Le Lion D'Angers Six Year Old World Championships

I just had Vendredi Biats out in France doing the CCI* for six year old horses. He traveled out really well and loved staying away from home.

He unfortunately had a pretty early draw and did his test early on Thursday morning. I was delighted with how he went and how he coped in such a big arena, he did some super work and it was definitely his best 1* test to date. He made one tiny jog step in his walk and came a little against the hand for a moment when he suddenly saw the big spectators stand. Other than those tiny mistakes he was super, staying nicely in the contact and good in his frame, so I was rather dissapointed with his mark of 50.2. They were marking extremely tough on the first day and although I was disappointed with the score it still left us in 2nd place over night. Unfortunately the judges seemed to get out of bed in a better mood on the Friday and didn't seem to mark nearly as toughly. Due to this we moved from 2nd to 10th and were one of only two combinations from the Thursday to still be in the top ten on day two. 

Watch our test here:

Although the cross country wasn't massively big, it had a few testing questions and was the first real stamina test Vendredi Biats had ever faced. The course was nearly 9 minutes long. He made it feel easy and flew round, he didn't tire at all and finished easily inside the time, maintaining our 10th spot. 

He trotted up really well on Sunday morning and didn't seem any the worse for all his exertions the day before. The show jumping track was up to height and had some technical lines, but Vendredi Biats jumped a super round and made feel very easy. His clear jumping moved him up to a very creditable 7th place in the very competitive Young Horse World Championships.
Watch our round here:

Osberton

I had Creevagh Cooley in the CCI* and Vendredi Biats in the CICYH* for 6 year olds.

Creevagh Cooley was a star from start to finish, she did a fantastic test in an atmospheric arena. She stayed very calm and concentrated and made very few mistakes. She scored 38.6 to sit in 3rd place going into the cross country. 

Watch our test here:

She then was foot perfect round the cross country, she found it very easy and took everything in her stride giving me a great ride. She finished full of running and was very happy with her efforts. 

She trotted up really well on Sunday morning before the show jumping. She went into the show jumping feeling very good and nice and fresh after her cross country the day before. She jumped a super round, round a tough track that was causing plenty of trouble. Her clear was one of only a couple in the top ten and it elevated her from 3rd to the winners spot!! She was a star all week and certainly deserved her win after performing so well and constantly all week. 

This was her last run of the season, so what a way for her to finish her year. She is now sadly for sale along with her owners other horse Mo Cuiske do to some personal problems. It's a huge shame as I think a lot of both horses, but hopefully they will find some wonderful homes where they will be able to reach there full potential. 

Watch our round here:

Vendredi Biats was a little naughty in his test, he did some nice work but also made some annoying errors! Particularly when he temporarily forgot how to rein back!! Although it wasn't the best test he can produce he still did some good work and scored 43.4 which put us in 14th place. 

Watch our test here:

He then show jumped brilliantly. Now he has got stronger and more balanced he has really begun to excel in this phase. His clear moved us up to 10th before the cross country. 

Watch our round here:

He then cantered round the cross country making it feel very easy, he finished comfortably inside the time and moved up to 7th in the six year old championships. It was a perfect final run before he heads of to Le Lion to do his first three day event.