Brian was being a gentleman with his “Ladies First” mentality, but Flame being an independent woman declined his offer and insisted that he went first. This argument went on for quite a while, which led us to get eliminated - thankfully the Four Burrow Hunt allow you to continue so long as you get out of the way of other competitors.
We carried on around the course, Brian was rather happy to follow Flame’s backside the rest of the way. At one point my brakes again failed and we were too close to Flame which caused Brian to stop as suddenly there was a fence under his nose! I still don’t know how I stayed on as I was right over his neck and touching his ears 🙈 I think it is the super stickiness of my Montar Molly breeches as my thighs and knees were still in place.
We then popped over it and completed the course, I have never laughed so much whilst competing and it was such a buzz!
Brian was still pumped and I’m pretty sure he could’ve gone around again.
After untacking and washing the horses down, we went to see the results - we knew we weren’t going to get anywhere but we were interested to see how everyone else did. Turns out only 6 of the 15 pairs managed to get around the course without being eliminated so we didn’t feel like complete losers!
We both ended the day with smiles on our faces and another set of memories to look back on in a few years time.
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