Aston Le Walls, Wednesday

It was a very satisfactory day at Aston Le Walls.  All the boys really came up with answers and I have come away feeling very confident with where they all are.

Shannondale Percy was in his first Intermediate and had a very happy outing.  He did a lovely dressage to score 31 which had him in second, not a very generous mark but I could not have been happier with how he went.  His show jumping was spot on and it was a very decent track so it was bigger than he is used to.  

The Cross Country course was very well prepared with both spiking and watering, and lots of people felt it was considerably better going than at Badminton last week!  I certainly walked it and was very happy to run my horses albeit quite quietly around.  Aston Le Walls is not the most difficult Intermediate track but this year it had been beefed up a little with plenty of questions so the horses will have learned lots. 

Shannondale Percy went round course effortlessly and confidently, he did show a bit of greeness jumping the ditches so big.  He got several time faults and came in 10th which was jolly nice.

Yes I Can was doing his first Intermediate and came up trumps, he actually did the best test I think he has ever done and I was very happy with how he felt. He scored 28; it was nice to get a better mark but it was also nice to have a judge who was feeling a little bit more positive.  His show jumping round was lovely and he took it on happily showing everyone just how well he can jump.  He has had plenty of Novice experience so he coped very well with the Intermediate cross country and nothing felt any bigger than usual.  He answered all the questions and the only fences he looked at were the 100 and intro ones that he had to go past.  He was a bit quicker than I expected, and got 11 time faults which meant he finished in 7th place.

The Graduate was my third 7 year old doing his first Intermediate, and everything went well.  He did a pleasing dressage with perhaps one or two moments of tension creeping in due to having to wait so late, but he was right up there on a score of 29.  He show jumped a super clear finding no issue with the bigger fences and he popped around the cross country very easily.  I don't think he got a place but it was great to see his owner Catherine Witt watching him for the first time this year. 

My last one was Oratorio in the OI and he had a splendid day. His dressage was his best yet and he scored 26 (hooray!) this was much more like it and is encouraging ahead of Tatts.  The show jumping was much smoother, not perfect, but he behaved much better and jumped a good solid clear, and he found the cross country to be very much a piece of cake which felt great. He is entered at Rockingham next week but I will only run him there if the ground is perfect, he has had enough runs to be fully prepared for Tatts.

So I am back tomorrow again with four and very much hope the ground will not have dried out too much, Andrew is there riding two. So it is a busy day for the team, and with a lovely 4am start to look forward to!