Sunday 20 January 2013

Winter training

Impending competitions means that I needed to get out practicing.

One of the bad things about tentpegging, is that to practice at speed really requires a minimum of a 100m run, which is longer than even some of the more impressive indoor schools

However when it snows, another opportunity presents itself - "snow pegging"! Fortunately I had just taken the shoes off Peer, so I had the perfect if albeit rather unfit candidate for some fun in the snow.

Improvised dark pegs were required, as white pegs in snow would be too much of a challenge

Fortunately the snow was good and as Peer was unfit I was out for short periods, which meant I could still feel my hands!

However snow is on the whole a bit of a pain, as everything grinds to a halt in the UK with only a few inches.

Unfortunately this snow also cancelled the first training session of the 2013 season, but the next is due on the 17th February and should hopefully go ahead.







Of course if you are rather bored, you can also practice wearing your medieval costume in the snow and train your horse to rear on command.




Tuesday 1 January 2013

Season catch up

Well I'm afraid the blog has been neglected since Windsor

The 2012 season went well for tentpegging, as with the exception of Melton, nothing was cancelled and we only had one brief stint of towing lorries out of fields in Norfolk in July.

This year saw three new venues hold competitions, the first on the 12th August was Bicester and Finmere show. The tentpeggers got to rub shoulders with some of the best showjumpers including Stockdale, Funnells and Whitakers. The show ran well and we didn't seem to cause any problems with the serious showjumpers.

The second new show was home for me! Whilst its great not having to travel, I did find running the show including all the preparation a bit of a challenge. All went well, although the competitors did experience the first frost of the year and all woke with ice on their lorries!

The third new show was Larkhill, which was picturesque with the most amazing ground. We had plenty of space and the speed was upped in the competitions. This was a fantastic new addition and one that will hopefully continue in the future

As you can see the peggers were up to their usual larking around, but there was a tinge of sadness as this was the last event of the season and the last chance to party.

I will admit I may have overconsumed on the evening before the competition, however fortunately this seem to only affect sword pegging, and I managed to sober up to collect a nice haul of prizes, winning all team competitions with the dream team of  Sarah and Rachel.


This season I have started pegging my ginger polo pony, Minnie, who is coming along nicely and thinks that running 100m is right up her street being half a quarter horse. However perhaps the flying oranges weren't quite to her liking !