the-tentpegging-life-blog

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Just as the tent-pegging competition season ended training begins. Tent-pegging South West AGM and Dinner next weekend with a intro to tent-pegging demo and training the day after. No rest for the wicked!

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Casual weekend doing some work for English Heritage. Go red team!

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The best way to start the tent pegging season…. to do the official closing of the pervious year. an exciting year ahead leading on from a night of glamour, awards and alcohol. massive thanks to our comity for organising, and to Dan of Sports Performance Psychology for coming to be our guest speaker. and of course well done to all of 2017s title winners.

[the-tentpegging-life-blog]

How To Deal With Long Horse Box Journeys

First of apologies for not writing anything in a few weeks I’ve had deadlines and sorry for the pure heft of this entry!

So I’m writing this as I’m on a 6 hour horse box journey to the first competition of the 2017 tent-pegging season. Now as the world of tent-pegging is so small and people are scattered everywhere you find you seem to spend countless hours in a horse box travelling to gods knows where. For me the closest competition is 90 miles which in horse box speed is just under 2 hours on a good day. And the longest is 7 and a half hours to Yorkshire (also on a good day) now especially for the last 3 years these journeys in our old but fabulous horsebox who is appropriately named Gloria (she’s an older lady with a blue rinse and who gives us a good weekend). So anyone who has travelled in a horse box is probably very familiar with the joys of sitting in the living area. Well that’s me on every journey sitting in the back mooching around and often getting bored so here are some ways that I deal with long horse box journeys.

1)    Listen to music- now I know that sounds obvious so let me explain, in good old Gloria because she’s old she’s very loud! So that means you cant listen to the radio which means headphones which is probably a good thing as I have Terrible taste in music. But being in a box where you cant here anything from the living that means with singing really loudly and out of tune (normally with dance moves) and getting away with it!

2)    Sweet and sour- yes okay I know that’s a kid game and I’m 19 but when your stuck in traffic and have been for the best part of an hour and your in a truck with a side window what else do you do! Fellow truck drivers tend to be the most fun to wave to!

3)    Bring a note book- so I know this won’t apply to every one but I find a note book makes time fly. As a cosplayer I often come up with skit and cmv ideas out and about so what a good idea to write scripts up when your bored out of your mind in a back of a truck

4)    Drag along a unwilling friend- nothing makes a longer journey more bearable than having a friend to keep you company and to suffer with you! However in my case today I have two Lurchers which works just as well!

5)    Nap- Last but not least just sleep the whole way! You cant be bored if your not awake!

[the-tentpegging-life-blog]

My Journey- The End Of The 2014 Season

so the 2014 season ended in October it was much better now, me and angel where getting better together, my confidence was rising again and i was enjoying my new life as a college student. the end of season was fun we rode for the dark horse team again and it helped me be sure that i would carry on next year. so i said goodbye to displays and hello to being part of a proper competition group. the 2015 season would be a good one!

Angel enjoying some down time after the comp!

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My Journey- Dark Horse 2014

After the stress of the final battle proms i was in a bit of a lull. i didn’t know where i would fit in any more, i had no confidence and felt i couldn’t trust anyone. but i still had Angel and that made things seem better and i had my friends that pulled me along. and the knowledge that in a  few weeks i would be starting college to study a fashion b-tech. and then out the blue the owner of the dark horse team got in contact asking if me and angel wanted to come ride for the dark horse team at the competition he was hosting in which the BTA members would be going. i did end up going although i was a bit unsure at first after the battle prom issues. but i had a great time, i found myself yet again feeling welcomed and i was more relaxed competing there than i ever did at the battle proms, amongst this group the was (and still is) non of this hostile not talking to other people and only being with people when they had to. this was a club that would have meals together and people would not outcast people at competitions. riders would also help other riders and give advice on drills and anything else someone would be struggling with. there was no everyone out for themselves which was the environment i had be taught in. and i had a team! a team that wanted me not just had me because no one else who have me! and it didn't matter if you where new at the sport or had being doing it for years. for me this was the point i said that i would still tent-peg but i would do it with the BTA members not with my old group. probably one of the best choices i had ever made regarding this sport!

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My Journey- Battle Proms 2014 The End Of A Chapter

so the last two battle proms came about, along with them came lots of tears. me and Angel did well in the actual displays being the young girl on the naughty pony. however by the time the last battle proms had come around i had become such and outcast and had lost all my confidence and got to the point where i didn’t want to ride anymore let alone tent-peg, it was the final battle prom of the season where i found my self finding in a field away from everyone and everything crying on the phone to my friends because it all got to much. i felt like everyone i thought i could trust had thrown me out and they had become determined to pull me down and make me feel worthless. including my instructor that i looked up to for so long. so after the battle prom season i had decided that it was time to say goodbye to my old club and with it the battle proms and all all the club members even the ones i still liked. at this point i didn’t know where i was going next i would just have to wait and see 

Me and Angel at highclere battle proms 2014 

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My Journey- Morse Cottage 2014

we where in another break from the battle proms and angel had been with us for about a week. and a competition had been organised, it was great for me and angel as it helped me get use to pegging on her again. this comp was great because some of the old juniors from ditching came along to ride, it was back to being like 2013 and it was great. me and the devil pony also did SLR for the first time and even placed in that class! it was a weekend of bliss before the stress of the upcoming final 2 battle proms 

Me and Angel on the SLR course 

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My Journey- Owning Angel

The partnership between me and angel shocked lots of people, although it stared slow in the end we where a great pair. in the time she was with me she gone from short fat bad tempered pony who couldn’t really do anything and no one could trust her, to this fit speed machine who would tackle anything that was thrown at her, the most important thing was that we trusted each other to the point i could anything with her and she would let me. she helped get back the confidence i lost. she still had a temper problem but i wouldn’t have had her any other way. the18 months i owned her hold some of my best riding memories! 

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My Journey- Together Again

After the Weekend i had spent with people from the BTA i was in better spirits. although i was now even more outcasted for competing with the ‘darkside’ so t we reached the mid way point of the battle proms at Hatfield Battle Proms. i was very excited because i would be riding angel for the first time in nearly a year. well what can i say... it was like i never stopped riding her. despite one of her ‘Angel’ moments we got on like a house on fire. to the point that after the event her owner asked if i would like to have her at home and loan her as she couldn’t find anyone to ride her because she was so difficult and she scared people. after talking with the parents we agreed we would take her on. 3 days later she arrived and together we bloomed!

MySelf and Angel at Hatfield Battleproms 2014

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My Journey- Going To The Dark Side

we had just done the first 2 battle proms and i was feeling a little down, after feeling completely outcasted by a group of people who where basically like a second family and the great relationship i now had with my instructor was starting to wear thin. it was obvious to people around me outside the tent pegging community that i was not myself. however on the weekend between the next battle prom i was asked by a tent-pegger who rides for another club if i wanted to ride in a comp that was doubling up as a display. although i was nervous i agreed. it was like going back to square one, thanks to the way i had been treated i had lost so much confidence and now i was going to ride an unknown horse giving to be my an un known person riding with a club where i knew no one but who i had heard lots about but non of it was positive. and all the while having people i thought i could trust telling me i couldn’t do it.

but i did it! i went to the comp as an unknown person but felt welcomed with both arms, not only by the group of people who where to opposite of what i had heard about them. but also by the Dark Horse team. i had never ridden for a proper team before but got the pleasure of riding with a team in which i felt welcome and spent the whole weekend not feeling like i wasn’t good enough. it was a great pick me up from what i had just come from. and opened my eyes to what else was out there!

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My Journey- The Start Of The Battle Proms 2014

so before we knew it the battle proms had kicked off with new kick and in my case a new horse! me and Rosco got on okay nothing like the partnership me and Angel had tho, however as luck would have it Rosco couldn’t make it to one of the proms so the owner asked if i would mind riding Angel again... err of corse i don't mind i get to ride my little trouble maker again after nearly a year!! however even tho some things where going well. even with just the first two battle proms i was no longer feeling like i belonged with the display group, i felt i was being pushed out and that i had very much become an outcast and was no longer wanted there but as i am loyal i wanted to finish doing the battle proms as i had already committed.

before show run through 

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My Journey- The Calm Before The Storm

Because the Ditching common stud had closed the season had gone quiet and we ended up not doing any proper event until the battle proms. now i knew this year would be different main reason being i didn't have angel. Angel had be sold like all the ponies when the stud closed. so i would be riding a new horse called Rosco, Rosco belonged to the same lady that had brought Angel and she had very kindly offered to let me ride him at the battle proms this season. so until the season it was constant training and making sure we where set for the battle prom kick off 

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My Journey- Quob Open Day 2014

so after another winter of training April can around very quickly and with it came the start of a new season. the season started the same as last year with the Quob stables open day. it was pretty much the same as last year  i was lucky enough that i was reunited with Hugo who Remembered what he was doing even after a year. the major difference with this year was that we had said goodbye to the Napoleonic kit for a year and instead had replaced it with WW1 kit. the display was fun and it was a good opener to the season.

reunited with Hugo 

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My Journey- The End Of The 2013 Season

At the end of the season we had a final junior weekend training and comp i was ‘Lucky’ enough to be given Merc again as i had ridden him before and they knew i could handle him. it has to be said apart form some small issues we yet again got on really well and came away with a load of rosettes. it was a great weekend despite bad weather. however this weekend didn’t just mark the end of the season but also the end of the Ditching Common Stud which is where we had be coming to do battle prom training and competitions for the last 2 years. so the following year saw a lot less comps and most of the juniors also stopped once the stud closed. a very sad end to an amazing season! 

the juniors riding together for the last time 

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My Journey- Holland International 2013

so near the end of the season i was lucky enough to go with my club as part of the GB team to Holland. we brought our horses with us from the UK but i didn’t have Angel, after riding another pony Widget at a competition that was in between plumpton and Holland and coming home with 3 firsts a second and a third it was agreed that i would take her instead of Angel. the Competition was great fun even if it did mean i missed a few days of School! it was a great experience and it was also my first comp where i took part in the SLR course. competing international is always great fun and its a chance to meet new people from around the world. some people that i have met at internationals i still often talk to and every one is always very friendly and it was a great environment! the biggest issue for me was we flew over there... i HATE flying!!! but apart from that it was one of the highlights of the season!

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My Journey- Plumpton Racecourse 2013

so after the Medieval festival i thought i could hang up the medieval dress.. nope instead i find myself doing a display and the Plumpton Racecourse open day. now when i was first told this i was pretty chilled. and then about two weeks before we are dew to go i find out i can't take angel because of plumpton rules about the vaccinations and she was not up to date. so first i thought fine i just won't go but no instead they had organised that i would ride a horse called merc now normally new horse...whatever. but this particular horse was nuts so the reason this horse was free was because it throw its owner and the medieval festival and she and hurt herself so badly she could no longer ride.  so being told i had to ride this horse in front of a crowd doing a sport that last time it did it sent its owner to hospital i may of had a minor meltdown. but we did it and it actually went pretty well. we made a good team despite it all! apparently i have a knack with horses that have attitude problems!