Tweseldown, Portman and the next couple of weeks!

Tweseldown

It was great to be at Tweseldown the first normal BE event, and it was fun to see everyone.  I was there on the Friday in the 100 with Duke Legacy, and he got ‘the season’ off to a perfect start with a win.  He led his section in the dressage and scored 25 and added nothing in the jumping phases, making it all feel rather easy.  He was certainly a bit wobbly at times but he was very focused and was not too surprised by anything.  That was also the first win in the sport for his owner Pamela, so there were lots of celebrations.

I had a busy Saturday with four Intermediates. It is a bit of fun and games at the moment as we have got no lorry, so we were there with the Hunting lorry and Equitrek, mixing and matching with not a lot of storage and no living!  It will certainly make me appreciate the Jeep lorry when it comes back from its facelift.

Under Oath was doing Intermediate, and did a pleasant not very wow dressage to score 30.  He had a bit of a drama in the show jumping when some planks blew down on take-off. They ended up giving him a couple of fences down but actually he jumped a pretty pleasing round.   He then went very happily around the cross country which was pleasing because it was actually quite big.  The course was not difficult but the jumps were much more substantial than the normal Tweseldown and there were a few questions.

Next up was Yes I Can, who produced a very nice dressage to score 26.  I have taken him to Carl Hester a couple of times and he is coming together very nicely.  He then jumped a good clear and went well cross country, but he was actually quite spooky at times, probably totally owing to how few runs he has had.

Georgisaurous was on fire in the dressage and got 18.6.  He did a super test and it was great to get a decent mark because he is quite good at dressage and deserved it.  He then was double clear, although slightly over excited by the whole occasion.

Grafennacht also did a nice test, although not quite like Georgisaurous, to score 27.  She show jumped really well and popped around the cross country in her usual way, like it was a 100.

Tweseldown had done brilliantly with their courses but they were surprisingly ‘A’ Level being so early in the season.  It will hopefully have brought them on plenty and they will be ready for Weston Park this weekend.

Portman

I only had Duke Legacy at Portman in the 100.  He did another nice test for 26, rolled a pole show jumping just gaining a bit too much distance, and went very happily around the cross country course.  He has got another run at Larkhill so it will have been excellent to get him out regularly to start off the season and help him relax.  

Kentucky

An amazing opportunity has arisen to take Oratorio, and not Little Fire, to Kentucky, and I am really grateful to his owners.  We just felt that he was in the form of his life and with so much uncertainty in the world at the moment we felt we needed to grab the opportunites as they come.  It seems a terrible waste not to give him a big target.  There are plenty of hoops to jump through over the next few days but fingers crossed it all comes together in time.  I am also thrilled that Alex Van Tuyll is going to be back grooming for me at the event which means Jackie can be back at home running things while I am away.