Wellington

I had six rides at Wellington, Acis and Cooley Delta in the BE100, Vendredi Biats in the BE100+, Creevagh Cooley in the Intermediate, Mo Cuiske in the Open Intermediate and Persimmon in the Advanced.

Acis was a star and is improving hugely all the time, he did his best test to date and although still struggling a little with his size in a small arena he did a lovely test and scored 28. 

Watch our test here:

He then jumped a lovely confident clear round the spookiest track he has seen. 

Watch our round here:

He then gave me a very grown up ride round the cross country and found it all pretty easy. He finished on his dressage score to come 2nd.
 

Cooley Delta who is still rather green did her best test to date and scored a 32. She is still very weak so I have high hopes for her when she strengthens up. 

Watch our test here:

She show jumped very well, but was extremely unlucky to have the first fence down. The filler was low down and she just dropped her head to look at it and just caught the top rail in the process which was a real shame. 

Watch our round here:

After being extremely green in her first run at Smiths Lawn and a little green still at West Wilts I was delighted with how she had improved. She jumped very confidently the whole way round, including the direct route into the water which was causing trouble. She finished inside the time and in 9th place.

Vendredi Biats coped very well with his first Novice test. As he is only 5 and still a little unbalanced on grass I couldn't show his medium trot and canter off as well as I would have liked, in a small arena and with a baby by the time you get into medium it's time to come back!

Watch our test here:

He then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and seemed to jump even better round the bigger track. 

Watch our round here:

He then flew round the cross country and found it very easy. He finished on his dressage score for 2nd place in his first BE100+.

Creevagh Cooley was super in her second intermediate. She still struggles a little in a small arena, but did as good a test as she can at that level and for her age. She scored 32.3, which left her up amongst the top few.



She then jumped a lovely round in the show jumping and was very unlucky to have one fence down when she caught it behind, I think she got a little distracted by all the trade stands.



She then flew round a tough intermediate track and gave me a brilliant ride, I just can't believe she is only six as she didn't feel green in the slightest! We picked up a few time faults, but this was still all good enough for her to finish in 4th place.

Creevagh Cooley loving the cross country.

Mo Cuiske was a little on the feisty side after two quick runs at Aston and Somerford. He did a nice test but wasn't as rideable as he can be and scored 33.2.

He then jumped really well in the show jumping and seemed to be really enjoying the mud, he was extremely unlucky to have one down.

After feeling a little on the fresh side and not in the most competitive of positions I decided to give him a quiet run round the cross country. He jumped round really well and finished nice and relaxed.
 

Persimmon was the star of the weekend. He did a lovely test in the 8 and 9 year old advanced section, he made one error in his walk to trot transition when he misunderstood me and went into canter so that lost us a couple of marks. Due to the high quality of the rest of his work he scored one of the best marks of the section a 29.1.

By the time we went to show jump the rain had made the ground rather soggy and the track was causing a lot of trouble. Persimmon jumped his socks of though and felt fantastic. He jumped a brilliant clear and didn't seem to notice the mud at all.

Like the show jumping the ground on the cross country was pretty wet, but Persimmon seemed to relish it. He gave me the most fantastic ride cross country and was near on foot perfect everywhere. After our blips in his spring three stars I was over the moon to have him back on track and jumping so confidently and enjoying it so much. His performance was so good he won the competitive section by over nine marks! The old Persimmon is back!!

  Persimmon flying into the water confidently. 

Somerford Park

I had Persimmon and Mo Cuiske in the Open Intermediate, Creevagh Cooley in the CIC* and Ceylor LAN in the CIC**.

Mo Cuiske was much more settled in the dressage after his first run back at Aston last week. He did some super work and scored a 27.3.
Watch our test here:

He then jumped a brilliant clear in the show jumping. He flew round the cross country and made it all feel very easy. He picked up a few time faults as he is still not quite fully fit. His 3.6 time cost us a win, but I was thrilled with his performance and his 8th place.

Persimmon did another of his customary lovely dressage tests and scored a 27.7.

Watch our test here:

He also jumped a foot perfect clear in the show jumping and made it feel very easy

Watch our round here:

Persimmon then popped round the cross country really confidently and seemed to love every minute of it. As he has bigger events in mind I didn't chase him cross country and we picked up a few time faults, which left us in 5th place.

Ceylor LAN did what I thought was his best two star test to date, he felt super and I was really pleased with the progress he was showing. Unfortunately the judges didn't agree with me. He scored a disappointing 45.6 which left us in 29th place. One judge had us in 4th and the other in 55th, so a
slight difference!
Watch our test here:

He then jumped brilliantly in the show jumping and is feeling more and more balanced and rideable.
Watch our round here:

The CIC** course was tough enough with a few great questions and Ceylor LAN answered them all brilliantly giving me a great ride round the cross country. We picked up 1.6 time faults, but with his two faultless jumping performances he moved right up the order and finished a fantastic 11th out of 105 starters!

Creevagh Cooley also did what I felt was her best test to date and this time the judges agreed! She still has lots of things to work and improve on but I was delighted with how she is coming on. She did some lovely work and scored a brilliant 40.9 which but is second behind Imperial Cavalier not bad for a 6 year old in her first season eventing!
Watch our round here:

She then jumped a keen but great clear in the show jumping. After here Intermediate at Aston she felt like she found it rather small and easy. 

Watch our round here:

She then stormed round the cross country finding it all very easy. She didn't bat an eyelid at anything and is really starting to feel very professional. Her super round kept us in 2nd which I was over the moon with.

I have applied for Le Lion D'Angers with both Ceylor LAN and Creevagh Cooley so I am now keeping my fingers crossed that our results will be good enough to catch the selectors eye. 

West Wilts

I had four rides at West Wilts, one of my most local events. Burtonhill was doing the Novice and the three five year olds Acis, Cooley Delta and Vendredi Biats were doing the BE100. 

Burtonhill was much improved from his first run of the year at Smiths Lawn. He did a really good accurate test and scored a very competitive 31. 

He then jumped beautifully in the show jumping, keeping a great rhythm and jumping really well. He then was foot perfect round the cross country, he found it all very easy and gave me a great ride. We picked up a few time faults as he is still not quite fully fit as he didn't come here until July, but he still finished 7th. 

Vendredi Biats was on brilliant form again and did what I felt was his best test to date. He was really concentrating and trying so I was very pleased that the judge thought the same, giving us a super 24.5. 

He then jumped a fantastic clear in the show jumping. 

Vendredi Biats flying a show jump. 

He then gave me a great ride cross country and is feeling more mature all the time. He finished on his dressage score and won his section. 

Acis was having his second ever outing and did another great job. He did a good test, but unfortunately broke into canter in one movement when he misunderstood my aid, but he still scored a 32.5. 

He to like Vendredi Biats gave me a super ride round the cross country and finished on his dressage score to take 9th place. 

Cooley Delta although very green did a good job in her section. She is still struggling a little in the dressage as she is so weak, but she showed some glimpses of great work. She scored a 36.5. 

She then jumped very well and confidently in the show jumping for a lovely clear. 

Cooley Delta showing her very tidy technique off. 

She then jumped clear round the cross country, although still green she was much improved from Smiths Lawn and seems to be improving all the time. 

Aston Le Walls

I had Persimmon and Mo Cuiske in the Open Intermediate and Creevagh Cooley in the Intermediate.

Persimmon was re routing from Hartpury CIC*** as I felt he was still lacking a little confiedence after his fall at Bramham and felt it would benefit him to have a fun easy run, rather than another tough run. I was really pleased I swapped classes as I think it did Persimmon the world of good. He did a lovely test and was forward through and elastic, he scored a leading mark of 26.8.

He then jumped a foot perfect clear in the show jumping and stormed round the cross country feeling really happy and confident. We picked a couple of time faults as I knew he had few in hand over his nearest rival so he still won his section comfortably.

Persimmon looking like he is enjoying himself. Photo courtesy of Fiona Scott Maxwell. 

Watch our cross country round here:

https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/riders/aston-le-walls-4-2014-kitty-king-114

Mo Cuiske was having his first run back since fracturing his hind pedal bone at Lincoln in march. It was brilliant to have him back out, he was understandably a little jolly in his test and scored a 34.1. He then jumped a brilliant double clear and felt like he hadn't away at all. He picked up 1.6 time and finished in 8th place. 

Creevagh Cooley who only started eventing this year and is only six was a star in her first intermediate. She did a good test, but unfortunately got her legs in a bit of a muddle in one medium canter so lost a few marks. She scored a 34.6. 

She jumped a super round in the show jumping and was extremely unlucky to have one down as she gave everything feet!

  Creevagh Cooley pinging a Show Jump

She then flew round the cross country and made it feel easy. I didn't go to quickly as it was her first run at this level. 

 

Creevagh Cooley storming round the cross country. 

Hartpury BYEH

I just had Jane and Adrian Andrew's Drewmain Dark Star in the 4 year old class. It was only her second ever competitive outing and she handled it all superbly. She scored well in all the three first phases. She scored a 22 for the dressage, 33 for her jumping which was the 3rd highest out of 54 competitors! She then scored 11 out of 12 for confirmation and 7 out of 10 for type which put her in 3rd going into the final gallop.
Watch her performance here:

She behaved very well trotting round with everyone for the final. Unfortunately she found the individual gallop rather too much fun and did a couple of bucks which meant she didn't show her gallop off as well as she could have done. This unfortunately dropped her down to 6th, but I was still over the moon with her performance and how well she coped with such an atmospheric arena.

Smiths Lawn

I had four rides in the BE100 at Smiths Lawn, Vendredi Biats, Burtonhill, Acis and Cooley Delta.

Vendredi Biats did a lovely test again and scored a very competitive 25.5. He then jumped a brilliant double clear and finished 3rd. 

Burtonhill who I rode for Tor Verdin at the beginning of last year whilst she was pregnant with her first child is back again for me to do a few events on as Tor has just had twins. He was having his first run of the year. He was a little excited in the dressage and scored a 34.5. He then jumped a lovely double clear to finish just out the placings.

Acis who is a new ride was doing his first ever event. He is a lovely big 5 year old and I was thrilled with how he coped with his first run. He did some super work in his test and just made a few green mistakes when he lost a little balance and scored a 32. He then jumped a very grown up double clear and seemed to love every minute of it all and even finished 7th!!

Cooley Delta was also doing her first ever event as well, she showed some really promising work in her test, but got a little worried when a vehicle drove up the gravel path rather fast right next to her arena and then proceeded to stop and start taking the rope down. She scored a 37, which I felt was a little harsh. She then jumped a lovely round in the show jumping and was extremely unlucky to have the very last fence fence down. She was a little green in places on the cross country but grew in confiedence as she went round and finished very pleased with her clear.