Oasby BE ODE 2011. 12/03/11

Finally the start of the eventing season has arrived and we were lucky to have great weather and ground at Oasby horse trials in Lincolnshire.

Donnermere (Beanie) was entered for the Novice as we felt he finished so strong at the end of last season at this level. Kellys Lad (Louis) was entered in his first BE event in the BE90 section and with only one cross country schooling session (due to very wet recent weather) we were aprehensive as to how he would cope.

Beanie was first to go and didn't perform as well as I was hoping in the dressage due to him being very excited. He scored a reasonable 35.5 and was in the upper half of the board. He jumped a pleasing round in the show jumping but rolled the pole on the last fence so had 4 to add. The cross country was up to height for such an early season event with a 3-part water jump and some pretty decent fences, but he cruised round taking every direct route and finishing with no time penalties to add. He finished a respectful 7th which I was very happy with. His positive performance bodes well to a hopeful upgrade to Intermediate later in the year!

Louis was a star! He was 'a little vocal' in his dressage test but performed well scoring a good 36.5 which put him 10th after dressage. In the show jumping he had a fence down, which he still finds a bit scarey, and wasn't concentrating to the next fence which was a double, so he jumped the first element and was somewhat surprised by the second element, but he circled and jumped it very well second time and completed the course with 8 faults and 10 time faults. He gave me a really lovely ride on the cross country from the very first fence with just a wobble at the sunken road picking up 20 penalties. Apart from that he jumped everything brilliantly including two steps down and a fence to water which I was very pleased with and it gave him a very positive experience. His next event will be Eden Valley BE90.

I am very pleased with the horses and I am looking forward to Lincolnshire BE ODE next weekend with Beanie in the Novice. I will keep you updated with every event.

Phoebe Powell and the eventing team.

Donnermere Novice Show Jumping:

Kellys Lad BE90 Cross Country