With only two events left of the season things have started to quieten down at home on the eventing front, but now we start gearing up in earnest for the hunting season! There’s never a quiet month in our yard.
A couple of weekends ago we took Ruby (Rubabell Cruise) to South Of England for her first CIC1*. She did a good test with a few expensive mistakes keeping us out of the top half but that didn’t seem to matter, as it definitely wasn’t a dressage competition. She lay 37th out of 71 after dressage on her score of 51.2 but after a speedy double clear with only 1.6 time faults she moved up to finish 7th! I was thrilled with her performance as she is still fairly green having only started eventing in July. She now has a run at Larkhill before she heads to Aldon for the CCI1*.
We were then at Osberton last week with Myrtle (In Vogue II) in the CCI2* and Archie (Arise Cavalier) in the five-year-old championships.
Myrtle did a really good mistake free test so I was a little disappointed with her score of 49.1. We had been to Ulrik Molgaard for a couple of dressage lessons in the week leading up to Osberton and I felt we really had her working in a much more consistent and soft outline. I was really pleased this transferred into how she went in her test.
The cross country was a good long galloping track with some decent combinations and by far the furthest she has ever had to gallop. She was going really well but we had a really silly run out at a brush corner towards the end of the track. Sadly she just didn’t seem to read it properly but jumped it second time and went on to jump through the last tricky combination with another corner really well.
I was thrilled with how she came out to jump on the Sunday and had a very unlucky pole coming out of a combination. Overall she put in a really solid performance at her first long CCI2* and is now on a well-deserved holiday.
Archie behaved impeccably all week and although he didn’t finish competitively in the five-year-old championships I was pleased with how he went and how grown up he was considering there was so much going on. He has come such a long way from the naughty five-year-old who had me off far too many times back at the beginning of the season.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
He won’t be having a break just yet though as he is going to further his education with a few days on the hunting field. I think hunting is a fantastic place for young horses to learn how to jump out of different going and to help them become more forward thinking. Exactly what we feel Archie will benefit from.
In some sad news, my lovely boy Skippy (Abakala Flagmount) has been sold. He has been such a fun horse to event this season and is the most gorgeous person to have around. He has gone to a great home where I know he will be loved as much as he deserves and it’s not so bad as I will get to see him out on the hunting field.
Rosie
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Rosie Fry has been blogging for Horse & Hound since shortly after she left university to concentrate on eventing full time in July 2013. She is the sister of National Hunt trainer Harry Fry and helps school and exercise his horses when time allows.