The weeks are speeding by and the end of the season is creeping closer, but we have plenty to look forward to before then.
Myrtle (In Vogue II) went to Gatcombe at the weekend (Friday 19 – Sunday 21 September) for her first two-star and I was thrilled with her performance.
The weekend started well with a dressage score of 47.9 being good enough to put us equal sixth out of 98 starters after this phase. We had a few mistakes and the dreaded walk pirouettes need some more work so it was a really encouraging mark. To be this high up in such a competitive section was really exciting, however my chances ended rather early in the cross-country.
Fence four was a log on a mound with one stride down the other side to a big ditch, then a curving three strides to a skinny house. Myrtle jumped really big and exuberantly over the ditch meaning we had overshot the line to the skinny and sadly, I didn’t think quick enough to stop myself crossing my tracks getting back to the skinny which resulted in a technical 20 penalties. However, she didn’t know she had done anything wrong and flew round the rest of the track. I was kicking myself at the finish as she deserved to be up there in the top few.
The course caused an enormous amount of trouble with masses of retirements and eliminations so overall I was really pleased with her. We now head to Osberton CCI2* with me even more determination to get the result she deserves.
We are then taking Ruby (Rubabell Cruise) and Skippy (Abakala Flagmount) to South of England for their first one-stars, which they should be more than ready for.
Skippy has had a couple of really good recent runs at novice. He did a lovely double clear at Goring Heath, finishing on his dressage score to come sixth. Then on Monday he did another beautiful double clear to finish fourth at one of our more local events, Pontispool (pictured). I’m really pleased with his progress and he seems to have got more and more confident in his showjumping so he’s heading in the right direction.
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Ruby also had a good run at Pontispool, again doing a double clear to come sixth in her novice section. She is improving every time out and having previously showjumped to a high level finds the jumping very easy. She is for sale and would make a fantastic junior/young rider horse for next season.
A quick update on Kitkat (Another Breakfast) who has been out of action since picking up a minor leg injury in June. He is still on the sidelines but we are hopeful that it won’t be too long before he can start walking out again. He is getting extremely grumpy being left at home all the time and has been finding lots of ways to entertain himself, including some rather stallion-like behaviour with my five-year-old Archie (Arise Cavalier). They have had to be separated!
Archie has also enjoyed his first morning’s hunting to get him freshened up in preparation for Osberton five-year-old championships. He was really well behaved, unlike his ‘nanny’, my young rider horse Bankon Louie, with whom mum had a rather interesting time on!
Rosie
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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.