Dauntsey Park

As the event season begins to draw to a close, I headed off to my second last event of the year, although this is sad I am also excited as it means I am closer to next season and bringing Jimmy back out of hibernation to win some of the big classes! I took 4 horses to Dauntsey over the two days. First on was Major Burke (Pebbles) I have been helping Holly Armstrong with him for about 7 months now, mainly on the flat but recently he has been a little cheeky xc so I was asked to have a feel. Pebbles produced a sweet test with a couple of small errors scoring a creditable 33.5. He then jumped well for a clear showjumping although he was a bit cross about being told to wait for the fences instead of rushing. Cross country he was naughty and I now understand what Holly has been having an issue with. Sadly he picked up 2 refusals but he has hopefully learned an valuable lesson having returned with a stinging rear end! Wally and Stan were next comepting in the PNP. Both of the boys were a little cheeky in the dressage in the very hot weather Wally scoring 35 and Stan 42.5 (although I think the judge may need to go to specsavers as one movement reads "half 10-12m circle return to the track at B" the comment read- "overshot centre line on half circle" how does a 12m half circle fit without crossing the c-line?? Grrrrr) Stan showjumped well just knocking the second, somehow he picked up 3 time faults but nonetheless he jumped well. Wally was having a stress day and was very het up before the showjumping. He knocked 2 fences and wasn't his usual careful self so I chose to withdraw him before the xc. Stan flew round the xc like a real pro, showing that he really is ready for novice, as he wasn't going to be placed I didn't push him for the time.

Pencarder Silver Storm (Rosie) was on the next day. Thankfully the temperature had cooled a little and was more bearable than the previous day. She hadn't been out on a trip for ages as she had puss in the foot at Burnham Beeches and I missed the ballot for Gatcombe intermediate oops. She did a sweet test just not quite as calm as she can produce but scored 39.5, she showjumped very well and just tipped the planks with the sun reflecting on them. Cross country she really is a little machine. Having not run for a while I let her cruise round not really pushing her out of her natural rhythm so I was surprised to be one of the fastest of the day only picking up 2.8 time and leaving her in 6th place.

Courtesy of Ultimate Images

I really can't thanks Charlotte Perryman enough for all her help at this event, without her I wouldn't have coped. She is very patient and always has the horses looking fantastic for each of the phases.