Wow, what a week. Three horses at a three star event posed quite a challenge. Thanks to my amazing team we made it...and in style. Fran and Bec deserve a special mention for the immaculate turn out of the beautiful boys, and Mum and Dad for helping me massively with logistics both human and equine!
So we arrived on Tuesday in time to lead them around, graze and put them to bed. We hacked all three every morning at about 6am to give them a leg stretch and chill a little.
Willy Do passed his wednesday jog with flying colours, followed by dressage lessons for all three with the wonderful Andrew Fletcher.
As 14th to go on Thursday Willy shot into the lead on a fab score of 45. Such a thrill and he was only overtaken by William Fox Pitt on both horses to complete the dressage phase in 3rd YAHOO! Not to be out done, Luke's test later Thursday afternoon put him into the lead in the CIC on 41. I was over the moon to score personal bests when it counts! Gill Watson was on hand to help me warm up and I certainly have her and Andrew to thank for these scores! Sprouty had the worst of the going late on Friday afternoon, but he tried hard, and but for a couple of errors is close to cracking into the 40's.
Saturday morning was a great thrill, Willy bounded around the most testing 3* track with relative ease, he took on all the direct routes and bar one slight blip exiting the water he didn't miss a beat. 9 time felt like a decent speed for him, and as he gets stronger he'll certainly get faster. What a buzz
. The trouble with having 3 horses is that you don't have long to enjoy 'the moment'. No sooner had we finished Willy's XC then it was time for Luke and Sprout to show jump.
This was the only time the ground really held me up. I was really gutted to finish Saturday well down the order with 4 down for Luke and 2 down for Sprout. I was in exalted company mind you, many of the big names on their top horses were having rails. I decided to attempt maturity and put it down in the great book of life under the chapter of experience, i didn't ride awful rounds and whilst there are a couple of things i'll do differently next time, I am trying not to lose too much sleep over it!
Sunday was a different story...HOOOOOOORAY. I had two magic rides XC on Luke and Sprout for 6 and 3 time respectively. Whilst i set out to give them a good spin against the clock, i was also aware that we were down the order somewhat and to belt round might be counter productive in the long run. They felt the consummate professionals and that this 3* level was very much within their everyday job.
For the CCI show jumping, the ground was much improved thankfully and Willy jumped the round of his life. Apart from going slightly cross eyed into the treble where he caught 2 elements, he flew round and finished proceedings in 8th place. Way beyond our wildest dreams. To cap off a happy week all three traveled home well and pulled up sound on Monday morning...so a litte pause before we have 6 at Nunney, 1 at Salperton and then its Barbury and hopefully Aachen...time to get excited!
Willy Do passed his wednesday jog with flying colours, followed by dressage lessons for all three with the wonderful Andrew Fletcher.
As 14th to go on Thursday Willy shot into the lead on a fab score of 45. Such a thrill and he was only overtaken by William Fox Pitt on both horses to complete the dressage phase in 3rd YAHOO! Not to be out done, Luke's test later Thursday afternoon put him into the lead in the CIC on 41. I was over the moon to score personal bests when it counts! Gill Watson was on hand to help me warm up and I certainly have her and Andrew to thank for these scores! Sprouty had the worst of the going late on Friday afternoon, but he tried hard, and but for a couple of errors is close to cracking into the 40's.
Saturday morning was a great thrill, Willy bounded around the most testing 3* track with relative ease, he took on all the direct routes and bar one slight blip exiting the water he didn't miss a beat. 9 time felt like a decent speed for him, and as he gets stronger he'll certainly get faster. What a buzz
. The trouble with having 3 horses is that you don't have long to enjoy 'the moment'. No sooner had we finished Willy's XC then it was time for Luke and Sprout to show jump.
This was the only time the ground really held me up. I was really gutted to finish Saturday well down the order with 4 down for Luke and 2 down for Sprout. I was in exalted company mind you, many of the big names on their top horses were having rails. I decided to attempt maturity and put it down in the great book of life under the chapter of experience, i didn't ride awful rounds and whilst there are a couple of things i'll do differently next time, I am trying not to lose too much sleep over it!
Sunday was a different story...HOOOOOOORAY. I had two magic rides XC on Luke and Sprout for 6 and 3 time respectively. Whilst i set out to give them a good spin against the clock, i was also aware that we were down the order somewhat and to belt round might be counter productive in the long run. They felt the consummate professionals and that this 3* level was very much within their everyday job.
For the CCI show jumping, the ground was much improved thankfully and Willy jumped the round of his life. Apart from going slightly cross eyed into the treble where he caught 2 elements, he flew round and finished proceedings in 8th place. Way beyond our wildest dreams. To cap off a happy week all three traveled home well and pulled up sound on Monday morning...so a litte pause before we have 6 at Nunney, 1 at Salperton and then its Barbury and hopefully Aachen...time to get excited!
