Bubby Upton has taken the lead in the CCI4*-L at the conclusion of the Defender Bramham Horse Trials dressage. The young British rider scored 24.4 for her test on the smart 10-year-old grey Its Cooley Time, owned by his rider and the Five Time Syndicate.
“The one trait he’s never lacked is talent, but it’s taken a long, long time to get his head in the game. He was unbelievably sharp as a youngster,” said Bubby.
Bubby added: “He led the seven-year-old championships at Osberton after dressage and that was the first time I thought we were actually getting somewhere. His focus with the cross-country came from that point onwards too.
“But I always took him very steady; I never wanted to expose him to too much of an atmosphere too young, because I thought he could go back the other way. I didn’t want to undo all the time and patience that we’d given him and go 10 steps back.”
Its Cooley Time missed the autumn season last year as he contracted a skin infection which took time to clear up and Bubby said she had a blip in the dressage at Belsay – “I sat like a lemon for my changes” – where the pair finished fourth in the CCI4*-S.
After today’s Bramham Horse Trials dressage, Bubby Upton added: “He’s forced me to improve and adapt as a rider more than any other horse. He goes in a completely different way to all my other horses.
“When you watch him go across country, you think, that horse goes so low, how does he keep any poles up? And when you watch him showjump, he goes so high that you think he’s a freak that can’t go across country.
“Touch wood, now he knows what the job is, and so I don’t care if he messes around at home, because when he goes in there and focuses like that, you can’t ask much more.”
Ugly duckling comes good
It was a morning when grey 10-year-olds excelled, as Izzy Taylor and SBH Big Wall, owned by Jane Timmis, slipped into third on 25.4, behind overnight leaders Sarah Bullimore and Corimiro.
Izzy said: “I’ve always loved this horse. I’ve had him since a four-year-old, which makes it very special for me, and actually makes the job easier, because you know each other so well. He was very rideable the whole way through. He had a little spook, but that’s part of his character.”
Izzy added the SBH Big Wall was “a very ugly duckling”, whose looks have improved with age.
“He’s always had just a great brain and very much wants to do right. He gets annoyed with himself, sometimes with you, when it’s not quite what you want, but that’s a very rare occasion,” she said. “He’s really chilled and just loves his job.”
Caroline Harris was the best of this afternoon’s competitors in the Bramham Horse Trials CCI4*-L dressage and sits sixth on Cooley Mosstown. Sweden’s Louise Romeike (Caspian 15) and Britain’s Barnie Brotherton (DHI King Nelson), who both competed yesterday, hold fourth and fifth ahead of tomorrow’s cross-country.
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