League Weekend 3 - Bishop Burton

Thrills, spills and dry heaving….

The weekend of 28-29 May 2016 saw the Nottingham Knights up at Bishop Burton College, near Hull for the third league weekend of the season.

There were last minute changes to horses and we somehow arrived on the Friday with the correct number of horses and players but missing a shoe!

Before vetting on Saturday morning the hunt for a farrier began to get the offending shoe put back on the offensive horse, with team members apologising profusely whilst Tiger screamed and danced the shoe was back on, the horse looked better but it was touch and go as to whether he would pass the vetting.

This was not our only problem. One particular team member had possibly enjoyed the party atmosphere on Friday night a little too much and their participation in the first match was looking doubtful……that’s the joy of a team though, one of the other members who had come without a horse got the call up and what a job Hannah did with literally taking over the reins at the last minute.

The Knights put on a great performance against Harley’s Blues who are one of the toughest teams in the Second Division and although we did not win, the other team’s goal total was much less than in previous matches!

The second match was against Harley’s Greys and with certain disgraced team members back on horseback the match started. The Knights were snatching balls from the opposite team in the line outs, winning tackles, attacking faster and scoring a couple of decent goals. Some of the team were able to unleash their newly found picking up skills which took a few people by surprise. The Grey’s just sneaked the win but it was plain for all to see that this new team were on the upward curve.

Sunday’s vetting will go down in horseball history. Again there was a bit of worry if Tiger would trot up sound in his new shoe. As Jess ran besides him there was a clash of legs, a stumble and then an almighty faceplant. The horse trotted away with a backward glance as sound as a pound leaving his handler laughing uncontrollably in the sand with the Vet looking on in disbelief. The Knights always leave an impression!

The next game was against London, who went on to win the game and the weekend overall. Again the Knights came out fighting, once again scoring some great goals, defending ferociously and giving the much more experienced London players a bit of a fright!

So what have we gained from League Weekend 3? We have learnt that some of the team need to act their age as dry heaving over a drain in the stable block is not a good example to younger players!! Other players need to believe in their ability as they’re far better than they think they are and we learnt that Jess should maybe try out for the 2016 Rio Olympics on the diving team!

We’ve got a break now until the end of July so some serious training is being undertaken in the hope that we can start to pile the pressure on the other teams.