Le Lion D'Angers Six Year Old World Championships

I took Ceylor LAN down to Le Lion to do the six year old World Championships. After the wash out of last years championships it was great to be back there with much kinder weather. 

Ceylor LAN and I had a fairly early draw which wasn't ideal but he did a lovely test and didn't get at all wound up or tense in such an impressive arena. He made one little error when he cantered out if a walk transition, but otherwise I was thrilled with his performance. He scored a 44.6 which I was fairly disappointed with as he has nearly always scored in the thirties, this left us in eighth place. Watch our test by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ9-2PxUMXQ

Ceylor LAN was fantastic on cross country day and found the course incredibly easy. He skipped round taking it all in his stride, making it all feel very easy. We finished comfortably inside the time and moved up to sixth place. I was over the moon with easy he found everything. 

Trot up on Sunday morning went smoothly and without a hitch. Ceylor LAN  then jumped fantastically round what was proving to be a very tough track with very few clears. Unfortunately although jumping clear we picked up two time faults, Ceylor LAN is still rather big and gangerly, I was slow between two fences when we were on the wrong leg and didn't manage to get the flying change in. This is was such a shame for the horse as without the two time he would have moved up to second, instead we still moved up to a very creditable fourth. I was over the moon with how he performed and am excited about next year with him. I was just very annoyed and frustrated with myself as I felt I had let him and his fantastic owners down. 

All the horses will now have a short holiday before starting work again at the start of December ready to hopefully come out firing on all cylinders in the spring. 

I just want to take this opportunity to thank all my fantastic owners, sponsor and team for all there support this year and for being particularly understanding when I broke my wrist. Thank you all so much. 

Boekelo CCIO*** and Nations Cup Final

I just had Persimmon competing at Boekelo. He was doing his first CCI*** and stepped up to this level effortlessly. 

When we arrived out there I was very honoured to be asked to be part of the Nations Cup team. It was the final of the series and team GBR were leading by one point so it was all very tight. Persimmon and I were third to go for the team so out test was on the Friday morning. 

It was rather showery on the Friday so we got a little soggy. Persimmon was feeling fantastic and produced a beautiful test, scoring 36.8 and a personal best for us both at this level. This left us in third place going into cross country and the team in second behind the Germans. 

We had a fair bit of rain before cross country day and the ground was quite taxing. The course wasn't huge, but very twisty and turny and fairly technical. Persimmon took the course all in his stride and found it all pretty easy. He got a little green with all the twists and turns so I had to spend a little time setting him up so he understood the questions and where he was going. Doing this we picked up a few time faults which dropped us down to sixth. This was a little annoying, but at only eight this was an outstanding performance. 

On the Sunday persimmon trotted up very well and felt good going into the show jumping. He jumped a really good round and didn't touch a thing until the second last, the final element of the treble. He just tapped it with one foot when I think he got a little stuck in the mud and he was a little tired. It was a real shame as he didn't deserve the fence down as he had tried his heart out and jumped very well. The show jumping caused a lot of trouble, even with the four faults we still moved up a place to fifth, we would have been second if we had gone clear. Watch our round by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nZmXwjuw_Ow

We finished best of the Brits, the highest placed eight year old and helped the Nations Cup team to finish second and clinch the series!! What a way for Persimmon to end his season, I couldn't be happier with him and am really looking forwards to seeing what next year holds for him. 

Osberton Young Horse Breeding Campionships

Up at Osberton I had three fantastic horses all competing in the age Championship classes. Mo Cuiske was doing the seven year old championships which was held round a CCI** track. 

Caeleste and Ceylor LAN were both doing the six year old championships which was held round a CIC*. 

Mo Cuiske was competing in his first CCI** and was outstanding. He was second to go in his test and went in atrocious conditions. To say it was wet was an understatement!! I'm not sure I have been that wet for a long time, the rain made my saddle extremely slippy and I did feel like I was sliding everywhere. None of this seemed to affect Mo Cuiske though and he produced a very solid test and scored a very competitive 47.6 which left us in equal third. I didn't ride him as forward as perhaps I should have done, but the ground was pretty greasy and I was probably a little more cautious than in normal conditions. I was thrilled with how he coped with the conditions and atmosphere though. Watch our test by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sutkGiEYBbQ&feature=g-soc

On cross country day the weather had thankfully improved a lot and the ground was perfect. Mo Cuiske skipped round the course like he had been doing two star level all his life and made nothing of it. We unfortunately got held two fences from home and I had to stop my watch. I knew we were well up in the clock and as we were on an equal dressage score with another competitor I knew I had to finish as close to the optimum time as possible. Because I had to stop my watch when I was held, I couldn't be as accurate as I would have liked when I was restarted and unfortunately I was too quick and further from the optimum then the person I was in equal third with. So although I had my best cross country ride this year on Mo Cuiske we dropped to fourth. This was a little disappointing as Mo Cuiske didn't deserve to drop a place after such a foot perfect round. 

On the Sunday Mo Cuiske trotted up really well and felt great in his Show Jumping. He jumped a brilliant clear and found it all pretty easy which was fantastic. His super clear moved us back up to third. This was a brilliant result for his first CCI** and I couldn't have been more thrilled with his performance over the whole week. I was just disappointed that I let him down by being a little quick cross country which prevented him from finishing second. Watch our show jumping by following this link: 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDnFZY6tbc

Caeleste was first to go in the six year old class and produced a lovely test to score 46.3 which left us just outside the top ten. I was very pleased with this as going first in a class of eighty plus is never the best draw to have. Watch our test by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgq4TapeO5w

Caeleste then jumped a wonderful clear in the show jumping. It was her best round to date and just skipped round for fun. Watch our round by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4GwaN_hoc18

Cross country was on Sunday morning and Caeleste was super once again, she jumped a lovely clear but picked up 3.6 time faults which dropped us to 11th place. She just felt a little tired after her run the week before at South of England and I think stabling up at Osberton for the week took quite a lot out of her mentally. I was extremely pleased with how she went though. This is her first season eventing and she has taken everything in her stride and progressed from BE100 to Intermediate effortlessly, quite an achievement for just six years old. 

Ceylor LAN was his usual super self and produced a lovely test, he made one small error where he miss understood an aid and popped in to canter early. But his work was of very good quality. He scored  38.5 which left us in equal first with Ian Wills. Watch our test by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ywPheSUTCCo

Ceylor LAN like Caeleste jumped a brilliant clear in the show jumping, Ian also jumped clear so the pressure was on going into the cross country. Watch our round here by following this link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgc7sPCGeA

Cross country was run in reverse order so Ceylor LAN and I were last to go. I knew we needed to finish as close to or if possible on the optimum time to give ourselves the best chance of winning. After going too quickly on Mo Cuiske I was damed if I was going to make the same mistake twice!! Ceylor LAN gave me a great ride and we managed to finish bang on the optimum time. This meant we had won the six year old title by the smallest of margin. In doing this Ceylor LAN has now one both the five and six year old titles, now just the seven year old one to go!! 

I couldn't be more delighted with all the horses over the week, all performed to the best of their ability and have finished their seasons on great notes.