June 2015
The end of last year and beginning of this was very much
dedicated to working towards our trip to Badminton Grassroots and whilst we had
a wonderful time down there it’s actually been great to get my teeth into the
next challenges.
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| Herbie at Bishop Burton |
Towards the end of last year I felt Herbie was ready to move
up to novice level but decided to wait until after Badminton before we did
this. Bishop Burton was 3 weeks after Badminton and only 5 minutes down the
road so we chose this as our first run at the higher level. It may have been
local and a lovely event but it certainly wasn’t a straight forward course! On
the day Herbie did an average dressage to score 33 – he was a bit naughty and
used the wet conditions as an excuse not to listen! He then had two fences down
in the showjumping before we were ready to set about the cross country. I felt
it was a tough track for a first novice having been ‘beefed up’ following the
Junior Europeans which were held there last summer. Herbie coped really well
with just one refusal early on course which I’m putting down to rider error! It
was at fence 4, a log one stride to a decent drop, I was busy slowing him down
and should have been kicking! To his credit though he picked up and flew after
that tackling some particularly tough combinations with great maturity. Whilst
the final result wasn’t that impressive I felt he showed plenty of ability at
this higher level which is all I really wanted from our first novice run.
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| Prize Giving at Belsay |
Following Bishop Burton we trucked up to Belsay near
Newcastle on a very windy day for Herbie’s second novice. The conditions were
testing but we managed to pull a 25 dressage out the bag to lead the field by
nearly 5 marks! The showjumping had a big atmosphere, was up to height and
technical (I’m getting my excuses in early!) so he had 3 poles down, whilst I
was disappointed with this I actually felt he jumped ok. The cross country
course was in a lovely setting, skirting around the edge of Belsay Castle with
plenty of questions and a difficult water towards the end. Herbie was great and
flew round clear with just 5 time faults so I was thrilled to bits with him. It
turned out the showjumping had been very influential so with a strong dressage
and cross country showing we ended up in 7th place and with Herbie’s
first proper BE point.
His showjumping still needs more work and he’s getting used
to jumping these bigger courses but I really believe it will come and I’m very
excited to establish him at novice level and work towards our first 1*.
Mum and I also managed a weekend off to head over to Bramham
Horse Trials, the weather wasn’t great but it didn’t hamper what was a lovely
weekend of top quality eventing. It was also great to see the girls out there
in force with Nicola Wilson winning the CIC*** and Flora Harris winning the
CCI***. There was also only one man in the top 6 across both the CIC and CCI
competition – usually unheard of!!
Next up is Skipton Horse Trials in 2 weeks’ time for another
novice so I’m hoping the sun will start to shine!
Best wishes
Lucie
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