Event Owners Blog from Aske

Spike goes Back to School..

After the dramatics at Gatcombe we stepped back down to earth at Aske.
Lack of rain even in the North had certainly firmed the ground up but the organisers had made sure that the surface was ok, and I was surprised walking around on the Sunday how wet the grass
actually was.

NBR had two runners, Arctic Soul in the BE100 and Stonedge in the Novice

Arctic Soul
The loss of Hutton has meant that Arctic Soul had not actually run since his outing at Scone six weeks previously, and to some extent we needed to reacquaint him with eventing.
Having checked the cross country course there were some significant challenges for one so new to eventing, and in particular a left handed skinny after a big log brush going downhill was identified as a fence that was going to cause a number of problems (and so it proved)

Also being aware of the dressage warm up area I anticipated that it might seem a little more compact than some of the more open areas we had seen earlier in the summer, and as at Cumwhinton might bring tension. So it proved, and when he spotted a series of cyclists going past on the main road just as he was readying to go in, that meant he started tensely. The movements were all there but the tension did show. At least there was no repeat of Cumwhinton showing he has made big strides forward and he did improve towards the end, his score of 38 with accompanying comments did show that the potential again was visible to the judge. The grass was much shorter in the dressage area this time than it has been in the past, making it a lot easier to see the feet movements, and a thumbs up to the preparation there.

In the Showjumping he had one fence down. Coming down the hill was slightly confused on the stride pattern and flicked it off behind, and incurred one time fault, but otherwise jumped well.

The Cross Country was causing problems, and given the stiffness of the task for an inexperienced horse he was taken very steadily for the first part of the course certainly up to the skinny.
Both at that fence and the fence before he could have had the opportunity to run out being slightly confused as to where he might be going (angled right at one pair and angled left at the other)
In both cases he adjusted extremely well and was gradually allowed to increase his pace in the final part of the course. His 26 time faults left him 25th, but this was more about confidence building and reminding him about eventing after a prolonged break. Hopefully he can have another run at Witton next week.

Stonedge was running in the Novice which was a first time for him.
His dressage test was a very polished 35.5 on a first outing with only a couple of mistakes.
There seemed to be a some confusion as to the extent of the warm up area for the dressage area for a couple of the riders following, which then seemed to lead to them being ushered back to an area right beside where Nicky’s test was ongoing. I was then simply staggered to hear one rider saying loudly to the official that she was trying to stay out of the way of the test. She chose the moment when she was within three metres of where Nicky was actually doing a movement. Couldn’t have been closer. Outdoes by miles applause for other competitors finishing while a test is ongoing (one of my pet hates). If Freddy had been in the arena he certainly would have reacted dramatically, so top marks to Stonedge.

Showjumping
He did a good round in general but just managed to knock a couple of rails down to head into the Cross Country with eight faults.

Cross Country
He was tackling the Novice fences with aplomb and was having an excellent round up to the time he reached the water. However the entry to the water proved his undoing and he managed to run out three times, to be closely followed by Ruth Edge who ran into the same issue. The lack of any alternative at this level clearly compounded the problem, and was a sad way for the round to end.

This reminds me of the problems suffered by Trig Point at Scone in his third Novice, this time exiting the water with a narrow fence early last year which had no alternative, leading to him being subsequently eliminated (one of many). In his case he actually had put his head on the wrong side of the red flag at the second attempt, but not his body, and suffered a technical elimination as it wasnt immediately clear what had happened.

Others weren’t so fortunate with a number of eliminations. In both cases the horses were relatively new at the level, and were faced with a difficult question that they hadn’t come across before. One hopes that Stonedge responds in the same manner that Trig Point did in subsequent events. At Scone the course was adjusted in time for the next event.

Another well organized event despite the hardish ground and thanks to everyone involved.

Next outing (and final one of the year)
Witton Castle

Event Owners Blog from Little Gatcombe 2

Trig Point comes of age.. A Simply Superb Second in the CIC2* ..and Upgrades

Another action packed three days at Little Gatcombe with plenty of opportunity to watch other riders on the first couple of days with a rather spread out programme.

NBR Runners
Fiddlewood – CIC *
Freddy Curtis, Trig Point – CIC**

Weather – Spectacularly good for the three days, though the lack of rain certainly was evident from the ground, which was much firmer than we have been used to North of the Border this summer (not very difficult). The ground was treated, but any riders coming unstuck received a pretty uncomfortable landing and led to several trips for the mobile ambulances over the three days. Everyone was on hand very quickly in the case of any emergency, but it did lead to a few delays, and in the end one fence being taken out completely in the 2*. But more on that later.
Accommodation on this occasion was not far away, with hosts Edward and Kate Gordon-Lennox providing an excellent base from which to operate, and seemed to bring a similar vein of fortune to the last time that I stayed.

Dressage was completed on the Friday and Saturday for the international classes.
Fiddlewood was first up and did a very creditable 54.5. Last to go in the CIC2* on Day One was Freddy, and with prize giving in the background, he was unable to settle and came in with a 68.8 lying well down the field.
Trig Point’s dressage was an entirely different prospect. Not only did he work in well, but he did an exemplary test, easily his best of the season, to gain a 46.3, to lie a very impressive third.

Sunday brought the Showjumping and Cross Country
Fiddlewood had one rail down in what was a very tidy round otherwise, and later on in the day completed his cross country round with 11.6 time faults to finish a creditable 33rd.
His round was interrupted because of fence repairs and he was held on the course, but he answered every question otherwise, apart from needing a growl at the water.

In the two star Freddy went first, after a long delay caused by a rider fall, and the decision to take out the angled rails was made (17ab). Most riders had handled it comfortably. However the problems that arose when things didn’t go according to plan necessitated that the fence be taken out of action. I had seen Ginny Howe, pictured below, and Ruth Edge, ride the fence comfortably, though Sam Griffiths had had a stop whilst I was there. Freddy and Trig Point both had to pass the obstacle by the time that their turn came.


With Freddy having come unstuck at the Second last in the autumn last year and given his dressage score the decision was made to make sure he got round, and he produced an excellent jumping display, and a real confidence booster, coming back with 25.2 time faults. However he picked up a knock on the way round and was unable to do the Show jumping, though he seems to have recovered quite well.

If anyone wanted to know what 20 time faults look like in pictures it probably can be seen below.
Firstly we have Freddy at the sixth .. just getting into his stride..

Then Trig Point (Jerry really Springing) ..
He simply was eating up the ground by this stage and was able to go round in one of the quicker times of the day with only 4.8 time faults which moved him to second…
One can see even from the still taken from video the different approach

So then to the Showjumping , in reverse order.
The top ten were fairly tight, except for Ruth Edge on Applejack who had a two fence lead over Trig Point in second.
I am afraid I was too tense to take any photos, which was probably just as well, as Trig Point produced a sensational clear round, dispelling any of the uncertainties from earlier in the season in this discipline.
In fact his other clear round at Intermediate level was at ….Gatcombe (1) .. This was seriously impressive. Ruth Edge had one down with Applejack, which was enough to take the spoils.
A double clear in his first CIC2* with a 46.3 dressage, is a fantastic result.. Welcome to the big time..

His season closes as it started with points and prizes at Gatcombe..
Trig Point picked up 14 points with his Second Place , taking him to 35 for the season and to 61 overall moving him to Grade 1
So a real upgrade..

The yard total now moves on to 85 for the year, with Aske to come where Friday, Night Porter and Stonedge could contribute.
Trig Point 35, Freddy Curtis 18, Mistral 12, Night Porter 10, My Man Friday 10
Arctic Soul also is scheduled to have his final outing of the season, as will the blog…

There was also the chance to see a whole range of riding skills on display over the three days with time on ones hands (for once)
One place to see discretion (or valour) was at the fourth/fifth on the Intermediate Track, where Nicky had used discretion with Freddy earlier in the year.
There were some examples of excellent riding, with Gemma Tattersall being a striking example on Nyali Beach, on the way to an excellent Second place in the Open Intermediate..





On the other hand there was someone who went through so fast, and carried on in the same vein, over the next fences that the fence judge and I both looked at eachother, and we simply awaited developments.
It didn’t take long.. Fence 13 ..rider fall. Inevitable.,, Others were not quite so polished, but an early test and an early signal of how the round might go..
Although it didn’t take a huge number of casualties the way the fence was tackled certainly made for fascinating watching.


Last thing to be done before heading home was Prize Giving and it was terrific to see Nicky at the top end of the leader board.
Little Gatcombe delivers a top six place for the third time in a row.. but this one was something really special ..


Roll on 2010 …

Event Owners Blog from Blair

Blair beats Hurricane Bill, Freddy gets Ribbons, and Friday wins the Open Hunter on Thursday..

Another amazing event at Blair, with action all the way and a tremendous finish in all classes.
However on Thursday evening and especially on Friday morning that looked far from the case, and the decision to continue was made in the face of some pretty grim conditions, but more of that in a moment.

NBR had four horses who made the trip.
Freddy Curtis and Trig Point headed for the CCI* , which had been split into different sections, and Night Porter and My Man Friday were entered in the Working Hunter classes on Thursday.
There had been considerable debate as to whether the horses would run in the one or the two star. As it turned out given the conditions, the cautious choice of the One Star proved absolutely correct.

Hurricane Bill
The organisers faced an unenviable challenge as hurricane Bill made its appearance, and it was really touch and go as to whether the event was able to proceed.
However torrential rain came through on Thursday night with the accompanying high winds blowing tents away, as Hurricane Bill made its presence felt.
The decision to proceed was very brave at the time, but as it turned out proved totally the right one as the drying wind helped a huge amount and there was a considerable amount of sunshine.
There were a considerable amount of trade stands, which seemed reasonably busy, although the sponsors area was smaller.
The idea of putting an owners car park beside the lorry park, worked very well and the expansion of the lorry area proved a godsend given the poor conditions underfoot
Last year Owners with the red armbands did have access to the members tent, but for some reason this wasn’t the same this year, although there was access to a general catering tent at the top. Now a four day members pass does bring access to the members enclosure, forward parking, cctv etc etc .. and although limited are available for £60.
Looking at the entry cost for two horses including stabling -- £998.00 . The car parking for owners is an undoubted improvement, but I still feel more can be done for owners as the new management of the Blair event gets into its stride

The picture below indicates just how muddy things became..


I made the trip up to Blair on Thursday, and had time to catch the working Hunter classes before heading off to the Killiecrankie Hotel, where I was to be based for three days (highly recommended and already booked in for next year.. now we just need the horses)..

Friday wins on a Thursday
Night Porter had already come fourth in his class, and My Man Friday delivered a spectacular clear round to win the Open Working Hunter ahead of a quality field, being moved up after he was called in. He then was awarded Reserve Champion, behind the winner of the last three years. A great result for the Milne’s and Nicky.
It was particularly dark by the time they finished and was raining heavily so apologies for the quality of the picture..


Freddy and Jerry
Freddy had already done his Dressage on Wednesday evening and by the close of Thursday was lying eighth.
He was supposed to have been doing cross country on the Friday but that was delayed to give the ground a chance to recover, another excellent decision by the organisers
That meant he had to do his showjumping on the Saturday and then finish with the Cross Country and the trot up on the Sunday.

Trig Point faced a tricky dressage on Friday. Half the class had competed on the Thursday which left the arena fairly chewed up, and although rolling was attempted, all it did was to take up even more ground, so the arena had to be left as it was. This certainly didn’t help the friday group, although it didn’t stop the winner of the class Andrew Hoy delivering a very good test.
Trig Point was more engaged than he has been recently and his 49.9 left him in 15th, but this was a better feel to the test than at Burgie.

Saturday.. Trig point then went excellently cross country with the obstacles proving no problem, and was well inside the time. That wasn’t sufficient to see any change in position as the time proved relatively easy to get, at least for those at the top of the field. His approach to the water looks more measured than that of Freddy below..

Meanwhile in the showjumping arena Freddy was faced with a very large open course, his least favoured type.
Nicky very sensibly took him round as though it was a showjumping jump off with very tight turns and he was extremely unlucky to flip off the last element of the treble after a very good round, and there were literally a handful that went clear.

Sunday..
Trig Point then had his turn showjumping over what looked a slightly easier course. Frustratingly he took down the first elements of both combinations, something he has been doing earlier in the season, marring what otherwise was a good round. That dropped him from a potential eleventh to 20th. Extra work in this particular area is now slated for the autumn, ahead of the final few events of the season.
Freddy was the last to go on the Cross country course, and again this wasn’t an ideal track for him , with heavy ground and a large hill.
He certainly found the drag up the hill tiring, and after a heart stopping moment at the first water regained his composure as he came back down the hill
He did pick up some time faults, but his score was good enough to put him into 10th Place, his best three day result.

He needed to have a final trot up before his position was confirmed and the setting for that remains outstanding..



In terms of points Freddy came back with 2 and Trig Point 1, narrowing the gap between the two.
Freddy is now on 18 for the year and Trig Point 21, with their respective totals being 35 , and 47 ..and getting the Yard total to 71
Freddy also made it into the Prize money with a cheque to follow.

Round up..
All classes were tightly contested and after the variable surface for dressage (unavoidable given the conditions), the showjumping and cross country made a stern but realistic test.
All the cross country hedges had 2 inches taken off them before the competition began, regardless of class, but that didn’t prevent a few problems appearing.
Ronald Alexander’s times also made interesting challenges. The one star was clearly achievable, the two star was just about possible (four ) , and both the three star CCI and CIC had noone inside the time. Problems were spread right round the course rather than being restricted to one or two fences giving a tremendous competition. It was possible if one ran hard enough to see all the fences on the CCI* bar three. However as this necessitated severe hill work there was a limit to how many times this could be done.

The round by Opposition Buzz to win the CIC*** was electric and the final six or seven fences after a fantastic second water showed why this horse had been selected to represent Britain and follows a very string showing at Gatcombe. The showjumping also produced a fitting climax to all the competitions, with William Fox-Pitt and Matthew Wright producing copybook rounds to win the 3* and 2* respectively..


A great performance by the competitors, organisers and volunteers in the face of very testing conditions at times,..
Am booked in already for next year…

Next up for NBR
Burghley Young Event Horse, Hutton, Gatcombe and Aske