Description
EVENT: Frederiksberg Royal Show Jumping Event
CLASS: Royal Grand Prix CSI5*
STARTING NUMBER: 808
RIDER: Natasha Balogh
HORSE'S FULL NAME: MDE Gidran Szende
AGE: 8 yo
STABLE: Mossy Dell Estates
COUNTRY: Hungary
Extras:Familiar Faces
She grimaced at the weather hugging her arms around herself. Heavy rain poured down from lead colored clouds shrouding the castle and its park in a grey mist. The ground became slippery with mud with standing puddles where the foot traffic was high.
Natasha turned back to the stable with a sigh, she really didn't want to get soaked. Not to mention her waterphobe mare. She shot one last glance to the pouring rain as she turned back to the stalls to tack up her horse. The mare pawed the ground, ignoring the untouched haynet. After the first worry and a quick checkup, Nat was relived to find her mare healthy except for her displeasure.
The warm up did nothing to improve the mood of the mare. The rain was still steadily falling as they entered the ring. Szende kept her nose tucked to her chest and ears flattened to her neck in a clear sign of discomfort. Nat scratched the neck of her horse "Easy girl, I don't like it any more than you" The mare snorted, but kept her head down. After coaxing the chestnut over some jumps, she decided it was enough. Annoying her mare before hard class was not worth it. Szende had the experience to handle the high obstacles, without much preparation, her bigger issue was trying to stay as dry as possible. Nat steared her horse under the trees to escape from the rain as much as they could, praying to whatever weather god to make the rain stop.
Soon they were called into the arena. With a gentle nudge of the heels, Szende rolled into a steady canter, skipping steps to avoid stepping in puddles. Nat felt the knot forming in her stomach as they circled the arena. The mare shyed away from the watery jumps and eyed the standing water that formed on the course. Natasha knew that she's up to a difficult ride. Then she heard the starting bell rang, and with a last circle she pointed her mare towards the first jump. As expected the mare took off sooner than ideal to avoid the muddy mess what resulted in a brush of the top pole. The first close call was followed by several more and possibly some knocked rail when the sky took mercy on them and the rain stopped. Just in time before the most difficult obstacle fo the pair. The Little Mermaid jump get closer with every stride and Natasha felt her horse hesitate. She gave a light kick to the mares sides to encourage her to go. There were no time to be distracted or the horse would refuse to jump and if she did she could as well give up the ride. Luckily their momentum pushed the mare forward and they flew over the waterbed. Natasha felt her mare strech out under her, but didn't expected the small buck as the mares hind legs stepped in the water. The mishap unbalanced Nat and it took precious moments to gather herself.
They finished their round quite haphazardly and out of sync. Glancing up to the score board, Nat wasn't surprised seeing their not too glorious result. However she was glad they could finish without a refusal or a fall.
Word count:542
ref: maggiebennett.com/gallery/horn… for generic pose