GREAT OUTINGS & GOOD PLACINGS!
What a cracking month we've had. To start off we took the three younger horses to West Wilts, this month with LANZAROTE and CALVIN in the Novice and VENDI FOX competing in his first BE100 in the 5yo class.

LANZAROTE was such a star, producing some of his best work to score 32. We had an unlucky pole show jumping but of course a very easy clear round the cross country, finishing in 3rd place. He is such a star and is almost ready to move up to intermediate. A good note to end on as sadly now though he is for sale and I won’t be competing him again, but I think he will make an amazing Junior / Young Rider team horse.
CALVIN too didn’t disappoint that day either: a beautiful test as always with a not so impressive judges score of 30.0, but a super double clear with just a handful of time faults to finish in 2nd place again. He is such an exciting horse for the future so watch this space!
VENDI FOX was next, his test was by far his best to date, he felt as though he was more confident and balanced and was rewarded with a 26.3. Of course, he did a beautiful double clear inside the time and I really feel he is getting the hang of this eventing lark and I'm really excited as  I think he has a lot of potential to move up the grades. I was also delighted with him finishing in 9th place - clever boy!

Next up was a very relaxed week at Hartpury with just BILLY BALL there competing in the CCI**

He flew through the trot up and looked beautiful as always! His test was Thursday lunchtime and I was really pleased with him, we had one annoying mistake but otherwise he was super, calm and relaxed and was listening to me throughout the test, which I was really happy with.
The cross-country course was a nice track but with plenty of skinnies and corners. As he came out the start box he felt a lot more established and popped round the course really nicely and jumped a lovely clear. It was actually quite hilly and he got a little tired towards the end and picked up some time faults, but I was really delighted with him.
The following day he came out fresh and well. Again flying through the trot up. The show jumping course was causing quite a bit of trouble especially regarding the time. But BILLY BALL jumped his socks off, feeling as fresh as a daisy, giving everything plenty of room. We cut a few corners to save time and he was therefore easily inside the time  A great finish to the season for him.

Next up we took the two 6yo’s to Smiths Lawn for the Novice. This was CALVIN’s first Novice, but LANZAROTE has now done a couple. First to go was LANZAROTE. A slightly lazy test which was disappointing after he warmed in beautifully scoring 37.8.(That's horses for you!) But he made up for it with a fantastic double clear finishing just outside the top 10 as I picked up a couple of time faults.CALVIN was a star 27.8 in his first Novice test and an easy double clear. I really kicked on for the time which we got just inside which left him in 2nd. A fantastic result for his first Novice, well done CALVIN!!!

It was lovely to qualify for the Novice Championships at Gatcombe Horse Trials. I haven’t been for a couple of years and was lovely to be back. I was competing FRIDAY KNIGHT. I was very pleased with his test, a few areas where he showed some inexperience,  but overall he was super, scoring 32.5. The jumping course was up to height and spooky but as always he popped round with a lovely clear. As expected the Cross Country was bold and encouraged forward riding, it was also very hilly, which sadly does not suit FRIDAY KNIGHT but I couldn’t fault him, he kept jumping and felt fantastic and still kept going to the end even though he got tired. Sadly his time faults pushed him outside the top 10, but overall all his owners were delighted with the way he performed as was I.

To finish off the month, we had a nice quiet day at Calmsden with VENDI FOX in the BE90 and CALVIN in the BE100.VENDI FOX posted a much improved test to score 29.3, and then went on to jump a super double clear inside the time. He would have been well placed, but sadly I had to run HC due to the fact that I have competed at Advanced level, but what a cracking day!CALVIN was having his first run back after a bit of a break. A slightly tense dressage test, which I wasn’t expecting, but scored a credible 28.5 and he too jumped a lovely double clear, adding a handful of time faults as we just cantered round quietly, with this leaving him in 4th place.

A great month, busy competing, till next time!

Georgie
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