One-day event on Stormboy

Press, 19 July 1988, Page 30

One-day event on Stormboy

By CHRISTINE AVIS,

aged 12, of Christchurch My mum wakes me early, I open my eyes, I give her a look of great surprise. Then I remember what’s on today, To the one day event we will soon make our way. I get up and get ready to venture outside, And catch my grey gelding whom today I will ride. Now we are in the truck ready to go, There is a hard frost which is cold on our toes. We sit and relax as we drive and we drive, Soon we turn in the gates as we have arrived. We jump out of the truck to unload my horse, Then quickly we head for the cross-country course. The cross-country took half an hour to walk, All jumps

are quite high, I hope Storm doesn’t balk. The time allowed is quite tight, I hope Stormy jumps with all his might. There are three phases, dressage is first, Out of them all this one's Stormy’s worst. He tosses his head and goes quite fast, We get very nearly last! The ..show-jumping is next to come, This should be really great fun. I went over some jumps and warmed him up well, Then I entered the. ring and heard the start bell. Stormy bounded towards number one, At this speed it will soon be done. He’s over it with lots to spare, And a lot of style and care. Over jumps two, three and four. He is saying I want

more. Next on the course is five and six, These jumps are i a wall and bricks. ; He clears jumps seven, eight and nine, I love you Stormy, you’ve jumped fine. Now he’s finished the showjumping round, Jumped real •, well in nine clear bounds. Now it’s time for the lunch break, I eat a ham roll and some cake. Then once again I mount my horse, And head for the cross-country course. i Soon in the starting box I i. stand, My horse stands tall, he feels so grand. Now the ; starter man says go, Off I canter, not too fast or too slow. Soon I’d jumped the first quarter, One of these jumps l was the horrible water, t Jumps six to ten now flew by.

Number nine was very high. I jumped some gorse, tyres and rails, Then more water and some hay bales. Now I jumped a huge dirt bank. Storm jumped up and early sank.

Now I was up to seventeen, Stormy was feeling very keen. This jump was a picket fence, We’re nearly finished, I’m not so tense.

The remaining jumps flew by fast, The event was finished, at long last. All three phases were now done, We had had a lot of fun!

I found out that I’d gotten placed, I prepared for the prizegiving with much haste. To darling Stormy I owe it all, We had really, truly had a ball!