Pau CCI****

Bay My Hero’s dressage went as well as I could have hoped on Friday afternoon at Pau.  This was his first ever attempt at a 4* test in a competition arena and I could not have been happier with how he went.  He scored 41.7 which left him in 8^th place.  Chilli Morning dropped to 13^th after several very good marks came in on the Friday.

The rain set in on Friday night and became torrential leaving the ground very sodden on Saturday morning, in fact in many instances it could well have been abandoned.  Chilli Morning was first out on the course so luckily got the best ground but it certainly rode very wet and slippery.  He gave me a fantastic round and finished comfortably inside the time.  It was quite a testing course for him, particularly with some rather nasty turns but he responded well and never gave me an anxious moment.  

It was then a long wait until Bay My Hero’s cross country and although conditions had dried up the ground had become quite loose, luckily it does not get too deep though.  He also gave me a fantastic ride across country taking it all in his stride as usual.  I wasn’t sure how he would cope with the extra distance but he was also comfortably inside the time moving up into 5^th place.  Chilli Morning slotted in just behind in 6^th.  Both horses looked good on Saturday night which is always a huge relief after a testing day.

The show jumping course as usual walked big and the difficult ground oin the main arena always leaves the show jumping a very influential phase.  Chilli Morning has never jumped better for a clear round and one time fault, Bay My Hero also jumped really well but just rolled an unlucky pole coming out of the treble.  This left them both on identical scores, but as Bay My Hero was slightly closer to the optimum time across country he finished 4^th and Chilli Morning finished 5^th.  This was a really pleasing result particularly amongst several top horses and a fantastic end to the 2012 season.

Both horses have travelled home well and look great today.  Bay My hero will now have 10 weeks off but Chilli Morning will be slightly busier as he is off to West Kington Stud where they will collect some more straws, so much he is in demand!

The Pau team did a fantastic job as usual hosting a large entry.  As always it was a fun week, the weather wasn’t the best, but it finished with a beautiful day on Sunday and the best news is that during the winter the main arena surface is to be changed.