It’s been a busy past week here on the Shannon Eventing yard.
We made the trip to Eland Lodge last weekend, a beautiful event just 45min from us. The courses are incredibly well presented and well-built for the levels offered. We always try to make the trip there, and this time one of my working pupils, Bex Graham, pulled off a lovely double clear in the BE90 on Crispy. I thought she did a lovely test, albeit possibly slightly “safe” in her paces, so we expected a mark in the low 30’s/late 20’s. Unfortunately, she scored 36, which wasn’t a brilliant mark in her section. It was disheartening for Bex to ride really well and then be marked harshly. However, this is dressage, and we all know that sometimes we see and feel different things!
I’d like to take this opportunity to make a plea to the organisers for better signage on the roads approaching the event. There were roadworks off the main road going to Eland, and we were kindly advised beforehand on BDWP.com and via email to follow the diversion signs. Unfortunately, these diversion signs left us — along with a number of other horseboxes — lost in the middle of a town centre! Then when we finally got to the crossroads going in to Eland Lodge, there were three horse trials signs on one junction.
To be honest, this is a fairly consistent issue at British events in general — not that I get lost on my way to all of them! I would love to see more signs on the way, not only to help get me there, but my owners, supporters and possibly even bring in some more footfall for the various tradestands. We won’t get the public interested in our sport unless we shout about it from the rooftops, but general feedback from my family and friends is that they love eventing once they take the time to come to an event to spectate. Never-the-less, we still had a fabulous day in the sunshine and will always enjoy Eland Lodge.
Exciting new arrivals
Lauren Shannon and Alta
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
This week I have sent Delphi off to Oakham Vet Stud to have her second foal. It has come around very quickly, but with my 9-year-old mare Lux also in foal after picking up an injury, we have a lot of youngsters to look forward to. I can’t wait to meet the next foal, and as I already have my precious filly Alta, I don’t mind if Delphi has a filly or colt, as long as it has four legs and two eyes!
We spending the day at Barbury Horse Trials on Friday, before heading off to another lovely local event, Buckminster, at the weekend. With the weather set to break and bring some much needed rain soon, I’m looking forward to running all the horses.
Lauren
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Event rider Lauren Shannon blogged on Horseandhound.co.uk from June 2011 until September 2014. Born in Brighton, she lived in America from the age of three to 16, returning to the UK to go to university after she finished school. After university she worked for Mark and Tanya Kyle before setting up her own yard in Leicestershire. Her best result to date was finishing 9th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with her top horse, Zero Flight.
