Event Owners Blog from Hexham

Trig Point joins Fiddlewood on the Podium.
Points, Ribbons and prizes..

NBR had six runners over two days at Hexham though I was only in attendance for the major part of the Saturday.
We had had a busy week with the well attended yard opening on Thursday evening encompassing a trot up followed by a display by Trig Point in the arena.
We were extremely lucky with the weather as the photos show, and the whole evening was extremely enjoyable.

Hexham
I avoided the heavy rain which affected the very start of the event, but by mid morning it had dried, and unlike other events which fell victim to the weather this survived.
The runners on Saturday were Bally Cassidy (on what was to be his last run for NBR) and Skye Rhode in the Novice, Freddy Curtis and Trig Point in the Intermediate, and on Sunday Fiddlewood (though dressage late Saturday) and Stonedge in the BE100
I had fears about the ground given how dry it was, but need not have worried, as the going seemed excellent.
There seemed a reasonable number of trade stands to last year, and attendance seemed about the same.
The scores being published were simply painfully slow, but the major operational issues appeared in the showjumping, and this is one of the first times this season I have felt the need to express some concern.

Showjumping – The issues
Before getting into the results I do have to comment on the lack of structure within the showjumping organization which allowed the warm up area to degenerate into a virtual scrum.
The times issued seemed to have no relevance, and horses were being taken in order of appearance, which might have been fine for a series of single riders, but soon completely fell down when multiple riders were appearing have done other disciplines and were trying to adhere to the timetable given to them. Other events seem to cope with this fairly well, but clearly not here, and the stewards were called in, to try and unravel the situation. I do feel sympathy for the volunteers attempting to work an unworkable system, but less for the local stewards who seemed unable to take on constructive suggestions where offered (including some made at the start of the day when it was clear from early on what was going to happen). One excuse for not changing it seemed to be that “eventing is for amateurs and everyone must take their turn”. Not quite sure about that. Can one suggest (and I know the BE Regional Stewards do make suggestions on a regular basis) the adoption of best in class suggestions from various events, as to what works effectively at other events and makes things easier to manage. Riders (and owners) attend heaps of events each year and should have a pretty good idea of initiatives that work well, and spot things that don’t.
Many events are only run once or twice a year, and in many cases don’t have the opportunity to take on board some of the good ideas being used elsewhere.
In the showjumping the Aston-Le-Walls system seemed to get very good airtime, (one event that I have missed so far) where riders are taken in blocks of four as they arrive and then a slot is left for a multiple rider, followed by another block of four and then a multiple and so on. That might then alleviate some of the extremes that seemed to happen at this event.
I also must thank the Stewards involved in both the cross country and dressage, who were very understanding as the situation started to develop. Fortunately I was able to go to both areas well ahead of the scheduled timings to explain that the showjumping was going to have a knock on effect, and we might need some flexibility. In the end Nicky had to spend 50 minutes at the show jumping with one horse and actually was only allowed to ride 35 minutes after her scheduled slot on Trig Point. Doesn’t seem quite right somehow.

The Competition
So far this season dressage has perhaps been the lagging discipline, certainly not helped by the lack of arena until mid march.
It had been pointed out in previous blogs that it might take a couple of months to get up to full speed, both in the showjumping and the dressage.
Showjumping has actually proved very good up to now, but on this occasion all the horses seemed to pull out the stops in the dressage arena.
Showjumping on the whole was trickier with distractions getting the better of some of the horses, but all seemed to perform very well cross country, and Trig Point’s round was very impressive to watch.

BE100Fiddlewood and Stonedge were the competitors in this class.
I had the opportunity to see the new BE100 test in action for the first time and was interested to see how complex and long it seemed to be compared with the previous version.
It didn’t seem to hold any qualms for Fiddlewood who did an excellent test and was awarded a 26 to go into the Sunday part of the competition in joint first.
He then proceeded to do a double clear, winning his section by 5.2 marks. Two outings this year and two wins and the tenth event in a row he has been in the top six
He is now being aimed for the Novice at Burgie so an upgrade in class.
Stonedge also had a good dressage of 27 but was amongst a number of low scorers. He rolled a pole in the showjumping and had 0.8 of a time fault to come in tenth.
He is only five and caught the eye again. He heads off to Bramham Young Event Horse 5 year old on Friday, with Watts Burn doing the 4yo.

Novices.
In the Novice class Bally and Skye Rhode both came in under 40 and with a 35.8 this was Bally’s best dressage since he arrived in the yard.
He rolled a couple showjumping but with a reasonably sprightly Cross Country did enough to get in the Ribbons in 10th Place. He has now been sold by the owner Sharon Lindop and left the event with Matthew Wright. We will be watching his career with interest.
Skye Rhode looked very unsettled entering the showjumping and had three down and was very distracted. Despite a reasonable cross country he finished outside the placings. He now heads for a CIC1* at Burgie

Intermediates
Almost an inversion of the norm for Freddy who seemed remarkably calm for the Dressage and his 35.8 putting him in fourth. However he seemed very distracted in the showjumping not concentrating either in the warm up or going into the ring. (More time would have been much better, but he came right at the end of the class and there still was cross country to do on both). He had three fences down in the first six and how he cleared the rest I am not sure, but improved towards the end. We know what he can do so this was a bit frustrating and actually out of character this year. He went impressively round the cross country picking up just over 10 time faults putting him in 10th place and getting a ribbon.
Pride of place on this occasion goes to Trig Point who, in a similar pattern to last year, hit a different gear as he entered June. The indications had been there at Floors, and we moved forward a stage here.
His dressage of 30 put him at the business end of the competition, and he finally seems to be conquering test 117. Apart from one minor glitch this was a lovely test.

In the showjumping he was unlucky to roll a pole at the treble (again one down at a combination).
This then left the cross country where he was clearly in the mix. He produced a superb cross country round coming in with only two time faults, certainly his best outing at this level and a good preparation for his first three day event. He just missed out on victory by 0.5 of a mark (2 seconds) and came in an impressive third. This combination of scores (70% dressage, one down showjumping, and in the top three) is one of the two qualifications he needs automatically to stay on the Pathway, with the other being achieved within a six month period. The potential is clearly there and seeing him blaze a trail flowing impressively was well worth seeing. He still is only seven.
Next outing for both Freddy and Trig Point is at the CIC1* at Burgie. This will be Freddy’s first three day since the 2* at Necarne and it will be interesting to see how he copes with the hilly course. Burgie will be a first time for me too.

Summary
Six entries led to Five rosettes.
Two visits to the podium, for Fiddlewood and Trig Point, and some prize money.

Points
Freddy had been closing in, but the giant awakens and Trig Point get 8 points for finishing third.
He moves onto 10 for this year and brings the yard total to 30. Mistral 12, Trig Point 10 and Freddy Curtis 8.
Trig Points overall total moves to 36.

Next up
Nicky heads off to Bramham Young event horse followed by the trip the week after to Burgie, when we will be following on.
There may even be an outing for Arctic Soul (Spike) for a bit of training and the experience.