Aston and Chatsworth

Aston le Walls

So last week it was on from Badminton to Aston Le Walls and first up was Duke Legacy doing his first Intermediate.  I had hoped he would be ready as he had been very confident at Novice.  He did a very decent test and was in the top few on a score of 30.5.  Show jumping was a bit of a disaster, but it was not his; I managed to circle the wrong way so got hundreds of time faults.  He actually jumped a great round and only had one down, but the reading is more interesting.  He then flew around the cross country very confidently.  As always at Aston it was a nice course, but there were a few questions but it was great to feel that he was more than ready for the challenge.  So, great to have Intermediate now under his belt, and I am looking forward to aiming at some other suitable ones.

Thursday was Novice for Cayiano, and he did a lovely dressage of 28, and jumped clear.  I felt having been away at Badminton he could have been a bit more prepared for cross country so decided not to run him.  He is now aiming for an increased number of runs to get him on the job.

Chatsworth

It was exciting to be back at Chatsworth after three years and what a beautiful weekend it was.  I had Under Oath and Duke Legacy in the 2*S and both horses went extremely well.  Duke Legacy did a lovely dressage to score 26.3.  He was so unlucky to roll a pole in the show jumping and finished 9^th with a lovely clear inside the time over the undulating Chatsworth terrain.

Under Oath was not his usual self in the dressage, he was a little bit tense to score 30.  He was therefore slightly off the pace.  He however then did a lovely double clear feeling his usual professional self and ended up a creditable 5^th.  The sections were very full so both horses had very satisfying results.  

Yes I Can was having his first Advanced run for quite a while, and I was hoping for a good one as a preparation for Bramham.  His dressage ended up being a little mixed but most of his test he produced very pleasingly, and got some decent marks.  At the end we had a bit of a jolt and lost several points.  He however ended up on a 31 and was in 9^th place.  He then show jumped beautifully in the big arena and moved up to 3^rd.  On the cross country I moved on a bit but overall went quite quietly because the ground was firming up.  I was very pleased with how he went but we did get 16 time faults and dropped down to 11^th place.  He has come out of his run really well and we are now all systems go for the 4*L at Bramham.  He will now focus on fitness and although he is entered for another OI run he will probably head straight to Bramham off just a good cross country schooling session. 

It was just lovely to be back at Chatsworth I have never seen the place so packed and so alive.  The team there did an amazing job with such a lot going on, but it was obviously that Derbyshire was very happy to be out!