…the Last Six Weeks have been Pretty Cool!
WELLINGTON: At the end of August we went to Wellington, CHARLES RR was 3rd in the Advanced, jumping his usual immaculate double clear. He also produced his best Advanced test to date, sitting 8th after dressage.
We also had Claire Ward-Thomas’ MICKS DILEMMA running in the BE100. He finished on his dressage score again to pick up 10th.
It was also my birthday weekend… turning 23 ahhhhh… so it was lovely to have various friends staying and being dragged along Eventing with us! This was I think the last sunny weekend Eventing we had!
GATCOMBE: Sandra and Jack Bucknell’s F jumped double clear in the Novice. Her amazing jump is really starting to develop and she is showing it off more and more. Unfortunately she got caught in a HUGE thunder and lightning storm at cross country start, but I love this mares attitude. Even when she’s a bit unsure she digs deep and goes for you.
LAWA had a quiet run in the Open Intermediate producing his usual good test to score 30, however he thought the showjumps were a bit small to bother with and had an uncharacteristic 12 faults, but finished with a lovely clear cross country. He’s been too jumping boot camp with Rhian since!
MONMOUTH: MICKS DILEMMA jumped another double clear with a 29 dressage to finish 3rd in the BE100. And F had a solid run in the Novice round a challenging cross country track.
WAREGEM: It was sunny in Belguim! CHARELS RR was on amazing form in the CICO*** once again jumping double clear and producing one of our best 3* dressage tests. It was the first time I have managed to properly ‘ride’ him in the arena, we made a few mistake which took the score down, but he showed flashes of very good work. Charlie pinged round an up to height and testing show jumping course, then zipped round the cross country.
As planned we didn’t go too fast as it is his last prep run before Pau and our 4* debut… Ekkk!
NANKIN DES RUETTES did a beautiful test in the CIC** scoring 45, however ‘Mr Clear Round’ had a very cheeky naughty old man moment in the showjumping! He likes to keep me on my toes, so unfortunately it wasn’t the clear we should have jumped. He made up for it with a seriously fun cross country, both of us grinning like idiots! We LOVED our trip to Waregem, and it is definitely on the list to go back to next year.
DAUNTSEY: Back home and back to the mud and rain in England for one of our local events. All the horses struggled a little show jumping in the mud that was either slippy and boggy, or sticky and boggy, depending on how much rain we had had in the hours before!
LAWA finished 10th in a competitive Open Intermediate, he loves the firmer going but tried so hard to jump a fab round show jumping. He followed this with his usual effortless cross country clear to finish his season on a high.
F placed 6th in the Novice while MICKS DILEMMA 10th in the BE100 and HIGH JINKS IV just outside the top10 for 12th in the Open Novice.
Max (HIGH JINKS IV) has had a quiet few months being an ‘event horse field ornament’! He has had rubbish luck after suffering with a horrible skin reaction in early August which meant he couldn’t be ridden for 3 weeks. He was back in work and all was going well for Gatcombe until he bruised his foot pulling a shoe off in the field… queue another two weeks off! Finally we managed a few weeks of uninterrupted work and made it to Dauntsey.
Dauntsey was meant to be last event of the season however I’ve decided F, MICKS DILEMMA and HIGH JINKS IV can have one more run, So Bovington it is in a couple of weeks time… and with a three plus hours drive we’re so hoping dressage isn’t at 8am!!
BRIDGING THE GAP FINAL: I can’t believe we WON! Charlie was on best behaviour this Monday in both our ridden sessions with Mark Todd, Gill Watson and Lizzel Winter. I also had a couple of interviews with Keyflow and The Mark Todd Collection, and Jonty Evans for BE. I am so grateful for all the opportunities this amazing training series has given me over the last few years and the year ahead.
As we don’t have a groom at the moment, I need to say a HUGE HUGE thank you to Mum who has been a MEGA Super Groom. Also Thank you to Laura, Rosie and Simon for helping out some of the busier days!
LAWA and NANKIN DES RUETTES are now on holidays in the field looking fluffy… Nonks has already gained lots of weight now he’s off his diet! This means I now have some time and space for some schooling/competition liveries, and some teaching/riding. Please get in contact for more details!
Lici xx