Wellington

It was a big four days for Wellington, they are now putting on a huge event covering so many levels I don’t know how David Sheeran and his team put it all together.  They had done fantastic work with the ground, even the dressage warm-up had been watered.  I could really not have appreciated it more. 

Friday was a busy day and my highlight was a first Novice win for Cayiano, I could not have been happier with how he went in all three phases, he led from the start with a lovely dressage of 25. His show jumping was very polished and on the cross country he was totally focused and up for it.  It was a first time I had taken him faster and he really ate up the course and made the time feel easy. I have to admit that I didn’t know he was in the lead and I didn’t time myself cross country, because my plan was to move him up a gear and see what happened.  I should pretend that winning was more on the agenda but actually I was very much hoping for the feeling he gave me.

Amanda Gould’s Lamborghini was also a very good girl, her dressage was prettydecent and I accept her mark of 31.5, and her cross country is gaining in confidence.  She is very honest but she doesn’t always feel that she knows what to do.  Her next run is the 2* at Cornbury and I really expect her to be up for the challenge.

Papillon Noir did not have such a good day, His show jumping was well below parand Pep and I have decided that he might move on as a lovely hunter.

I then had BLS Absolutely doing his first 100 and he had a great day.  His dressage was lovely but with a few wobbles, his 28 could easily have been 22.  His clear show jumping was a class act and he popped around the cross country like he had seen all the fences before.  He will now hopefully do a few more 100’s but I expect he will be bursting out of his skin before long to do a Novice.

After an enjoyable weekend at home with the family and focusing a little bit on Oratorio and Burghley, it was back to Wellington on Monday.  The start to the day was not so good; Duke Legacy was having another Intermediate run, I was very pleased with his Dressage and Show Jumping, but we came adrift on the cross country when he misjudged a step up, and we fell up the bank.   Very luckily he is totally fine and his next run will be at Cornbury.

I was very pleased with Under Oath in the dressage but he surprisingly only got a 34.  He jumped mostly a very good round of show jumping and had a couple of silly poles which he had not been doing recently, and I decided not to run him cross country.

Then it was on to the Advanced afternoon;  Little Fire was out for the first time since Aachen and did a lovely dressage of 24, the show jumping was not to be dwelt upon, you never jump well at Wellington and yesterday was no exception. Jenny and I decided that to run him was pointless.

Yes I Can and Moonlight Charmer were having their last decent run before Boekelo, and both had really good days.  

Yes I Can was lying 2^nd in the dressage behind Little Fire on 28.  His dressage is really coming on now with confidence, and there are still more marks to be had. His clear showi jumping was very impressive, he jumped even better than he jumped at Bramham, so I could not be happier.  By the end of the day I felt the ground was fimring up a bit so I decded a quiet run was what was needed and he went very well, he felt great, took it all in his stride.  He finished a very creditable 8^th and was certainly way the slowest in the top 10.

I was very happy with Moonlight Charmer’s dressage of 29.5, he also did a very decent test. His show jumping round was also class, he didn’t feel that he would touch a fence.  He then gave me a very good round cross country, he was in a lovely rhythm and very relaxed and turnable, perhaps he was a bit geen into the water but he was always going and I was ready for a little wobble.  He was slightly quicker than Yes with 16 time faults and he finished 6^th, again with more time faults than most.

Hopefully my busy weekend will have set me up well for Burghley.  Oratorio is on very good form and I am hoping, with a tail wind, for a good weekend.