Chatsworth

It was great to be back at Chatsworth having missed last year.  It is a fantastic event and there seemed to be a large crowd despite the blustery conditions.  I had a very pleasing weekend overall with my six horses. 

Top Biats happily gained his Le Lion D’Angers qualification (although he will obviously still have to go through the selectionrocess) by going double clear in the CIC* (although he will obviously still have to go through the selection process).  He scored 45.6 which put him in the top few after dressage, a great performance as it was only his third ever Novice test and his first time in a big arena.  The cross country was fairly decent for a 1* and certainly a big step up from anything he had done but he took it all in his stride and gave me a lovely ride.  It is quite mean that they ask the 1*’s to show jump after the cross country on the same day and I wondered how his energy levels would be after a 5min 40sec cross country, but he jumped a good clear round still feeling very bright.  Having gained his qualification we will now focus on getting him some more novice experience before having an Intermediate run later in the summer.

Neuf Des Coeurs had a good run in the special CIC*** section to finish 11th.  He felt on fantastic form throughout and his test of 46.7 left him in 4^th place after dressage.  It was good for him to get into the main arena and experience a decent atmosphere.  His trot work was some of his best ever but he got a little bit onward bound in the canter work.  The cross country was a notch bigger than the regular CIC*** but he made it feel easy and once or twice would like to have pulled my arms out.  He finished the day off with a lovely clear show jumping which was particularly pleasing as it was after the cross country. I believe this is the last time this will be allowed to happen as next year show jumping can only follow the cross country at a one day if its on the next day.

Lionheart and Cool Mountian both had very good runs and double clears in the normal CIC*** sections.  Cool Mountian finished 6^th in his section after leading the dressage on a mark of 36.9 and Lionheart finished 11^th in his section with a dressage of 49.6. 

After a pleasing test of 43.0 in the CIC*** and one down in the show jumping Running Order had a naughty stop going into the water after which I decided to retire him.   I am not sure what was going on there but I will take him for a cross country school this week before making a decision on where we go from here.

Before Time had a very good day finishing 7^th in his Advanced section.  He scored 33.6 in the dressage and I was delighted with his performance.   He show jumped really well and gave me a fantastic feeling across country and the result means he is now qualified for the CIC3* at Bramham.

Harry Dzenis had a very successful first Advanced outing with Dromgurrihy Blue to finish 8^th.  I was very pleased for him as he has put in a lot of hard work and they are forming a great partnership.