Chatsworth round up

After their Dressage excellence day two at Chatsworth wasn't quite so glorious but it was very satisfactory.  Grafennacht rolled a couple of poles in the show jumping which was in no way concerning, she was a little bit onward bound and quite excited by the buzzy atmosphere.  She then went around the cross country like an old hand, she is obviously still very green but she made it feel easy so she has now got her CIC* qualification which was all we were aiming for.  

Ludo FH show jumped really well, but I managed to get 4 time faults which was totally my fault because I kept on feeling he was a bit onward bound.  I set off on the cross country quite positively and he gave me a great feel. Unfortunately he went a bit green in the water at the skinny and had a glance off, which put paid to a potential second place.  

Little Fire's dressage mainly went extremely well, he did a lovely test and was right up the order on a score of 30.7 which I did feel was a bit stingy.  I managed to go the wrong way and without my error of course he would have led his section.  So then it was show jumping, and a very exciting occasion, and he was very on his toes, but considering that he jumped a very decent round just with one unlucky pole.  He tackled the cross country in a very grown up way and in a good rhythm and made it all feel very easy.  He gave me a foot perfect round and came home full of running if with 23.2 time faults.  I hadn't planned on hurrying but I pushed him up a few of the hills for fitness as his next run is now tattersall.

Then it was on to Oratorio, and in the show jumping he was also very pleasing.  He rolled a pole and got 3 time faults, but he was being very careful and threw some excellent jumps.  He was just quite happy to be out having not run since Tweseldown, so he was understandably quite lit up.  He gave me a great ride cross country, he was very straight and genuine.  I pushed him on a bit to test my brakes but was not in an overall hurry so he came back with 19 time faults.

Then Fernhill Pimms and Catherine and I decided to give another quick run after Badminton and he did a lovely dressage, there were a couple of glitches but again he was in Little Fire's arena and the judges were in the most generous of moods.  So after the dressage he was lying third, he then jumped a super clear show jumping and typically cruised around the cross country feeling on top form, and I was surprised that he got as many as 17 time faults because I was moving on, but he still managed to finish in fourth place, so that has cheered us all up.

Bay My Hero was in the ERM class and was very on his toes to be out.  Typically he was a bit on edge in the dressage and did not produce his best work,  he came out with a 31, which left in a very unremarkable 33rd position.  However the leader was on 25 so it was quite eye opening to be in 33rd place but only 6 points off the leader, but I guess that is the new scoring.  The show jumping course was big, certainly there was nothing lower than 130, and it did cause a bit of trouble for the section.  They had also tightened up the time considerably so that was a factor.  However Bay My Hero was on a mission and on his springs, and put in a wonderful clear round which moved him up from 33rd to 8th which is quite a climb in a very hotly competitive class.   The cross country course was a decent track but was possibly slightly on the soft side for an ERM class.  Bay My Hero flew around the cross county and I think we went as fast as we possibly could have done, but it was sadly too slow and we dropped one place to finish 9th.  He did get a little bit weery on the hills but he was really back to his best and on top form, and Catherine and I were more than happy with him.

Chatsworth and their team should be totally congratulated for their huge effort and for the whole weekend becoming such a success.  They really had coped well with the tricky conditions in the build up and overall, apart from the odd soft patch the going was amazing and the courses were spot on.

Next stop is Mount Ballan for a couple of the young ones on Tuesday, and then we are looking forward to a busy Rockingham on Sunday.