He had to perform his dressage test in the main arena and it was a bit more atmosphere than he is used to, but good practise for the future. He performed a fairly good test with a couple of mistakes in the medium trot and some resistance in the rein back, which is usually a very secure movement for him, but on the whole we were pleased with him. He scored 59.4, which was a respectable mark and after dressage put him exactly half way on the board.
His showjumping was very early the next day in which he had a pole down coming out of a double and then unfortunately he slipped taking off to a oxer, crashed through it and skidded along the floor, he was a little star though as he carried on as if it had never happened and completed the rest of the course clear! So 8 to add.
I took it slowly with him on the xc, but took all of the direct routes and he was amazing. He did however get 20 penalties, as I galloped past the 'b' element near the end of the course and had to circle. I was very pleased with him though as he found it easy.
When we got him home, he had a small cut on the back of one of the front of his legs which had happened in the showjumping and it looked a bit swollen so we took him to be scanned at Minster Vets just to be on the safe side. He has a small bruise around the tendon area where he caught himself and the vet prescribed two weeks off, then two weeks hacking and then resuming normal work. Unfortunately this means that he will miss his next event at Catton Park and then Aske ONu18q.
Because of Louis's small injury I will now be riding Ramera (mums horse) at Aske in the qualifier. I had to ride her at Skipton to get my qualifying run in and she was a star coming 3rd in the BE100 Open.
George (Cairngorm) made his debut at Skipton with a very pleasing 29.5 dressage, 4 faults showjumping and clear within the time cross country, he was amazing, particularly as the ground was very muddy and he is still quite green. He will go to Hutton in the Forest next.
George also went to Yorkshire Sport Horse Show for the BYEH class. He was 3rd going into the final judging out of a strong field of 5 year olds, but missed out on a Burghley qualification this time. His next qualifier will be at Richmond Equestrian Centre.
My new little grey is coming along great, his name is Boysie and he will hopefully come out to compete toward August time. Here is a picture of him at home.
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Anyway until next time, I hope you enjoyed reading my blog,
Phoebe Powell
