Barbury weekend

So the big shock of Barbury was somehow winning the 3* today on Clifton Signature.  That kind of result was never on the agenda so it is even more appreciated.  He had done a very nice test thanks to all Tracie Robinson's hard work last week.  He then jumped an excellent clear show jumping yesterday which put him in second place.  Tina Cook decided not to run Billy The Red so I found myself in the lead going into cross country,  the course was a good course there were a few questions but it wasn't the most difficult.  They had done a pretty good job in the end with the ground and Signature really went well on it.  I set out to have a go and he really felt up for it and on the job, so I kept going and he finished just over the time, with 1.6 time faults to keep hold of his lead.  This was a real added bonus as I was really hoping to just have a nice run on him and get to know him a little bit more.  I had watched a couple of of people going around inside the time earlier and I have to admit to be quite surprised that I was as close to the time.  He is a very good cross county horse and gave me a superb round, he is good fun to ride and made my life very easy.

Little Fire show jumped a very good round in the Barbury atmosphere which was great, and he was unlucky to have a pole down.  In cross country he was also amazing, he coped really well with the course but we had a stupid runout where I think he just got too fast and lost his balance.  He found the whole 3* experience very easy and will have come on a lot for the occasion.

2* day yesterday was a busy one; The Graduate had a couple of silly fences down in the show jumping which was very out of character, but he then jumped a solid clear cross country.

Yes I can did an excellent double clear making it all feel very easy.  

Shannondale Percy had a frustrating day with an unlucky show jump down, and a missed flag on the cross country.  He definitely jumped the jump but the flag went between his legs so I had to take the option which was very annoying.  For his experience I was very pleased with how well he coped with the whole occasion.

Oratorio had a very good day with an excellent clear show jumping and he made the cross country feel like nothing.  He went round very comfortably and is ready for his first Advanced next time out.

Photos from Barbury social media and Andrew McConnon