Alice and Robbie's First time at the Trec!

And off we go! Wish us luck!

We're back!

Nice and steady does it...

'Please don't spook Robbie!'

'No cheating Peter!'

'DON'T SPILL ANY!!'

The winning pair. 'Team Moore'

RESULTS:
1st - Dawn Moore with Empress and lottie  
2nd - Alice Lockett (Junior Whip) with Robbie
3rd - Freda Martin with smartie
4th - Sue Sheldrick with Rocky

We finished the day off with a lovely lunch provided by Jane and Linda. 
All in all a very enjoyable day, just a shame more people didin't come to take part. We hope to see more of you next time.     

I arrived at the yard in good time to prepare for the day ahead. I kept telling myself ‘we are going to win!’ really thinking ‘just try and get around the drive!’ anyway it was nearly our turn to set off on the 7 mile drive ahead of us, Robbie had stood nicely while i was tacking up and putting too so we were off to a good start! We placed ourselves at the gate, set our stopwatch and 3,2,1 we were off, no going back now!     
We were soon on the tracks and with Peter (my groom, who put up with a lot) shouting ‘KEEP LEFT, NOW RIGHT, GET RIGHT!’ We negotiated the very bumpy tracks. There were quite a few dog walkers out on this sunny day that we went racing by saying, ‘sorry, but we need to win!’ I think i may have got a little bit competitive! Then we arrived at the road, time to get a bit of pace up here, i thought to myself as Robbie trotted along nicely. We were soon back on the tracks. I checked my stopwatch, 40minutes to go and 4.6miles completed, now time to slow down and have a walk we decided as we didn’t want to arrive home ahead of time. With Peter looking at the directions and me wondering where the walk section was, we nearly missed it! Luckily we were already in walk and completed this section with ease as Robbie’s favourite pace is walk! We got our card signed and i checked my stopwatch, 10minutes to get back to the village, with me panicking that we wouldn’t get back in time; we made a quick getaway from the walk section. But Peter convinced me that we didn’t need to trot and would make it in time so we walked. I kept checking my stopwatch as we became closer to home, 1minute to go, we need to trot i exclaimed. We arrived back 5 seconds over the 1 hour 5 minute time limit. I was so happy with how Robbie went and how he behaved!
Next was the skills test! We stood nervously waiting our turn and watching how the other turnouts negotiated the skills. Soon it was our turn. First we attempted the ‘Complete a circle while the groom is holding a rope’. Which we did well at, well i mean my groom didn’t fall off!  Next were the cones which we found all too easy, probably because we walked them, but that’s better than knocking all the balls off! Isn’t it? Then we went to do the ‘tea party’. In other words pour water into a cup and drive to the next table and put cup down. Sounds easy? Well not when the cup has to be full and they put the table in the bumpiest place in the field! But we managed it! Then we went on and did the ‘marker’. Which we only knocked over one, but the ‘judge’ i.e Dennis says three, so three it was! Next we went on to trot a 20meter circle, stand with the axle in line with a pair of cones, 4 steps back, 4 steps forward and stand. The first time i only walked it, so i came round and did it again this time with Peter shouting ‘STOP, ALICE STOP, STOP, NOW!’ I should have explained that we stood after the circle! But i am proud to say that we got the highest mark than everyone else in that!  Next we negotiated the hazards which Robbie did not care about and walked through as if to say ‘am i meant to be scared?’ Last we attempted the ‘Drive with one wheel on the plank’ which we DID NOT find easy! In fact it was beyond hard! After a couple of attempts, i mean, after several attempts we did it, well sort of!
I knew that i hadn’t won, but when i found out that i had come 2nd i was over the moon! I was happy that i had done it and that Robbie had behaved himself, i suppose i better start practicing ready for next year and hopefully beat Dawn!
And Thank you to Peter for grooming for me and putting up with me!