From Gatcombe to Highclere
It’s been another busy month starting at Gatcombe and ending at Highclere and, as you’d expect, there have been a few trials and tribulations along the way.
My first event since my last update was Gatcombe. Montiny was entered for the Novice Championships and Lord Of The Owls for the Intermediate Championships. I took the decision not to run Montiny as the ground was hard and I didn’t feel it would be in his best interests. Lord Of The Owls started well and did a very nice dressage test scoring 32.6 but then had two down showjumping. This was very odd and not like him. I checked that he was sound and he was so then I became concerned I’d over bitted him. I asked Hattie to look at him and nothing could be found. I decided to run him to fence six cross country to try a lesser bit and to retire at that point. We set off and he sort of stuttered over the first two fences but it was going to get a lot worse. Fence six approached and he took off, stopped mid air and came down on the fence. It was truly awful and I was incredibly worried. He was so good as the team freed him and, amazingly, left the course with a few scratches and bruises but nothing else- phew!
I decided the give Lord Of The Owls a quiet week and had Hattie in again to give him a full going over. Her assessment discovered that he was bilaterally lame in both front feet hence he didn’t show up as lame at Gatcombe. The hard ground has been the cause of this as it has really taken its toll on a few of my horses. He had an easy week and was fitted with some swanky shoes with the addition of gel pads to help him.
Hartpury was next on the agenda with Montiny and Simply Sox both competing in the 1*. It was the first 1* for both horses so it was going to be great for their education. Both had lovely dressage tests but Sox had a green stop cross country as he overjumped a drop but went beautifully after that. Montiny was clear inside the time cross country and had an irritating pole showjumping which meant that we came 11th- that pole cost us second place! Regardless of this, I was really pleased with both of them.
After that we moved onto Solihull where Floating Island, HHS Foracruise and Les Bossons were in the Novice and Squadron Leader was tackling BE100. All horses did nice tests and jumped clear bar HHS Foracruise who had an unlucky pole showjumping. Cross country proved more successful with them all getting round clear despite the course being very twisty and me taking the decision to take them slowly. We had good results too- Les Bossons was 11th, Floating Island was 12th, HHS Foracruise was 13th and Squadron Leader was 6th. What makes our results even more impressive is that this was Les Bossons and Floating Island’s second run at Novice level!
Milton Keynes was next and the same four who went to Solihull competed at this venue. They all did good dressage tests but Floating Island had three down showjumping which was unusual, but then had a clear round cross country with 7.2 time penalities. HHS Foracruise picked up a few penalties cross country, and Squadron Leader was very tricky as I lost the ability to turn him! When we had finished the cross country, we examined him and realised that the bit has cut his mouth- so with this in mind he did really well. However, the star of the show was Les Bossons who won his third ever Novice class!
Highclere was our last event for August and Montiny and Simply Sox tackled their first Intermediate. Highclere is a big course, but one that I really like as it’s bold and good to ride, so I thought it was a good one for them to do. Sox had a green stop at the water cross country so, after that, I decided to take him really slowly and use it as an education. We weren’t well placed but I was thrilled with him. Montiny on the other hand finished 6th adding just 2.8 time penalties to his dressage score.
Although the end of the season is approaching, there’s still plenty to do and competitions to ride at.
< BACK TO NEWS