Stonedge leads the charge to four Podiums, Prizes and Points, My Man Friday features, and Arctic Soul chills out..
A hectic couple of days competition at Strathallan which survived a heavy deluge on friday evening. I was fearing a rerun of the Auchinleck scenario as we headed north on Saturday morning admittedly three hours behind NBR. All proved to be well though, though the ground was soft in places, and competition was well underway by the time we rolled in.
The entries were weighted towards the Saturday and of the six competing, five were entered on the Saturday.
These included Stonedge in the Lycetts 5 year Old, Fiddlewood and Night Porter in The 6 year Old class, My Man Friday in a Novice, and Arctic Soul in a BE100 (after much debate)
Sunday’s Runner was Watts Burn in the Lycetts Four year Old.
Seasoned readers will note a couple of new names to the yard in time for this competition, in My Man Friday and Night Porter.
After Craig Anderson’s leg break at Eglington, NBR was approached by Marshall and Gail Milne to see whether Nicky could take the ride whilst Craig is out of action.
The horses appeared on Monday, and were competing on Saturday after some getting to know you sessions. Night Porter was previously in the yard as a youngster (when he seemed to be smaller). Craig is hobbling around on crutches although repairing well, looks likely to be out for the rest of the season.
The weather was kind, which helped, and there were only a couple of organizational moans.
The cross country map in the programme quite didn’t reflect the actual event especially in the BE100 course as one of the lower water crossings had been taken out, but that was understandable given the weather. The water crossing itself had become a run though, but I assume the sluice couldn’t be opened as it would have made the crossing too deep further down the course.
Viewing the cross country course isnt particularly easy but being strategically placed and with a bit of (rapid) movement one could see about eight to nine of the fences.
The dressage area had considerably more space to warm up in than Cumwhinton, which made preparation of Arctic Soul that much easier.
Showjumping logistics
There were some mutterings about the state of the loos on site even early in the day but the biggest issue appeared in the showjumping warm up area. The white board had again made its appearance but the organisers hadn’t set up a system to cope with multiple riders. The times for NBR had were already tight in the afternoon session with 8 minutes between two horses, but there were severe delays as riders were taken in appearance order not according to times. This became especially tricky when having to cope with dressage being last in the class, and the judge waiting , whilst still in the showjumping arena. A visit to the judge, who was most understanding, helped mollify the situation . Things got no better over in the showjumping for the remainder of Satuday, though I think Sunday proved easier (though we were not there).
I appreciate that many of these events are only held once a year, whilst the riders have considerably more experience, and often have found events where the system works well.
The Aston – Le- Walls system with an open slot for a multiple rider, after every four rounds again was suggested, and I hope to see the system adopted by more events as we go forward.
Of course it can only be a suggestion.
There was also a considerable delay at one stage on the cross country course as we were walking the course. It turned out that one of the jump judges when trying to ascend the step had slipped and managed to dislocate their knee.. ouch .. and we certainly hope for a rapid recovery .
To the event itself.
Dressage
We arrived just in time to see Stonedge do his dressage in a rather sticky arena in the Five year old class. His score of 37 was slightly disappointing though the class itself was actually scored quite highly. That placed him reasonably well in a class that was only going to have two qualifiers. Next up was Arctic Soul, and after the explosive display at Cumwhinton there was considerable doubt as to what genie might appear out of the bottle this time. This was a slightly more complicated test, being his first BE100, but he settled well beforehand, and produced a fabulous test of 28.5 to put him in the lead of the class of 32. That discipline at least seems to be something he is well suited to, if he can be settled.
Next up was My Man Friday and he produced an excellent Novice test of 28.6, his best of the season by some way, which set him up well for later. Fiddlewood had a 34.8 in the 6 uyear old class, just pipped by Night Porter, who came in with a 32.4. All of the tests look well balanced though a couple of scores were affected by rider slip ups. Even so all were well placed after this discipline..
Showjumping
This was undoubtedly a tough discipline in all classes looking at the scores. The slight undulations along with some clever fence positioning led to some fairly high scoring especially in the BE100 classes. Stonedge produced a very good clear round (the only one) in the 5 year old class, which was enough to put him into the lead.
The entries were weighted towards the Saturday and of the six competing, five were entered on the Saturday.
These included Stonedge in the Lycetts 5 year Old, Fiddlewood and Night Porter in The 6 year Old class, My Man Friday in a Novice, and Arctic Soul in a BE100 (after much debate)
Sunday’s Runner was Watts Burn in the Lycetts Four year Old.
Seasoned readers will note a couple of new names to the yard in time for this competition, in My Man Friday and Night Porter.
After Craig Anderson’s leg break at Eglington, NBR was approached by Marshall and Gail Milne to see whether Nicky could take the ride whilst Craig is out of action.
The horses appeared on Monday, and were competing on Saturday after some getting to know you sessions. Night Porter was previously in the yard as a youngster (when he seemed to be smaller). Craig is hobbling around on crutches although repairing well, looks likely to be out for the rest of the season.
The weather was kind, which helped, and there were only a couple of organizational moans.
The cross country map in the programme quite didn’t reflect the actual event especially in the BE100 course as one of the lower water crossings had been taken out, but that was understandable given the weather. The water crossing itself had become a run though, but I assume the sluice couldn’t be opened as it would have made the crossing too deep further down the course.
Viewing the cross country course isnt particularly easy but being strategically placed and with a bit of (rapid) movement one could see about eight to nine of the fences.
The dressage area had considerably more space to warm up in than Cumwhinton, which made preparation of Arctic Soul that much easier.
Showjumping logistics
There were some mutterings about the state of the loos on site even early in the day but the biggest issue appeared in the showjumping warm up area. The white board had again made its appearance but the organisers hadn’t set up a system to cope with multiple riders. The times for NBR had were already tight in the afternoon session with 8 minutes between two horses, but there were severe delays as riders were taken in appearance order not according to times. This became especially tricky when having to cope with dressage being last in the class, and the judge waiting , whilst still in the showjumping arena. A visit to the judge, who was most understanding, helped mollify the situation . Things got no better over in the showjumping for the remainder of Satuday, though I think Sunday proved easier (though we were not there).
I appreciate that many of these events are only held once a year, whilst the riders have considerably more experience, and often have found events where the system works well.
The Aston – Le- Walls system with an open slot for a multiple rider, after every four rounds again was suggested, and I hope to see the system adopted by more events as we go forward.
Of course it can only be a suggestion.
There was also a considerable delay at one stage on the cross country course as we were walking the course. It turned out that one of the jump judges when trying to ascend the step had slipped and managed to dislocate their knee.. ouch .. and we certainly hope for a rapid recovery .
To the event itself.
Dressage
We arrived just in time to see Stonedge do his dressage in a rather sticky arena in the Five year old class. His score of 37 was slightly disappointing though the class itself was actually scored quite highly. That placed him reasonably well in a class that was only going to have two qualifiers. Next up was Arctic Soul, and after the explosive display at Cumwhinton there was considerable doubt as to what genie might appear out of the bottle this time. This was a slightly more complicated test, being his first BE100, but he settled well beforehand, and produced a fabulous test of 28.5 to put him in the lead of the class of 32. That discipline at least seems to be something he is well suited to, if he can be settled.
Next up was My Man Friday and he produced an excellent Novice test of 28.6, his best of the season by some way, which set him up well for later. Fiddlewood had a 34.8 in the 6 uyear old class, just pipped by Night Porter, who came in with a 32.4. All of the tests look well balanced though a couple of scores were affected by rider slip ups. Even so all were well placed after this discipline..
Showjumping
This was undoubtedly a tough discipline in all classes looking at the scores. The slight undulations along with some clever fence positioning led to some fairly high scoring especially in the BE100 classes. Stonedge produced a very good clear round (the only one) in the 5 year old class, which was enough to put him into the lead.
Arctic Soul in his first BE100 had three down, but all were uprights and he flicked all off behind. Perhaps no surprise as an ex racer and certainly something that can be worked on. We were all pleased with his round and that he kept his cool beforehand.
All the others picked up four faults while jumping well. Fiddlewood actually jumped all the fences clear but managed to throw in a nap between the thrird and the fourth. That was enough to earn him four faults, though he didn’t incur any time faults despite his display.
The Cross Country
The Cross Country proved equally testing and the heavier going certainly didn’t permit a huge number horses to get inside the time, although one entrant did manage to get 10 reverse time penalties. Stonedge needed to go clear inside the time, and managed to do so to win the class while looking to have something in hand. Arctic Soul was never going for time as it was his first BE100 competition. He went comfortably clear and looking at the picture below obviously recognized the steeplechase fence. He incurred 16 time penalties, but hadn’t even raised a sweat ant the end. Again a huge amount had been learnt from this competition
My Man Friday and Night Porter, the new rides, went round clear as did Fiddlewood. Friday’s 4 time faults were enough to put him in Second, whilst Night Porters 7.6 put him in third.
Fiddlewood had 17.6 time faults to put him in 6th. The first two were clearly new rides and both performances were very encouraging
Watts Burn competed on the Sunday. Dressage of 38 was enough to make him the joint leader, and he slipped to second after one down in the showjumping, a position he held after the cross country.
Not a bad weekends work.
Four podium finishes out of six entries, with a First, two Seconds and a Third, and Fiddlewood also picked up a rosette.
Arctic Soul showed a much better temperament and his dressage is extremely encouraging. The other phases are also coming on well and Scone is next up for his learning phase.
Points
My Man Friday gets five points to double his score for the season (but only five in the yard) and Night Porter gets four (to take his to 12)
This increases the yards score to 48 for the season
Trig Point 17, Mistral 12, Freddy 10, My Man Friday 5, and Night Porter 4
Qualifications
Stonedge qualifies for the Five year old Finals, and we are still waiting to hear whether Night Porter makes the Six year Old class given the number of entries (which was quite low)
Next outing
Gatcombe – Brtitish Novice championships for Trig Point.
Hendersyde—My Man Friday and Night Porter in the Open novice
Following weekend
Scone – Seven look likely to run
Arctic Soul, Fiddlewood, Freddy Curtis, My Man Friday, Night Porter, Stonedge and Trig Point.
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