This was my first trip to Auchinleck to see competition actually take place with the previous attempt washed away in a July monsoon and it was well worth waiting for.
The change of date did prove a success though the ground if anything was a little hard in places.
After three years of cancellations it was good to see all the effort actually being rewarded with two days of excellent competition.
A couple of things will need tweaking but this was a sound competitive test across the disciplines, and the cross country course was as challenging as one might have expected through all the classes.
The showjumping track was perhaps too much of a wide expanse, and classes did tend to overrun a little, but that can clearly be tightened up next year, and in the cross-country the diggers are already moving in to make alterations to the exit of the second water where the exit bank proved a little steep on an awkward distance.
The weather was very kind to the extent that I was asked on returning if I had been abroad.
NBR had no fewer than six entries
Trig Point – Open Intermediate
Freddy Curtis – Novice (HC)
Fiddlewood and Stonedge – Novice
Arctic Soul and Wattsburn – BE100
Saturday
We started with the Open Intermediate and Trig Point.
The dressage was in another slightly sloping arena on a hardish surface and after a frost overnight making it slightly slippy.
He was in after a very impressive test by Piggy French on Jakata and came back with a 33.6
His showjumping was extremely good and the best we have seen for some time and credit to the technical work put in by Mark Smith.
He then went clear cross country, though he did have a minor disagreement again going round the course without being anywhere near a fence, which was slightly costly on time (around 8 time faults) and a little tedious. He jumped the rest of the course well, and as his next outing will be at Tattersals he was using this as a pipe-opener rather than one at full pace and ended up with 14 time faults leaving him in the mid teens. Nevertheless he came back with two points for a double clear and the second time in a row he has jumped all the obstacles clear. Lets hope we can keep the momentum going.
Novice
Freddy Curtis, Fiddlewood and Stonedge.
Freddy Curtis dropped down to Novice (HC) as it was felt after Scone he needed another outing to clear some of the cobweb and acted as a trailblazer.
Looking at his first three events of last season the pattern seems similar with highish dressage scores over 40 , the odd fence down and a time faults cross country. He then improved significantly as the season wore on .Certainly he was extremely strong in the dressage arena and scored a 47 and jumped well in the showjumping after a mis-communication at the third. He was much more comfortable cross country and cruised round with 8.8 time faults and seemed in his element. Next up for him will be an Intermediate Novice at Floors. Prompted by Nicky we are considering a change of rider and may have more on the subject next time round.
Fiddlewood produced a good Dressage of 33.0 and he was unfortunate to knock one down in the Showjumping. He then produced a blistering cross country round coming home with 1.6 time faults which allowed him to come home sixth and score another point.
The excitement for the day wasn’t over there, as Stonedge had also produced an excellent dressage of 31 and had also has one down jumping but jumped brilliantly otherwise,. He also embarked on another excellent cross country round and was only just slower than Fiddlewood with 3.6 time faults. This was enough to take him into third and picked up four points.
Pictured jumping the sixth …
Sunday
The younger horses had their chance to perform and they certainly didn’t let the side down
Arctic Soul and Wattsburn were both in the BE100.
Arctic Soul was first out and was in the same arena as Trig Point the day before.
A quieter dressage warm up area and a sound test of 32 was followed by an impressive clear in the showjumping left him in the mix.
He then produced an excellent cross country round to pick up only 0.4 of a time fault which was enough to lift him into second place The acceleration he offers is seriously impressive and something to look forward to as he moves up the grades, and he looks set to take the step to Novice in the near future.
He simply stormed up the hill to the finish as though it wasn’t there….He picks up a further 9 foundation points to make 16 for the season so far.
Wattsburn had also made the step up to BE100 for the first time and in complete contrast to his display at Scone produced an excellent 30.5 and really looked the part.
His showjumping was also excellent going round clear and he showed good form throughout as pictured below..
The aim was them to get hime round the cross country clear, and this was achieved in some style as he came back with 7.6 time faults to finish an extremely creditable 6th also getting 5 foundation points.
An extremely encouraging start for the new owners who have joined Janey.
Other news from the park.
Sarah Finlayson’s Bellindene Norman, featured last time in the blog, came in third in its BE90 to get another 6 foundation points making 14 for the year. Next stop for them Oatridge.
James Oakden had another interesting outing with Lady picking up a point for another double clear. It was slightly surprising to see him turn up to the dressage without a number.
It was even more surprising when he discovered that someone else was already wearing his number, had signed in and was warming up, and this was the moment that James saw where he was.
Somehow James Adam’s had managed to pick up 277 rather than 227, and an exchange was made before any more confusion arose.
The cross country provided a suitable challenge in all classes with the second water providing one of the main focus points, but there were plenty of other questions asked at various parts of the course as can be seen from the results. Overall this was a very favourable return to the calendar for Auchinleck and we look forward to returning to the event next year.
Points for NBR
Stonedge 4, Trig Point 2 and Fiddlewood 1
Total for the Year 21
Trig Point 10, Fiddlewood 6, Stonedge 5
Foundation Points
Arctic Soul 9 , Wattsburn 5
Total for the Year 23
Arctic Soul 16, Wattsburn 5, Stonedge 2
Next outing
Floors Castle
Cherry Law – Intermediate
Freddy Curtis – Interim-Novice
Rare Hero – Novice (HC)
Stonedge –Novice
Arctic Soul, Watts Burn- BE100
Tattersals
Trig Point – CCI2*
Fiddlewood – CCI1*
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