I had eight horses competing at Tweseldown over the three days, I had Creevagh Cooley in the intermediate, Ceylor LAN, Persimmon and Mo Cuiske in the Open Intermediate, Very Special Z and Ard Core in the Open Novice and Acis and Vendredi Biats in the BE100.
Creevagh Cooley at only 7 years old was the star of the first day, she really showed how much she has come on over the winter with her dressage. She did a lovely test, staying extremely relaxed for her first run of the year and was much improved with her contact and connection. She scored an extremely competitive 26.6 to be in 3rd place after this phase.
Watch our test here:
She then jumped a very well round a tough show jumping track, it was her first time jumping on grass this year and coped very well. She was very unlucky to have the first part of the double down when we lost a little power and straightness to the canter.
Watch our round here:
After walking the cross country I did wonder if I had maybe entered the wrong class for Creevagh Cooley and perhaps should have entered the novice, as the track was big and tough enough for her first run of the year. I needn't have worried though as although I took her steadily, she flew round and answered every question with confidence. She was very straight at all the technical questions and I couldn't have been happier with her. Even with our time faults she still finished in an excellent 3rd place.
Ceylor LAN did a very pleasing test, but with the excitement of being out on grass for the first time made some little errors. He scored a competitive 30.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a super round in the show jumping keeping a lovely rhythm, but unfortunately he had the middle part of the treble down after jumping in very well and gaining a little too much room.
Watch our round here:
He then jumped a steady but extremely mature and easy clear round the cross country to finish just outside the top ten.
Persimmon did a super test and felt like a complete schoolmaster. He kept forward and active and did his simple changes beautifully. He scored the leading mark in is section of 24.3.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a fabulous clear round the show jumping.
Watch is round here:
He was very excited to be out doing cross country again and gave me a great ride up to the later part of the course. We jumped the wrong side of a flag coming out of the water which was a real shame, he then had a very cheeky run out at the second last. I think he thought he could take the micky as I didn't get after him when he jumped the wrong side of the flag. It was great he was feeling so well, but he also needs to concentrate a little more!
Mo Cuiske, who is normally on the excited side at his first runs of the year was extremely settled in his dressage and produced some lovely work. He did his best test ever for this time of year and scored a 28.9.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a very uncharacteristic round in the show jumping and had four down. He had a good rhythm, but I think I slightly under powered his canter and sent him to sleep!
He then jumped a great round around the cross country, but had a very silly 20 when he locked onto a novice fence and misread what we were meant to be jumping.
Very Special Z did a lovely test in the open novice, showing some super expression in his medium canter work. He scored a very competitive mark of 27.
Watch our test here:
He was then very pleased to be jumping out on grass for the first time, he was a little exuberant which led to him having a very unfortunate fence down.
Watch our round here:
He then jumped a lovely but steady clear round the cross country.
Ard Core did some nice work in her test, it started well, showing lots of promise, but then she miss understood my aid to trot from walk and went into canter. She hates to make a mistake and got a little tense. She then settled and finished the test well to score 35.8.
She then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and flew round the cross country finding it all very easy.
Watch our show jumping here:
Vendredi Biats did another super test, he lost a little concentration in places but the quality of work was very high, he scored a leading mark of 19.8.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a fantastic clear in the show jumping and flew round the cross country, he found it all very easy and nearly a bit small. He now feels more than ready for the step up to novice in his next run at Gatcombe. He finished winning his section comfortably.
Watch our round here:
Acis was first to go in his section and did great test, he had a bit of a drunk wobble in his last halt, but the rest of his work was lovely. He scored a 29.5 which I was a little disappointed with.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a much improved round compared to Aston Le Walls where he slightly forgot himself! He jumped a super clear and felt like he was concentrating completely on me. He jumped a great confident clear round the cross country and finished 3rd, he to steps up to novice at Gatcombe for his next run.
Watch our round here:
