Aston Le Walls

I had Anxiom, Ceylor LAN, Mo Cuiske and Mad About U doing the BE100 and Bee Animas, Bonne Amie, Widebay Blush and Persimmon doing the Open Intermediate at Aston.

The babies were all super stars!! Ceylor LAN did a lovely test to score 28 then produced a fantastic double clear to win his section. He gave me a lovely ride cross country and was feeling very gown up. Watch his dressage by following this link:
http://youtu.be/awJVHF6XB74
And watch some of his cross country by following this link:
http://youtu.be/I_8uRZl9DfQ
http://youtu.be/kJyK-hW1kWo

                                                       Ceylor LAN 1st place

Anxiom also went very well, he did a lovely test and scored 27.5 then did a great clear in the show jumping and again around the cross country to finish on his dressage mark for 3rd place, his third top three placing in his only three eventing starts!

Watch some of his cross county by following this link:

http://youtu.be/ZZanrxivHug

                                                               Anxiom - 3rd

Mo Cuiske did a nice test but got a little excited by the cross country running near the arenas so showed a little tension at times and scored a 32. He then jumped a brilliant double clear to finish 7th.

Watch some of his cross country by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dCIKhmynNA

                                                                 Mo Cuiske - 7th

Mad About U did a lovely test but was first to go in the section and got a disappointing mark of 32. However he jumped a really good double clear to finish on his dressage for 5th place.

Watch some of his cross country by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOA9vqiabh0

Bee Animas was much improved from his first run of the year at Portman. He did a good test to score 33.6 then jumped a great double clear. I just took him slowly as he has been getting strong, but he was fantastic and gave me a lovely ride.

Bonne Amie was rather wild in her test as the cross country going on near by wound her up some what!! She scored a 39.6, she did make up for it by jumping a fantastic double clear. She was much improved from her last runs and felt much more on form.

Persimmon did a nice test but was up against the advanced horses for the first time in his career but still got a respectable score of 34.6. He show jumped well but was unlucky to have the first fence down. He was super cross country bar a very annoying 20 penalties at the second fence, he took a serious dislike to it. It was a naked lady, something you don't come across everyday!!

Widebay Blush did a good test but made some errors which was down to us getting to know one another. He show jumped well but had one down, again due to us not knowing each other very well. The cross country didn't go quite to plan, so we are going to be going back to the drawing board.

                   

                                                         



Jardy CIC***

With the disappointment of Badminton being cancelled and High Havoc missing out on showing the world how good he is we had a last minute change of plan for the week. We decided to head out to Jardy in France with Zidante to do her first CIC***

She was amazing yet again, she did a lovely test with just a couple of green mistakes to score 44.8 which was good enough for 7th place.

She flew round the cross country and made the step up to *** feel easy. I started out steadily to give her chance to settle and gain her confidence which gave us 3.6 time faults. Which left us in 7th place still.


Photo courtesy of Anne-Laure Richard - Photographe

Photo courtesy of Agence Pixizone

 

Zidante was then fantastic in the show jumping. The course caused a lot of trouble with very few clears within the time, but again Zidante was foot perfect and jumped an immaculate clear within the time to move up to a fantastic 4th place just behind three potential Australian Olympic team horses. With out our cross country time faults we would have won, but I couldn't be happier with how Zidante went and her 4th place. It wasn't quite Badminton, but it did go some way to making up missing the great event.

 

 Photo courtesy of Agence Pixizone

 

Photo courtesy of Anne-Laure Richard - Photographe

 

Photo courtesy of Anne-Laure Richard - Photographe

Hambelden

At Hambelden I just had Mad About U, Mo Cuiske and Ceylor LAN as the other horses unfortunately got balloted out.

Mad About U did a good test to score 30 and did a much better show jumping round than at Portman, he loved jumping in a posh main arena!! He was then a little cheeky cross country and had a very annoying 20  penalties which was a real shame.

Mo Cuiske got a little wound up before his dressage which was a shame, the tension showed in his test and he scored 38.5. He then jumped a nice round show jumping but had an unfortunate pole down, which he didn't deserve. He was then super cross country and gave me a great ride.

Ceylor LAN redeemed himself some what from Portman and was back on the straight and narrow!! he did a very grown up test to score 26.5 and then put in two lovely jumping performances to finish 2nd.

Weston Park

I just had Zidante up at Weston Park, she was doing her first Advanced and couldn't have gone better. She did a fantastic test to score 29.3 to lead the section, she even scored better than a lot of the Badminton entries, including Rayef.

 Photo courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

The show jumping was big and airy and caused a lot of trouble, Zidante was super though and jumped a fab clear. She was then foot perfect cross country and won her section!! I couldn't have asked for more from  her at her first advanced.

Portman

We had quite a lorry load at Portman with Argentinus, Alive and Bee Animas in the Novice and Mad About U, Ballinagore Black, Anxiom, Ceylor LAN and new ride Mo Cuiske all in the BE100.

Argentinus went really well and scored a 30 in the dressage and then produced a great double clear to finish 4th.

Alive scored a 27 and was much improved in her dressage. She to did a double clear and finished 3rd.

Bee Animas was a little tense in his test and scored 38.5, but he made up for it in the jumping phases and did a nice double clear.

Ceylor LAN was rather feisty after his win last time out. He was very cocky and full of himself all day!! He scored 36.5 in the dressage, then did a nice clear show jumping. He gave me a super ride cross country, but had a naughty run past the water to pick up 20 penalties.

Ballinagore Black was on fantastic form and did a lovely test to score 26.5 he then jumped a great double clear to finish 2nd. He finished on the same score as the winner, but we were further from the optimum time.

Anxiom was another superstar, he did a 26.5 and a great double clear to win his section, not bad for only his second ever event!!

Mad About U was another one feeling rather full of himself after his two good starts earlier this spring. He did a 32 dressage and then decided that the show jumping was far to small to bother with and had a very annoying two down. He mad up for it cross country though and gave me a great ride.

Mo Cuiske was doing his first ever BE event and went really well, he did a lovely test to score 27.5 then did a very mature double clear and finished 5th, which was a fabulous way to start his event career.

Burnham Market

I had Persimmon doing the CIC** and High Havoc doing the CIC*** at Burnham Market.

Persimmon was doing his first CIC** and did a fabulous test to lead the section on an impressive 39.6, he then produced a lovely clear in the show jumping to go into the cross country in the lead. It was a tough track and he was a little green at this level, he had a silly 20 penalties at a tricky corner combination early on the course, but he grew in confidence the further he went round and will have learnt a lot from his experience.


Persimmon - photo courtesy of Tim Wilkinson

High Havoc did an even better test than at Belton and scored 44.4, he then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and a fantastic confident clear cross country and was definitely none the worse for his little trip up the week before. We had a few time faults, but this was all good enough for 5th place. So a great final run before Badminton.


 High Havoc - photo courtesy of Tim Wilkinson

Belton CIC***

I just had High Havoc up at Belton doing the CIC*** He did a lovely settled test in a big atmospheric arena to score 46.5 and to be well placed after this phase. He then jumped a super clear in the show jumping which moved us up to fourth place going into the cross country.

High Havoc - courtesy of

Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

High Havoc - courtesy of

Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

Unfortunately the cross country didn't go quite according to plan, High Havoc was giving me a fantastic ride and flying round. Unfortunately he dropped his back legs into the ditch of the coffin, which meant we lost momentum going to the corner fence coming out of the coffin and had a very annoying and unfortunate fall. Both of us were fine which was the most important thing.

 

High Havoc before disaster struck!! All photos thanks to Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

 

Somerley

At Somerley I had Mad About U, Ceylor LAN and new ride Argentinus doing the BE100, Alive doing the Novice and Zidante doing the CIC**.

Mad About U did a lovely test to score 28, he is very grown up and mature in the arena for his age. He then jumped a smashing double clear and finished 4th. He would have won, but I picked up 4 time faults for going too fast, oops!! It was a lovely galloping track and I really didn't feel like we were going that quickly.

Argentinus did a nice test to score 32, he was a little jolly to be out at a party but managed to contain himself. He then had one down as he found it all a little small, but was great cross country. As he was running HC we didn't pick up a placing.

Ceylor LAN did a 27.5 in his dressage and lead his section, he didn't put a foot wrong and was really concentrating on me in the arena. He then jumped a lovely double clear, feeling very mature and confident. I learnt from my mistake with Mad About U and went a little slower cross country, so we finished inside the time and won the section well.

Alive was more settled in her dressage than at Gatcombe and scored a 32. She then put in a foot perfect display of jumping in both phase and finished 5th in her section.

Zidante was the superstar of the week, she lead the CIC** from start to finish. She did an immaculate test to score 36.7 her best score at this level to date. She then did a fantastic clear show jumping and cross country to finish on her dressage score to win the class!!

Gatcombe

At Gatcombe we had Alive doing the Novice, Persimmon doing the Intermediate and Bonne Amie doing the Open Intermediate.

Alive was a little fiesty in her test and had the wind up her tail, she did a slightly disappointing test compared to the one she did at Tweseldown and scored 34. She then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and was well in contention going into the cross country. She gave me a lovely ride but had an annoying 20 penalties coming out the water after she misread the question which was a real shame.
watch some of our cross country by following this link:
http://youtu.be/3lKYVOKDXSk

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  Alive - courtesy of

Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

Bonne Amie did another good test to score 30.5 and really is improving all the time. She jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and after a bit change from Lincoln she gave me a much improved ride across country, we did however pick up a silly 20 penalties after she listened to me and the bit too much, so we are going to have another rethink. Watch some of our cross country by following this link:

http://youtu.be/Y4bTo8UxPow

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                                                                          Bonne Amie

 

Persimmon was the star of the weekend and won his Intermediate section. He did a lovely test with a few baby mistakes to score 31.8. He then jumped an immaculate double clear and gave me a great ride in both phase to win at only his second time at this level. He has now upgraded to advanced which at only 7 is a fantastic achievement. Watch our dressage by following this link:

http://youtu.be/ckVtLVZ4k8g

Watch our cross country here:

http://youtu.be/9gx6YMko0Ks
http://youtu.be/JdTT4lSU8Xc

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    Persimmon - courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

Persimmon - courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

 

 

 

Lincoln Open Intermediate

Up at Lincoln we had Zidante, High Havoc and Bonne Amie competing in the Open Intermediate sections. Zidante did a nice test to score 31.4 but made a few silly mistakes, mainly not standing still in her halts! But she did have an excuse, we did our test in a heavy rain and hail storm!! She then jumped a super double clear in tacky ground conditions, because of this I didn't run too quickly which left us in 10th place. Watch some of our cross country by following these links:
http://youtu.be/RVbl-Z8lXYQ
http://youtu.be/oU0p5vsDzvM

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                         Zidante - photo courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography


                         Zidante - photo courtesy of Kev Blackband

High Havoc also went really well. He did a 31.8 test, he did some lovely work, but was a little cheeky in the medium canter, where he bucked and kicked out at my leg!! He to did a lovely double clear, but again I just went slowly so this left us out of the placings.

                                                                     High Havoc
                                                        
Bonne Amie did a much better and more settled test than at Tweseldown, her first outing and scored 33.6. She then did a great clear show jumping. Unfortunately we had brake failure on the cross country so I decided to pull her up and have a re think of her bitting.

                                                              Bonne Amie