Brilliant Blenheim Boys:
I think I can categorically say that this weekend has been my best ever 'weekend at the office'. Luke, Willy and Sprout did us all proud at Blenheim Palace *** event.
Luke did his best test ever to score 52. He dealt well with the main arena, and to crack the elusive 50 barrier just needs to work more 'uphill'. Sprout and Willy both tried very hard and did all their 'new moves' to the best of their current level, and we were all very disappointed with their marks of 61 and 60 respectively. Mrs Tucker is usually a very accurate judge, although normally marks the lowest of the three, and she was nearly 10 marks ahead of the others! I decided that although they weren't going to be competetive as I would have liked this weekend, from an education point of view they had done some good work at a new level in considerable atmosphere and they were none the wiser about the judging!
The cross country walked fairly big and an imposing track, but I felt slightly less technical than Bramham had been in the spring. The going was as perfect as you could get. The optimum time was longer than Burghley at 10 min 56 sec, for the CCI which was a challenge in itself, particularly with the hilly terrain and the long water crossings.
Luke was a star. He gave me a wonderful ride XC, and we really felt a complete partnership. He answered my every wish with a magic clear round and 11 time faults. Retrospectively I could have run a little quicker, but I didn't know him well enough to know where his tank reaches empty, the answer is ... it doesn't! He finished full of running and we both were grinning.
Sprout and Willy had their CIC show jumping on Saturday evening. Sprout was second to jump and pinged around clear, delighted to have so many supporters there to watch...he thought the entire grandstand was full for him. Willy was unlucky to jump nearly 45mins later than his alloted time, coupled with a 25 min hack to the arena and an hour wait for Sprout to jump. By the time our turn came around I think Willy was a bit 'over it', and I don't blame him! Once we started he tried his socks off and only a little difference of opinion on approaching the planks resulted in 4 faults. He certainly tried hard for me, and in future I can be a little 'cooler' about my warm up.
The CIC cross country was on Sunday morning, after Luke sailed down the trot up to pass the dreaded inspection. Willy ran first, and after our little splash at Hartpury I was keen to complete a nice clear. He pulled out all the stops and gave me a fantastic spin. He made a copy book job the whole way round, and was very kind to me when I over-rode the second water and made life harder than it needed to be. A big thumbs up for Willy, who came back having learnt an awful lot and seeminly really enjoying himself.
Sprout ran second and with the benefit of my experience on Willy made the track feel effortless. He apparently lost a hind shoe at fence one, but didn't miss a beat from start to finish and I felt overwhelmingly proud of him.
Lastly Luke's CCI show jumping. He felt calm and relaxed but not overly tired and jumped probably as well as I've ever felt him. He gave a great demo of 3rd day show jumping, and I was really sad for him that he had an unlucky 4 faults at the last double. He certainly couldn't have tried harder or jumped better. Very annoyingly any other year, this would qualify us for Badminton, but for 2011 they have changed the qualifications and we missed out by 2 places...dammit.
Still, I now have two ponies qualified for CCI3* and one for CCI4* so I really couldn't be happier. The three boys did personal best performances in all three phases this weekend, and I feel extremely lucky...thank you to my amazing support team for making my dreams come true!
