Lauren Shannon’s blog: Gentel Lux shows her class at Blenheim
Hi everyone,
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, considering this season hasn’t been as busy as most. Time seems hard to come by at the minute.
Now though, things are winding down for the year. I have actually just completed my last one-day of the year, a very local event at Brooksby Melton College. I only had two horses there, and Silver Birches Arthur finished fourth in his BE100, his best result this season. He feels great and we are looking forward to moving him up to novice and CCI* level next spring.
I also had Quality Purdey there, a new arrival to our yard. She competed at Burnham Market the weekend before Brooksby in the BE100, which was her first event ever! She went to Brooksby and did an amazing 25 dressage (the second best of all the BE100 sections that day!) clear showjumping and flew around the cross-country. She had a hesitation at the water, which meant we incurred 20 penalties, but she is looking like a serious contender for the future. She’ll now spend the winter with me to bring her education on before going out to be competitive at one-star level next year.
My mare Gentel Lux is now officially at three-star level after completing the Fidelity Blenheim CIC*** a couple weeks ago (pictured). She is only eight, so I took her more for the experience than to be competitive and she really wowed me! We did a 53 dressage, which for her first three-star test and first year competing with flying changes I was really pleased with.
We showjumped in the fog first thing Saturday morning and I have to say Lux felt a little fresh! We ended up having two down, which were both at the beginning of the course. As she settled, she jumped better and better. I know she’s an amazing jumper though, so I’m not too worried.
The next day we headed out on the cross-country course and I have to say Lux felt like she’s been doing this for years. She flew round through all the straight routes, never looking or feeling green and loving the attention from the crowds. I am so excited to get her out next year now, as she’s really shown she wants to be a competitive horse at the upper levels!
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So this week we are off to the last international of the year for us. Osberton Horse Trials isn’t far from us here in Leicestershire, and Crunchie (Kilcannon Credit Crunch) is going to contest the Lycetts CIC* six-year-old championships.
As she was so close to winning Somerford CIC* in August, I am really hoping to do well on her this weekend. I hear the going on the cross-country is perfect, so provided it doesn’t lash down with any more rain, we should have a brilliant weekend. Good luck to everyone else out and about this weekend…
Lauren
Full report of Osberton in H&H next week, out 4 October
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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.