Nunney Horse Trials 2nd July 2015

Once again, Nunney horse trials was blessed with glorious weather.  The organisers had made a great job of creating some atmosphere around the main arena, and the dressage arenas again were situated out the back, in nice flat and quiet fields.

The cross country course was up to height, but inviting.  The road crossings are always interesting, especially with the young horses, as to how they cope with their balance negotiating the undulations of the ground.

We had our two five year old horses contesting in the 5yr old BE 100 section.  This was their first BE100, so we were in unknown territory.  Hopefully all our preparation would pay off, and we would pay off.

We kicked off the day with Bloomfield Tiger Two.  He is now supported by ‘The Ladies Club’ syndicate, and this was the first event where all of the members would see him in action.  I was all ready to start my dressage, but was stalling waiting for all of these ladies to arrive.  I daren’t ask whether it was their driving, or the extra time to put on their make up, but they all filtered in just in time!

Tiger performed a relaxed and accurate test which is all I want from him at this stage.  This resulted with a respectable score of 31.  A good start to the day!

We were show jumping over a very colourful course fences which looked very impressive in the sunshine.  Whether this was good for the young horses, we were yet to find out, but it was probably going to be entertaining for the viewing public.

Tiger entered the arena like a pro, and jumped around well.  I over rode him into the final combination, which rushed his jump, and unfortunately cost us four faults, but I was really pleased with him.

Tiger can be quite sharp on the cross country, and this was a step up in expectation.  I set off meaning business, and attacked the course from fence one.  This seemed to pay off, and Tiger really got stuck in and jumped a super clear inside the time.

I returned to the lorry to 10 smiling ladies!  Phew!!

LVS Stonehavens Quebec (Darcy), although a little unsettled in the dressage, her class shone through, and she glided around the dressage arena impressing the judge for a super score of 29.

Darcy is usually a great jumper, but seemed a little flat in the heat, and had two poles down.  I’m not sure if I did a little too much preparation work in the week, which may have left her a little tired.  It’s always a learning curve with young horses.

She cruised around the cross country, taking everything in her stride.  It’s surprising how confident she is already considering how little experience she has.  It’s so enjoyable to ride such a forward thinking, brave horse.  This is very exciting for the future!

The Night Traveller had to wait until the end of the day to compete in the late Novice section.  This was his first run after a short break following his spring campaign.  He came out, all be it a little fresh, and performed his usual accurate and effortless test in the dressage.  He is so rideable in this phase, and is really reliable.  We were nicely positioned in second place following this phase.

He had a spook going into the treble combination of the show jumping, where the sun was reflecting off of the front rail of the first element.  He jumped very high and didn’t quite stretch enough for the back rail which unfortunately tipped out of the cups.  It was shame, as he had jumped a fantastic round apart from this.  He certainly didn’t want to touch another fence, and gave the last jump a foot to spare!

With this being his first run back our plan was to canter around the cross country in a nice rhythm aiming for a smooth and confident round.  This is exactly what we achieved, so a great result, and a super way to finish the day.