Bicton Horse Trials 15th July 2015

It was a quick turn around after Barbury on the Friday for Bicton on the Saturday.  We returned from Barbury and all of the horses that were heading to Bicton were bathed, plaited and ready to go.  The lorry was emptied and repacked ready for action and another very early start.

I’ve got to say a big thank you to all of our team, they are extremely organised and always have the horses turned out to such high standards.  It’s really appreciated guys!

Our very own Bloomfield Tiger Two kicked off the day, and he was well supported by many of the members of ‘The Ladies Club’ once again.  Tiger is a true gentleman, he ambles down to the dressage, receives his pats and polo’s from everyone then switches straight on to work.  He has such an adorable temperament you can’t help but love him.

He performed a brilliant test, gaining the best marks he possibly could at this stage.  If he continues with this attitude, he can only get better and better as he matures and gets stronger.  We were well rewarded with a 27.8.

The show jumping had two doubles and several tricky lines.  It was going to be a test for the young horses, but is always helped that you are jumping off of a fantastic surface that gives the horses confidence.

All of The Ladies Club were lined up on the bank, and I’m sure they were willing him to do well so much that if they could, they would all get in the arena and carry Tiger around over the fences.  Tiger didn’t disappoint, and jumped a much improved round.  He made one mistake, rolling the front rail of an oxer, but overall he jumped a lot better.

Tiger set off out of the start box with sheer determination.  I’m sure someone had been telling him stories of Badminton, he was off like a shot and I felt like a bit of a passenger just steering him in the right direction.  After the first water complex, he seemed to really settle and relax, and cruised around the rest of the course.  He is coming on in leaps and bounds and is definitely the yards new ‘Pocket Rocket’.

Sadly the one rail was a bit costly but we were still rewarded with en eighth placed rosette.

Our second 5 year old was Eventing World Wide’s LVS Stonehavens Quebec (Darcy).  My only mare on the yard, and the least troublesome horse you could ever come across.  She takes everything in life well within her stride and never seems to get phased by anything.

She’s a big moving mare and always turns heads when she’s trotting around.  She performed an accurate test for a super 27.3.  The remarks were that she tends to sometimes work with her poll a little low, but she still has so much growing to do.  I think when she’s fully mature, her work will be more uphill, and then she will really wow the judges, but we must remember she is only five.

Darcy cantered into the jumping arena as if she’d been doing this for years.  The bell goes and off we go with no hesitation or spooking.  She popped round for a beautiful clear, and hardly broke into a sweat.  I wonder if she was human whether she’d be sat on a beach with a surf board next to her just watching the world go by without a worry to speak of.

The cross country was much the same as the jumping, she casually cruised around giving me a smooth ride for a lovely clear.  The only thing holing this horse back is her age, she has such a great attitude for eventing I’m very excited for the future.

A great double clear, and well deserved 3rd place!

Spypark Ferro was last to go in the BE100 plus.  This was his first attempt at a Novice test, and it was safe to say, he handled it well.  Standing at 17.2′ the dressage arena seems ever so small at the moment.  He has huge movement, and when I kicked on into medium canter I wondered if I may end up in the next field, but he controlled his balance well and produced a wonderful test.  We were well rewarded with a score of 24.  What a super start!

Maintaining a powerful canter in self carriage has taken time with Spypark Ferro, mainly because he is so big, and has huge amounts of energy.  I feel this is really improving, and is making it far easier to ride him around the show jumping.  He is naturally a careful horse, and always tries his heart out.  As with the other young horses, being patient is the key to this horses success, he has all the ability, but needs time to mature.

He jumped a brilliant round, but had one rail down as he came across a related distance.  He got a bit cocky, and made the distance up very easily.  I think he was expecting me to help him out and hold him off of the front rail, but this is the age to let them learn and I left him alone which resulted in him hitting it with his front legs.  He jumped the next fence giving it plenty of room, I think the lesson went well!

We decided that it was unnecessary to run him cross country as the ground was a bit firm and he didn’t need any more experience around BE100 courses.  He will have a good cross country schooling session before he has his first Novice event at Wilton.

This was a very promising performance!!