A combination blog this time as the foray to Hartpury was curtailed due to the hard ground and we rerouted to Blair CIC3* with Trig Point and we will pick his progress after covering the foray south. I had forgotten what it was like to find places that hadn’t had much rain but Hartpury proved to be one of those.
Hartpury
NBR had headed south with Wattsburn and Stonedge who had competed in the Novice and Intermediate at Aston.
Both went round the cross country well, but time penalties in the showjumping (2 for Stonedge and 14 for Wattsburn + a refusal ) marred the scorecard. Both actually jumped very well not actually knocking a pole down. Then the team rerouted to Hartpury whilst I drove down overnight and stayed at the excellent Corse Lawn, within easy striking distance.
It was the first time that I had visited Hartpury and the facilities looked excellent.
Trig Point did dressage and Showjumping on an excellent all weather surface and given it was the first time the he had done the 3* B test he scored reasonably in the mid 50’s. he certainly can do better but as the 2* tests have shown he tends to need a couple to settle into the routine. He also showjumped very well apart from rolling the middle section of the treble.
However the story on the surface was different when we headed out onto cross country. We walked it twice, on the Saturday afternoon ,and then again on the Sunday morning, after a lot of work had been done. Given the time off due to Nicky’s injury and the softness of the ground we have been practicing on due to the wet weather, rerouting to Blair was an option that we felt we had to take. The surface was clearly better on some parts of the course than others and the element of inconsistency also added concern. I did walk across the rugby pitch heading for the cross country at one point. The going there was absolutely perfect, with a much better grass covering.
A high powered conference going on between Zara, William, Pippa and Tina .. and William and Nicky checking out a fence that was to cause problems later.
There were some impressive cross country rounds with Sarah Cohen being the bridesmaid in both CIC classes and I wasn’t sure exactly how Francis Whittington escaped at the drop and pop as he put in a very quick round. Thoughts must go out to Lucinda green who had a crashing fall at the top of the hill and hope she recovers soon.
So no points for the weekends efforts at Hartpury but we were soon off again heading for Blair.
Blair
We had already booked in at the superb Killecrankie run by Henrietta Ferguson, a must stay if you are in the area.
Competing were Arctic Soul in the CCI1* in his first three day event and Trig Point in the CIC3*
The going was obviously softer that at hartpury and rain on Thursday night made things a little heavier than one would have liked in the Dressage and Showjumping certainly for Trig point.
Arctic Soul having found the arena a little too much for him on the Tuesday evening was much more settled on the Wednesday and produced a 53.8 in the dressage to be placed in the middle of the field. Trig Point was to follow him in the same dressage arena on the Friday and his 54 left him in 10th place. This was a much better test than at Hartpury with high scoring being the norm.
Arctic Soul did his Cross Country next and was seriously impressive considering his lack of runs this season . behind at the early minute markers as he settled in, when asked the qestin there was plenty left in the tank and he roared home inside the time without pulling. Bodes very well for future runs.
He passed the trot up well but rolled a couple of poles in the showjumping and also slipped , perhaps showing a little bit of lack of match practice on only his third outing of the season and this was also his first three day event.
What was also impressive was that the didn’t seem overawed by the surroundings compared with Little Gatcombe last year.
He ended up in 35th and picked up 2 points to take his total to 3 for the season and 6 overall. Seems to have come through ok as well so looking ahead to a few more events before the end of the season.
Trig Point being in the CIC 3* had his showjumping before Cross Country and again found the ground a little sticky and on the heavy side. He rolled one pole and incurred 6 time faults on a very tight time. He then cruised round the cross country course looking very comfortable., and with only 50% of the runners getting around unscathed was in very good company. He was really using this as a warm up for a CCI 3* which we need as a qualifier, and now we look to have Blenheim on the runway ….Trig Point was 1 second away from being in the points and the money but we have every reason to be happy with his run , especially cross country. The ground perhaps acted against him in the other two phases.
Around the Lorry Park Young Rider success for the British team again was the major talking point, though I had to leave before the final tense showjumping.
I did watch the cross country round with one of the highlights Wills Oakden’s superb round on Button Clover inside the time leaving his parents somewhat tearful.
His experience on the cross country course was invaluable and though few fences fell in the Show Jumping it was great to see him part of a winning team and well done to all.
The cross country course proved as tricky as ever with only a 50% success rate in the CCI2* , the CIC3* and the CCI 3*, a real challenge as ever.
Blair is also applying to host the 2015 Senior European Championships which will be decided in April next year, and one hopes that they are successful. The event was well controlled from start to finish and the whole surroundings would be perfect for a European Championship.
Points for NBR
Arctic Soul 2 ..
Total for the yard this year 51
Trig Point 40, Fiddlewood 6 , Arctic Soul 3 , Stonedge 2
Next up for NBR
September potentially could be, Aswanley, Blenheim, Allerton Park, Aske and Osberton but not taking anything for granted given the way the season has gone. Expecting the unexpected,,
Blair Photos courtesy of Julia Sherwood and certainly better than I could do ..
