Aldon

I had Caeleste and Bondi Beach in the BE 100 and Ceylor LAN and Mo Cuiske in the Novice. Bondi Beach did a lovely test to score 25.5, he was then a little feisty in the show jumping and had one down. He was finding it a little small and too easy! He then gave me a great ride cross country, we had a few time faults as I am just trying to teach him to settle and take his time as he is always a little too enthusiastic!!

Caeleste was super again, she did a good test, but was a little tense in all the wind. She scored a 28.5 and finished on that score after jumping a lovely double clear, to finish 3rd. She is feeling more grown up with every run and will be stepping up to Novice soon.

Mo Cuiske is improving all the time in the dressage and did a great test to score 30 and to lead his section. He was then very pleased to be jumping on grass again and was very over exuberant!! He unfortunately had two down, which is very unlike him. I am sure this was down to his exuberance and jumping too big. He then gave me a lovely ride cross country.

Ceylor LAN was the star of the day, this was his first run of the year. He did a fantastic test to score 26.5 and lead his section. He then jumped a great double clear in very testing conditions, we went steadily cross country as it was so wet and muddy. Even so this was all good enough for him to win his section, this was a lovely surprise as after our quiet cross country round I wasn't even expecting a lower placing!
                               
                                Ceylor LAN - Photo courtesy of Uptown Eventing

Exciting News

I am thrilled to have been asked to be part of GB's Nations Cup Squad with Zidante. There are nine of us on the squad and a team of four will be picked from the squad for each of the Nations Cup events.

I am delighted to have been picked to be part of the team heading out to France next week to compete at Fontainebleau with Zidante. We will be running as the fourth member of the team so our test is likley to be on Friday 22nd.

For more infomation on the Nations Cup Squad please follow this link:
http://www.britisheventing.com/news.asp?itemid=3774&itemTitle=2013+Eventing+Nations+Cup%3A+British+squad+announced&section=59&sectionTitle=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines

Tweseldown

At Tweseldown I had Caeleste and Togo De Kerser running in the BE100 and Persimmon and Zidante in the Open Intermediate.

Caeleste was a star, she was far more settled than at her first at Aston. She did a much better test, there was still a little tension and plenty to work on, but she did some lovely work and scored a 28.5. She then jumped a great clear show jumping and was fab cross country and was the only horse inside the time in her section. After leading the dressage and her two classy jumping rounds, she won her section convincingly.

                                                 Caeleste Photo courtesy of Dave Murray

Togo De Kerser also did a much improved test, he was more to the contact and connected. He scored 29, to sit just behind Caeleste. He jumped a lovely round in the show jumping and was unlucky to have one down. He was then great cross country and finished in 8th.

Zidante was her normal super self, she was very pleased to be out again. I was thrilled with her test which she did in pretty deep and testing ground, she coped very well with the conditions which surprised me as she used to hate the mud. She was relaxed, accurate and swinging, so I was rather disappointed with a score of 30. After a lot of rain in the morning the show jumping had got rather muddy and deep, but Zidante jumped her socks for a lovely clear, she then pinged round the cross country. She really enjoyed herself and it was great to be competing her again. We had a few time faults as we were going for a nice quite run, but this was still good enough for 3rd.

                       Zidante photo courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou Media and Photography

Persimmon did a great test to score 26.4 and led his section, he didn't seem to notice the mud and didn't let it affect his impressive paces. The ground in the show jumping had unfortunately deteriorated further since I had jumped Zidante. Persimmon jumped a great round and tried his heart out in the mud, he was extremely unlucky to have both parts of the double down, which was the last fence! He really didn't deserve to have them down, but I was thrilled with how he jumped. He then jumped a lovely, but steady clear round the cross country and finished in 8th place.

I was back to Tweseldown on Friday with two Novices, Mo Cuiske and Ceylor LAN. Unfortunately after furher heavy rain the ground had really cut up. Mo Cuiske did a good test, coping with the tricky conditions well to score 30. We went down the the show jumping warm up, but the ground had got extremely deep, especially on the take offs and landings, so Mo Cuiske's owner and I decided it wasn't worth risking him this early on in the season. I also decided it wasn't worth running Ceylor LAN as he is a lovely young horse. Due to the conditions I didn't return on the Saturday with my final two BE100 horses as they are young and didn't need tough runs at this point in the year. It was a real shame, but we all live to fight another day!

The Season Kicks Off at Aston Le Walls

At Aston I had four first time rides in the BE100, Bondi Beach, Caeleste, Burtonhill and Togo De Kerser. All four went extremely well, all jumping double clears.

Burtonhill was having his first and only run with me, as I was deputising for his owner/rider Tor Verdin, who had just had a baby. Burt did a lovely test to score 28 and gave me two lovely rides in the jumping phases. He was my first ride of the new season and I obviously hadn't blown my cobwebs away as we picked up 1.6 time faults (I thought I was going fast!!) this was all good enough however for 6th place. I wish Tor all the best with him and hope they have lots of fun together.

Togo De Kerser is a new ride for the season, he was previously ridden and produced by Sammi Mcleod. Togo got a little tense in his dressage and became a bit behind the bit which stopped him gaining the marks he is capable of. He scored a 37, he made up for it how ever with two foot perfect jumping rounds.

Caeleste is another new ride for the year. She is a lovely laid back mare at home and has been very relaxed at all the things I have taken her to over the winter, but she came out at Aston a little over excited!! The loudspeaker definitely got her pretty wound up, she did a nice test, but not the test I know she is capable of. She still managed to score 31.5 though. Although still a little up tight and unsettled she still produced a great double clear and finished 5th.

Bondi Beach was the star of the show, he is another new ride for 2013. He produced a lovely test to score 28 and then produced a lovely double clear to win his section. He felt very grown up in both jumping phases and gave me a great ride cross country.  Here is a photo of his fab cross country round:


                                         Photo courtesy of MDR Photography

I was back to Aston on the Monday with Andrassy Echo doing the unaffiliated Pre-Novice. This was around exactly the same tracks as Saturdays BE100. Kermit did a really nice test, but I gave him a little too much warm up and he was a bit flatter than he can be, but I was still really happy with him. He then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and was extremely good cross country, being very bold and grown up!! He finished in 7th place and is looking forwards to his first affiliated run.