We’ve been back from WEG for a couple of weeks now. Pimms travelled well on the flight home, which is great to see, and she’s had a bit of a quiet period to recover! It’s always strange coming back from a competition abroad and having been away for a long time with such a range of emotions has made it even more challenging. We go from an environment where we have a timetable, where almost everything is decided for us - from what time we’re leaving to where we’re going for dinner - that when you get back to ‘normal life’ where you make your own decisions and don’t have to wear squad kit every day it can take a little adjusting.
The second week started well, hurricane Florence didn’t have too much impact on us (beyond the walkways being flooded) and by Monday when we went over for our arena familiarisation everything had dried out. The team was fantastic and the grooms had slept in the stables overnight in case any flooding happened or they needed to be there for the horses, which was so reassuring for us to know. After her day off, Pimms felt super in the familiarisation, which filled me with confidence for our first test, which wasn’t until Wednesday. The following day they held a drinks reception to celebrate our owners who were out there, all of whom received a lovely Tryon 2018 pin as a memento. It was great to be able to have Pimms’ owners Annie and Nicky out there with us and the owners’ package that Team GBR had offered really made sure that they were looked after and had someone to go to if they had any problems. We also had a chance to celebrate the first day of competition - a bit of a mixed day where Sophie (Wells) had led from the start to take the Individual gold medal on her superstar horse Jorge, whereas Lee (Pearson) had a challenging ride when his talented young mare Styletta got upset in the arena, forcing him to retire.
Wednesday came and it was my chance for the Individual competition. Tash (Natasha Baker) was near the start and as I was drawn last to go I was able to watch a few. Pimms warmed up beautifully and was even more relaxed in the 10-minute box, where the day before she’d been a bit nervous of the viewers and horse walk that was above her. Trotting around the edge she felt like I had her exactly where I wanted her, she even had a little spook at the cameraman, which usually means she’s feeling fresh - just how I need her! As the bell rang I did our usual routine, walked and patted her and then asked her to trot as the bell went. Then suddenly as I entered the arena I felt her hold her breath, not what I was expecting! It was hard work and although she stayed with me enough to coax her round, patting her whenever I could to give her confidence, it was nowhere near our best and we finished on 68.8% in 9th place, just 0.1% away from the cut off for the Freestyle, which was even more gutting! I was so disappointed that we weren’t able to show what we could do in the arena when she had felt so good in the lead up to it but horses aren’t machines and as Lee and I had said the day before - you can only ride what you’ve got on the day.
I knew we had to improve our performance for the Team test and the following day we had a short session with Pimms, checking she was even more on the aids than she had been before. I was last to go for the team on the Friday - Soph, Lee and Tash had all improved on their scores but the Dutch, who had had an incredibly strong competition so far, had put in four very strong scores and we were lying in Silver with me left to go. I needed to deliver a PB for us to win the gold and I did my best to put the challenges from the individual behind me and build on it for the team. She was like a completely different horse and despite some moments of tension she stayed with me and gave it her all, which is all you can ask. I had hoped I’d done enough for the team but when I saw the scores, although it was higher than our Individual, it wasn’t enough for us to move into gold. One judge gave me just under 73%, which was more than we needed but others had marked me down, affecting our average. As a team, we hadn’t had the smoothest week but despite this we finished just 0.6% away from the gold medal – if it had been the year before we would have retained the title. The silver medal also won me a trip to doping control - it’s a glamorous life.
The following morning was the second trot up for the Grade 3 horses and as I went to get on the bus to go to the venue I got a text to say one of the horses hadn’t got through and I had a place in the Freestyle later that day. I was excited to get a chance to ride my new programme, I love the music and the floorplan really highlights Pimms’ strengths. She warmed up brilliantly and after her improvement in the arena the day before I was looking forward to seeing what we could do.
For the first time, we had to put music to our Team test and because I had changed my Freestyle music we decided to use the same tracks from my old freestyle music (The Holiday soundtrack) as it suited Pimms so well. I have a short walk into the arena as my entrance and as I entered the arena I listened to the cue to prepare for the halt. I couldn’t believe it when I heard The Holiday music playing and not my lovely new Freestyle music! I hadn’t gone to the sound check as I was being dope tested and I also hadn’t expected to be riding my Freestyle, so after giving myself a (very brief) internal telling off for messing up and handing in the wrong CD, I reminded myself that I know my music and the old floorplan and that I could make it work. After adjusting the floorplan to try and fit to the music I quickly realised it was actually my Team test music and it wasn’t going to fit either of the Freestyle floorplans I’d created in the past, so after a bit of improvisation I managed to ensure I completed all the compulsories, albeit completely out of sync with the music playing! The most frustrating part was that even with this inner monologue going on, Pimms felt the best she had all week and although I couldn’t have asked for any more from her, it would have been nice to have been able to ride the test I’d prepared and had the finish I was hoping for.
I knew in my heart that I’d handed in the correct music but I still assumed the mistake had to be mine and that if I stopped the test I’d be eliminated - a risk I wasn’t willing to take. As it happens, the mistake was theirs and although we immediately appealed, they denied any error on their part. I finished in 5th place, just 0.8% away from an individual medal and whilst on the one hand when I woke up that morning I wasn’t even due to ride, on the other hand… ARGH!!!!
Hindsight is a great thing and although I wish I could go back to the beginning of the week and do it again (but better), unfortunately that’s not possible, but I do know that you can’t put a price on experience. As the saying goes - what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Lessons learned:
Never assume that mistakes don’t happen at the higher levels - they do, even at WEG!
Expect the unexpected.
Believe in yourself.
