Mount Ballan

I had two BE100 first timers at Mount Ballan, Killossery Karisma and Fivale Indian Art. Mount Ballan is run by my wonderfully loyal owner Diana Bown, it is a great event with lovely courses and a very friendly laid back feel to it. 

Killossery Karisma did a very nice test, keeping a lovely rythem and showing some very pleasing work and scored 28. 

He then jumped a super clear in both the show jumping and around the cross country. He didn't notice the step up to BE100 and seemed to really enjoy himself. He finished in 9th place. 

After being a little green in his first test at Moreton Morrell Fivale Indian Art did a fantastically grown up test. He did some brilliant work and felt like he had come on hugely. He scored a super 26.5. 

He then pinged round the show jumping producing a lovely clear and then flew round the cross country. He found it all very easy and didn't bat an eyelid at anything. He finished in 6th place. 

Aston Le Walls

 I had Persimmon and Ceylor LAN doing the Open Intermediate and Creevagh Cooley in the Novice. 

Persimmon was having his last run before heading to Tattersalls CCI***, he did a lovely forward expressive test and scored 28.6. I was a little disspointed with his mark but thrilled with how he went. 

Watch our test here:

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

He then jumped a brilliant clear in the show jumping. 

Watch our round here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1BqWOAVwYDA

Persimmon then gave me a super ride cross country, he kept a lovely rythem and met everything beautifully out of his stride. I wasn't pushing him for the time, but as I was having to do so little on bored he finished bang on the optimum time to finish in 2nd place. He felt brilliant and I couldn't be happier with his final prep run. 

Ceylor LAN has been producing super tests all season and he again did a fantastic test. He stayed really uphill and felt far more mature than his 7 years. He scored a leading mark of 21.4. 

He then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping, followed by a brilliant clear cross country. He made it all feel very straightforward and just picked up 2.4 time faults. This was all good enough for him to retain his dressage led and win his section ahead of some very good older horses. He is now going to have a short break before aiming for some of the summer CIC**'s. 

Creevagh Cooley was her consistent self again at Aston. She did a much improved test compared to Rockingham where she got a little muddled in her halts. She scored a competitive 30.5. 

She then jumped a super clear in the show jumping, she is so consistent in this phase having jumped clear everytime out since she started her event career. I am getting some what spoilt on her!!

She then flew round the cross country taking it all in her stride and finding it very easy. She finished comfortably inside the time and finished in 3rd place. 

Rockingham

I had Creevagh Cooley doing her first CIC* and Ceylor LAN doing the CIC**.

After only starting her event career this spring, Creevagh Cooley was a little green to be doing a CIC* already, her greenness showed in the dressage which is the phase she is least familiar with. She did some really pleasing work, but also made some rather large errors particularly in her halts, where she wanted to show off her newly learnt rein back skills a little too eagerly!! She scored a 59.4 which left us in 22nd place. 

Watch her test by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9QjegCtJ1k

The show jumping was causing its fair share of trouble with a lot of horses having rails and time faults. Creevagh Cooley was a star though and jumped a beautiful clear inside the time. 

Watch our round here by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SymstxFQ_IU

She then stormed round the cross country giving me an excellent ride and finished comfortably inside the time. Her two faultless jumping performances rocketed her up the leader board and she finished in a fantastic 7th place. I was thrilled with her and can't believe how far she has come in such a short space of time.

Creevagh Cooley - Photo Courtesy of Kev Blackband

Ceylor LAN was also a star doing his first full CIC** after I withdrew him from the cross country at Burnham Market. He did a super test and had improved from Burnham Market. He really enjoyed showing off in a big arena and scored a 42.2, this left us in 4th place out of some 90 odd starters.

Like the CIC*, the CIC** was causing a lot of trouble and when we went in there hadn't been a signal clear. Ceylor LAN made the track feel like a pony club course and jumped a beautiful clear, finding it all very easy. 

Watch our round by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIvP4jKorqw

He then jumped beautifully round the cross county making it feel very straight forward. I didn't chase him for the time and we picked up a few time faults which left us in 8th place.

I was thrilled with both the horses completing their first runs at this level and also picking up their Le Lion D'Angers qualification along the way. 

Moreton Morrell

I had two first timers in the BE90 at Moreton Morrell, Killossery Karisma and a super pony who is a brilliant FEI prospect called Fivale Indian Art.

Killossery Karisma did a beautiful test for his first time in white boards and scored a very competitive 26.5.

He jumped a lovely round in the show jumping and was very unlucky to have the first fence down when he was just a little gobsmacked by everything and not quite looking at the fence.

He then jumped a lovely confident clear round the cross country and is moving up to do a BE100 in his next run.

Fivale Indian Art was not only doing his first event, but also his first ever competition!! He did a very solid test showing lots of promise, he just lost a little concentration at times when horses jumping round the cross country went through the water as it was very close to his arena. He scored 34.5.

He jumped a beautiful round in the show jumping and was extremely unlucky to have one down, when we got a little unbalanced and disunited round a corner. 

Fivale Indian Art - showing his super technique and why he was so unlucky to have one down!

He then gave me a lovely mature ride round the cross country and made it all feel very easy. His next run is also a BE100. Both finished just out the placings, but I was delighted with their first runs. 

Bicton

Firstly before writing about how all my horses went I have to say a huge thank you to Helen West and her super team for running an extra day to accommodate a lot of us from the abandoned Withington. Helen and her team did an amazing job running extra Novice, Open Novice, Intermediate and Open Intermediate sections on the Sunday. How they organised all this in just over 24 hours is an outstanding effort.

I had Ceylor LAN who had rerouted from Burnham Market in the Open Intermediate which ran on the Friday. He did a super test in Bictons purpose built super flat arenas and scored a leading mark of 22.3.

He jumped another lovely clear in the show jumping and gave the fences plenty of air!!  

Ceylor LAN - Giving a show jump plenty of air. 

He then jumped a fabulous clear round a bold educational cross country track. As he is still so big and rangy I didn't put my foot down and picked up a few time faults to finish in a brilliant 2nd place. 

I then returned on the Sunday for Bictons extra day with my Withington entries, Persimmon in the Open Intermediate and Creevagh Cooley in the Novice. 

Persimmon did a lovely test and found it all very easy. He scored 26.4 which left us in second place. 

He jumped a very exuberant but lovely clear in the show jumping and then flew round the cross country. Bicton had a lot of rain on the Saturday so the ground was a little wet in places, because of this I didn't push him for the time and we finished in 2nd, I think I had seconditis in the Open Intermediate classes!! 

Creevagh Cooley was a star and broke my run of seconds by winning her Novice section!!

She did a lovely test and is getting more consitant all the time. She had improved a lot since Burnham Market and didn't throw any changes in, to score 32. 

She then jumped a super clear in both the show jumping and round the cross country. She found both jumping phases relatively easy which was super as she heading to her first CIC* next. 

Burnham Market

I had Creevagh Cooley competing in the Novice, Ceylor LAN in the CIC** and Persimmon in the CIC***.

Creevagh Cooley did some lovely work in her test, but got into a bit of a muddle with her counter canter and put in some very nice but unrequired flying changes which was a shame. She scored 37.5.

She then jumped a great clear in the show jumping, in a very atmospheric ring with flags all around it.

Watch our round here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zjCBfvZ10

After being a little green in her first Novice I was I little worried about Burnham Markets track as it was a lot tougher than Portman. It was big and bold and posed plenty of questions, I needn't have worried though as she flew round, finding it all very easy and finished in a fantastic 2nd place!

Ceylor LAN was doing his first CIC** test, he struggled a little with the hill in the arena and the firm ground. But all in all I was very pleased with his work and the promise he showed. He did some lovely work, but lost his balance at times. There is still plenty to work on with him, so I was really pleased to score 44.5, which left us in 2nd place.  

Watch our test here:

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

He then jumped a beautiful clear in the show jumping, he kept a lovely rythem and felt very classy. 

Watch our round here:

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

As the ground was disappointingly firm I decided not to run him cross country as I didn't feel it was worth risking him so early in the season.

Persimmon did a lovely test in the CIC***, he also found the hill in the arena a little tricky so showed some loss of balance in his medium trot down the hill and wasn't as expressive in his changes as he can be. Even so his work was of a really high quality and he scored 39.2 which left us in 5th place. 

Watch our test here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQM8u2YRa9Q

He also jumped a fabulous clear in the show jumping making it all feel very easy. 

Watch our round here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNFcXfUonMc

Like with Ceylor LAN I decided to withdraw before the cross country as although we could really have done with a good CIC*** run before Tattersalls I didn't want to risk him in the very firm ground. It was a real shame not to have run either cross country as the tracks were very educational but I felt it best to save them for another day. 

Ascott Under Wychwood

After the cancellation of Sapey Novice I was extremely lucky to get a late entry with Creevagh Cooley in the BE100 at Ascott Under Wychwood.

After being a little green in her first Novice at Portman, stepping back to BE100 was ideal for her. She did a good consitant test, she is improving all the time on the flat, but this is the area that needs the most work as it's what she has done the least of. She scored a competitive 32.5.
Watch our test here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e4TFUX0JJ5Y

She then jumped a lovely clear show jumping and found it all rather small! 

Watch our round here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CpgQfohTGn0

She was then great cross country, feeling very grown up and like she had come on a lot after her green run at Portman. She finished on her dressage score to win her section!

Watch her cross country here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZYBp2uVWzE