British Horseback Archery Championships

So the long-awaited weekend finally arrived. Back in July I decided to bite the bullet and actually take my horses to a competition. Of course it just happened to be a five hour drive away in Cornwall, but that was the venue for this year's competition, so that was where we were going.

Having arranged to hire a lorry for the horses, I got an email on Monday saying it was at the garage with mechanical problems so wouldn't be available after all. Spent most of the rest of the day frantically calling round to get a replacement, and thankfully found one fairly locally.

Crisis averted, we went to fetch it on Friday and I carefully steered around some little lanes back to the yard ready to load up. Luckily there was a large storage compartment in the back since we had to fit in a lot of stuff: saddles, bows, fancy dress outfits, spare hay, the dog.....

The horses went straight in, they seem to prefer a rear-facing lorry and started attacking their hay. We got to watch them on a little monitor in the cab. When the lorry was in reverse gear the monitor changed to show the view out the back, which was just as well given my reversing skills ;-)

The trip down was pretty straightforward, mostly motorway and dual carriageway and we got there in 5 hours. Unloaded the horses, let them into a little paddock for a roll and some grass and went to check out the archery field. This just happened to be next door to the caravan park where we were staying so we checked in there too.

Then it was time to fetch the horses and show them around a bit. G of course too it all in his stride, but Sky was a lot more suspicious of the strange things dotted about.....

But there were no tantrums, so we wandered back up to the yard and turned them out for the night, whilst we retired to the pub.

Next morning we were up and organised bright and early (even got breakfast cooked by our mate Adam who chose to squat on the sofa in the caravan rather than sleep in his tent) getting G kitted out in his fancy dress for the kid's competition. There were only three of them, so we put the boys on G and made Éowyn ride Sky. Doing a few runs at the walk seemed to settle her (Sky) down a bit and she stopped worrying about the sound of the arrows hitting the target. And a fair few of Éowyn's arrows did hit, she even got a 5 on one of her runs, and she came first :-)

By the time they'd finished, some more horses had arrived and the Hungarian competition got underway. As soon as the speed increased, all Sky's calmness went out of the window and she seemed intent on trying to break the land speed record, doing some of her runs in less than 9 seconds, which meant poor Alex didn't get a chance to shoot many arrows. We persuaded Ali to give it a go on Gandalf too. I had no intention of even trying, since I can't hit a target on the ground, let alone one up in the air.......

Then it was back to the yard and Cornish pasties for lunch. In the afternoon was the Aussie Triple competition, which is reserved for those at student grades (more about the grading system here), and for those who haven't even got a student badge yet 'cos they can't hit a  barn door (me). And true to form, I didn't hit a thing. But it was fun though, as you can see I was hating every minute.....

So that was day 1. Rounded off with a trip to the pub, naturally.

Day 2 began much the same (eggs for breakfast again). The morning's competition was the Korean. Given my spectacular performance in the Aussie Triple, I elected to give this a miss and gave Alex the ride on Gandalf so she might stand a chance of scoring something as he doesn't feel the need to gallop full tilt down the track. So Ali got the hooligan pony, who was a bit better, some of the time......

My favourite of the horses there was Dolly, who Adam was riding.

My sort of horsie. Big, brassy, real leg-at-each-corner type. Very opinionated.  Reminded me of a mare I used to own......anyway, she made a real impression thundering down the track. And they came 3rd in the overall competition.

More pasties for lunch, to follow the tea and biscuits some locals had kindly provided for us that morning. Then all that remained was for Ali and Sky to do the Aussie Triple as they hadn't had time the day before. By this time, Missy was getting a tad fed up with running up and down so tried to go even faster, setting off like someone had set fire to her tail, resulting in some choice swearing from Ali (in French, of course!).

She did eventually manage to get a few shots off......

....but we still have a way to go. But generally I was really pleased with the horses this weekend, they took it all in their stride and didn't stress too much about the loooooong journey, loaded perfectly and travelled quietly. It was a lot to ask, really, and they delivered.

After Ali's runs were finished, we packed up and left as I wanted to get back before midnight and in the end, apart from a bit of a queue on the M4 near Bristol, the journey home was very smooth. Nice Renault Master lorry was easy to drive and probably had a better turning circle than my car. If only I could afford one!

We left before the main prize giving, although Éowyn had got her certificate earlier.

On the way back, got a text from Alex to say even I'd got a rosette, as there weren't that many of us doing the Aussie Triple. So it was all worth it then :-)

Now to find more time to practise for the next competition.........

Gauchoux Open day 2

Saturday morning saw us up and about early. We seemed to have been camping in the lumpiest field ever. Note to self: airbeds are NOT optional when camping......but sanity was restored with a trip to Luc and Isa's tent who had the camping stove to make us tea :-)

First thing was a reconnaissance of Sunday's hunt track, after her overenthusiasm the day before, we decided to get Ali to take Kinna round the track to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises on the day....

She was absolutely fine and sprang along with the funny-coloured ears flicking round at all the strange looking targets, but she didn't spook at any of them :-)

Thankfully the day dawned cloudy, so the temperature was lower, just as well since the Korean track was in a different field with no shade whatsoever......no trees to get in the way of the photos though :-)

After lunch the left-handed group were on last again, but I didn't need to catch Kinna this time!

 

The organisers had asked all the competitors to bring a blunt arrow along with them, and on Saturday evening we found out why, there was an extra competition just for fun. The target this time was a plate!

It was a knockout competiton and only a few people managed to break a plate to get through to the second round. Ali had a go but just missed it.....

...but Johan hit the plate, didn't break it as he wasn't using a blunt, but made a neat hole in it so they gave it to him to keep as a souvenir :-)

The evening light made for some nice photos.....

 ...and it was nice to see one of the competitors competing bridleless!

So once a winner was decided by the second round being timed, we then all went off for more apéros and a pleasant evening drinking beer and cognac and talking about horses. Ali stayed up even later than me talking to the German team and a very drunk Pole....

 

Gauchoux Open Day 1

Last weekend saw Ali and I packing our bags to fly to Limoges for the second stage of the European Horseback Archery Grand Prix. As it was in France, I'd decided it was a good excuse for a jolly, and to go and catch up with some old friends who were going. The fact that Kinna was entered for the competition might have had something to do with it too....... ;-)

And we had an excellent time. We arrived at the venue, the Domaine de Gauchoux, at around lunchtime on Friday, just in time to get stuck in to the usual excellent French spread. We met up with John and Carole from our old club, and Luc and Isabelle from Beaumont. Then it was off to the Hungarian track to watch the first of the 3 competitions.

They have a funky electric target at Gauchoux, so instead of 3 target faces, there's just the one and it turns as the rider goes down the track. Some video of that here:

The track itself is dug into the ground a bit and lined so the sand stays put (mostly). 'Twas a bit hot and dry however, so sand was flying all over the place as spectators huddled under the trees for shade, or hid in the woods and risked the horseflies biting......

The trees along the front of the track made it a bit tricky to get decent shots, as did the very pretty but somewhat obtrusive plastic flowers, but I managed some....

Emil riding for Sweden

Dorine riding for France

Wojtek riding for Poland

Some great costumes on display, much fur in evidence (on saddles too) but possibly a tad warm for the Limousin in summer!

 

As usual, the guys were all very lovely and when Ali asked for some tips with her shooting, they duly whisked her away to the practise range (OK, some big round bales with the tattered remains of target faces on them) for some instruction.

She somehow managed to come out of it 2 euros in profit too ;-)

The left-handed archers were the last group of the day, and Kinna duly made her appearance, ridden by Johan, John and Carole's son. Mademoiselle gave some cause for concern to begin with, unsurprisingly really as it was her first big competition away from home, and he was having trouble getting her attention hen it came to things like stopping.....this resulted in me standing at the end of the run to make sure she did, and didn't try to rush off back to the others.

Once we'd replaced stressed pony with chilled pony, I was able to get a picture! She soon realised that her mate Idaa wasn't going anywhere and that she only needed to do the same thing each time on the track. She has always been a quick study.......

 

So with day 1 over, a lot of very hot and bothered people retired to the picnic tables (via a spéctacle put on by the kids from the club which involved ponies painted as zebras and giraffes!) for a good old French aperitif.....which of course turned into a proper drinking session. For once I was surrounded by languages I couldn't all understand (although was quite chuffed I was able to get most of what the German team was saying). Very pleasant evening, but we didn't stay up too late having been up at 4.30 to get to the airport!

 

European Grand Prix - Stage 1

Horseback archery, of course. The only sort of GP that's worth watching, as far as I'm concerned. This weekend, Team GB are over in Grunwald, in Poland and from the photos I've seen, it looks like they're having fun (and not getting too wet).

Wish I could go over there one year, not to compete, I'll never be that good, but to take a load of photos and join the guys for the après.......

Still, have managed to blag a weekend in France for the next stage since they'll need an interpreter, right? Limoges at the end of June should be nice :-)

Horse archery

Just got back from 3 weeks in France (where we no longer have wifi at the house, which is my excuse for not blogging for ages), supposedly on holiday but actually ended up on a kind of extended horse archery training course.....as you do!

This is a new FFE discipline and John at our old club has taken it up big time. As they had a competition planned for the final weekend of our stay, we decided it'd be fun to have a go. Ali of course got to ride Kinna, and as she's been doing field archery for a few years, turned out to be some good at it.

I on the other hand, got totally thrashed by everyone in Club 3 (the easiest level, all at the walk), even the kids on a lead rein. But it really was a lot of fun :-)

We went for several training sessions, including one where I managed to fall off Nanou, she only has 2 speeds, plodding along like a donkey or full speed racehorse and I ended up swearing (and laughing) a lot as she tanked off up the run.....

Needless to say, I can only actually hit the target when she's in donkey mode ;-)

John has done a really good job with Kinns, she totally gets what you have to do and doesn't bat an eyelid at any of it.....

Didn't want to come home.......