Aston Le Walls Advanced

I only had Ceylor LAN running in the Advanced at Aston. Having produced him from a 4 year old it was really exciting to have him contesting in his 1st Advanced and even more special as he is only 7 years old!!

Photo courtesy of Fiona Scott-Maxwell

He was a star from the start, although green for this level of dressage he did some very smart work. He has never done canter half passes or flying changes in a test before so I was thrilled with how he coped with it. He got a little muddled in his first change, it was initially clean, then he had a little buck and got his legs tangled up. His second change however was much better being big and clean. He was lying in 8th place after his dressage which I was over the moon with particularly as it had not only this years Badminton winner in it, but last years as well!!

Watch our test here:

He jumped a superb clear in the show jumping and made it feel very easy. I was a little annoyed with myself though as I managed to pick up two time faults, which he really didn't deserve.

After a lot of hard work on Nigel Taylor and his teams part and a few thunder storms the going was very good on the cross country. Ceylor LAN skipped round clear taking all the direct routes and feeling very confident and grown up. He is so scopey and made it feel easy which is a bit scary given his age! I didn't push him for the time as I wanted him to have a nice experience. Our 14 time faults nudged us just outside the top ten and into 11th place. I was over the moon with his performance and am very excited for what the future holds.

Watch our cross country here:

Dauntsey

At my most local event I just had two rides, Creevagh Cooley in the Open Novice and Vendredi Biats in the BE100. 

Creevagh Cooley did a lovely test and scored a 31.5 which put her in third place, I was thrilled with her as she was up against far older and more experienced horses. 

She then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and found it all very easy. 

Although Beanie Sturgis had put in a huge amount of effort with the ground, even watering it, it still was quite firm. As Creevagh Cooley has bigger aims this summer I just took her steadily cross country. Even with her 13.2 time faults she still finished 8th. 

Vendredi Biats showed some lovely work in his test, but was a little cheeky at times. He scored a super 27, even with a few rather large bucks in it!! 

He then jumped a super clear in the show jumping and popped round the cross country extremely confiedently, again as it was firm I didn't go very quickly, even so I was a little surprised to have picked up 11.6, due to this he finished just outside the top 10 in 11th. 

Vendredi Biats jumping exuberantly cross country. 

Barbury International

I had Ceylor LAN and Persimmon in the CIC**, Creevagh Cooley in the Novice and Vendredi Biats in the BYEH class.

Ceylor LAN was in the top arena by all the trade stands, it was very windy when he did his test (even a board blew down in his test!) and he found the atmosphere a little more exciting than he normally does. He got a little tense at times, when he does he tends to go a little behind the bit and then drops the contact. He did this a little in his test which was a shame as when he was to the contact and relaxed in his mouth his work was super. Even with a bit of tension creeping in his work was of such a high standard that he still scored a 43 which put him in 8th place going into the show jumping. Although Barbury had a great grass covering and a little rain, I decided not to run him cross country as he had had a couple of runs on the firmer ground at Nunney and Salpeton and his next run is at Aston where he is doing his first advanced. 

Watch our test here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgDgXTbZCD8&index=4&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw

Persimmon did a super test and showed some lovely work, he was a little unsteady in the contact in his walk, but other than that I was thrilled with his work. I was a little disspointed however with his mark. He scored a 43.7 which put us just outside the top ten. 

Watch our test here:
http://youtu.be/0XK6p4p7b5I

He then show jumped on the Saturday, he jumped really well, but was very unlucky to have the first and last part of the treble down. I'm not sure if something caught his attention, but it is very unlike him to have two down. 

Watch our round here:
http://youtu.be/PyQG7GUdZoY

He then jumped a lovely confident clear round the cross country. We went very steadily as the ground was firm enough and he was only running to regain his three star qualification that he had lost. So although it wasn't a winning run it was a very pleasing outting with the main objective achieved. 

Watch our round here:
http://youtu.be/hD2Oiux3GmE

Creevagh Cooley did a lovely test, she struggled a little with the undulating ground in the warm up, but did some super work in the arena. 

Watch her test here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIwKyD47GGA&index=5&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw

She show jumped really well and was incredibly unlucky to have the very last fence down. She jumped into the treble quite big and ran out of room by the last part. It was a real shame as she hadn't had a single fence down all year. We decided against running her cross country as the ground was firm and she had nothing to prove.

Watch out round here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2lf0XGWJ6g&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw&index=4

Vendredi Biats did some lovely work in the BYEH class, he scored well in the dressage and having jumped well it was a really shame when he looked into the distance when jumping the planks. He then had it down behind due to his lack of concentrating. He didn't score brilliantly in his jumping so didn't make it through to the gallop, which was a shame, but he showed some high quality work and I was really pleased with his over all performance. 

Watch his performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2lf0XGWJ6g&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw&index=4

Chepstow

I only had my 5 year old Vendredi Biats at Chepstow, he was doing the BE100. He did a very pleasing test, he was very soft and his transitions had improved again from Nunney. He got his first 9 and scored a very competitive 28. 

He then had a very unfortunate one down in the show jumping. He lost a little balance down hill and had it down behind. He made up for it though with a lovely clear round the cross country. He picked up 0.4 of a time fault and finished in 3rd place. So far from three runs he has had three top 3 placings, not bad for a baby!! 

Salperton

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

Ceylor LAN was a star once again. He did a superb test and really enjoyed being in a big arena again. He did some lovely established work and was rewarded with a great mark of 22.7. 

He then jumped a wonderful clear round the show jumping track which was causing a fair amount of trouble. He made it feel easy and was so confident in himself. 

He then flew round a beautifully presented course that had plenty of educational combinations. He would have learnt a lot from the course and although some of the fences would have been new to him he made it feel all very easy. He picked up a few time faults as I wasn't chasing for the time, but this was still good enough for him to win the section very comfortably. 

Ceylor LAN pinging a cross country fence courtesy of Fiona Scott Maxwell

Persimmon was having his first run since Bramham, he was feeling rather jolly in the dressage and made some silly mistakes. He thought it was very boring doing a test with no changes so popped some in to spice the test up!! He scored a 36.7. 

He then jumped the most beautiful clear in the show jumping. It was his best round of the season so far, he was so balanced and gave them all feet to spare. 

He jumped brilliantly cross country and popped through the water with out a care in the world, this was a huge relief after our two unfortunate tip ups at our three days in the waters. He felt very confident which was great. We had an annoying glance off at the double of corners, we had a misunderstanding but he jumped straight through on the second attempt once he understood where he was going. 

Creevagh Cooley did a very pleasing test and showed more improvement again. Unfortunately the judge didn't agree and we scored a very disappointing 43. I was a little shocked when I heard our score in the show jumping but after looking at the score board and noticed that not one of us in the first ten tests got a sub 40, I wasn't quite so depressed!! 

She then pinged round the show jumping and jumped another clear, so far she has had 9 clears from 9 starts!!

She then whizzed round the cross country and again made it feel easy. She was completely straight at all the corners and arrow heads and now feels like she is nearly ready to step up to Intermediate. Even with her awful dressage mark and a few time faults she still finished 7th. 

Watch her cross country round here:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhp3FnHFYzU&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw

Nunney International

I had three rides over three days at Nunney, so it wasn't overly taxing! I had Vendredi Biats doing the BE100 5 year old qualifier class, Creevagh Cooley doing the Novice and Ceylor LAN doing the CIC**.

Vendredi Biats was a star, he is still new to me so we are still developing a partnership. He did a lovely test, showing huge improvements already on our first test together. His transitions were far better, as was his suppleness. He scored a super competitive 26. 

He then jumped a beautiful clear in both the show jumping and around the cross country. He finished on his dressage score and won his section, in winning he has qualified for the KBIS young horse championships at Osberton in October. 

Vendredi Biats - photo courtesy of Tanzy Lee

On Saturday I was back with Creevagh Cooley, she did a very pleasing test and scored a 30.5. 

She to jumped really well round the show jumping and cross country. We picked up a few time faults as it was pretty firm and didn't want to go too quickly, even with her time faults she finished 3rd. 

Creevagh Cooley - photo courtesy of Tanzy Lee

Whilst driving home from Nunney I heard the most tragic news. Jordan Macdonald who was competing in the Novice had been fatally injured after a fall. Although I didn't know Jordan personally, it still makes you feel sick to the pit of your stomach. The eventing community is very close and it hits us all hard. After hearing this terrible news, we heard of the devasting news from Germany. Benjamin Winter had also passed away from fatal injuries after a fall in the CCI**** at Lumuhlen. Words can not describe what those close to Benjamin and Jordan must be going through. I just wish the most sincere condolences to thier family and friends. 

After hearing all the awful news I was not expecting Nunney to run thier final day, they did however go ahead so headed back there on Sunday with Ceylor LAN. 

He did a wonderful test, making just one silly error when we struck off on the wrong leg. He still scored a 41.1 which left us in 2nd. 

He then pinged round the show jumping making it feel really easy. I was a little worried that he would find the ground a bit firm on the cross country, but he cruised round. The track had plenty of questions and he answered them all really confidently. We picked up a few time faults but this was still good enough for him to win. I was delighted with his performance in all three phases. 

Ceylor LAN - photo courtesy of Tanzy Lee

Watch our round here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lne89Cz0buU&list=UUu2ICZ05tRjEVzc9MTtSssw

Bramham CCI***

After a few days at home and a cross country school Persimmon and I headed up to Bramham.

A stunning photo taken by Libby Law

We were last to go so had plenty of time to settle into our new surroundings. Persimmon yet again did a super test, he showed some lovely work. He unfortunately made two rather large errors when he misunderstood my aids. He was being a little too egar to please and cantered out of his first halt and broke in his first medium trot. His work after that however was fantastic, he scored a 42.7 which left us in 6th place going into the cross country. 

The cross country was another big, bold and technical Ian Stark track. I felt it had a little more to do the Tattersalls and it was a great track. 

Again like at Tattersalls Persimmon was giving me a lovely ride, he was jumping well and was making the straight routes feel easy. Unfortunately it all went wrong at the first water again. He jumped in really well and a little more controlled than Tattersalls, you then dog legged to and upright set of rails which took you back into the next dew pond, for some unknown reason Persimmon left a leg quite badly and this unfortunately brought us both down. 

I have re watched the video of it a number of times and I just think it was one of those things and incredibly bad luck. However we were both back up on our feet within seconds of falling and both absolutely fine, just very muddy. 

So again it wasn't the finish I or Persimmons owners had been hoping for but we live to fight another day. We are going to re group and make a new plan ready for the autumn. 

Tattersalls CCI***

I only had Persimmon out in Tattersalls and unfortunately it wasn't the week I had hoped for.

Persimmon did a beautiful test staying relaxed, swinging and through. He scored a super 40.4 and led the class going into the cross country. 

Watch our test here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yYtyyG1D-QY

The cross country was big and beefy in true Ian Stark style. There was plenty to jump, but it was an inviting track. Persimmon jumped the first part of the track brilliantly and was finding it all easy. Unfortunately we were to come unstuck at the first water. He jumped in extremely well and prehaps a little too boldly, he then kept a good line to the first corner in the water but for some reason dived at it running through my hand and into an impossible spot to jump from. He hit it in front and skrewed badly, he did a great job to stay on his feet but he unfortunately deposited me! So it was a rather damp and depressing end to what had started as a brilliant week. 

Luckily, both Persimmon and I were both absolutely fine after our parting of company and as it was early on in the course we decided to re route to Bramham. 

I was delighted however for my great friend Izzy Taylor who I had given a lift to Tattersalls. She put up an outstanding performance and won the class.