I just had The Last Euro and Drewmain Firefly doing the BE90 Open.
The Last Euro did another super test, he is getting more balanced and established everytime he goes out. He scored a fantastic mark of 21.5 to lead his section.
Watch his test here:
Again like his dressage he is improving everytime he goes out and jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He then jumped a lovely clear round the cross country and found it all very easy to win the section.
Drewmain Firefly did some nice work in his test, but got a little distracted by all the cyclist whizzing past his arena competing in an Iron Man competition. It was a shame as we know he is capable of better. He scored 33.3.
He then jumped a super clear in the show jumping, feeling very confident and mature.
Watch our round here:
He jumped a brilliant clear round the cross country to finish just outside the top ten.
I had Snow Wind SN in the BE100 plus, Virage Des Falaises in the Intermediate Novice and Vendredi Biats, Billy Bounce and Mo Cuiske in the CIC**.
Snow Wind SN did a lovely test and coped with the step up to the more tricky novice test well. She scored a competitive 27.3.
She then jumped a super round in the show jumping, she had a very unlucky fence down. She hit it so lightly that I had no idea that we had even touched it. I was really pleased with the rhythm she kept and how she jumped.
She then jumped a lovely easy clear round the cross country, unfortunately I was a little speedy and picked up a couple of time faults for going to fast, which left us in 5th place.
Virage Des Falaises did a great test and is getting stronger and more balanced every time he goes out. He scored a 30.7.
He then jumped a great clear in the show jumping. It was one of our best rounds to date and he feels ready to step up to intermediate.
Watch our round here:
He then gave me a great ride round the cross country, he just had a steady run in preparation for his first intermediate at Farley Hall. We picked up a few time faults to finish 7th.
Watch our round here:
Vendredi Biats did his best test to date and other than a little stumble in his half pass made very few
mistakes. He scored a brilliant 33.4 to lead the section.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped well in the show jumping, but was a little fresh and lacked a little concentration which resulting in us having a very annoying fence down.
He was super round a strong enough CIC** and felt very confident and grown up. He finished comfortably inside the time to finish 2nd.
Watch our round here:
Billy Bounce did a very good test and I am beginning to feel we are really starting to form a partnership together. He scored a very competitive 40.0 to sit in 6th place.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped our best round together to date in the show jumping, he was giving himself a little more time and didn't rush quite so much.
Again like in the dressage, round the cross country I really felt we were beginning to form a partnership and starting to really know and understand each other. He gave me a great ride and
finished inside the time to finish 3rd.
Watch our round here:
Mo Cuiske did his best test to date, he was far more connected and did some super work. He scored a very competitive 37.2.
The following day he went back to show jump and after not feeling his usual self and having 3 down we decided to withdraw him.
I just had Ceylor LAN in the CIC*** at Bramham. He did a super test but made a couple of annoying mistakes, he took a sudden dislike to the letter A and had a silly spook at it and very annoyingly changed behind when he came back from his medium canter. It was a shame as he did some super work. The judges were marking very strongly and with his couple of mistakes he scored 42.6 to sit in 3rd place.
Watch our test here:
After our start box issue at Chatsworth I was a little concerned that the experience may have worried him, but he was perfect to start and flew round the cross country giving me a fantastic ride. After a fair bit of over night rain the ground was practically perfect, but it had got quite cut up down the hills so I went a little steadier in those places. We picked up 2.8 time to unfortunately drop down to 6th. I was thrilled with his performance though.
Watch our round here:
He trotted up really well on the Sunday morning and looked as fresh as a daisy. The show jumping track was big a square and had a lot of turn backs on yourself. Ceylor LAN jumped a fantastic round and felt on springs, he gave everything feet to spare which was brilliant, but unfortunately we picked up 1 time fault, I'm sure this was because we spent so much time in the air! His super jumping round moved us up to 4th but our 1 time fault kept us from 3rd. Now it's just a case of waiting and keeping our fingers crossed that we receive that all important phone call from the selectors soon!
I had Billy Bounce and Mo Cuiske in the Open Intermediate, Virage Des Falaises in the Intermediate Novice, Snow Wind SN in the BE100 and The Last Euro and Drewmain Firefly in the BE90.
Billy Bounce did some lovely work in his test, but made a couple of silly mistakes when we weren't quite on the same wave length. He scored a competitive 25.9.
He then jumped a super clear in the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He then flew round the cross country giving me a great ride to pick up just 1.2 time faults and finish in 5th place.
Watch our round here:
Mo Cuiske also did a great test to score 26.1.
He then jumped a great clear in the show jumping having managed to pull his shoe off in the warm up!
Watch our round here:
With his shoe back on he flew round the cross country over the first six fences, but unfortunately managed to pull the same shoe off again over fence six, it went hurtling ahead of us and left me with only one option but to pull him up. The ground was on the firm side and as it was so early on round the track I didn't want to risk him breaking his foot up any further and making himself sore.
Virage Des Falaises was on great form again, he did a super test to lead his section on a 25.9.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped an immaculate clear round the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He stormed round the cross country effortlessly and finished inside the time on his dressage score to win the section.
Watch our round here:
Snow Wind SN did a great test to score 26.3.
She then jumped very well round what was a very technical BE100 track and was very unlucky to have the last fence down when we made a little too much ground up down a distance.
Watch our round here:
She then gave me a lovely ride round the cross country to finish inside the time and in 5th place.
Watch our round here:
The Last Euro did another super test and is getting better and better in this phase, he scored a leading mark of 25.5.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped very well round a technical track.
Watch our round here:
He was great round the cross country which was a step up from mount ballan. He finished inside the time and would have won if I hadn't have had to have ridden HC.
Watch our round here:
Drewmain Firefly did a lovely test that was an improvement on his first outing as he was getting more relaxed and confident in the arena.
He then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He flew round the cross country and felt really happy and as though he had come on a lot from his first run. He would have finished in 2nd place if I hadn't of had run ride HC.
I had Mo Cuiske and Billy Bounce in the Open Intermediate.
Mo Cuiske did a great test to score 24.6 and led the section. Unfortunately he had a couple down in the show jumping which was a great shame as he has been show jumping really well this spring. He then flew round the cross country feeling on great form and back to his old self after an uncharacteristic run at Bicton.
Billy Bounce also did a super test to sit just behind Mo Cuiske on a 25. He jumped a super double clear and just picked a handful of time faults up after I let the hand break off a little. This was all good enough for him to finish in 8th place.
I had Vendredi Biats doing his first CIC** and Virage Des Falaises doing our first CIC*.
Vendredi Biats did a great job in his first test at this level and although felt a little spooky at times in the atmospheric main arena he did some lovely work. He scored a super 37.5 to lead the section.
Watch our test here:
He jumped a fantastic clear round the show jumping and made it feel very easy.
Watch our round here:
He flew round the cross country effortlessly and finished comfortably inside the time to win the section. Out of his last five runs he has had four first places and one second. He is now going to have a well earned holiday before building up to Nunney CIC**.
Virage Des Falaises did some lovely work in his test but made a couple of green mistakes which was a shame. After doing a lovely square halt he was sure I meant walk forwards rather than rein back so when he did go backwards it was a little tense as he hates to do the wrong thing, he also had a little misunderstanding after a transition back to trot but the more he grows in confidence in himself the better he will get. He still scored a very competitive 43.4.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a super clear in the show jumping, to move up the order a few places.
Watch our round here:
He stormed round the cross country making it feel extremely easy and finished inside the time. He finished on exactly the same score as the second placed rider, but as I was one second faster across the country we got slotted into 3rd place.
I had Vendredi Biats and Virage Des Falaises in the Novice Regional Final, Snow Wind SN in the BE100 and first timers The Last Euro and Drewmain Firefly in the BE90 open.
Vendredi Biats did another super test to score 20.5 and led the section just ahead of his stable mate Virage Des Falaises.
He then jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and pooped round the cross country finding it incredibly easy. He picked up a couple of time faults, but still won the section well.
Virage Des Falaises who is still green at intermediate level did a fantastic test to sit in second with a 22.1.
He to jumped a super clear in the show jumping. He also jumped well round the cross country but picked up a few time faults as it was quite a twisty track for a fairly big young horse. He finished in 4th place and like Vendredi Biats qualified for the Novice Championships and Gatcombe.
Snow Wind did another lovely test to score a very competitive 29.
She then jumped a great clear round both the show jumping and cross county to win her second event on the trot.
Ex racehorse The Last Euro did a very calm and obedient test. He was super considering this was his first show and his first time seeing white boards. He scored a super mark of 25.3.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped a great clear round the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He then jumped a very grown up a bold clear round the cross country to finish on his dressage score in 3rd place.
Drewmain Firefly was also having his first outing and his first time in white boards and did a very solid test to score 30.
He to jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He jumped a very nice clear round the cross country taking everything in his stride and really enjoying his first run.
I had Persimmon in the CIC*** and Ceylor LAN in the ERM CIC*** section.
Persimmon didn't quite feel himself in the dressage and did a disappointing test for him, he scored 51.7. It's very unlike him to go the way he did in the arena as he is so strong in this phase usually.
He then jumped a great clear in the show jumping, although he jumped well I still felt he wasn't his normal self so withdrew him from the cross country as it wasn't worth risking him if he was under par.
Watch our round here:
Ceylor LAN did a stunning test in the ERM section. He did his best work to date in the arena and was awarded some super marks including a perfect 10 for his halt before his rein back. This was particularly satisfying as we have been working really hard on his halts at home. He scored a personal best at the level for both he and I taking neatly 9 marks of his previous best! He scored a 32.9 which put us 4 marks ahead of the rest of the field.
Watch our test here:
He then jumped an immaculate clear in the show jumping. He gave everything so much room I was nearly worried we would get a time fault as he spent so much time in the air! His great clear gave us a six point lead going into the cross country.
Watch our round here:
Cross country was run in reverse order, so when we started circling the start box there was no one left in the warm up. Unfortunately a combination of this and the massive crowd gathered round the big screen at the finish (right near the start) with Alice Fox-Pitt giving some great live comentry it all got a bit to much for Ceylor LAN and he was very reluctant to start. We got going in the end, but having jumped fence one already 44 seconds over the time I knew I was never going to make that up round a hill track like Chatsworth.
Although our poor start was hugely disappointing once we got going Ceylor LAN was foot perfect round the track and gave me a beautiful ride and was nearly perfect in all three phases so we went home dissapointed not to have won but very encouraged by his performance.
At Aston I just had Billy Bounce in the Open Intermediate and Vendredi Biats in the Intermediate.
Billy Bounce was a little excited in his dressage, having not been out in a while due to wet ground and cancelled events. He did some nice work, but was a little inattentive at times. He scored a 30.9.
He then jumped a great clear in the show jumping, he got quite keen and excited round one corner to a related distance, but he stayed vert careful through out.
Watch our round here:
He then gave a lovely ride round the cross country, we didn't go too quickly as it was his first run for a while.
Vendredi Biats was on great form again, he did a super test to score a very competitive 26.1, he is getting more and more consistent and established at this level.
He then jumped an easy clear in the show jumping.
Watch our round here:
He then whizzed round the cross country feeling really nippy and finding it all very easy. He finished inside the time to finish in 2nd place.
I just one runner at Moreton Morrell, Snow Wind SN in the BE100. She did a lovely test, which included a perfect 10 for a halt, she scored a leading mark of 26.3.
She then jumped an immaculate clear, round both the show jumping and the cross country to win her section comfortably.
