EVENT OWNERS BLOG

Eventing Blog from Hartpury and Blair

2011-08-23T11:39:00.002+01:00

Arctic Soul and Trig Point blaze a trail at Blair - Congratulations to the Young Riders..

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 10^th 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 35^th 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 ..

Event Owners Blog from Hopetoun

2011-08-02T12:40:00.009+01:00

Trig Point back on the Podium , Arctic Soul and Stonedge amongst the ribbons..

After last weekend’s return to action at the new event at Burgham, the latest outing was to the new event Hopetoun. I hadn’t visited the event in its previous existence so the whole location was fresh, and very impressive it was too, and that wasn’t just because of the results.

As with any new event there will be areas to work on for the next one, but the organizing committee were encouraging dialogue right through the event , in preparation for next year and this looks a very welcome addition to the calendar. Congratulations to Stuart Buntine and his team for a job well done, and thanks to the Earl of Hopetoun for expanding the competition.

The event also had varying locations for trade stands and entertainment to spread the wide range of activities over the site, which worked well and I can anticipate those also being extended over the next two years.

There was plenty of family entertainment to keep youngsters entertained with a focus on the West lawn and it was pictured early on the Saturday as things kicked off. The main competitions also jumped in front of the main house on the Sunday which made a superb backdrop. One of the features on the cross country course for the CIC3* were the Forth Bridges.

The distance from the lorry park to the competition sites did cause some comment, and that is something that is already being worked on for next year as it made some of the scheduling a bit tight.

The event was also perhaps more successful than anticipated in attracting the crowds and may actually need more stewards, especially as a number of those attending appeared new to the sport and in some cases were slightly caught out by the arrival of horses despite intense whistling.

There could also be more shuttles to ferry people up and down the hill and from the lorry park but I gather these are already in hand. The ground held up pretty well over the two days and they were extremely lucky with the weather.

NBR entries

The week we had Wattsburn and Arctic Soul in the Novice, with Stonedge in the Open Novice and Trig Point returning to Competition in the CIC2*

Three had dressage on Saturday afternoon with Arctic Soul scoring a 35.5 leaving him well positioned, Wattsburn with a 38.5, and Trig Point scored a 45.3 in the CIC2* that was to leave him lying 6th. Returning home overnight there was an early start the next morning so that Stonedge could complete his dressage in the open Novice where he scored a 32.5 despite stopping mid test as a deer ran across in front of him. (local hazard)

The showjumping also went well for all , Wattsburn rolled a pole at the first of the Treble, but the others all went clear with Trig Point competing an almost foot perfect round. This was also Arctic Soul’s first clear round showjumping at Novice.

Cross Country

The cross country course was well designed and offered several challenges. Viewing wasn’t easy given the terrain and the location of trees and it was tough going running up and down for those trying to watch horses. The two problem areas on the course seemed to be the slippy surface coming down the hill under the trees in the CIC3* which eventually required a fence to be taken out , and the location of the 13th fence in the Novice.

Wattsburn was first up , and looked a little green on the way round. It was at the end that Nicky discovered that she was one of many to miss out fence 13 which required a sharp right hand turn after the water, that a number simply hadn’t realized was there, and it caught out many on the course walk.

There were still two other Novice runs ahead, Arctic Soul and then Stonedge.
Arctic Soul showed a significant improvement from his outing the week before at Burgham and still had plenty left in the tank at the end as he returns to match fitness.

This was his first double clear at Novice, and his 16 time faults were enough to take him into 8th position.
Stonedge managed 10. 4 time faults in the Open Novice which took him into 7th place on his first run since Auchinleck .

Trig Point was the last one to take his turn and he looked seriously impressive and given the stiffish nature of the track his experience showed through. His 8.4 time faults was one of the quicker rounds and yet there was more left in the tank, which bodes well for the campaign ahead. that was good enough to lift him into second place, behind Nicola Wilson, and just ahead of Matthew Wright and Ruth Edge, a very pleasing result on his return to competition.

Points

Trig Point picked up 14 for his second place and Arctic Soul opened his account for the season with 1
Overall the points total is now 49 with Trig Point on 40, Fiddlewood 6 , Stonedge 2 and Arctic Soul 1

Next Outings

Arctic soul in the Novice at Scone (which looks to be an early start and finish on Sunday and I may have to miss),
Rare hero, Slievcoillte Woody and Willunga are also in action the first two in the BE 90 and the latter in the BE 4 year old.
Then Wattsburn and Stonedge head to Aston Le walls for an Intermediate and Novice before Trig Point competes in the CIC3* at hartpury where he is in a very impressive field of 77 and his sternest competition to date.

A very enjoyable weekend and certainly looking forward to revisiting Hopetoun going forward.

Heard over the organisers radio…
Ronald Alexander : “ I need a new battery “
Rapid response ;” is that for you or your radio.? “
After a prolonged pause Ronald’s response :” … Ha … Ha … “

Event Owners Blog from Burgham

2011-07-29T13:20:00.007+01:00

Back in the saddle again..

It has been a long time since the last Blog for a variety of reasons, and their needs to be a little catching up before reporting back form the impressive first time outing at Burgham

Memories of Trig point’s victory at Burnham Market seem rather distant as Nicky’s broken ankle at Floors put paid to spring eventing and we are only now back on the circuit.

The first Blog was entitled back with a bang, the next could have been smash and wallop..

I had missed the trip to Scone where Nicky had had several runners and picked up some points for Fiddlewood, and at Auchinleck where Stonedge contimued his points haul picking up 2 on his first run at Intermediate. There was also an outing at Richmond with Cherry law and Tuesday Cruising

The trip to Floors was not so fortunate, with Saturdays eventing curtailed as I saw Nicky being jettisoned head first towards the Trakehner.

Fortunately the air jacket cushioned much of the fall, but it didn’t reach as far as the ankle. Much pain and frustration all round.

I have to commend all the organisers and medical staff who appeared on site extremely quickly and were very helpful , but the result has been a frustrating enforced absence.

Again we have to give many thanks to all of those who pitched up to help in the intervening period and to keep the horses ticking over. A special mention to Team Estonia who now seem to have taken over the grooming duties.

We did manage a trip to Bramham to see the very impressive event there, and congratulations to Ian Stark on an excellent cross country course. A challenge we will look forward to in due course. Of particular note was Charlotte Agnew going airborne into the water on Out of Africa.

Otherwise we have been watching the rehab in progress and now we are ready to return to competition

Burgham

Burgham turned out to be well worth the visit and was also conveniently located for us.

The wider range of activities will I am sure increase interest in the event , and the top showjumpers put on an impressive display.

The arenas and trade stands were well laid out, and there seemed to be plenty of facilities.

The cross country course was also a good challenge and was favourably received though perhaps not the easiest viewing,

The only thing that might require adjustment was the proximity of the eventing showjumping arena to the main arena. In addition to showjumping victory riderounds we also had a foxhounds display and the proximity to a line of jumps did cause some major issues in some of the eventing classes. Perhaps putting a row of trade tents in between might help. That’s the great thing about first time events, that the format can be tweaked, and that’s all it needs.

Entries on this occasion

Wattsburn BE 100

Arctic Soul BE100 HC

Several of the others including Trig Point and Stonedge had been in the showjumping classes earlier in the weekend and acquitted themselves extremely well.

First time out for Arctic Soul this season and Watty after the enforced break

Both scored well in the Dressage, Watty with a 29 and Arctic Soul with a 25 .

In the showjumping arena Watty improved as the round went on scoring an impressive clear, whilst Arctic Soul was unlucky in rolling the last pole though was a little ring rusty, and needed the outing. He did have to endure a victory parade cantering past in the other direction just as he was tackling the line of fences down the nearest side of the arena and managed to keep his concentration enough to jump the fences.

The cross country had a good variety of challenges and both rose to the occasion. Watty went round inside the time register a double clear, and Spike was gradually eased back into competition and finished with 1.6 time penalties accelerating towards the end of the course.

Spike was HC but would have been in the ribbons and Wattsburn came an impressive second, and right up till prize giving looked as though he had won, when there was a rather abrupt change of order . One hopes any minor wrinkles are ironed out prior to the next event in march with higher levels involved, as this looked to be an impressive baptism..

I spent more time than normal over at the main showjumping arena, where there was a particularly impressive Grand Prix. There seemed to be an inordinate number of Whitakers competing as well as Scott brash and Jemma Kirk amongst others, and it turned out that Louise Whitaker just pipped her father to win the £4000 prize. (there isnt an extra zero …)

When one saw the jumps ,and had a hugely informative course walk given by Tim Stockdale one realized one was in a slightly different ballgame

Louise Whitaker is pictured below though not on the horse she eventually won with. The standard was very high on a very cleverly designed course.

Certainly an event to revisit

NBR Points

Wattsburn 14 Foundation Points

Totals for the season (and some catching up looks to be in order)

Foundation points 22 – Wattsburn 22

Points – 34 – Trig Point 26 , Fiddlewood 6, Stonedge 2

Next dates (projected , and given what’s happened with a slight intake of breath)—all entered

Hopetoun – Arctic Soul and Wattsburn (Novice ), Stonedge (Open Novice ), Trig Point (CIC 2 * )

Scone – Arctic Soul – Novice , Rare Hero BE 90 open , Slievcoillte Woody BE90 (HC), Willunga BE 4yo

Aston 3—Stonedge _intermediate , Wattsburn – Novice

Hartpury – Trig point CIC 3*

Blair – Arctic Soul - CCI 1*

And on the runway

Highclere – Stonedge – Intermediate , Trig Point – Advanced

Burghley Young Event Horse and decision on Blenheim await.

August also sees first outing for Iona Kerr riding Murphy XI at Hendersyde in the BE90, where I am sponsoring the Ditch and Rails in the same class. Lets hope she goes past there unscathed. She has requested that I go to watch Trig point at Hartpury 300 miles away, but there will be family representation.

The blogs next outing will be at Hopetoun, followed one hopes by Scone , Hartpury and Blair. One hopes for reasonable weather and a lower diesel price.. and one will have ears out for hendersyde.

Congratulations to all thos elected for the Young Riders at Blair with special mention tot Wills Oakden riding Button clover…

Event Owners Blog From Burnham Market 2011

2011-04-19T14:45:00.010+01:00

It's back with a bang!

Trig Point Advances to victory -- and the sun shone...

A belated start to the Blog this season for a variety of reasons, and there is a little bit of scene setting before we get to the main event.

Again like many eventing yards activity was curtailed through the early winter with heavy snow, thwarting winter showjumping just as it had got going.

There was an opportunity after the wintery interlude to get going again through march but the Eventing season this year kicked off for the team at Belton.

Setting the Scene..

In terms of horses it also was time to decide on Mistral’s future. After his injury two years ago he had been rehabilitating and had made an impressive performance in his winter showjumping with a string of double clears. He does have tremendous power and after a long discussion with the vets and perusing scans we made the decision to send him to a showjumping yard. Having seen the power on offer during events, where he doesn’t exactly save himself, this seemed to us to be the best option for him and we know he is in extremely good hands. Arctic Soul also embarked on the winter showjumping season, but having incurred a slight niggle looks set to reappear on the circuit in the late spring.

Belton

So in terms of opening the batting Trig Point was my representative as NBR went down to Belton to dust off the cobwebs. Normally I would have gone too, but a trip to Paris for my 50th meant that I had to wait for a match report. Stonedge was going HC in the Novice and a Double clear ensued with the same for Fiddlewood who picked up a point, and Trig Point, who picked up two. His dressage seemed to lack a little concentration but was impressive otherwise.

Trig Point 2 points : Fiddlewood 1 point

Eden Valley

I did attend Eden valley to see Wattsburn opening his account the following week. This was a new event and the ground was actually quite soft in places (almost a novelty). The cross country offered very good viewing, and the showjumping was on an all weather surface. The dressage did become a little sticky in places which probably didn’t help Wattsburn on his first outing. He did go clear in the showjumping, and was unlucky to incur 20 penalties on a downhill fence in what was otherwise an encouraging round .

So we moved to Burnham Market..

I returned to the excellent Titchwell Manor for a couple of nights, driving down on the Friday.

Wattsburn was in the BE100, Fiddlewood the Novice, and Trig Point was entered in his second Advanced.

The sky was blue and the dust plumes from the farm tracks gave an indication of the tricky conditions that the organisers had to face, and almost entirely different from the norm. (no blizzards this year.) The team had probably done as much as they could given the lack of rain, and there was a little overnight rain on the Friday which certainly helped. The trade stands seemed well visited, and there were several positive comments about the way the loos were being maintained. A good effort all round.

There was also a pre Badminton buzz in the air, even if it was too close to the event this year to allow the horses their final outing, one could sense the expectation.

Wattsburn and Fiddlewood

I arrived too late to see Wattsburn compete but early enough to see Fiddlewood do dressage brought forward from the Saturday. Wattsburn had done a reasonable dressage, had been unlucky to roll a pole at the last in the showjumping, and then locked onto the wrong fence by the leaf pit (not an intermediate yet). He did perform better than at Eden valley and should be well primed for his next outing at Scone. Fiddlewood produced a very impressive dressage of 31 to lead the field, but concentration was less evident is the showjumping where he had two poles down, but that still left him in the running. He is due to have pads put in this week, as he doesn’t like the hard ground, and so wasn’t considered for the cross country this time.

I also had the chance to walk the cross country on both the Friday and the Saturday, and the rain did help a little.

Trig Point

Trig Point’s dressage looked very accomplished and he flowed nicely. Still some scope for improvement but a 33.4 was so much better than his Belton outing and left him well in contention. His showjumping looked imperious and he produced an excellent clear. With the state of the ground there had been a debate depending on how we were lying as to whether to run. Top three didn’t leave much debate and when asked for advice Christopher Bartle simply said “go out and win it.”.

Nicky didn’t wear a watch and let Trig Point gradually crank up the pace and he cruised home with 12.8 time faults, one of the quicker rounds. There is considerably more in the tank on that showing. That had been enough to set a reasonably commanding target, but the 10 time faults incurred by Jodie Amos with a frustrating stop very close to the end, showed that it could be beaten. Because there had been delays to a previous classes because of frangible pin issues it meant that we had to wait for a while for both William Fox Pitt and Pippa Funnell who had dressage tests on the other side of the hill. William had been leading on Bay My Hero in his first advanced , but 15.6 time penalties was enough to edge him into second by 1 mark. Then Pippa was in the running on Billy Shannon right up to the final combination until he was slightly hampered by one of the obstacles. Surprise and relief all round at the victory, and certainly was unexpected.

The quality riders in the top ten made the occasion worth appreciating and many have been very generous in their comments.

Points - 24 , and qualification to the Advanced Championship Finals the tangible result.

Around the Lorry Park

After the excellent drinks on the Saturday Nicky and the team headed north on the Sunday morning. Jaanike had groomed extremely well at her first competition, but was also found revising business law for an exam on Tuesday at any spare moment. I returned to catch up with some of the other competitions. On arrival I was greeted by the sight of a loose horse getting some exercise in the lorry park field. One person trying to catch it wasn’t going to prove successful. I joined the numbers which gradually swelled over the next 25 minutes to around 15 when the horse eventually allowed itself to be caught, when the numbers had been boosted by BE’s chief executive. It might have been hankering after the old long format, but it subsequently racked up 24 faults in the showjumping (12 jumping and 12 time) but did manage a clear in the cross country.

It was good to see Peter laidlaw and family having made the long journey south get a podium on Sergeant Kiki, following the win at great Witchingham, and Charlotte Agnew getting into the points with Miss pavonita. Gemma Tattersall had two excellent double clears lining her up for her trip to badminton.

I also had an extremely pleasant dinner on the Saturday evening with the Amos family table at Titchwell. A great bunch. I was also encouraged to hear from Francis Whittington that the Event Riders Association has broken through 1000 members. Extremely good news .

Two views of the table below with Matt and Jodie Amos silhouetted , and Charlotte Agnew and Longwood in the two star clearing impressively.

Thanks to all for their very kind comments over the weekend and thereafter.. much appreciated…

Great to be back though the blog may not be out again until Floors when Trig Point is next slated to be out.

NBR’s next outings

Central Scotland

Wattsburn – BE100, Fiddlewood-Novice, Cherry law and Stonedge – Open Novice,

Auchinleck

Wattsburn , Fiddlewood – Novice, Stonedge- Intermediate, Cherry Law – Open Intermediate,

Trig Point was entered for the Advanced, but after his success at Burnham market on the harder ground and given the issues of minor tie ups during may in the last couple of years, understandably we are taking it a little cautiously. Currently the Open Intermediate at Floors will be followed by a trip to bramham. Our current thoughts are towards to the CIC3*, but we will see how he is healthwise as we approach early may.

Points

The yards total now marches on to 27 with Trig Point on 26 and Fiddlewood 1.

Last years other major contributors, Stonedge and Cherry law are waiting in the wings…and hopefully joined soon after by Arctic Soul..

And this picture could be interpreted as Alec starting to show the strain,, …but it all went very well..

Many thanks to the team of organisers and volunteers who helped out over the three days.

“Semper Porro” and “Sero sed Serio” …two mottoes to keep us going…

Event Owners Blog - The Election Edition

2010-10-16T19:39:00.003+01:00

The Election Edition and some 2010 reflections - Sero Sed Serio

The 42nd Blog in the series takes a slightly different route to normal with a slightly different event to focus on.. The BE Board elections .. Voting is already underway...

The World Championship success for Britain has put the cap on an excellent season overall , and the season has also ended for NBR and we are already looking forward to the publishing of the 2011 calendar, with some winter showjumping and dressage to fill the intervening period (at least till snow gets in the way). As 2010 proved one does need to have a degree of flexibility as one can never rely entirely on the horses being totally accommodating. We also have the EHOA Dinner to look forward to in early November, always an excellent occasion, this time with a change of venue.

But before we look ahead a final event has appeared on the agenda, namely the BE Directors Elections where I have put myself forward as one of nine candidates for three places.

Richard Pack’s excellent photograph of myself with Arctic Soul is part of the launching of the campaign and it shows how far one has come in a four year period, that a picture such as that was able to be taken. While NBR has the motto Semper Porro “always onwards”, the Kerr family motto is Sero Sed Serio, “late but in earnest” which couldn’t be a better description of my time in eventing. Now seems an excellent opportunity to take my involvement further after the first four years familiarization, when the learning curve has been steep.

Having a candidate for the board with a fresh approach, a fresh view, and almost certainly a unique experience in Eventing must surely be something to consider, with an entirely different commercial exposure, honed over 25 years.

The good thing is that the membership does have the choice with a good range of candidates putting themselves forward. It is an exciting time to be involved with the sport, with a huge opportunity created by the Olympics for the sport to be in the public eye. There are obviously issues such as the Articles of Association, Rule Changes, Prize Money, Points, Qualifications, Safety, and so one could go on. Enfranchisement and encouraging members to feel they have a say (enough to vote), is very important and certainly my experiences with the Blog over the last three years certainly show my intentions in that regard. (communication of such a type is also part of my day to day work)

So as other blogs spring up for the campaign itself this one keeps going … and I have been encouraged so far by the good response at this early stage to my candidacy.

The previous blog was from Gatcombe where Arctic Soul closed his campaign and the final competition for NBR was at Osberton where Inishmhor and Cherry Law competed creditably in less than perfect conditions weatherwise but came back safe and sound.

The competitive year closed with The NBR Point Total having reached 116, the first time through 100 points for some time, and also a first Advanced and 3* for sic years. We hope for many more in 2011. There were also 65 Foundation points collected throughout the season and it will be interesting to see how that evolves.

There were 61 entries altogether with wins for Wattsburn, Arctic Soul, Stonedge, Inishmhor and Trig Point (and Emily Galbraith also rode Freddy Curtis three times).

Points contributions came from;

Trig Point – 49 points, Stonedge 33 points (8 events in a row), Cherry Law 23, Fiddlewood 6 Arctic Soul 3, Rare Hero 2,

And the Foundation points;

Arctic Soul 31, Wattsburn 24, Inishmhor 8, stonedge 2

The Blog found its way to eleven events this year with two short breaks in the summer getting in the way of seeing no fewer than three events.

Minor niggles also meant that we had paid the entry fees to Tattersalls, and the Festival at Gatcombe but were unable to compete. Very frustrating.

NBR obviously went to more..

We did criss-cross the country and went to Burnham Market, Belton, Scone, Auchinleck ( a new one), Floors, Hexham, Aston le walls (new), Scone, Blair, Blenheim (new) and Gatcombe.

As ever some lovely places to stay, great competition, and the thee new courses that I visited all had good plus points. It was good to see The owners tent at Belton (though the blog reveals that wasn’t the best of compeitions for us.). The win in the CIC2* at Scone was a well deserved one for Trig point and the success there was probably the competitive highlight of the year. My first visit to Blenheim was really enjoyable and was another step up as Trig Point moves through the grades. Fidelity seems to have a great time as new sponsors and I look forward to having the opportunity to return in years to come, horses permitting..

Pictured below are Trig Point at Blenheim and Arctic Soul at Aston.. two excellent cross country rounds and lets hope we can see more of the same in 2011.

Freddy Curtis was sold late in the year and has headed down to a younger rider in Hertfordshire. He is a great character and we look forward to seeing his progress in 2011.

In 2011 in addition to Trig Point and Arctic Soul, we hope that Mistral will be able to return to competition. His recuperation continues and he has been given the go ahead for flat work and will be involved in the winter showjumping season.

Other movements in the yard. Fiddlewood has gone back to owner Mary Grant, and Indian Mill was sold to Paul Tapners yard, and had already been on the podium twice.

Prospects look encouraging for those that remain, with a good balance of age and experience.

An increasing number of other riders have also started to feature in the blog, and indication perhaps of broadening interest in the sport as a whole, and one can that that can only go one way in 2011.

It was also good to be involved with Eventer’s fund raising, with the MS Evening with Nicky Roncoroni, Emily Galbraith and Sarra mayberry being put through their paces by Les Smith. The Mid Surrey Hunt is also trying to riase a large amount of money to purchase some land , and fellow owner Harry Philips (Wattsburn) tasked Nicky and I to get some eventers to sign a numnah, as they already had a couple of racing ones..

This was a great challenge and the Eventers participating at Little Gatcombe have come up trumps. When you see the names and realize that these were present at competing at one event it perhaps gives another indication of what a tremendous sport this is. The numnah will be auctioned on November 12th and we wait with baited breath.

The autographers…

The eventers to have signed the numnah …

Lucinda Green , Mark Todd, Andrew Hoy , Clayton Fredricks, Pippa Funnell, Ruth Edge, Lucy Wiegersma, Sarah Cohen , Zara Phillips, and Nicky Roncoroni.

That group won (representing different countries )

Olympics –2 individual gold, 3 team gold, 1 individual silver , 4 team silver , 2 individual bronze, 1 team bronze

World Championships –4 team Golds, 2 individual gold, two team bronzes.

European championships.. 6 individual gold, 7 team gold, 1 individual silver, 1 team silver , 1 bronze ,

Also Young Riders European medals : I Team Gold, 1 Individual Silver, One Team Silver and 1 individual bronze..

That is in addition to the top events listed above.

Badminton 13 times, Burghley 7 time , Kentucky 3 Times, Aachen Once, and Luhmuhlen once (also once as a 3 star) .

Eventing Blog From Gatcombe

2010-09-21T09:42:00.002+01:00

Arctic Soul steps up.. Kitty King and Helen Dunning win the CIC's and Wynne nearly wins..
And then there were Three as Freddy moves on..

Another trip south for the team though NBR had actually stayed south following Blenheim so didn’t have as far to travel.

NBR had one entry in the CIC 1* with Arctic Soul entering his first FEI event.

I had driven south on the Friday and was staying nearby at a charming B&B Fir Tree House in Rodborough Common.

That allowed an early arrival on the Saturday ready for Arctic Soul’s dressage.

The weather was very good on the Saturday, and as a serial visitor to the Gatcombe event have become used to the locations of the various disciplines.

The ground was in pretty good condition too for the cross country, and although there was a Battle of Britain weekend at Kemble it didnt intrude. The cross country course provided the usual series of challenges for a number of horses with several fences on the novice and CIC courses catching riders out, and the time not being easy to achieve.

I was also tasked with gaining a few eventers autographs on a numnah to raise money for my colleagues Harry Philips Mid Surrey Pony Club to buy a field they have had access to for years before it is sold. It joins a list of items including several racing jockeys numnahs. More later on how that went but the nine signatories managed to win Badminton 13 times, Burghley 7 time , Kentucky 3 Times, Aachen once, and Luhmuhlen once (also once as a 3 star). Something to give Tony McCoy, and Richard Hanlon a good run for their money with their racing numnahs and that’s before the Olympic World and European medals tally, more of which below.

Gatcombe the event..

This was the first time for Arctic Soul at a bigger event and it did show in both his dressage and showjumping.

He worked in well early on the Saturday for the dressage, but in a bigger arena for the first time with a few distractions was a little tense.

He didn’t do anything wrong but his mark of 55.8 was a fair one, and a little more mileage will certainly help.

The showjumping on the Sunday morning was a similar case. Having walked the course I felt that he might be a little intimidated by the arena, and so it proved.

His warm up was fine but he was clearly distracted by the surroundings on entering the arena and promptly had the first two down. He then had one more before jumping very well in the latter part of the course. Again more experience of this type of atmosphere with the differeing array of jumps and surroundings will help.

Lying in the middle of the field Nicky just let him run round the cross country and he was excellent in this phase, only coming back with 9.6 time faults and when the accelerator pedal was pressed he responded extremely impressively. He ended up in 64th place with 77.8 faults, but certainly learnt from the experience. It also gives him his CCI qualifying result which sets us up well for next year.

The CIC 1* class was won by Kitty King on Zidante who had been lying near the lead after showjumping, but Pippa Funnell’s 8.8 time faults on Billy Beware had opened the door. The two star also saw a lead swap as Helen Dunning just pipped Lucy Wiegersma to second.

There was also an extremely tight finish to one of the Novice classes, with one second on the cross country course making all the difference.

Clayton Frederick’clear round inside the time on Brookton was just enough to edge out Michael Wynne by 0.3 of a mark on Zenith after he had 2.8 time faults—so close.

Still this was Zeniths best result to date and Rachel Wakefield was seen urging Zenith round the cross country course…not quite urging enough perhaps..

Clayton had more than one round inside the time including Lero Lero pictured below..

Next step for NBR will be a trip to the Rank wedding next week followed by Cherry Law and Inishmor competing at Osberton in the CCI2* and 4year old championships

There was also a slight detour on the way back north as Sarah Cohens lorry had expired and Nicky was able to help taxi back three horses that otherwise would have been stranded.

Back to the numnah

The eventers to have signed the numnah …and remember this is just a selection of those who were at Gatcombe 2 …

Lucinda Green, Mark Todd, Andrew Hoy, Clayton Fredricks, Pippa Funnell, Ruth Edge, Lucy Wiegersma, Sarah Cohen, and Zara Phillips with Nicky to be added.

That group also won a series of medals at top competitions (representing different countries).

Olympics: 2 individual gold, 3 team gold, 1 individual silver, 4 team silver, 2 individual bronze, 1 team bronze.

World Championships: 4 team Golds, 2 individual gold, one team bronze.

European championships: 6 individual gold, 7 team gold, 1 individual silver, 1 team silver, 1 bronze.

Also Young Riders European medals: 1 Team Gold, 1 Individual Silver, One Team Silver and 1 individual bronze..

That is in addition to the top events listed above.

It really emphasizes what a quality group of riders can be seen week in week out at events and how willing they are to help a good cause.

After the MS Fund raise organized by Rhona Elliot with three riders at our yard earlier this year again we are hugely appreciative to all riders who are happy to help.

And then there were three

This weekend also saw Freddy Curtis move on to a new home in the South of England and we will be watching to see his progress on the JRN circuit, something that we think he will be ideally suited to. That leaves Trig Point, Arctic Soul, and possibly Mistral (subject to his continued recovery remaining on track being the horses where I have ownership involvement in 2011)

There will be a season round up after the last event for the yard, and of course we have the BE Elections where I am one of nine candidates standing for three places due to properly get underway later in the autumn..

One also couldn’t leave without a picture of a 25 year old pony who was acting as a travel companion for a couple of eventers …a real character

Event owners Blog from Blenheim

2010-09-14T08:55:00.002+01:00

Top Competition at a Top Event- Trig Point steps up a gear..

A first time trip to Blenheim as the blogging season nears a close and what a splendid event it was.
With work commitments I was only able to attend on the Saturday and the Sunday but there certainly wasn’t a dull moment.

I was staying in a delightful B&B in Deddington, the Old Post House, and also know a lot more about Equine Manual Lymphatic Drainage with one of the first people in the UK based there.

That’s another story and one that will be worth pursuing at another time.

The copious amount of information sent through meant that one was well informed before arrival at Blenheim. The arrangements for owners and VIP’s had been well thought out, and I was particularly impressed as a first timer, to see the effort being put in by the Fidelity team as title sponsors. The pavilion down by the water seemed a really clever idea and I hope they found the whole exercise as worthwhile as they seemed to. The weather also turned out much better than forecast adding to the occasion.

The curtailed time at the event meant that I didn’t spend quite as much time going round the huge array of tradestands, as I would normally, but the range was impressive. The lorry park was also extremely well laid out with excellent stabling facilities and catering for the riders was excellent. As I said before this was a first time visit and it left an extremely good impression.

NBR had one runner, Trig Point, in the CIC3* 8/9 Championships

He had one one advanced earlier in the year, and After the long CCi2* course at Blair that had been considerable debate as to whether we should run him.

The benefit of running the cross country last and the reasonable weather and ground allowed us to make the journey down.

I had missed the dressage and would love to have seen the setting.

Trig Point had an extremely creditable test for a first timer at 3* scoring 57.2 to leave him lying 28th. Again there seemed a considerable discrepancy between the marks, but this also seemed to be a more general topic of conversation rather than just being limited to him.

The Saturday saw the CCI3* cross country across a fabulous course, followed by the CiC3* show jumping.

The cross country course had some fabulous fences which had been beautifully crafted, but it certainly was a long walk. Given the design of the course it certainly wasn’t possible to see the whole course at once , but combining certain sections of the course with TV screens enabled one to get a pretty clear picture of how rounds were unfolding.

The clearest indication of how close a horse was going to get to the difficult optimum was how they tackled the section along the top of the hill (if they got that far). There were certainly problems in all parts of the course and the technical fences at the finish captured a few more who were going well but had started to tire.

Clear rounds inside the time were few and far between. Aoife Clarke had set a very good time fairly early and looked to be moving beautifully at the top of the hill was one of the only early ones to get round and she repeated the exercise later on . Andrew Nicholson also achieved two inside the time, with the others being from Piggy French and William Fox-Pitt. Parklane Hawk cruised round the course but it was deceptive and his round was enough to reverse the positioning with Ruth Edge after dressage, a lead that he didn’t surrender in the tense climax in the showjumping arena, which took place on the Sunday . It was also good to see both Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks appearing in the top ten after very good cross country rounds.

William and Lucinda are pictured below..

Attention switched to the Show Jumping arena for the CIC3* competition. After some minor issues with the course design because of screens and sight lines from fences we were ready to get underway, Christopher Bartle kindly came over to help work Trig point in and settled both horse and rider down. Trig Point was fourth in, and this was a completely different round to the one at Blair. The stumble after the first had clearly unsettled him , but we saw none of that this time. He was very unlucky to have the first of the treble down, and jumped otherwise what was clearly his best round of the season . Certainly the benefits of Mark Smiths training are paying off. We stayed to watch the rest of the showjumping, whilst keeping an eye and an ear on the High bar competition in the next door arena , which seemed to get to shirtless and saddleless in a couple of cases. Mark Todd said it was easier to ride without a shirt than without a saddle….

No pictures of that, but a picture of Trig Point from the professional photographer which clearly showed he meant business.

Cross Country for CIC3* was done on the Sunday Morning with 6m 45 second optimum.

It was run in reverse order and Trig Point was lying 30th overnight. One or two went out of order including Applejack the overnight leader who came home with 6.4 time faults to leave the door open for the final five. Trig Point looked on fabulous form and looked measured rather than being pushed, but when getting closer to the end of the course he was opened up and seemed to have a lot petrol still left in the tank while others at that stage were starting to wilt. Add to that that he only picked up 5.6 time faults with only 12 faster than him when we hadn’t been chasing the clock was really impressive. His recovery time was extremely fast and he also has come back sound. (we did have the random drug testing to cope with afterwards to calm things down)..

He ended up in 22nd place and also has now achieved his CCI3* qualifications in a class won by Mark Todd after an excellent round on Land Vision inside the time edged him ahead of Sarah Cohen and Treason. The CCI3* qualification was starting to look unlikely at one stage this season when we seemed to be running out of events. The way he finished the season and the stamina he has showed is extremely encouraging for next season, and we will now focus on autumn showjumping and some dressage.

So NBR stayed south and heads for Gatcombe CIC 1* with Arctic Soul for his last outing of the season, and that of the blog.

There may well be a trip to Osberton for Cherry Law in the 2* and Inishmor in the BE 4YO at the end of the month but I may be unable to attend.

There may not have been any points for the yard, but the trip to Blenheim was extremely worthwhile and I would hope it is on our agenda next year.

Congratulations and thanks to all involved in putting the event on. A real success and as an owner I had a fabulous time…

Eventing Blog From Blair..

2010-09-01T08:10:00.006+01:00

A great occasion.. Good weather, good ground and great competition. Neuf de Cour, Huggy and Buzz lead the way - NBR gets points and prizes..

We trekked north of the Wednesday and were staying at the Killiecrankie Hotel run by Henrietta Ferguson.

It is increasingly becoming a house party for the four days of competition and as it turned out we had the owners of the CCI2* and 3* winners also staying.

The weather forecast was being watched closely and over the four day period we had a few heavy showers, (mostly outside competition time). Otherwise it was sunny and blustery and the ground was excellent for cross country.

There were also a continued range of entertainment both during the day and in the evening. A good range of trade stands were more widely spread around the three arenas, which I also think worked better. The owners car parking arrangements worked well and there was good access to the members area.

The new trot up area in the main arena also made things more convenient, though we didn’t have the chance to see any of them actually taking place.

Thanks to the whole organizing team for an excellent job, and for the rain staying away ..

NBR Entries

CCI1* - Stonedge

CCI2* - Cherry Law and Trig Point

Dressage..

Stonedge led off the CCI1* class as a trailblazer and did a reasonable test scoring 52.9 which as the competition wore on was to leave him in 36th place after the 90 horses had completed that phase. The difference in marking between the two judges in this phase had caused some comment, and this extended to both the 2* star and 3 star classes as the competition wore on.

Cherry Law was scored with a 63.9 and Trig Point scored a 54.7 to leave her in 15th equal, with a reasonable difference between the two marks and one that certainly looked overly harsh.

The judges were international and had been chosen from approved lists, but that didn’t seem to ease the feeling of disappointment that pervaded the lorry park after the dressage phase. The one thing that you know with Blair is that the competition isnt solely dependent on dressage. We were both pleased by the way that Trig Point had performed but were already looking to the cross country phase. The three are pictured below..

Cross Country..

After a scotch mist at the start of the one star the weather cleared and there was a dramatic series of cross country rounds in all classes on Ronald Alexanders well designed courses.

Stonedge acted as trailblazer He cruised round the cross country course and showed that in this discipline he certainly has matured. He moved up to 16th place after the cross country

There were a number of casualties and tired horses as the one star progressed. The picture was no different in the CIC3 and CCI3, before we got to the CCI2* with Cherry Law and Trig Point

Both produced magnificent rounds and were only just outside the optimum in their first 2* competition. The ground suited and with an optimum time of 9.21 this was significantly further than they had gone before so it was very encouraging to see them perform so well.

Stonedge took everything in his stride but Cherry law was slightly less sure of the ditch. Trig Point was on top form right the way round the course.

Showjumping..

After the successes at Scone the showjumping arena wasn’t as kind to the team. Stonedge had the second last down, and slipped a couple of places to 17th, bit still was in the prize money and picked up a couple of points. Cherry Law only had one pole, very reminiscent of the gate she knocked down in 2007, almost in the same position across the arena, and ended up in 16th as others also had faults. She picked up 5 points. Trig Point stumbled badly as he landed after the first and this clearly unsettled him. That was to take its toll later in the round when he had a line of three fences down before settling again for the finish. He had been lying 8th and slipped to 12th. As it turned out he would have gone no higher, but it was disappointing to slip out of the top ten.

He remained within the prize money and also picked up 13 points.

Stonedge and Cherry Law pictured above and Trig Point pictured below..

Around the classes..

There were several notable successes from the weekend. Wills Oakden had a great weekend picking up 90 points for his third with Jo Brown in the three star, and 4 points for 7th with Merikano, Debbie Whalley’s horse, in the one star picking up virtually every special prize along the way. They are pictured on their way to a clear round in the 1*.

The two star went to Hugginstown in a very tight finish to the showjumping with Matthew Wright virtually lifting the horse over several jumps to guarantee a victory. . The CIC 3* had already gone to Opposition Buzz who had flown round the course, with William Fox-Pitt taking second with Oslo, and Gemma tattersall, a brilliant 3rd on Kings Gem. The CCI3 was then won by William Fox-Pitt on Neuf de Cours to compete an excellent weekend. They are pictures below tackling the upper water.
The biggest shame was the lack of entries especially in the CCI3* where there were only eleven starters. The attention to detail around the course and the whole calibre of the event deserved more. The cross country was as challenging as ever at all levels.

For NBR the final tally was a 12th for Trig Point , a 16th for Cherry law and a 17th for Stonedge.

Points..

13 for Trig Point, 5 for Cherry Law and 2 for Stonedge making 20 for the yard increasing its total to 116.

Trig Point now moves onto 49 points for the year and 110 in total, with Stonedge now up to 33 and Cherry Law 23 taking her to 67 overall

Stonedge has now scored points in his last eight consecutive events a pretty impressive tally,

Next outings..

Burghley Young Event Horse for Inishmhor and Wattsburn

Blenheim 8/9 cic3 for Trig Point

Gatcombe CIC1* for Arctic Soul

The blog will look to resurface at Blenheim for the Saturday and Sunday if competing and the following weekend at Gatcombe.

Event Owners Blog from Scone..

2010-08-18T11:16:00.005+01:00

Event Owners Blog from Scone... Stonedge Crowned scottish Novice Champion, Trig Point storms to victory in the CIC2* , Cherry Law gets 3rd and upgrades , Eventers charity display for MS..

An extraordinary weekend at Scone, which certainly made up for the disappointment of missing Gatcombe, and this time we were blessed with extraordinary weather. Having seen heavy rain in August for prior events James and his excellent team were due a good weather weekend and they certainly got that. The ground was firmer than we might have expected given rain in the week but rode extremely well and contributed to some very good times cross country. The competition was excellent all weekend and as ever at Scone each of the disciplines brought their own challenges. We also were staying up in the hills above Dunkeld with family overnight on the Saturday so didn’t have far to travel to return on the Sunday. Given the number of entries Nicky was stabled at Howe Equestrian centre but that still meant an early start on Sunday for dressage just after 8.

The cross country was back to being done the conventional way after being reversed early in the year, and as one would expect from an Ian Stark course set a number of challenges for the higher classes. The showjumping as always was a firm challenge and we were fortunate that Mark Smith, who had given a rigorous training session earlier in the week was able to come on the Sunday. He did take quite a long time walking the course and came back fairly thoughtful noting the number of questions that Colin Hexley had asked. But more of that later..

Also on Tuesday evening at Westerhouses three Scottish Young Rider European medalists put on a display compered by Les Smith for MS Racing and event coordinated by Rhona Elliott

Nicky Roncoroni, Emily Galbraith and Sarra Mayberry all put on a terrific display in front of more than 100 people.

but again more of that later...

Back to the main event..

NBR entries

Wattsburn – BE100

Arctic Soul- Saturday Novice

Freddy Curtis – Intermediate Novice

Stonedge – Scottish Novice Championship

Cherry Law – Intermediate

Trig Point – CIC2*

Wattsburn started the ball rolling on Saturday, but was a little disappointing in the dressage and somewhat distracted. It was an improvement on his dressage here earlier in the year but left him too far off the pace to catch up. He jumped beautifully in the Showjumping going clear and he only incurred 0.8 time faults cross country again putting in a good performance which moved him up to 11th just outside the placings. He did pick up 2 foundation points to increase his total for the year to 24.

Arctic Soul was next up, and was slightly tense but again produced a sound test to score 32.5 his fourth novice test between 30 and 35. He was really unlucky in the showjumping to roll a pole, this being a much better round than at Aston, and he picked up 2 time penalties cross country, whith the technical nature of the course not quite allowing him to flow. Nevertheless he was able to move into fifth and picked up two points, to take his score to three. Next for him looks to be the One star at Gatcombe.

On the Sunday there were four competing and were interspersed amongst each other with a relentless period in the middle of the day.

Freddy, who hadn’t been out since Eglington and hadn’t done cross country since Burgie clearly showed his excitement at his return to competition after a gap

His dressage score of 43.2 was followed uncharacteristically by three down in the showjumping. As it turned out noone at all went clear in his class. He then had a controlled cross country round with Nicky choosing to pace him steadily . nevertheless it was enough to earn him seventh place and a welcome return to the placings.

The Scottish Novice Championship was also run as an Intermediate Novice and was over the same showjumping track , but that was done in reverse order with the showjumping to finish.

Stonedge had started with an impressive dressage to lead, and then had looked very impressive cross country but had actually managed to incur 1.2 reverse time faults cross country which meant he was lying second coming into the final discipline. As in the previous class clear rounds were almost impossible to find. Jacaranda Prince ridden by Suzannah Brownlie produced a simply amazing clear round, with the rider having the sense to let him make any adjustments necessary. He had done exactly the same at Hendersyde the week before, and it was seriously impressive to see him lay down the gauntlet. He marched his way up the field as rider after rider had fences down, and ended up in third. Stonedge came into the ring second last to go and produced an imperious clear round, which meant that the final rider had to go clear to win. The first and second fences both went, leaving Stonedge as the winner of the class and ready to go to Blair in the CCI*.He also picks up 6 points.

The CIC2* was Trig point’s challenge after the disappointment of missing Gatcombe and he set out to impress. His dressage was very good scoring a 44.7 which was enough to put him in the lead by a couple of marks ahead of Matthew Wright’s Well Spotted. The showjumping proved no less tricky for this class but Trig Point was able to produce a fabulous clear round to maintain his advantage going into the Cross Country phase. Having heard comment that Matthew might be trying to save Well Spotted for Burghley, a quick look at the tail of the horse after the first indicated that this was going to be some round, and 17 seconds inside the time allowed duly followed. Trig Point wasn’t going to miss out and responded simply fantastic cross country round inside the time was enough to hold onto first place. The FEI steward (following from the top of the course ) actually managed to see more of the round than I did, telling me to run faster.

He picked up 16 points, Prize Money and the rider gets a weekend at Kinloch House which I am sure she will take up.

The day wasn’t quite over though and Cherry Law was yet to complete her competition. Her dressage of 38.2 had left her in around 7th, but yet again another excellent showjumping round followed, one of only three in the class. She then produced the only cross country round inside the time which was enough to move her to third place. Her eight points is enough to move her to 62 points and a Grade 1 classification.

A pretty spectacular weekend whichever way one looks at it.

Producing four clear rounds out of six jumped in Colin Hexley courses is pretty unusual, and thanks again must go to Mark Smith who clearly has made a difference again.

Three cross country rounds were inside the time and only Freddy who was deliberately taken slower was off the pace and in the dressage arena, four of the six produced very good tests.

Five of the six came back with ribbons.

Stonedge the Young Pretender was crowned at Scone, but there is no way that Trig Point wasn’t going to give him a good run for his money for the NBR Horse of the Event

Two professional pictures to show them in their glory.

Points 32..

Trig Point 16, Cherry law 8, Stonedge 6, Arctic Soul 2

Foundation Points

Watts Burn 2

Total For the year

The total for the year has now moved onto 96 from 64

Trig Point has 36, Stonedge 31, Cherry Law 18, Fiddlewood 6, Arctic Soul 3, Rare Hero 2

Foundation points 65

Arctic Soul 31, WattsBurn 24, Inishmhor 8, Stonedge 2

Update since the last Blog

Inishmhor had won his BE4yo qualifier picking up 8 foundation points, and rare hero had come 17th in an Intermediate Novice with WattsBurn 8th in a 5Year old class

Diary

Blair – Trig point and Cherry Law – CCI2* Stonedge-CCI*

Burghley Young Event Horse Final InishMhor 4year old, Wattsburn 5Year old

Blenheim Trig Point 8/9 year old Championships CIC3*

Gatcombe- ballot day looms so entries tbc

Next blog – Blair

MS Charity Eventing Evening

Westerhouses was delighted to host a MS Racing charity fundraiser on Tuesday evening, an event organized by Rhona Elliott.

We were blessed by good weather and a huge effort had been put in to make it successful.

Over 100 people turned up to watch Sarra Mayberry on Tommy Pink and Emily Galbraith on Timing being put through jumping paces by Les Smith, with Nicky Roncoroni and Trig point then being worked through a 3* star dressage test. The Hog Roast to finish capped an excellent evening. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it a success with a significant amount being raised.. The three participants are pictured below..

Semper Porro, (always onwards), the NBR motto, seems an apt way to bring this to a close..

Event Owners Blog - Advancing at Aston...

2010-07-27T12:34:00.013+01:00

Trig Point's First Advanced, Arctic Soul upgrades, Stonedge hits the podium again..

Having missed a couple of events through holiday before getting to Aston we should catch up briefly with results from Aske and Eglington.

At Aske Cherry law came 10th in and Intermediate and Trig Point was 19th in an OI. The following week at Eglington Cherry law stormed to third in an Intermediate picking up 8 points, Stonedge fired himself to second in the Novice picking up 5 points and an upgrade to Grade 2, and Arctic Soul impressed at Novice though took time over the cross country with some longer alternatives.

That took the yard to 59 points ahead of Aston.

This was the first time I had been to Aston and what an excellent viewing platform for the advanced cross country, and what a field to see.

That is getting a little ahead of myself, and I will get there in due course.

I drove down in the Thursday with Nicky going down for pathway training the day before and stayed at Colledges in Staverton, only 10 miles away and a very pleasant B&B.

The entries

Novice –Arctic Soul and Stonedge

8/9 Year old Advanced- Trig Point

There were over 80 in Trig Point’s class and more than half the Advanced Horses in the Country were in evidence across the advanced entries with riders coming from as far as Aberdeen.

There will only be two advanced competitions north of York in 2010, with both being in Ayrshire. One hopes that there can be a few more in 2011. It was good to catch up with a number of riders and owners that we hadn’t seen since early spring, and after this weekends result we hope to be seeing more of them.

The Novices competed on Friday, with Trig point’s dressage on Friday and the rest of his competition on Saturday.

The Showjumping white board I had heard a lot about and it was interesting to see it in practice.

There appeared to be absolutely no problems whatsoever in the arena in the two days that I was there, and the multiple riders were slotted in in a way that was easy to understand, (and there were a number of them to cope with). After each set of five horses there is a multiple rider box, to allow them to slot in. This seems to work very well.

Cross country

The cross country viewing was excellent for the advanced with only fences 8-12 not being visible from the viewing mound for the advanced.

The Novice did require a little more running to see the course. There was also some difficulty with the first water where a number of riders came unstuck. Fortunately both the NBR horses handled it comfortably.

The dressage arena did seem somewhat remote, and may have contributed to the somewhat sluggish arrival of the scores. They were painfully slow in arriving and on the first day of competition the prize givings were held without the sponsors, which seemed a shame, and the final scores in the advanced dressage test were actually seen being filled in by the judge who was helping out.

That was only thing that really marred what was otherwise an excellent opportunity to view top riders.

Novices

Arctic Soul was first up, and after a very very long walk to the dressage arena (which might be one of the reasons why the scores were a little slow returning).

There were around 100 horses warming up when he appeared, clearly not ideal warm up conditions, and Nicky had to play a percentage game given his tendency to get a little fragile in the past. As it turned out he got a very respectable 34.5. His showjumping was tidy in the main but did manage to knock a couple of poles, which were easy to knock down. However his cross country round was simply excellent and a dabble on the accelerator pedal after the fourth saw him eating up the ground, and getting admiring looks as he motored to an optimum time. There were only a very few novice clears inside the time, and for Spike to do this in what was only his third outing at the distance was impressive. He also didn’t look particularly stretched. Lots more in the tank.

Stonedge who had just been upgraded was competing for the last time at Novice, and certainly wasn’t cooperating in the dressage arena, and was lying 20th with a poor 39.5. However things changed in the showjumping with a sparkling clear, and he capped that with a another excellent cross country round inside the time to finish third. An impressive finish to his Novice career and is clearly ready to move up a grade.

Advanced

Trig Point had also begun his class with an impressive dressage which left him lying 14th. In his class the dressage was on an all weather surface.

The showjumping was to prove the discipline that caused major problems, and it was extremely easy to find four faults turning into 24..

There were a number of horses who missed out on qualifying scores as a result, and any tap of the poles proved extremely expensive.

He didn’t jump badly but inexperience at this level brought three taps and three fences down, and so he moved onto cross country with an additional 12.

For this run Nicky didn’t wear a watch and let him gradually wind up the pace. He looked very impressive and came home with 10.8 time faults in 6.29 and ended up in a creditable 27th.

Importantly it gave a qualifying result for Blenheim 8/9 CIC3* should everything go all right in the intervening events.

Also congratulations to Nicky on completing her first advanced event for 6 years.. we hope for many more.

The cross country time wasn’t achieved by many but Andrew Nicholson put in a string of excellent rounds peppering the optimum time. With such a good viewing course and a stopwatch it was easy to see where the time was made up. He is pictured here tackling the steps.

Lucy Jackson was one of the best through the combination at 16, something that both surprised and pleased her immensely.

A number of others caught the eye and with half the advanced horses in the country registered and virtually all the top riders it made for a fascinating days viewing.

It was good to see Gemma Tattersall winning the Under 25 class with another accomplished performance on Kings Gem, who showed no sign of any lack of concentration, while a number of other younger riders came unstuck just towards the end of the round. Angus Smales must also be commended on his string of clear rounds in the showjumping. That wasn’t easy to achieve.

Overall an encouraging weekend and an important barrier crossed.

The yard gleaned another 5 points to move up to 64, but also gained important qualifying scores. Stonedge now with 25 points heads away from Novice, and Arctic Soul has become a Grade 3.

Overall Totals for the year so far..

Stonedge 25

Trig Point 20

Cherry Law 10

Fiddlewood 6

Rare Hero 2

Arctic Soul 1

Where next

Strathallan sees Watts Burn, Rare Hero and InishMhor compete in the 5yo, Intermediate Novice and the 4yo (and possibly freddy who is back with Nicky)

Gatcombe sees Trig Point entered for the Intermediate Championship Finals

Scone – although the entries aren’t confirmed yet, looks like 5 or 6 horses heading up to James Oakden’s event

Blair – not entered yet but looks to be Stonedge and Trig Point

Burghley Young Horse Finals – Inishmhor and Watts Burn both qualified

The blog should return for Gatcombe..

Eventing Blog From Hexham

2010-06-14T15:29:00.004+01:00

An outstanding weekend..
Trig Point a very impressive second in the OI, Arctic Soul storms to victory, Cherry Law places, and Freddy does a double clear..

Hexham proved to be one of those weekends where the jigsaw came together and the horses competing seemed to want to out do each other.

The result was an outstanding weekend, and although one must always remember that horses can be great levelers, when I get asked why or how I have managed to get involved with the sport, it is weekends like this that make it very worthwhile.

The blog will be taking a little break as a combination of holidays and other events means that I will be missing potential entries at Burgie, Aske and Eglington with the next outing a possible first time visit to Aston-le-Walls.

The NBR entries this weekend were:

Cherry Law – Intermediate

Trig Point – Open Intermediate

Arctic Soul – BE100

The weather on Saturday was lovely and sunny, but Arctic Soul’s competition was split, with showjumping and Cross country on a rainier Sunday.

Photos this time are courtesy of Photo-Synergy

Dressage competitions all took place first, with Cherry Law, doing a 37.7 to kick things off in her Intermediate Class . Trig Point then produced an excellent Intermediate 117 test in what was an extremely competitive Open Intermediate class, producing one of his best with a 30. This left him lying fifth behind Oliver Townend on Master Rose, Ruth Edge, Caroline Powell, and Piggy French. He really did look on song. This was then followed by Arctic Soul producing his best test of the season, a 25.5, which also left him in 5th. The range of marks in his test was quite extraordinary ranging for 18.5 to well over 50.

The showjumping was simply outstanding from all. Cherry Law’s round left all the connections barely able to breathe, and Nicky simply had to sit very tight, as this was one of the fastest rounds that I have ever seen Nicky ride. The mare is extraordinarily clever and never looked ready to have one down, but trying to hold her back on this form simply wasn’t an option,

Trig Point approached his round in more measured style and produced an excellent clear, despite some distractions that could have been critical, as the last fence took an age to rebuild after a previous rider, and the planks were still being waved around as Trig Point was tackling the measured distance between the fourth and the fifth. (more staff on fence repair?). His ears flickered but he kept his composure.

Arctic Soul’s round didn’t take place till the Sunday but he showed absolutely no sign of wanting to touch a pole, for a brilliant clear, and is definitely ready to move up to Novice.

With three sparkling clears Mark Smiths good groundwork continues to pay off, and we must be due another series of lessons to keep up the momentum .

Cross Country – Another amazing set of rides on a fairly tricky course which did cause considerable problems. The ground was good, and it allowed galloping horses to perform, though from a spectators perspective the hill towards the end is a real tester if one is trying to see the finish.

Cherry Law was the first out of the stalls and stormed around in 6.04 gliding across the ground, and moved her up to 8th. This was a polished performance and also was an extremely good trailblazer for the horses to follow. This was close to being too fast, but the double clear earns her 2 points and mover her onto 46.

Trig Point was lying fourth after showjumping and not having competed since Auchinleck, Nicky was going to take steady at the start and gradually crank up the pace. I was half way round the course for the upper loop and could see the gears comfortably being worked through and by the tenth he was really flowing. There had been a nasty moment at the 9th, a very large Trakhener, where a lose dog had managed to get right under the fence just as the previous horse had approached. The rider had no option but to pull out of the fence, and the dog fortunately was captured before Nicky appeared. By the time I had made it down the hill onto the flat Trig Point was almost round the lower field, absolutely flying, and heading up the other side. His time of 6.12 was well inside the optimum, and was a sparkling return to the form he showed at Gatcombe last year. ODT Master Rose was never going to relinquish first, but the second place is an outstanding result, with 10 points and some prize money as well.

Arctic Soul faced entirely different weather conditions for his round with steady, if light rain, that did require care. He was also lying fourth after Showjumping and was one of the last to go so we had the benefit of knowing where the others had finished. The leader had had 8.5 time faults leaving them on 26.9, the horse that had been lying second had a refusal and the third placed horse 0.5 marks ahead was eliminated for an error of course. A clear round inside the time would bring victory, but too slow, or too fast (given that the previous two rounds were inside the time on intermediates, and he is an ex racehorse) would lead to him missing out. He produced a stunning round again increasing the pace as he went, and came in with 5.17, well inside the optimum but not too fast to trigger faults at BE 100 .. He gained a well deserved victory and rounds off his campaign at BE100 level. He gains another 10 foundation points, and a little prize money, but not enough to cover the entry. There was also a free fitness assessment for the rider as a prize , so we will be awaiting news of how that goes. I particularly enjoyed seeing him as he motored over the Spalding corner with lots to spare.

Also this weekend marked the first opportunity for Emily Galbraith to ride Freddy Curtis for myself and Nicky so marked the debut of NBR in an owning capacity for another rider with Freddy riding an HC Novice .The aim remains to sell Freddy and we both thought a different rider might prove interesting and show his versatility.

He didn’t disappoint with a steady 38.6 in the dressage, an impressive clear in the showjumping, and a very good cross country round as the partnership familiarized themselves.

This would have left him 7th and very pleasing start for everyone involved.

This proved a very successful start, and the next step is a CIC* at Burgie where he will come up against Rare Hero, followed by a run at Eglington should things go well.

Other news around the park

Good to see Kirsty Brewis getting a podium on Harbour Lights, one that we have been watching this season. Her mothers error of course prevented a similar finish.

James Oakden continued his points gathering exercise with another one for Lady, continuing to make steady progress round the cross country course. No picture this time as I had to be in three places at once…

It was good to see my ex colleague Steven Trowbridge make the long drive north with his daughter Kate, as they bring L’Espoir de Corbou back from and enforced break, and Chequers Playboy also on good form for Dee Hankey.

Also I noticed at Oatridge that Sarah Finlayson came fifth with another double clear, so continued progress there as her eventing career progresses.

The event was well organized as ever and thanks to all involved.

The Summary for NBR

2 dressage scores 70% and above

3 clear showjumping rounds

3 cross country rounds inside the time.

One first, a second and an eighth.

12 BE Points and 10 Foundation points

Trig Point 10 points, making 20 for the year and 81 overall

Cherry Law 2 points, her first for the year . Taking her to 46

Arctic Soul – 10 foundation Points – taking him to 31 Foundation points

Yard total moves to 37 BE points and 48 Foundation Points

Next outing for the Yard

Burgie

Arctic Soul – Novice for the First Time (up against a select field including Stonedge) and where he started eventing a year ago

Stonedge – Novice

WattsBurn – BE100

Rare Hero – CIC*

Inishmhor also going up for the experience and a BE Young Event Horse

Also Freddy Curtis will appear in the CIC* for his second outing with Emily Galbraith on board

Sadly I will miss Burgie , after a very enjoyable event last year and will be chomping at the bit to return.

Event Owners Blog from Floors

2010-05-25T10:07:00.006+01:00

A hot weekend.. Wattsburn Wins, Stonedge Points and a Podium, Arctic Soul Placed - Irish horses leads the NBR charge..

Two days of scintillating weather, with the temperature reaching the mid 20’s.

Fortunately Floors is our local event so we didn’t have to travel very far in the heat, though there was an early start on both days.

Another cracking event organized by Jamie Innes and his crew and there were many familiar faces over the two days.

I still think this setting has tremendous scope for greater use… and some of the pictures simply highlight the appeal.

Everything seemed to run fairly smoothly, with no major issues, and it was good to see the ice cream van and bottled water sales getting the edge over coffee and other hot drinks.

The dressage arenas were well laid out but the scoring seemed somewhat higher than at recent events, and we did have the slightly bizarre sight of Rare hero getting the lowest dressage score of any of the NBR horses and the lowest dressage score he has ever received of 32.5. Arctic Soul produced his best test of the season but yet scored one of his highest marks with a 37.5.

There were several comments around the lorry park about the vagueries of the scoring , but it didn’t detract from an enjoyable weekend.

The other controversy came in the BE100 cross country where a cunningly placed fence 18 caught out a number of riders. The normal route to the finish from previous years had been changed and the slight detour was enough to throw people. On walking the course no fewer than four riders who were on the course at he same time all walked the wrong course, and several only discovered once they got to the end of their walk. There were a number who ended up eliminated. (despite the best efforts in one case to explain where the fence was)

We also must thank Daniella Page, a budding young eventer, who helped the NBR Team out very effectively over the two days.

NBR Entries

Saturday

Arctic Soul and Wattsburn- BE100

Rare Hero – Novice (HC)

Sunday

Stonedge – Novice,

Freddy Curtis – Intemediate Novice

Cherry Law –Intermediate.

Saturday started with Arctic Soul being first on in the Dressage test, and I didn’t think his core of 37.5 was representative of the test he had done, compared with his more recent performances. This to our mind was his best test of the year. His showjumping was very good, and the extra work from Mark Smith again looks to have paid dividends, with another clear. He simply motored round the cross country course, finishing easily inside the time, and his huge stride simply eats up the ground. He finished a creditable sixth and collects another 5 foundation points to take him to 21. He is also ready to move to novice, and that move is likely to happen in one of the next two events. His last four results have been 4th, 9th, 2nd and 6th, setting a good trend.

Wattsburn was the next one up, and he produced and excellent dressage test of 33.0. That was followed by a clear in the showjumping, and although a little greener than Arctic Soul and two years younger only picked up 1.6 time faults leaving him 7 points clear of the rest of the field. So ten foundation points for him and a big boost for the new joint owners Lorna McWilliam and Harry Phillips who have joined Janey Roncoroni as part owners.

Then the grey beast Rare Hero made his first outing for over a year. He was competing HC in the Novice class and began with the best dressage score he has ever achieved, a 32.5 following Ruth Edge into the arena. His showjumping was a little ragged knocking three poles down, but he breezed around the cross country course with only a few time faults. Nice to have him back on the squad, and providing he stays sound he might be routed next to Burgie.

Sunday was slightly less sunny but also a lack of wind so if anything it was more humid

NBR had three more runners with Stonedge up first. His dressage wasn’t anything special with a 39 but he made up for it with an excellent clear round showjumping, and then followed it with a blistering cross country display, to finish only 1 second over the time. This was enough to take him into second place and picking up 5 points,

Next out were Freddy Curtis and Cherry Law, and Freddy was true to form in his third outing of the season this tine in an intermediate novice . Very uncooperative in the warm up with the cross country nearby and his first minute was very tricky, after that he actually showed some very nice paces, though the rider might not have believed it and he scored a 36.4. His showjumping was the best this year and was unlucky to have one down. He then did a good cross country round only being 10 seconds over the time. His next outing will be at hexham with a planned change of jockey to Emily Galbraith, and she may take him back to Novice HC depending on how she gets on with acclimatization.

Cherry Law had a slightly higher dressage score in the Intermediate section, and rolled two poles. It could have been three but for a particularly clever bit of jumping at the last.

Her cross country round was as impressive as ever and she only picked up 3.6 time faults,
Both of them finished just outside the places in their respective classes.

Round the Lorry Park
Several riders to catch up with ..

There were good performances from the Agnews with both Charlotte and Al seen several times.

It must have been particularly pleasing for Charlotte to get her finals out of the way, and she returned to form with a seriously impressive performance on Pavonita.

James Oakden “ambled “ to another point for a double clear on Lady, blaming his grey hair for not being quicker… (Ian Stark has a lot of grey hair)

And Dee Hankey was very pleased with her two outings, with Chequers Toyboy pictured below, though she had decided not to press on the cross country, after a scintillating 26.5 dressage.

NBR…

Points for the Yard

Stonedge 5, taking him to 10 and the yard to 26.

Foundation Points

Wattsburn 10 and Arctic Soul 5 , taking the yard total to 38,

Next outings..

Hexham

Arctic Soul, Trig Point (possibly), Cherry law, and Freddy Curtis (with Nicky as part owner rather than rider )

Burgie

Several planned with entries due later in the week.

Event Owners Blog from Auchinleck

2010-05-11T15:53:00.003+01:00

Its back... Podiums, Placings and Points.. Arctic Soul and Stonedge lead the charge..

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*

Eventing Blog from Scone

2010-05-01T09:25:00.002+01:00

Podium for Trig Point, and places for Cherry Law and Arctic Soul.. Freddy's back -- keeping an eye on Finlayson..

Another eventful weekend at Scone, with a very entertaining two days. The blog has been delayed for a few days as I have been travelling around Britain.

The contrast in the conditions over the two days was fairly dramatic and those certainly presented some real challenges as the event wore on.

The organising team led by James Oakden did a tremendous job in the very differing conditions, and there is no reason why it couldn’t host an Advanced event, something that Scotland is short of. The variety offered by the reverse running certainly added a new dimension to what is an attractive event, though the course wasn’t any easier as can be judged from the results. A very fair challenge.

NBR Runners

Saturday

Arctic Soul, BE 90, Wattsburn- Intro

Sunday

Cherry Law, Freddy Curtis - Open Novice

Trig Point – Open Intermediate

This was the first outing for Wattsburn, Cherry Law, and Freddy, and with Arctic Soul not having been out since Lincoln it also seemed as though it was a season start

The Saturday saw excellent weather for the younger horses and this was the first time that I had seen the course reversed, something that I think worked extremely well.

The ground was in excellent condition, and it was interesting to see how the young horses were able to handle the cross country.

Wattsburn undoubtedly was a little enthusiastic in the dressage, and also managed to knock three fences down when he lost concentration after what was a good start to his round.

He was very impressive across the cross country and ended up in 15th place.

Arctic Soul also was a little excitable ahead of each discipline, and I was wondering whether he might not actually hold it together in the dressage arena. He actually scored a reasonable 34.5 and managed to knock one down in the showjumping, before coming home clear in the cross country with 5.2 time faults to finish up 9th.

Sundays weather was in contrast with persistent rain with a drier spell in the middle of the day.

However the ground conditions became much tougher as the day wore on noticeable affecting the senior classes

Open Novices

Cherry Law produced an average dressage, before producing an excellent double clear. She was perfect in the showjumping and then was one of only two horses in all the novice classes to go round the cross country course inside the time. This enabled her to finish a very creditable fifth.

Freddy Curtis

Freddy was also back on the competition circuit for the first time since September and was clearly excited to be back. He improved as last season went on, but this was a very encouraging first outing. He was tense in the dressage, and was very unlucky to knock the last down in the showjumping arena, He was also steady paced around the cross-country course though clearly enthusiastic and occasionally gave himself some big jumps. He finished a steady 19th.

Trig Point

Trig Point didn’t have the best of the conditions for his competition. His dressage at 32.7 included one break but otherwise was very sound.

The rain came on heavily in the showjumping and he jumped extremely well clearing everything including all the combinations, and with some extra technical practice going in at home that looks to have paid off on this occasion. However he had a very strange nap between the six and seventh which earned him a disobedience and five time faults..

Looking at the slow motion and looking around the arena there were two very garish umbrellas that just happened to be in the sight line of the fence from the point he had reached. Obviously this was pretty unusual but the fact he jumped clear in tough ground was very encouraging.

By the time he got to the cross country ground conditions were a lot worse than earlier in the day. He jumped very well but after another minor disagreement half way round, which I happened to be right beside, he came home with 23.4 time faults. Others actually did worse so he came home a surprising third and collected 8 points but we can dwell on what might have been. He hadn’t had a cross country round since Burnham market so this was clearly needed, and I feel is has a big performance bubbling under

He is pictured below on the entry to the water.

One to watch

Plenty of action in the 2* with lots of familiar names but my one to watch this time comes from right at the other end of the competitive picture

Sarah Finlayson who I came across at the admissions department at Loretto, where Iona is heading next, had a storming performance in the BE90 for a first outing, with a fabulous cross country round to finish . After a win at their only BE 80 last year this is now followed by a win at her first BE90 on Bellindene Norman
.

Next stop for them is Auchinleck and we will be keeping any eye out to see how they get on..

NBR points

Trig Point 8 .. taking the total to 14 for the year so far.

Next outings

Auchinleck – 6 entered

WattsBurn and Arctic Soul - BE100

Fiddlewood and Stonedge –Novice

Freddy Curtis - Intermediate

Trig Point – Open Intermediate

Cherry law then is set to join four of the others at Floors, whilst Trig Point and Fiddlewood have been entered for Tattersalls in the CCI2* and CCI1* respectively.

Event-Owners Blog from Belton

2010-04-19T11:11:00.006+01:00

Another Raztaz weekend- Fiddlewoods Podium, Stonedge upgrades, and Trig Point's Error of Course..

Another eventful trip to Belton for NBR, with a huge amount to see and a tremendous weather.

We were staying at Langar Hall, a superb setting and highly recommended.

Belton was as entertaining as ever with a range of activities in addition to the event itself. The range of trade stands was wide and the fashion show made an interesting addition. There was no food tent this time round but there was a very well located members and owners tent which was a very welcome development and something to be adopted elsewhere. The use of an aerial photographic map for the cross country map in the programme also worked well.

However two areas of concern were being regularly aired in the lorry park. The hardness of the cross country ground was one of them which brought a whole string of withdrawals, something that will need some looking at. Losing over a third of the field in the top class was disappointing especially as a number of the top riders were involved, and the lower classes had to endure much more disappointing dressage surface than we had experienced in the last few times here. In the latter case , it does appear that the National Trust may have needed more car parking space but one hopes an alternative arrangement can be found for next year. There was so much good about the event that I am sure these issues can be ironed out. Dog agility, stallion displays, high quality dressage, a very good fashion show only form part of the list. Will Cutty’s next horse be a stallion as she seemed to enjoy riding the display one so much.

NBR had three runners

Trig Point in the Open Intermediate on Saturday, but preceeded by Stonedge and Fiddlewood who both Noviced on Friday

The performances of both Novice horses were extremely impressive and a clear step up from Burnham Market.

Stonedge followed an impressive dressage with a clear in the showjumping arena and was clear cross country only picking up a few time faults to finish seventh.

There were some signs of inexperience at one or two jumps but the potential is quite clearly there, and he came seventh. His double clear earned him his first point and an upgrade. As one can see he gave the ditch plenty of air…

This was the event that Fiddlewood came of age. An impressive dressage was followed by another clear cross country which left him right in the mix.

A clear round with only 0.8 of a time fault was enough to put him into third place and to pick up four points. Clearly his best result to date and he really was on terrific form all weekend.

On Saturday it was Trig Point’s turn and his dressage looked extremely accomplished and a complete transformation from Burnham market. He looked seriously impressive and looked very classy.

His 31.8 left him very well placed, and there was a sense of expectancy going into the show jumping as one of two others preceeding him had fences down. The first eight fences were very impressive but he had the last of the treble down, having come in too strong, and then inexplicably Nicky missed out the final fence and was eliminated as he exited the arena. The arena had been empty as she entered the arena, to begin her round so had no reference point and then sadly human error ran its course. This was a great shame as he was definitely in the running for a podium finish, but as to whether that would have happened no one knows. Very deflating all round. However all of this was put into context as our groom had a car crash on Saturday near the yard and thankfully is ok, though suffering some injuries. Lets hope she is back with us soon. Now a reroute to get some cross country mileage, with a late entry to Scone in the Open Intermediate and hopefully an opportunity to put in a good all round performance. This means all three of mine who arfe fit will be out at the same event for the first time this season> lets hope the weather holds.

Points for the Yard

Fiddlewood 4 and Stonedge 1.

Score for the year to date Fiddlewood 5 and Stonedge 1.

Next outing for NBR – Scone

Wattsburn and Arctic Soul on the Saturday and Cherry Law, Freddy Curtis and Trig Point on the Sunday

From around the course,

The organisers informal competition gets going although they were in different classes… James Oakden got a first point on Lady and Alec Lochore came a creditable 8th on Raztaz Rebel. Who knows what will happen if we get a few more on the circuit.

The advanced course was certainly a challenge with several fences proving influential. The brush corners at 5 caused a whole string of problems and a number took the alternative. It was a shame that there weren’t more as it made compelling viewing.

One who went straight and rode it perfectly was Sharon Hunt on Tankers Town and perhaps unsurprisingly went on to win the class. She is Pictured on the approach and the actual video is copybook riding.

The other main debating point was how riders were going to get to Lexington and we wish everyone trying to get there the best of luck…

There was lots more action all over the course and plenty of challenges for both riders and horses, and one could go on for pages.

It was good to see some encouraging performances from several Scottish riders, Louisa Milne Home, Tabitha Baird, and a fantastic cross country round from Emily Galbraith on Crown Alliance.

We all look to head to Scone to put the disappointment of last weekend behind us, whilst not forgetting the successes of Stonedge and Fiddlewood.

Eventing is never dull …

The Burnham Market Blog to start the season..

2010-04-05T12:51:00.011+01:00

Almost spiked by snow (though Spike actually was)

The season opening blog almost became a victim of the weather as the forecast for snow in the Borders proved accurate. Six inches was enough to delay the NBR departure from the yard, and put paid to Arctic Soul’s competition for the second week in a row. At least three horses were able to make the journey south with the prospect of competing, though we were grateful to the organisers for allowing Stonedge to slot into the Friday novice class filling a gap that had become available, after the eight and a half hour journey south meant that he missed his allotted time on Thursday. The picture on Wednesday morning didn’t fill anyone with enthusiasm, but a rapid melt did allow a delayed departure.

So this was to be NBR’s second outing of the season as Witton had fallen victim to the weather.

Arctic Soul had come fourth in a BE 100 at Lincoln for an encouraging start, with Fiddlewood and Stonedge also opening their account

Stonedge came 14^th in a BE100 and Fiddlewood came an 8^th in a Novice getting a point for a double clear.

The Runners

Trig Point was entered in an Open Intermediate, with Stonedge starting his first Novice joining Fiddlewood.

Location, location, location

The Kerr family had already headed South on the Wednesday afternoon and it was a welcome relief escaping the snow. We stayed at the excellent Titchwell Manor, which was only 10 minutes away from the event.The Lorry Park had changed position for this years event, something that I think worked much better with the stables just below. The dressage was still pretty exposed and it was bitterly cold on the Thursday, but at least it wasn’t snowing (as it has done in the past).

A good array of Trade stands, and it was good to see the attendance rising each day, along with the improving weather, and some excellent viewing on the Saturday.

The cross country ground was in excellent condition, though the showjumping did become slightly heavy towards the end of the three days. This turned out to be the only event that survived the weather over the Easter weekend

Iona pictured at the 10^th on the Novice track…

NBR’s competitions took place on the Friday with Stonedge joining Fiddlewood in the same Novice class. Both had some tense moments in the exposed and windy Dressage but had scores in the mid 30’s, then each rolled a pole while jumping impressively otherwise, and completed clear cross country rounds in very similar times. Stonedge did an excellent job on his first outing at Novice and looked perfectly at home with the obstacles, and only finished just behind Fiddlewood in 13^th place. Early days in the season but plenty of encouragement for both.

Trig Point then came out for his first competition of the year. There were undoubtedly a few cobwebs in the Dressage, which included a couple of unscheduled disagreements, though some of last years fluidity was there to be seen. An arena under snow for a significant part of the last few months hasn’t helped. Getting the first competitive outing under ones belt will help focus the mind. The other two phases were much more competitive. He produced an excellent showjumping round only to have the second element of the final double down, and was on impressive cross country form, coming home with 19.6 time faults, a good start considering he had not seen a cross country course since last autumn. It was more important that he had an opportunity to stretch his legs rather that go for a position on this occasion and we are building for more important events later in the spring. Photos thanks to Photo-Synergy

The Friday was also marred by the tragic death of Porloe Alvin who fell at the last in the advanced class, a rather innocuous looking fence. Thoughts go to his rider Lucy Wiegersma and his connections.

We also attended on the Saturday and saw some sparking competition in the CIC 3* classes, with a number of the top horses being involved in pre Badminton runs.

Ashdale Cruise Master and Imperial Cavalier are pictured below tackling the water..

Opposition Buzz completed the course in the fastest time of the day and put in some extraordinary jumps whether at the start or the finish of the course. The horse clearly is on springs and really looked to be enjoying himself, and provides compelling watching.

The honours in the CIC3* went to Ollie Townend, with Ashdale Cruise Master and Paul Tapner with Stormhill Michael

Interestingly the showjumping saw time faults come into play and in addition to those on the cross country course played a vital part, and it took a little time for the riders to adjust to getting the balance between pace and precision. Section Q in the CIC 3* saw only one of the top 11 having time faults in the showjumping, while for Section P, which had gone before, no fewer than seven of the top eleven managed to pick up a time fault. In the cross country two obstacles that proved very interesting to watch. The angled brushes at 7 and 8, which saw a whole array of different routs, and the exit from the quarry to a skinny, which required significant concentration, and a number of horses required some attentive riding to get them concentrating in the right place.

Something had seemed to go amiss with the showjumping scoring on day two, with several rounds that I watched coming up with a different result than I’d expected.

Whatever had been going on was firmly resolved by the Saturday’s competition, which provided compelling watching.

It was good to catch up with so many on the circuit after what seems like an age, and good to get an event under ones belt

A considerable number had made the trek south from the Borders and beyond, Ian Stark, Caroline Powell, Olivia Wilmot and Ruth Edge, to name a few and we all exchanged travel stories.

Next stop for the Blog and NBR is Belton, followed by Scone

At Belton Trig Point, Stonedge and Fiddlewood are competing in the Open Intermediate, and the Novice Classes

The week after at Scone we will see Arctic Soul (BE100) joined by three season debutants, Wattsburn (BE90), Cherry Law and Freddy Curtis (both doing Open Novices). Weather permitting. May looks set to be Auchinleck then Floors, followed by CCI2* action to finish the month.

Cancellations

As BE is looking at running alternative classes to start to replace the events lost to the weather, I would make my customary request to consider a Floors 2, and also to consider running an advanced there.

With the loss of Witton Castle at the end of March, and Burgham at the end of July there are now only two Advanced classes in the whole of 2010 north of Chatsworth, namely at Eglington and Auchinleck, in Ayrshire. Witton could also be considered for the Burgham slot after its sad cancellation, and clearly being based North of the Border I am hoping we will see one or two more events creep this way. Blair remains the crown jewel as others have fallen by the wayside, but I still think Floors looks to be a stunning setting, and is geographically well sited.

A Big Thanks

Congratulations and thanks to all at Burnham Market for putting on such a splendid event, and we already have the hotels in mind for next year, as the proposed date is very close to a major birthday..

http://www.nbreventing.com/

New Website

After significant work over the winter months the NBR Eventing website has undertaken an upgrade with some cracking photos in the Gallery section and updated Biographies on the horses. There is also a connection to the blog. For those wanting to catch up on what is going on, and who is in the yard this makes a good place to start. Feedback is always welcome

Good luck to all in 2010

Regards

Philip Kerr

Event Owners Blog from Aske

2009-09-29T11:57:00.003+01:00

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

2009-09-22T19:09:00.003+01:00

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

2009-09-01T16:01:00.003+01:00

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

Event Owners Blog from Scone

2009-08-18T09:11:00.006+01:00

Arctic Soul finds the Podium, as do Night Porter and My Man Friday. Freddy powers to Fourth .. Podiums, Points and Prizes..

This was a very busy event for NBR, with some excellent performances, and only a couple of fences away from being a spectacular one.
There were no fewer than seven entries, with a pretty intense looking five horse schedule on the Sunday.

The weather forecast had been looking pretty ominous for the Friday and so it proved.
We went up as the advance party and were staying in the Meikleour Hotel not far away.
It was very wet late on Friday, and also Saturday morning, but because it was dry on Friday night, the decision was made to proceed, which proved to be the correct one given the rapidly drying nature of the wind.

The course had seen several changes from the Spring meeting, with a moved Showjumping arena, and the BE90 and BE100 tacking the hill for the first time in a while.

NBR Runners
Saturday: Arctic Soul and Stonedge – BE100
Sunday : Fiddlewood, Night Porter and My Man Friday – Novice, Trig Point – Scottish Novice Championship, Freddy Curtis – Intermediate.

Saturday
Arctic Soul embarked on the next part of his eventing education and stepped up the pace in all disciplines.
Yet again he produced an extremely polished dressage test scoring a 21, again leading the class.
His showjumping was also in a different leaguer from Strathallan, with only one down. There was a slight rider horse miscommunication at the fifth but he showed real composure in completing the rest of the round without further problems. This left him still leading the class, but with only three time faults to play with after another horse completed cross country inside the time, victory wasn’t a realistic aim at this stage of his development. The plan was to take him out slowly and then to gradually increase the pace as the round progressed if he proved he could handle the jumps. He seemed to take everything without becoming flustered, and so the throttle was increased for the final third of the course. What an impressive site and he cruised home with 6.8 time faults to take and excellent second place, and bring home £33 in prize money. At such an early stage in his eventing career this was an excellent result. Perhaps not quite so clever was his decision to kick our lead groom Lisa. Fortunately no broken bones.

Stonedge
Dressage was a good 32.5 and after an impressive clear round, he was very much in the hunt.
However unlike Arctic Soul he seemed slightly less comfortable with the actual jumps, and had a sudden run out at a corner which moved him down to 14th, from a possible second.

Both horses took the challenge of the hill reasonably well, unlike a number of the intro horses (and riders) who came back very tired.

Sunday was an entirely different prospect with no fewer than five horses running and some very tight time scheduling especially in the showjumping and cross country which did require some help from the stewards and judges when we came to Freddy’s dressage.

Fiddlewood, My Man Friday, and Night Porter- Novice
In the Novice classes Fiddlewood, was joined by Night porter and My Man Friday. All were in the mix after the dressage, but Night Porter’s 23.8 was a stand out and set him up well.Fiddlewood produced a clear round which enhanced his chances in a very difficult showjumping test. Both the others knocked one down but with so few clears both remained near the top of the leaderboard. All three produced excellent cross country rounds and tackled the difficult course very well. Night Porter incurred 6 time faults but that was enough to hold onto top spot. My Man Friday moved beautifully and came back with only 2.4 time faults which was enough for second. Fiddlewood had been first out and jumped beautifully as well to come back with 3.2 time faults. However with a number of course changes this year, Nicky managed to miss out fence 15 after brilliantly jumping the 14th and so was eliminated. The time would have been slightly higher as a result, but he had performed extremely well, so this was a clear disappointment as it would have been his best result at Novice. As it turned out several other riders were to incur course errors as the day wore on in all classes.

Freddy Curtis – Intermediate
Freddy didn’t have an ideal warm up as the other three novices had had a very compacted timetable, and was only able to be warmed up just before he was due to start.
With four cross country rounds in forty minutes it was always going to be fairly tight, but as soon as trig Point had finished the cross country I headed over to the dressage area, and we were very grateful to the stewards and judges for allowing Nicky and Freddy a little leeway. Nevertheless he was still a little bit tight at the start, but one he got into the test he showed some good movements and came out with a 34.1 to lie 5th. He produced an excellent showjumping round, and only had one element of the treble down. But that stage he had shed a shoe so we were absolutely delighted. He also incurred six time faults in a class where the time limit seemed excessively tight. There are BE points awarded for double clears including showjumping time so a test this rigorous, incorporating time and jumping did seem somewhat harsh. If this was adopted as standard across a number of events then one could get used to combined discipline. It was obviously the same for all competitors, but I think detracted on this occasion from the competition. After a trip to the farrier’s Freddy set out around the cross country and despite not having completed a round since Burgie One Star he performed excellently. He came home with 12 time faults, without any hint of tiredness, which not only was a good warm up for Blair, but turned out to get him Fourth Place, his best result so far.

Trig Point –Scottish Novice Championship -- Intermediate Novice
This was a competition that Trig Point could, and should have won, but it was a case of nearly but not quite.
We discovered on Friday the dressage test was to be the same as the one at Gatcombe, and although he worked in reasonably well he didn’t quite seem quite settled. He didn’t repeat the stumbles of gatcombe but his 35.0 put him around 5th but within 4 points of the leader. The cross country came next and he did a very good cross country round to be inside the time.
It all then rested on the showjumping which went in reverse order. Lying fourth he was jumping extremely well except when he came to the first of the treble and in a repeat of gatcombe had that down. The three ahead of him also had one down, which shows what might have been, and Alan Gilbert was able to take victory.

Points
A good haul this time round – 20 points

Night Porter 6, Freddy Curtis 6, My Man Friday 5 and Trig Point 3
Totals for the year in NBR colours—68 Points
Trig Point 20, Freddy Curtis 16, Mistral de Blondel 12, My Man Friday 10, Night Porter 10,

Prize Money less lucrative..

Eventing Blog from Gatcombe

2009-08-14T09:38:00.002+01:00

The Festival of British Eventing - Looking to the Future and in the thick of the action..

From the first dressage to the last cross country this was action packed, with so much to see across all disciplines and classes.
After the rain on Thursday the event was blessed by good weather making it even more enjoyable.

One of British Eventing's youngest members, Iona, also attended her first official meeting, an EGM , and as part owner of Arctic Soul was keenly assessing the Novice course (tho he is unlikely to be seen here until 2011). We also had Trig Point's round in mind and we have her pictured in the middle of the water at the second element.

There wasn’t much time for hanging around and after watching the initial burst of dressage led off by Ruth Edge on Applejack we managed to tour the shops. As ever there was an excellent range of products though the number of stalls, and especially the Sponsored tents area showed the effects of the economic slowdown. It also must be tough especially on the Saturday and the Sunday to find time to shop, as there were so many quality riders on display in what seemed like a pretty relentless stream.

Our sole runner in the Novice Class this year was Trig Point. Mistral had qualified for the Intermediate championships but the injury he picked up doing so, ruled him out for the rest of the season. Both Mistral and Freddy had done the Novice the year before, but both were older at the stage they competed.
The Dressage late on Friday was a case of almost but not quite. Having worked in well, when he came to the actual test he seemed slightly tense and looked a little green at times. An unfortunate stumble on the slightly rutted arena at one point meant that he ended up with a score of 33.2, rather than somewhere around 30 which he could easily have produced otherwise. In the showjumping arena where Mistral had produced an excellent clear round last year, again in unfamiliar big competition surroundings, he knocked two fences down including one of the combination fences, whilst otherwise jumping extremely well.

And so to the cross country, and this proved to be a phase where he showed no signs of inexperience, and completed an excellent clear round with 10.4 time faults to end up in 43rd place. The setting combined with lack of an outing at Intermediate level since early June at Hexham, with a resulting lack of match practice probably both were contributing factors, but there was also much to be encouraged by.

Around and about..
Whilst NBR headed North to Scotland we stayed for the full event, and in addition to the enjoyable drinks, were able to see cracking competition across all classes, and we just happened to be in the right place on a number of occasions to see some of the key moments.
The corners in Advanced classes had been an early signal that this was to become a key element of the course, and jusging the line and pace down the hill proved extremely tricky. There were a number of run outs and falls, but the best paced ride through that I saw was Daisy Dick, and Spring Along who judged it beautifully as they headed to victory. We had seem Boondoggle complete an excellent dressage test earlier in the day which set them up for victory.

On the Sunday Morning there was an absolutely fantastic draw in the dressage which put a whole string of top horses in the first session.
We were able to watch Opposition Buzz (Nicola Wilson), Two Thyme (Ruth Edge), Flint Curtis (Ollie Townend), Apache Sauce (Mary King), Miners Frolic (Tina Cooke), and Westwood Poser (Polly Stockton), all before the first break. As it turned out there were four of the top six within that group.
The showjumping again gave us the opportunity to witness some great clear rounds including Headley Brittania, before she was withdrawn.

The Intermediate cross country provided a dramatic finish as Piggy French’s storming round, was just pipped by 0.1 by Polly Stockton with Andrew Nicolson just creeping into third by 0.1 with the very final ride of the day. By that stage I had invested in a riders cross country watch, and a part from the distracting beeping for others, it did give an indication of how close the competition was going to be.

The Open Championship was every bit as dramatic and there were two key areas where problems appeared. As ever the corners provided a challenge, as did some of the other fences on that loop, and the land Rover fence at the start of the Bowl. It of course went down to the wire though there were some key withdrawls. We were at the Land Rover combination when both William Fox-Pitt and Mary King had their refusals. We were also close to the start and the Bowl to see the key elements of Ruth Edge’s victorious round, in considerable pain, and she so nearly came unstuck at the water. Flint looked magnificent too in the later sections to come second, and there were so many others who could be mentioned. We had also spent a considerable time in athe area of the corners where the Open riders has a slightly different challenge to that of the advanced. Tragically we were on hand to see Cavort (Ginny Howe) break a shoulder as he fell at the second element. The close bond that the rider had with the horse was clearly evident, and was reflected in the touching eulogy on her website.

So Gatcombe provided lots of action and we hope that our horses can revisit next year.

Meanwhile virtually the full yard is due to make its way to Scone at the weekend and there are seven running (though the weather forecast doesn’t look especially favourable.

Event Owners Blog from Strathallan

2009-08-03T10:18:00.002+01:00

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.

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.

Event owners Blog From Cumwhinton

2009-07-20T10:18:00.005+01:00

Arctic Soul sees Red, and Nicky's in Pink - and would do well as a Rodeo Star..

Not perhaps one of the most successful weekends but certainly one will have learnt a lot…(and thanks to the officials for making that possible)

Cumwhinton went ahead this year, after two years of being rained off.
There must have been fears of something similar with the heavy rain on Friday, and apparently there was still water coming off the fields on Saturday morning.
But the event was able to proceed according to plan and by the time we turned up late morning on Sunday the ground seemed absolutely fine, a credit to all involved.
For reasons that will become clear below, I dint have the normal more detailed examination of Show Jumping and Cross Country but both seemed to provide good challenges for the levels involved.

NBR had two runners this time.
Javelot D’Or had his first, and only, outing for NBR before heading off to Mary Grant to act as a schoolmaster.
An encouraging dressage of 30.5 (marred by an error of course) was followed by one down in the showjumping, a flick off behind at an easy fence.
He then went comfortably round the cross country showing lots of class. A good return to the circuit finishing 11th in his class, and lots of potential for Mary going forward.

This was Arctic Soul’s second outing and again we could say that we learnt a lot.
The normal form for NBR is to assess the performance after four events to see what we have.
Burgie was an undoubted success but the preparation for Cumwhinton was entirely different, (not being stabled on site, not being able to lunge near dressage etc)
We obviously cannot expect these at every event, but we learnt considerably more as the Dressage warm up area, with a considerable amount of horses being worked in because of a delay, with loudspeakers nearby, and the cross country within view, was considerable different to that at Burgie. It must have seemed like a return to racing.
He simply wasn’t as composed as at Burgie, and was very unsettled at the start of the warm up. After considerable effort he became calmer and it looked as so we were reasonably composed heading into the test itself. However half way down the centre line his composure broke, and he became crosser and crosser, with pirouettes, rearing and a spectacular jump (without much warning) that would have graced Badminton Cross Country. Quite wisely after 1 minute 20 seconds Nicky sensibly dismounted (when she had an opportunity) and it was clear form the video playback how extraordinarily well she did to stay in the saddle, without giving Spike any excuse to get crosser.

I havent quite mastered the Video to Stills transfer, and I was also slightly more concerned about where the dressage might go next. Fortunately the dismount came immediately after.

Somewhat shaken Nicky headed away, but I must thank the judge and stewards for their help in suggesting and permitting a retest at the close of the competition.
The judge categorically suggested that the horse shouldn’t be permitted to get away with such a display, and suggested to Nicky he be brought back in at the end of the class to redo the test outside of competition. This was agreed both by the stewards and The BE Technical adviser Iain Graham. This proved to be extremely helpful, as he hadn’t really managed to get half way down the centre line before losing his composure, and he was really quite cross by the time he exited the arena.
As it was only his second test and perhaps we had been lulled into a false sense of security as to what he might be able to do, it was important to see what he could do if he allowed us. We are very grateful to all involved for allowing the exercise to be undertaken.

Crash helmet donned Nicky made her way back firstly into the warm up area for a long period of lunging, and the was ridden as per normal preparation, and again with clearance from the stewards and judge Nicky slotted in just after the last competitor had exited, as though in a competition. Although wearing a competitors number it was clear that some of the other dress items may not be appearing on the competitors roster straight away, notably the bright pink fleece, and horse boots.

He looked balanced and composed (thankfully) and the judge was kind enough to score much of the test, and she would have for the rest of the competition.

There was no score given for the halt or the rider or the collective, but the 113 out of the 150 (75.3%) that were awarded was an encouraging improvement on what we had seen at Burgie. It was also invaluable to see how he was able to recover his composure and produce a very good test, after not being able to handle the situation earlier.
A very important extra piece of information that we might otherwise not have had. So thanks again to all who helped.

We now move to Auchinleck a plan to run all of Trig Point, Freddy Curtis and Arctic Soul, though we intend to switch him from the BE100 to BE90. This should give him more time to get used to the event and be worked in more. Hopefully my daughter the joint owner will be able to see slightly more of him in competition in the showjumping and cross country.

A word of congratulation too for Joanna Walton on completing here first BE Event. She only lives a mile down the road, and I was happy to see her flow round the cross country, though she did manage to incur 8 reverse time faults (not a s quick as some considerably more experienced riders clocked up). It is all a learning process and she coped with her first outing very well, and I look forward to seeing her progress further.

Event Owners Blog from Burgie - The Friendly Games.

2009-06-23T08:57:00.004+01:00

Trig Point leads the charge..Arctic Soul opens his career.
Prizes Points and Ribbons..

So is this what eventing might have been like.
An amazing friendly atmosphere amidst a pretty intense competition which a number of challenges set by the course designers.
The event has been going in affiliated form for thirty two years, and the years rolled back as Abba was heard blaring across the lorry park on Saturday evening. The clock was also rolled back as Ian Stark returned to the podium in the two star.. but more on that later..

I had wanted to see the event for some time having heard a lot about it, and wasn’t disappointed. It may seem a long way to go but is certainly worth it.
Both horse and rider (as we shall see later) need to be in pretty good shape to tackle this course, and the use of the undulating terrain by the designers meant that a sensible approach on the cross country seemed sensible. The showjumping also proved a stern test and one glance at the course before we had to make and early departure suggested that the bar had been set quite high, with a tight time.

But that gets us well ahead of ourselves,
NBR had five horses at the event
Trig Point and Freddy Curtis were in the CCI*, Skye Rhode in the CIC*, Fiddlewood in the Novice, and Arctic Soul opening his eventing career in the BE90.
The support crew was also in attendance sporting the team colours..

We headed North on the Thursday but were too late to see Trig point’s dressage, and had to leave on Sunday morning, but quite a lot was fitted in the intervening period.
We were staying at a charming B&B run by Lucy Mackenzie , who made us feel totally at home, and this looks to be on the regular return visit calendar going forward, and it was comfortably within striking distance of the event. The evenings entertainments also seemed something for the riders to enjoy before the thrills and spills of the actual event..
We were able to get acclimatized on Thursday afternoon ahead of the very well attended owner/rider drinks which had to be held in the wonderful Burgie House

Entertainment a feature..
There were plenty of other events laid on during the other evenings but we chose to try to eat elsewhere.
Team NBR tried to utilize the local hostelry, and one of the event sponsors, on Friday evening, with some difficulty.
The Kimberley Arms has a restricted childrens license as we discovered applying to children under 14 after 8, which meant we had to eat outside in the covered smokers snug. (stopping others from smoking)
Then the table was given away before the rest arrived, and to cap it all the organizers party and team NBR discovered when they wanted to order desserts (around 20) the kitchens had closed 10 minutes earlier.
Sounds like a missed opportunity for the pub concerned and there was no connection with the well organized event.

Organisation
The increasing numbers of riders wearing the inflatable protection vests was thoughtfully catered for with a big sign after the finish saying “Don’t Forget to unplug yourself”
It is fast becoming a new sport to see how many riders one can spot leaping off without remembering to unplug themselves, and we got a big prize as Emily Lochore came unstuck with the family in attendance. Much mirth all round. On a more serious note it is very encouraging to see as many riders taking up the use of this device and I hope many more will.

The lay out of the event also appealed with the cross country course having fantastic viewing and one was able to see a high percentage of of the jumps without having to move too much
It was unfortunate that I had to leave before seeing much of the show-jumping in the main arena but the setting looked good, and was surrounded by a significant number of stalls,
The Burgie Shirts with all the horses entered for the event, again was a good idea, and certainly found their way into team NBR’s hands.
The dressage arena in front of the main house provided another good setting though the very earlier damp weather did mean that the ground chewed up a little under the trees on one side .
The other dressage and showjumping were held nearby and were easily reachable.
The scoring was also very prompt and was in fact, one of the fastest this year, with two computers handy as well to view the scores.

Parking
The owners were permitted in the lorry park and despite the mud the one way traffic system seemed to work pretty well, and there seemed to be plenty of places for the traffic to be directed to.

The range of events seemed very popular with raised numbers across the board, a big plus in the current environment.
I didn’t manage to see any of the tater events and was focusing mainly on the three days events looking at border riders.

Dressage
NBR had a pretty satisfactory outing in the dressage across all the classes.
Trig Point in his first three day test came in with a 50.5, which I was sad to have missed.
Freddy wasn’t on until the next day, but stunned us all with a 48.9, which left him in 15th and Jerry in 21st, and Sharon Lindop most amused.
I had intended to see the better of the two tests and so it turned out.
The others were all first timers at their various levels..
In the CIC* Skye Rhode did an impressive 54.1 leaving him 6th , Fiddlewood a 37.5 in his first Novice putting him 4th and Arctic Soul got a 32 in his first BE90 test putting him third.
He looked as though he had been doing dressage all his life (or at least a lot longer than a month). In the background there were bird scarers, the showjumping arena loudspeakers, and bells, and he even had swallows swooping around his feet. Very attractive movements too, even at an early stage, so very pleased. It was also an opportunity to see Ruth Edge doing a superb test on Applejack, and Emily Galbraith producing Timing’s best test of the season so far.

The events took a slightly different order after the dressage so we will take the CCI competitors first with the dramatic events on the cross-country, and follow up with the completion on Sunday,,

By Saturday the ground was perfect and Trig Point was one of the first to go. It became clear fairly early on that the time was doable, and there were also only three refusals in the first thirty horses.
The course still needed to be paced sensibly though and very encouragingly for future outings, Jerry had few worries and never really needed to stretch. Having taken been behind after the first minute with a very steady start, it was no problem to crank up the pace and he came home comfortably inside the time with plenty more in the tank.
Whether the early successes instilled a degree of misplaced confidence in the riders it isnt clear, but the casualties gradually mounted and out of the 73 starters 16 came in over the time with four eliminated and two retiring, including Zara who had been third, and the leader after dressage Pebbly Aga Khan. Freddy was one of the last and as ever he tried his heart out, but the sever hills were not ideal, (Houghton is much more his sort of track) and although he came inside the time there was a lack of petrol by the time he reached the top of the hill.
It was enough for both of them to move up the order slightly and Freddy finished the day in 12th with Jerry on 18th

Jerry seen cooling down after his exertions and Freddy heading for the water.

Where the one star had seemed a slightly friendly course the two star cross country clearly wasn’t and set a huge challenge for riders and horses.
The course was cleverly designed and if a horse lost concentration and failed to lock on to a jump it found itself shooting past.
The duck just after the water claimed Emily Galbraith and Zara, amongst others, and of the first 15 only five went clear. By the end four out of fifty nine had managed to get inside the tough optimum time, with 21 clear jumping, and everywhere one looked there seemed to be action. It is much easier to visualise the challenge having been there.

Sunday..
The weather on Sunday was good but we had to leave before each of the events reached their climax and one was left checking the blackberry for the latest scores
We had managed to see Arctic Soul do his dressage but the rest of the days action had yet to unfold.
Skye Rhode became very unsettled in the CIC* ahead of the show-jumping and it wasn’t possible to get him to concentrate. He managed to get 55 faults which was actually more than his dressage score and was withdrawn from the cross country. Ruth Edge who had already been in considerable pain after a fall at Luhmuhlen, had a further fall on Elite Opposition at the 3rd from the elad which was to have ramifications later.

CCI*
In the CCI* Trig Point was to jump out of order, given the closeness of the two in position terms and Colin Hexley’s course had set a stiff challenge.
After the first 25 horses (in reverse order ) not one had gone clear, and Trig Point was the first, producing by all reports a sensational round. He was watched by Peter Murphy, and Andrew Hamilton who both seemed pleased. Freddy adopted a more cavalier approach, wanting to prove he was in charge, though was concentrating a little more than at Hexham, and had one down. The time was also difficult to get which set a further challenge, but Ruth Edge was left to defend her position on Applejack without a fence in hand. It was clear after the first that she was in no position to continue and was forced to withdraw.
In the final shake-up Freddy remained 12th, his best one star results and got two points. Trig Point rose from 18th to finish 5th, a very creditable result in his first one star and gets prize money, and 6 points to add to his total.

Fiddlewood and Arctic Soul
Fiddlewood handled the Novice extremely well. After a good dressage he had knocked a couple of poles in the showjumping but completed an excellent clear cross country to finish ninth.
Arctic Soul had an excellent baptism to Eventing. After his good dressage he went claear showjumping and was guided round the cross country very successfully though with some time faults.
He finished eleventh but his whole performance was excellent considering his recent arrival in the yard.

It was great to see so may good performances acrsoo the classes and to see Ian Stark back on the podium after a stylish cross country round showing how the obstacles should be tackled.

Points for the yard
Trig Point 6 and Freddy 2

Total for the year to date
Trig Point 16, Mistral 12, Freddy 10
And Trig Point now moves to 42 points in total making him the yard leader..

The next event for the horses will be Aske, which I am sad to be missing as we are on holiday, with Trig Point doing a Novice regional final, and Fiddlewood, Freddy, and Sky Rhode all entered
Not sure what happens thereafter or when the blog will return but there will be no shortage of opportunities..

Event Owners Blog from Hexham

2009-06-09T08:25:00.003+01:00

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.

2009-05-25T18:57:00.011+01:00

Max hits the Podium, Trig Point gets a Ribbon and more points for Freddy, More horses arrive..

Before getting to our local event at Floors, a bit of tidying up from Aston-Le Walls..
Three horses went down to compete, with Freddy in the Intermediate, and Bally Cassidy and Sky Rhode in the Novice.
Sky Rhode came 16th, and Bally 28th, but Freddy produced an impressive Double Clear to come 5th and take home 4 points. Made the yard points total 20, with Mistral 12, Freddy 6 and Trig Point 2..
Freddy Curtis was also upgraded to a Grade 2, the first upgrade of the season.

Floors Castle
Its all about Caroline’s Butt
The local event for us with roughly a 30 minute drive to cope with
NBR had agreed to sponsor fences in all classes (the NBR Eventing Seat in the Novice) which allowed the commentators Tim Finch, Andrew Spalding and James Oakden some latitude, though the “jumping Caroline Powell’s Butt” seemed to give the greatest opportunity.

The Programme
Minor glitch within the programme as the advert for NBR Eventing was excluded, which did cause a bit of a stir.
The organizer too was rather perturbed when he discovered, and was able to extract the final proof of the programme where our advert was on page six.
Somehow this had managed to be replaced by an advert for rooster potatoes. My focus has now shifted to the printers Meigle, and this isn’t the first time they can be criticised.
To his credit Jamie was suitably apologetic and we did find ourselves with extra lunch tickets, and the advert on the Notice Board. The final proof sheet certainly helped to apportion blame.
Otherwise the setting remains excellent with a normal number of trade stands and the view from the bank allows excellent viewing of both dressage and more importantly cross country where a large percentage of the course can be seen. Still sense a lot more could and should be done with this event though the point about the ground being too hard in August because of its gravel base seems a valid one.

We attended on both days
Weather lovely on Sunday, but a couple of hours of driving rain on Saturday afternoon certainly made the going a little slippy.

Runners
Saturday - Stonedge – BE100, Bally Cassidy – Novice
Sunday – Sky Rhode – Novice, Trig Point- Novice Regional Final, Freddy Curtis- Intermediate
Sharon Lindop also came down to see Bally compete, and there were a steady stream of local visitors to the lorry.
Stonedge takes pride of place, with a better show-jumping round to match a good dressage, and a very impressive clear round inside the time.
As a result he achieved his best BE 100 result with a second place, just behind Emily Galbraith. The Parkyn’s came to see him at Scone, and this show jumping display was the bit that was missing there. A good result.

Bally was less cooperative though I had been expecting a lot worse in the dressage, and thought his 41 was a little harsh.
He had two fences down showjumping, both uprights (similar to Stonedge at Scone..lack of concentration), but clearly showed his scope doing the cross country, where although he incurred 15.2 time faults he had plenty more in the tank and never looked in any difficulty. There were only 15 clear out of 36 runners in his particular Novice class on the Saturday evening. Bally is pictured at the Trakener which caused a number of problems.

Sunday
The Novices on the Sunday clearly paid some attention as the attrition rate was less, but it was also drier.
Sky Rhode was first up, and again I thought the marking was a trifle harsh as he came in with 40.5 in the dressage, without looking as though he had done anything much wrong.
He was unlucky to roll one pole in the showjumping and came home with 7.6 time faults to finish 18th in a tight field.

Trig Point having had four weeks off, with a lack of an ideal warm up, was entered in the Novice Regional Final, the first of two bites at it, with the second option being Aske.
There were only sixteen starters, but some serious competition for the four places. Trig Point’s dressage was much better than his previous attempts and he didn’t put in the flying changes.
Unfortunately he spooked in his final approach to halt, which marred what otherwise was a much better test though may not have felt so at the time. His 30.9 even after a 4 for the last part, showed a welcome return towards the right form. There were five score under 30 (two very good ones from Ruth Edge), and a clear was probably going to be needed in the showjumping. He jumped very well but clipped the first element of the treble which ended up making the difference between fourth and eighth. The cross country round , as one would have expected form this calibre of field, had many inside the time, and there wasn’t the scope to catch up. As one can see below he wasn’t hanging around as he neared the finish. Nevertheless this is beginning to look a repeat of last season where he took four events to settle after the winter, and then really clicked into action in June. We also haven’t had an arena till mid march and I think that still has a some bearing, though is working its way out of the system. Definitely signs of life from the big man.
Next stop Hexham, then his first one star at Burgie, with the NRF at Aske to follow (when I will be on holiday).

Freddy Curtis was the last up in the Intermediate, and this wasn’t one of his best dressage tests. The wind and the flowers had unsettled him, and despite best efforts it was difficult to get him back. His 38.6 seemed slightly generous and there were no polos for him on his return to the lorry. But Freddy is a trier (maybe that was the case for dressage) and he produced an unbelievable show jumping round to go clear without ever looking like he would hit anything at all. He was one of 10 clears in a field of 32 and his third clear out of the last four outings.
In the cross country he also jumped well to come home with 5.6 time faults, similar to that at Aston and a level that Nicky is working to. Again he is pictured nearing the finish.

He ended in 14th, and still claims a couple of points to boost his total to 25. He is up for sale as this seems the right level for him, from the experience we have had so far.. It just remains to see whether we can translate his excellent flatwork at home into the dressage arena in competition day.

Points
So the yard total reaches 22 with Freddy now up to 8 for the year, Mistral remaining on 12 and Trig Point 2.
Next events will be Hexham, followed by Burgie, and the Young Event Horse starts to loom.

New Arrivals
The yard has seen a new arrival sourced via the Parkyn’s again.
An interesting six year old out of Luso, Artic Soul promises a fascinating 18 months of education as he is an ex racehorse.
After three days traveling he didn’t look his best on arrival, but work is already underway. First outing might well be an intro at Strathallen
As Iona will be part owner she has now joined the ranks of BE Members and may prove to be Nicky’s most demanding owner yet.
Fiddlewood, owned by Mary Grant, has come back to the yard too for some more work, and it boosts the total in the yard technically to 12, with 10/11 stables
There has been a bit of jiggling and one or two of the horses are on the for sale list so the numbers look set to reduce again quite quickly. Nevertheless its great to see the yard in full use.

Event Owners Blog from Scone

2009-05-05T09:04:00.006+01:00

A Ribbon for Flying Freddy "the Rocket Cob", A win for Fiddlewood and a ribbon for Stonedge..

A trip north for the weekend with a return trip to Scone.
Originally the plan had been to run four horses but NBR had a late request from Mary Grant, the new owner of Fiddlwood for Nicky to take the ride.
So the full squad was Fiddlewood (BE90), Stonedge and SkyeRhode in the BE100, Bally Cassidy in the Novice and Freddy Curtis out for the second time in a week at Intermediate.
We were staying at Gleneagles, which clearly offered better opportunities for an anniversary dinner than Burger King had done the week before ( a requirement). A number of local gardens also kept Mrs Kerr entertained.
There were no fewer than six owners being represented, and we arrived mid afternoon on Saturday. We even had breeders in attendance.

So there has been rain …
This was the first event we had attended this year where the tractors were required to drag lorries out, if required (needed in some cases), and after recent rain the ground certainly had some give.
It’s amazing how different the conditions can be both further north and further south. We have been wanting some rain to help the arenas progress, and was wondering where it had gone.

Another well organised event
The event was professionally laid out as always and the fences on the cross country course certainly provided a good challenge at all levels. It was also interesting the see the course designer actually tackling his own fences. The dressage location was as before, and the show jumping had been moved slightly to cater for a slightly larger area for stalls.
The programme was also fairly comprehensive but the aerial photographs from Burnham Market still have the edge.

The showjumping does require further comment though. The course design and degree of difficulty was more akin to a pure showjumping competition rather than part of a three day event, something that had attracted significant comment from various of the top riders during the course walk and was born out in the rounds themselves. I had a better chance to look at the Novice and Intermediate courses. In the Novice class there were 25% clear rounds with 15% in the intermediate classes and even a score of 100. The time set was also fairly tight, ensuring that some who had gone clear ended up with time faults. This wasn’t like Aske 1 last year where simply breathing on a fence was enough to knock it down, in an undulating arena, but it certainly was a stiff test, and was another reason for feeling reasonably pleased with Freddy’s performance.
The whole event does seem to have taken a step up since the last visit and certainly seems worthy of holding the Scottish Open Championships as a replacement for Thirlestane. There was certainly enough of a challenge in the various disciplines to make riders and horses think.

NBR NEWS
First up was Fiddlewood on Friday with Mary Grant asking Nicky to take the ride in one of the Intro classes.
Both Nicky and Mary were delighted when Fiddlewood led the field home to lock in the Yard’s first victory of the season.

We arrived on Saturday in time to catch the tail end of the BE100 classes with Sky Rhode and Stonedge involved.
We had missed Sky Rhode’s dressage and Showjumping but caught half of Stonedge’s test which looked reasonably accomplished. Both scores were reasonably similar in the mid 30’s
I had the opportunity to meet his breeders who then looked on as Stonedge proceeded to have two of the easier uprights down whilst showing amazing scope with the spreads.
Both then had very impressive cross country rounds, clear inside the time. Sky Rhode came in 14th but Stonedge grabbed his first ribbon at BE100 coming in 9th.

Sunday brought the Novice and Intermediate, with Bally Cassidy’s first attempt at novice. We were too late to see Bally Cassidy’s dressage including an impromptu pirouette, which is a move that I don’t think features in the new test. What he did right he did well, but some of his other parts clearly need some work, as the owner, Sharon Lindop, was able to see looking up from dressage writing at the CIC2*. He only had one down showjumping which was a very good result, in a class where there were only four clear rounds, and plenty in double figures. He also did himself credit in the Cross-Country with only 8.8 time faults, a round made even more exciting by a part of the bit breaking half-way round. He ended up just outside the ribbons in 11th , but all three disciplines clearly showed his potential.

We are able to see both Bally Cassidy and Freddy Curtis at the Logs in the pictures below..

Which brings us nicely onto Freddy. After an unsettled start to the season when he seemed to have the concentration of a flea, his mind set has undoubtedly improved and this was he first time we have effectively run him back to back at the same class. The novice at Lincoln was followed a week after by the intermediate novice at Gatcombe, but in both cases he wasn’t really mentally attuned. Burnham was also tricky, but I'm pleased to say that the improvement at Belton carried on here. His dressage was mid 30’s again. The showjumping was a particularly tricky course but to his credit he jumped really well, and it was a shame he just had the last fence down. In the end there were only two horses clear in the class inside the time, which reflects well on him.
He really tried on the cross country course too and visibility is such at Scone that we were able to see large amounts of the round, except the upper loop. Perhaps Freddy’s picture above can be used to market Scone 2 ..it certainly gives the impression of what is required to tackle the course. He came home with 11.26 time faults to slot in 7th. Given the complexities in both the Showjumping arena and Cross Country this was an extremely good result for him and his best at intermediate level.

The NBR team then went back to the lorry for a celebratory drink, where I had the opportunity to meet both Mary and Cameron Grant and Sharon Lindop. Lets hope for many more opportunities.

Other items
This is probably the first time I have actually seen the designer of a cross country course actually ride it as well, and Ian Stark slotted in 6th one place above Freddy. It was very interesting to see some of the lines that he took at certain fences compared with some of the others. It was also good that Emily Galbraith survived a rotational fall at the 3rd without too much damage, as I was able to catch up with the whole family including Emily after the round. We had actually been discussing that particular fence before she started, and noted that the course designers had already taken five inches from the width. It had actually ridden very well up to that point, and thereafter and in this case the horse simply wasn’t cooperating from the start of the round and come into the fence with no forward impetus. It is clear from the picture below that the photographer’s were present at this fence. Also featuring in the Novice class was Debbie and Tony Whalley’s Merikano making it into the points for the third event on the trot. Certainly a six year old to keep an eye on.

So how did we do and where next?
NBR came away with three ribbons out of the five competing, and there was certainly reasonable cause for encouragement all round.
Next up for the yard in addition to some potential horse shopping, will be a trip to Aston Le Walls with Trig Point, Bally Cassidy, Freddy Curtis, and Sky Rhode.
We are running Trig in the Open Novice to give him some dressage variety ahead of the NRF at Floors. He does have two bites at the cherry but we obviously would like to qualify at Floors as it is on our doorstep.
The other runners at Floors include Bally Cassidy, Stonedge, Freddy and Sky Rhode.

The blog looks set to be absent from Aston but will make its return for the two days of floors, and we are still waiting to see if Trig point will do the CCI 1* at Tattersalls the week after.

Already one looks at the initial plans for the year and sees how one needs have built in flexability.

Thanks again to James and the team at Scone. Well organised and we are looking forward to Scone 2…(if plans don’t change)..

Thanks too to all the eventers who have donated towards Iona’s climb up the Eildons which is due next Saturday.
Its not too late!!.. http://www.justgiving.com/ionakerrsponseredrun

Event Owners Blog from Belton

2009-04-27T09:16:00.003+01:00

Event Owners Blog from Belton - Intermediate Day
Freddy Bags a double clear!

This again was a wonderfully organized event, but as I write this on Sunday evening news has just reached me of the fatality that occurred on Grantham Cup day that puts everything into perspective.
The exact details remain unclear as yet, and I will not comment further, other than obviously passing on my commiserations to all those affected on another big loss for the sport, and the blogs are already reflecting how much Ian Olding will be missed.

Otherwise the blog has to reflect another well organized event and at least from my experience features as one of the top ones that my horses have competed at to date.

Admin
The Parking again worked very well with the owners area just beside the lorry park. There was clearly no way that cars could have fitted in beside the lorries and as a compromise this works extremely well.
The programme was extremely informative and remains one of the best on the circuit though the aerial map included in the Burnham Market programme still looks to be the way ahead.
The range of stalls again was impressive with considerable opportunities for the non avid fan to get some serious spending in.

Some interesting feedback too on consumer spending patterns from one of the clothing outlets, and a regular contact for green shoots.
Spending so far had held up reasonably well though Cheltenham Festival had proved a disappointment. The actual cost of having a stall at the event is actually turning out to be the variable which can make or break the weekend rather than the lack of consumer demand. Last year had been reasonably good at Belton and although the Saturday had seemed relatively quiet their positioning had been better than last year.

In general there were fewer stalls and there seemed to be fewer people on what is effectively Day 2 though, as ever, there was a lot going on, with even more scheduled for day 3 .
The range as ever was impressive and I definitely felt I had not done the event justice, and needed more time.
The only niggle was with the loud music that I think was accompanying the dog display and I did feel that this was rather intrusive on the competition, although not lasting very long. It was right beside the show jumping arena and I do feel was somewhat of a distraction.

Thanks also to the riders who continue to sponsor Iona ahead of her sponsored hill climb of the Eildons for the Brooke. www.justgiving.com/ionakerrsposeredrun.com
We also stayed at the very pleasant Old Manor in Allington for the second year, and who should we bump into in the Pub for our evening meal but Bill and Barbara Laidlaw, who we also came across at Burnham Market.

So what of the competition itself…
NBR had both Trig Point and Freddy Curtis competing at Intermediate level, though we stuck to the conventional event rather than the Intermediate Futurity which was an option for Trig Point.
We walked the cross country course (great visibility for any first timer) and saw a couple of areas where certainly care was required. In particular the Bunker complex highlighted in the programme as being of interest, certainly caused some problems. More later

The Dressage test 117 featured again and again Trig Point was trying to include flying changes. He might well get 9’s for these when they actually form part of the test, but not here, and as this is the only test he has done this year to date, familiarity might well breed a little bit of contempt. He scored a somewhat disappointing 43.6 in what was a higher scoring section. Freddy Curtis, on the other hand , decided that cooperation and concentration was more in order, and actually produced a pretty competitive 35.9 in what was a pretty tough class. This was despite one horse coming into the test area and doing a 360 degree twirl on its hind legs just at a critical stage of his test. Trig Point started last year in a similar vein at Novice level and it was in June that everything clicked. I wonder if we will get a repeat, as everything is clearly there…

The Show Jumping revealed some very impressive jumping by both horses. Trig Point looked as though he was trying to clear every fence at advance level, and produced a very impressive round except he knocked off the top pole of the second element of the double, and I was in the wrong position to see why. Freddy was clearly up for the event, concentrated hard and produced a good clear round, much to our pleasure.
Kerr Photography contributes this picture…

Over in the Cross Country both horses performed very well.
Trig Point went round clear with only 9.4 time faults and wasn’t pushed unduly, and looked very comfortable. Horsepower’s photograph was a slightly better close up than mine and gives the impression of a horse on the move (Photo at top of blog).

Freddy also gave a very good account of himself and went round clear with only 10.6 time faults and opened his points account for the season with 2.
We were much happier with this performance, and his 14th in a pretty tough class was a good return to form. He looks set to compete at Scone in an Intermediate next week.
Trig Point came 20th and its easy to see that the dressage area is the one where he is still getting used to the higher levels. Add in the fact that we didn’t have an arena for most of the winter and it perhaps isnt surprising that he hasn’t quite clicked.

Lucinda gets tired, Hayden gets lost, and Sharon halts…
We also caught up with an exhausted Lucinda Broad as she finished quite an eventful round on My Evolution with considerably longer arms than when she started, a round that actually propelled her to third place in the Intermediate Futurity. I sense a new bit coming. The showjumping was given an added spice as Hayden Hankey went awol mid round on Fernhill Fearless and a fizzing Dee was placated as she was heading off in Hayden’s direction. There was also a rather interesting 2 minute halt in the 3* dressage from Tankers Town, which I think was slightly longer than anticipated, given the hefty encouragement that was being attempted.

Points for the yard
Two points for Freddy opens his account for the year and takes his total to 19
The yard total moves onto 16 with Mistral on 12, though he will now sadly be off games for quite some time, and Trig Point joined by Freddy on two.
This time last year the yard total was only three.

Next return for the Blog should be from Scone next week, followed potentially by Houghton, though I look set to miss the competition at Aston-Le-Walls (an event I have not been to yet).

Big Guns on Easter Parade at Burnham Market

2009-04-14T09:32:00.006+01:00

Eventing Blog from Burnham Market- Trig's flying changes, Ruth Edged out by Flint. Marriage is more expensive than eventing!

The later Easter certainly was a help, and the weather was a huge improvement on last year. We oriented ourselves on day one in the afternoon in preparation for a reasonably early start the next day.
The use of a aerial photograph rather than a map for the cross country course in the programme was a good innovation and should be copied elsewhere.
Although there had been very little rain the cross country course had been aerated well and wasn't as hard underfoot as expected. (We will cover the actual course later) There was a good collection of stalls and activities though there appeared to be slightly less than last year. The birds of prey and dog activities provided a good distraction. The quality of competition was outstanding with a whole range of top riders, many doing their final proper outing before Badminton. All made for excellent viewing.

With the better weather there certainly seemed more spectators and the ability to see the cross country course marks this out as an event worth visiting for the novice spectator.
There is also a significant opportunity to shop in Burnham Market and we were staying at the Hoste Arms which not only had good food but excellent accommodation.
The weather on day three did deteriorate significantly and the conditions became especially tricky late in the afternoon when the mist came down. This was taken late on the Friday. 24 hours later the wood was barely visible.

Many thanks also to all those who have agreed to sponsor Iona in her Eildon Hill Climb to raise money for the Brooke. For those that haven’t its not too late
http://www.justgiving.com/ionakerrsponseredrun, but she now has undoubtedly made an encouraging start,

Also there were some interesting developments on the social front.
I asked one eventer, recently engaged, about her proposed plans for pending nuptuals in 2009.
No concrete plans set apparently. On further digging, the response was “amongst other factors, things are too expensive.”
“Eventing ??” was my question … “ Oh no… Marriage” was the answer…

Many thanks to Alec and Emily Lochore and the squad for putting together an excellent event.
We look forward to the return fixture next easter and aim to be there on Easter Saturday …

So how did things go for NBR?
NBR only had two runners with Mistral and Rare Hero both being late withdrawals.
Freddy Curtis was competing in only his third Intermediate and Trig Point his second.
Again we were experimenting with the camcorder, and once the heavy breathing at the latter stages of each cross country has been muted out we may release the end result. There may well be some photos to come slightly later to augment the blog, as I was quite pleased with the video results.

Dressage
Freddy was pretty tense again for this dressage coming away with a 43.2. More interesting was trig points 37.7. He decided that he enjoyed doing flying changes so much at Equine Pathway training earlier in the week, that he decided to put some into his test. This was not a required element at this level, the requirement on this occasion was counter canter. Nicky made him do the required element properly, which he did the second time round, but the error of course and the scores of one and three for canter indicate how good the rest of the test was, and indicated another placing would have been on the cards, but for the flying change. At this stage education remains the priority and we will see what happens in two weeks time at Belton, but every reason to feel encouraged and one time where the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story.

Showjumping
Freddy went first and had three down, one of which was attributed to the rider (according to her). Trig point had one down (a spread in front) otherwise he jumped extremely well.

Cross country
This was undoubtedly a challenging course for early in the season and asked questions at all levels. We turned up briefly to see the novice competition, and saw a considerable number of run outs and refusals. Clearly early season cobwebs and inexperience did show. The aeration of the course helped cut the surface up. There were some considerable delays at the start of the cross country which did allow feelings to run a little high at times. The delays were caused by a couple of holds on the course, one due to a rider breaking a leg, which clearly couldn't be rushed. However it did cause a logjam down at the start, and the cross country remained behind schedule for the rest of the day. It might be an idea to provide the cross country helpers (start coordinators) with somewhere to retreat to (under cover in a trailer for example) as they must have been getting battered into submission as the day wore on trying to explain and handle the delays. We will cover the two star and three star later in the blog.

Both Freddy and Trig Point acquitted themselves well in this phase. In fact Freddy when he had the opportunity to jump out at the barrels, was rerouted at the last moment and comfortably corrected himself when others would have run out. Freddy did perform much better, not pulling nearly as much and showed his honesty round the course and willingness to jump. We obviously would like to see the same application in the other two disciplines when we get to Belton, but this was undoubtedly better than Gatcombe. Twenty time faults was a very creditable result looking down the field. Trig Point looked very much at home in what was his second intermediate apart for a slightly green moment at the coffin near the end when he got onto the wrong stride pattern. He got out of that well and looked faultless otherwise. Hard to believe he was on his second intermediate.

Results
In the end Trig was 12th and Freddy 22nd in the classes. Clearly Trig’s potential in the dressage was easy to see though and he would clearly be significantly higher up the order without the incursion into flying changes. Good outings for both with encouraging progress

Ruth Edged out by Flint
Iona and I then returned on the Saturday to see the big guns in the 2Star and the 3Star. The weather was less good, with drizzly rain which became mistier in the afternoon and altogether less pleasant which required considerable care in the increasing gloom.
The course builder had presented some interesting challenges and a number of top riders came unstuck at various stages. The problems appeared at several fences, skinny out of the water, and the bounce in, the barrels, coming out of the wood, the leaf pit and the corners, all of which we would be expected to tackle as we move up the grades. The novice and intermediate courses had certainly posed some significant challenges so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the advanced kept the pressure on .

Sharon Hunt, Matthew Wright, Chris King, Oliver Townend, Lucy Wiegersma,. Piggy French, Pippa Funnell, Coral Keen ( a crashing fall) , Andrew Nicholson, Mark Todd and Caroline Powell were amongst those who ran into problem in the 2 and 3 star, picking up a variety of penalties. Some satisfaction for the course builder. There were equally some very impressive rides and recoveries too especially as conditions worsened.
Ruth Edge rose towards the top of the leaderboard in both of the 3* classes on March Mayhem and PC Wilson. They were to finish first and second in their respective classes. However “Horse of the Day” award had to go to Flint Curtis who was on supreme form and was able to maintain a huge lead that he had gained in the dressage, through Show Jumping and a very impressive Cross Country to win the other 3* class.

NBR news from Kirriemuir
Whilst the Kerr family were still in the south, Nicky had headed North to Kirriemuir for the first season outings for Stonedge and Bally Cassidy. Both ended up 12th, in front of their respective owners and another encouraging start for the young horses. They are out again next week at Kelsall Hill, joined by Sky Rhode, whilst the more experienced team of Rare Hero, Trig Point and Freddy Curtis make their way to Belton the week after, when the blog will make its reappearance.

Gatcombe- Allez le Mistral, Trig Point opens his account

2009-03-31T09:24:00.004+01:00

NBR Event Owners Blog From Gatcombe- Allez le Mistral, Trig Point opens his account

After a prolonged absence, the Blog makes its welcome return for 2009 and we hope to be writing many more like this one, as the season unfolds.

There does need to be a little preamble to bring readers up to date before we launch into the Little Gatcombe (1) report as to events in the close season for NBR Eventing, and what we have in the yard for 2009.

Firstly, there is a new yard. Most of you will have caught up with the fact that Nicky was in the throes of moving yard, which happened in mid December, although work has been continuing round the fringes as we moved through Winter. The Through The Keyhole feature in Eventing magazine in march captured the new yard in its glory, with the exception of the outdoor arena, which had remained stubbornly unfinished, thanks to the wet weather. A dry spell brought construction phase to its conclusion and the landscaping too is nearing completion. After so much wet weather had held up its construction, we now found ourseleves seeking wet weather to help with the bedding in process. That however proved elusive till last week. Westerhouses Equestrian is now up and running, and all we needed were the Horses and the Events to complete the picture.

There are currently nine horses in the Yard for 2009.
Although the Blog will tend to feature Mistral De Blondel, Trig Point and Freddy Curtis, which I partly own, the others will inevitably be mentioned if they are at events that I happen to attend.

The horses are:-
Rare Hero, Mistral, Freddy Curtis, Trig Point, Sky Rhode, Stonedge, Indian Mill, and stable named Wattie but as yet no formal name.A recent arrival has been BallyCassidy owned by Sharon Lindop, which brings us to nine.
Cherry Law is no longer in the stable this year, as the owners would like to see her compete at more local events, which was running counter to some of the plans for the other horses which are taking them increasingly further afield. Nevertheless Peter and Rhona Elliot wish to maintain participation in the yard, but which equine form that will take is as yet undecided.
Trig Point, being a member of the Olympic 2012 pathfinder programme, has also been attending some of the training sessions, where he seems to have made a good impression, and perhaps the benefits have been partly reflected in his performance over this weekend.

The Senior Group are Rare Hero, Trig Point, Mistral and Freddy, with Stone Edge, Skye Rhode, and Ballycassidy being the more experienced youngsters.

It is certainly fair to say that the horses perhaps have been lacking their normal preparation, without the school, and so the expectations for the first part of the season were undoubtedly “restrained”. ( A polite term)
Nevertheless the first outing was at Lincoln, which I traditionally stay away from to allow some of the cobwebs to be blown off.

There certainly seemed to be a few with Freddy reportedly relatively excited on his first season outing at Novice , with a 44 dressage, two down showjumping and ten time faults Cross Country coming 13th.
Rare Hero and Mistral both did Intermediates. Rare Hero had a similar mid forties dressage, one down showjumping and had 8.8 time across country finishing eleventh, and Mistral did a 37.3 Dressage, went clear showjumping, and also went clear cross country, but the search for the correct bit wasn’t found on this occasion and he cam back with 42.4 time faults finishing 21st . It seemed to have been pretty depressing start to the season though Mistral has picked up 2 points to open the Yard’s Accounts

Little Gatcombe (1) 28th-29th March- The clock change weekend

Accommodation
I stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast, The Old Parsonage, at Rodmarton, run by Mary and John Fitzgerald. They were excellent hosts and both breakfast and dinner were of a very high standard.
It was also very close to gatcombe, though we didn’t have an early start on Day 1

The weather was also extremely unpleasant on day one with violent showers, some of hail, and a chill wind.
Day two was a lovely Spring Day
Horses competing
Intermediate Novice: Trig Point (first outing of the season) and Freddy Curtis
Intermediate : Mistral and Rare Hero

Mistral 2nd, Trig Point 5th ( his sixth placing in the last seven events), and Rare Hero 10th..-
So how did they get there…

Dressage
All four Horses did the same dressage Intermediate 117, with Trig Point and Mistral coming out with the same score of 35.9, though with different judges. They both looks relatively composed and despite the high wind both performed well, considering the lack of schooling due to the lack of arena. These were very encouraging results and they clearly will improve on these. Freddy and Rare Hero were less composed both getting scores in the mid forties, and Freddy seemed particularly unsettled at the start, and his concentration was wayward.

Showjumping and Cross Country
The Showjumping on Day One brought slightly differing fortunes. Again Freddy seemed slightly tense, and not concentrating, but only managed to have one fence down, but the round seemed rather untidy.
That was only because Trig Point produced an absolutely faultless round over Intermediate fences, that the commentator described as “textbook”. Peter Murphy would have been proud (though not surprised), and he never looked like knocking a pole down.
Freddy and Trig point then completed the Novice Cross Country Course, again with differing fortunes. Considering this was Trig Point’s first outing he produced an excellent performance going round clear, exactly on the optimum time making it look very easy. It is the first time he has gone round without time faults since Lincoln last year (though Scone was for Speeding). He finished a creditable fifth getting two points to open his account. Freddy was less successful. Again he wasn’t concentrating approaching a large set of upright creosoted rails, behind which I was standing, looking elsewhere. However it had become extremely dark and the dark fence was merging into the dark hail clouds, and quite rightly given the fact that by the time he had decided to pay attention he might not have seen the fence, the riders choice was to stop him and to represent, which was absolutely right. He completed the rest of the round reasonably well and looked perfect at the water which caused a number of others huge problems, but a 33rd place clearly isnt a reflection of his ability and he hasn’t kicked off his season yet.

Sunday 29th
A much better day and clearly Mistral liked what he saw

He was perfectly composed heading off to the Showjumping, and produced an excellent clear round where he clearly was really trying. This had put him into second place, but the forty time faults of last week had clearly necessitated a change of bit, and after a lot of debate the Uptown Eventing suggestion was put to the test. What a transformed horse. Having seen him at certain stages last season brakes were always a potential requirement but this time round Nicky was able to kick on between fences and apply the brakes where needed. One example was at the water and he simply bounced through it, making it look easy whilst many other struggled. He came round with one of the faster times in the class getting 10.4 time faults and holding onto second. This was an excellent result. Not only does it give him 10 points, but it is an automatic entry to both The British Eventing Intermediate Championships at Gatcombe and the Scottish Open. The Intermediate Championship qualification had been on the wish list so we are delighted he has achieved it so quickly.
To complete the picture Rare Hero came 10th in the same class. He did a blistering Cross Country round finishing with 8 time faults but had had an uncharteristic three fences down showjumping, including one where a fence shadow made him take off far too early.

The event seemed very well attended with lots of top riders present, and a number of familiar faces. The ground was in very good condition and quite firm. There weren’t a huge number of trade stands, so it wasn’t possible to get a real handle of the effects of the recession. I suspect Burnham Market and Belton will give a much better guide, with many more stalls. The general attendance was good, and there was a more organization around the car parking.
The scores reaching the tent were still woefully slow though, clearly giving scope for improvement. The white board in the showjumping warm up area with all the competitors numbers in order for the whole was a good idea, until it rained and all the numbers were washed off with no back up, when it clearly wasn’t. It took a well known competitors mother to inject some sanity into the situation before things got out of hand.

Points Score for the yard season to date- 14

Mistral 12 , Trig Point 2

Makes Mistral 40 and Trig Point 28..

Next Blog outing
Burnham Market – Easter Weekend. We are down en famille for four days though the horses all are doing Intermediates on Good Friday starting at 08.00- Yippee
Those attending .Mistral, Rare Hero, Freddy Curtis and Trig Point all doing Intermediates

See you there..

The Eventing Blog returns - A New Year, A New Yard..

2009-02-02T12:44:00.003Z

New Yard

2009 has brought a huge breath of fresh air to Westerhouses, as it completed it’s transformation from the old historic base for the Jedforest Hunt in Roly Harker’s day to a modern Eventing Yard providing a base for NBR Eventing , whilst retaining the traditional stone buildings. It has turned out to be a gargantuan undertaking and there were times when one thought the project would never be completed, and the horses would never reach here. The weather has certainly been extremely unhelpful, but I suppose if you want to stress test to see if the yard could withstand adverse weather whilst being constructed we certainly were able to do so. This is being written in the middle of a heft snowstorm so get the chance to road test it under snow as well.
The other point that was clearly made by the builders that if the yard hadn’t been rescued now, it would have got beyond the point of no return and it would have been too late to save it in its current form.

It has been an immense challenge, and the task isn’t quite complete yet, but the yard is certainly workable and we now have seven horses and a pony in residence.
The horse walker blends in perfectly in the middle of the yard, and despite our location, the yard is far more sheltered than we expected, and the first month or so has been spent ironing out minor glitches.
It was a big moment when we could turn on the underfloor heating in the Tack room, rug room and utility room. (the benefit of installing a lot of concrete flooring anyway)
The one area of frustration remains the arena which has been underway for around 5 months so far, frustratingly just running into the very wet autumn. The 60 x 25 build into the side of a hill was a one stage looking more like a very big pond and there is an awful lot of earth to landscape. The drive also needs upgrading, but that will wait until the rest of the work completes.

But the result is amazing, and it looks as though this was what the buildings were originally created for. It undoubtedly helped having the potential tenant on hand to advise on what would work, and what wouldn’t as the project developed, which is one of the reasons we have an excellent end result.

So in addition to an Owner the Yard adds a new twist and a new responsibility for 2009.

New Year

But enough of the New for Old what about the horses.
The weather again hasn’t been kind hence the rather restricted programme without the arena, and with a minor virus having appeared anti social behaviour is the order of the day, as we make sure it clears.
But we have been looking ahead with some anticipation to the season unfolding, and providing the horses have had enough practice, it could be could be all over the country again for the family Kerr and even a trip to France. But we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit. The website has been updated http://www.nbreventing.com with news on the horses in the yard.
At present seven are in residence, and my daughters 12 hand pony Missy, who seems quite at home with the other bigger animals.
Within another month we should be up to the full quota of ten.

As for the three I am involved with the ownership of, it looks to be a busy season with the usual couple of events needed to warm up.
I am looking forward to visiting the likes of Burnham market and Belton in April, with Scone, Chatsworth, Houghton Hall, and Brigstock, possibles for may, and we are also looking at Jardy in late June and a three start for Mistral possibly at Blenheim in the autumn. There are obviously plenty of others but understandably the calendar gets hazier as the year progresses and we have to see how the horses perform. August seems to provide several either/or choices. Trig Point after his continued inclusion in the Equine pathway under stricter criteria will be aiming for his first One Star at Houghton in may and Freddy “ The Rocket Cob” Curtis will be aimed at the two star at the same event. More details can be found on the NBR website with some photographs
It all looks very exciting, but as I learnt last year the weather can play havoc with plans, as can balloting, and lets hope as far as the weather is concerned things are better in 2009.
Meanwhile dressage theory certainly can get underway with lots of new tests to learn. The practicals can get underway when the arena is installed.

The historic blogs can be tracked down on http://event-owner.blogspot.com/ and the next one is likely to be from the first event that I attend in late March early April.

Whitton

2008-10-06T09:47:00.004+01:00

Event -Owners Blog from Witton-Second Day Washed out ..

Having been all excited about our final event of the season, with Mistral doing his first advanced test, it was with a sinking heart that I arrived at Witton. The weather clearly wasn’t good but the massive queue to get into the lorry park really told its own story.

Mistral was set to do dressage on Saturday along with Rare Hero and Whistling Willo had already done his Pre Novice Class by the time I arrived. He finished a creditable tenth leaving his owners pretty pleased and now heads back to Ayrshire for the winter, Trig Point and Freddy were set to do their Intermediate tests on Sunday but it wasn’t to be.

By this stage I had parked well away from the queue and wandered towards the lorry park via the dressage arena. It was taking people 55 minutes to get into the lorry park, and it was clear that the change of location, simply hadn’t worked and a churned up lorry park hadn’t been accounted for initially.

The picture (top) actually doesn’t do the state of the lorry park justice. It was actually far worse later, and the mud that is visible goes down a fair way.

The Dressage surface was clearly better than that at Aske, with grass a lot shorter, but that was where the lorry park had been in prior years. A rethink may be needed.

The show jumping was clearly cutting up though I have seen worse this season, and the Cross Country also looked a bit battered on the Pre Novice and Novice courses, but the Intermediate and Advanced looked a very fair course and would have certainly suited Mistral. It was hard to know how it would have cut up on the Sunday, but I was pleasantly surprised on the Saturday pm about the challenge it offered on my first visit.

With the tricky situation in the Lorry park and the large number of horse in the dressage area it wasn’t possible to lunge Mistral or to have his normal three day preparation.
One feared for the test when he started to play up on his way to the arean. Meanwhile one whole side of the dressage arena border blew over in the high wind and rain as the previous rider was doing his test. Fortunately for Oliver Townend his horse Good Enough, was going down the far side, and came away with a 32.9. As Nicky said to Les Smith, who was judging, before the test started. If that happened to Mistral he would probably have been in the next County. He was a bit fresh in the test and lost concentration in the middle but came back to score a reasonable 37.9. I suspect there might be quite a lot of dressage training this winter.

Andrew Spalding along with the others had desperately been trying to keep the Advanced going for the next day, but health and safety consideration led to the Sunday being called off. Just at that moment a rider arrived to prepare for the next day from Southampton. The season in a nutshell. Rare Hero didn’t proceed with his dressage test and the season came to a deflating end. The blog started after Gatcombe 1 had been called off with Mistral having managed a Dressage and Show Jumping before snow, gales and everything else had taken hold, and so it has finished the same way.

The weather of course ironically is sunny.

There will be a final blog summarizing the season to follow at some stage with highlights and low points , and roll on 2009.

Aske

2008-09-29T09:07:00.008+01:00

Trig Point in the Showjumping arena
(Trig Points photos thanks to Chris Lax Photography)

Eventing Blog from Aske- Trig Point was Asked and Answered in style- Ian Stark returns to the saddle..

The first job is to congratulate the British Young Riders team on another gold medal in Kreuth, with Individual gold for Emily Llewellyn and a bronze for Ben Hobday.
Excellent news.

Aske
The second trip to Aske this year was marked by good weather. It seems such a long time since we enjoyed wall to wall sunshine.
The ground which must have been very doubtful at the beginning of the week had dried significantly and the cross country going was a lot better than I had expected.

In focus this time were the intermediate sections though Nicky did have two running in the Pre Novices later.
Mistral and Cherry Law ran in one of the Intermediates whilst Trig Point ran in the other. For Trig Point and Cherry Law it was their first Intermediate. Fiddlewood was entered in the Pre Novice and was joined by Whistling Willo for a first outing at that level.
The Open Intermediate had an interesting twist as Ian Stark joined the list of entrants to run alongside Caroline Powell, Matthew Wright and Oliver Townend but more of that later.

Last time the intermediates had really been decided in the showjumping arena with an especially vicious course. This time the cross country took the honours with the same time of 5.33 as was the case in June but it definitely seemed harder to get. The organisers had undoubtedly listened after the show-jumping last time, and when asked Iona, my daughter, was able to reassure the course designer that this was a much fairer test. The arena was bigger and the contours had been more effectively used, whilst still proving a pretty stiff challenge for those not quite able to concentrate,

Iona at the Hedgehog

I still have reservations about the dressage location though. This time the five arenas had been slightly shuffled around but didn’t leave a lot of space for those trying to get to the far ones, although they were certainly flatter. They had been recently topped but the cut grass left lying which it made it slightly difficult for both horses and viewers to see exactly what the feet were doing. Also in one of the arenas the sun reflected off the judges car into the eyes of the horses as they came into halt at the finish. Mistral had been first in and I wondered why he edged to the side at the halt. After six of the next eight horses seemed to do the same I managed to work out what was going on, but it was the same for all in the class.

So how did NBR do:
Mistral
We had an early start in the dressage at 08.00, which had meant I had left the house at 05.30, Nicky had probably left the stables a couple of hours earlier.
Mistral’s last outing had been at Blair in a three day, and he was undoubtedly a little bit eager to get underway after a few weeks off. However an early start probably wasn’t ideal, and he came in with a 32.4, which was reasonable, without being outstanding. The leader after dressage was DHI Vitesse who had been very impressive at Gatcombe winning the Novice final. It also must have been a shock to Mistral to discover that instead of a three day event hew was actually competing in a two hour one. He may well be a three day horse rather that the short version, but that is something for us to consider next season. In the showjumping arena he just flicked one off in front, which was a considerable improvement on the four he had down in June. Nicky was trying him in a new bit for the cross country as his mouth was quite sore after Blair. Apart from a section in the middle of the course where he did pull away, the trial seemed to have been successful. He came back with 20.8 time faults, which compared with 30.4 in June, and enabled him to finish in 10th place.
He is lining up for his first Advanced at Witton, and this was undoubtedly a needed outing to dust off some of the cobwebs.

Cherry Law
Cherry Law was doing her first Intermediate and also was coming off a few weeks break including disrupted preparation at the Elliotts through flooding.
She too looked a little bit eager in the dressage getting 41.4, and knocked a couple down in the showjumping, but otherwise not finding the height too much of a problem.
On the cross country some caution was taken as it was her first time at intermediate and she had had a fall at the same event last year. In the end she cruised round with 16.8 time faults in a time of 6.15 showing her racehorse pedigree. This was an encouraging outing and she has another Intermediate lined up next week at Witton.

Trig Point
This was also Trig Point’s first outing at Intermediate and followed his success in the CIC* at Gatcombe. Of the 33 starters he was the only six year old and the youngest in the field. He was in a different Intermediate class to the other two and the dressage scores were undoubtedly a few marks higher. The 35.7 he scored left him well placed, but again the surface with loose grass didn’t really allow anyone to have an outstanding test. However he did extremely well in the other two phases. He didn’t put a foot wrong in the showjumping with a magnificent clear round, one of only seven in the class, and tried hard from start to finish.

For the cross country, Nicky simply wanted to see how well he would cope with the fences rather than try to go hell for leather for a time. Again he flowed beautifully over the ground and found little problem with the fences and came back in 6:16 getting 17.2 time faults, and was actually quicker than Mistral. This allowed him to finish in 6th place which is a super result in his first Intermediate outing. He gets another two points to add to his total, (but no prize money). As I have mentioned before, in addition to points being tied in with qualifying scores, points for finishing in the top six should be matched by prize money (rather than the top five)

He has now completed an impressive string of results since June being placed and getting points in six of his last seven outings (and his agile escape from a muddy slip at Thirlestane was also commendable as it avoided something far worse). Whether at Novice, CIC* or Intermediate the class hasn’t seemed to bother him and 26 points set him up nicely for next year. The are historical precedents as Glen Corran also managed six points scoring results in a row whilst transitioning from Novice through Intermediate and 1*, before doing twelve in a row between August 2002 and August 2003.
He is slated for a further Intermediate this weekend at Witton, but having done everything we have asked of him, and looking at the potential weather forecast we may well conclude his season on a successful note.

Pre Novices
I had left by the time the pre Novice sections completed, but there was another good result for Fiddlewood, coming third in his class, with a double clear inside the time.
This is his eighth result in a row in a top six position whether Pre Novice or a five year old qualifier, which is an outstanding series. Whistling Willo had three fences down showjumping but his other phases were pleasing and he finished 22nd.

Overall
The Open Intermediate section was won by Oliver Townend (who also won Intermadiate C) just ahead of Matthew Wright and two of Caroline Powells. Of as much interest might have been the return of Ian Stark to the entry list, replacing his daughter, and he also returned to the points with a double clear on Looks Similar, after a slightly disappointing dressage ( Les Smith was judging the class and I am sure he was slightly surprised to be judging Ian rather than Stephanie). I had seen Ian looking intently at the combination coming out of the wood, as Caroline Powell went through, earlier on without realizing that he was actually competing. His time cross country of 6:13 fitted into the zone ridden by most riders, across the intermediate class. The top five in the open intermediate broke 6 minutes, but in the intermediate classes there were very few who got close to the time without having to push the horses very hard. The only round inside the time across any of the classes came from Camilla Neil Martin with an eye-popping 5:30.
Nicola Wilson also just pipped NBR in both Intermediate classes but with very measure similar times cross country and here pace we considered a fair benchmark.

Points for the yard
The points total has now crept up to 75 for the year with Trig Points total increasing to 26, getting dangerously close to Mistrals overall 28.
The other contribution remain, Cherry Law 22, Mistral 16, Rare Hero 6 , Freddy Curtis 4 and Stonehaven Lady B 1.
Honourable mention in dispatches now goes to Fiddlewood with Eight top six places in a row.

Next Up ..
Weather permitting, Witton next weekend where NBR has seven entered.
The A68 roadworks may also get slightly in the way but the following are due to run
Whistling Willo in a Pre Novice
Fiddlewood in his first Novice (points time?)
Mistral and Rare Hero both do their First Advanced
Trig Point, Freddy Curtis and Cherry law are all entered fro intermediates
Looking at the weather though we shall have to wait and see…

Eventing Blog from Little Gatcombe. Trig Point steps up, Freddy slips up and Emily G gets the Young Rider call up..

2008-09-02T10:41:00.006+01:00

This was a terrific event that had everything to keep one entertained.
It was certainly eventful and had wildly contrasting weather conditions over the three days I attended

NBR Eventing
Competing this time round were Rare Hero, looking for a qualifying score in the CIC 2*, Freddy Curtis at CIC 2* for the first time and Trig Point attending his first International Event at CIC*
Also the event was given added spice with the Young Rider Final Trial, with strong local interest as both Emily Galbraith and Charlotte Agnew are Borders based , and Emily is looking after my daughter’s ponies
at the moment. The timetable suited as all of Nicky’s horses did dressage on Friday and I was able to watch the Young Rider trial from start to finish on the Saturday, before returning to the completion of the one and two star on the Sunday.

Accomodation
I stayed this time at Edward & Kate Gordon Lennox’s excellent B&B Well Farm in Frampton Mansell, within easy striking distance, and they were charming hosts.
I ate at the Crown in Frampton Mansell on the Friday evening, and the highly recommended Bell at Sapperton on Saturday with the NBR Eventing and Team Nicola Wilson.
Well worth booking for those who haven’t been, and the chef hadn’t changed as had been reported earlier. NBR eventing was based for this event at the Rank’s yard in Kemble, her old base.

The Event
The most dramatic action was on the Sunday though the medal for bravery may go to Antoinette McKeowen who broke her leg in the showjumping arena at the last element of the treble, and before the ambulance crew had a chance to get to her, had straightened her leg, because it was pointing at an odd angle. Ouch. Sunday’s cross country proved very testing with wildly differing weather conditions but that takes us away from the chronology

Friday Dressage
After a five and a half hour drive south, I was in time to see all three horses perform.
Rare Hero has his moments in the Dressage arena, and after a disappointing 76.5 at Ballygraffan we were looking for a qualifying score. After the first minute it was clear that this was going to be very tight. All the movements were there but he was very tense. It was equally tense waiting for his dressage score, but a 74.1 was actually greeted with a sigh of relief, as he has tremendous form in the other disciplines
Freddy had been working extremely well all week, but he seemed very tense even a couple of hours before the test and he certainly seemed spooked by something approaching the arena. His first four phases were extremely jumpy, but then he calmed down and seemed much looser and more relaxed than I have seen him in previous tests. However the preceeding horses had done excellent tests and therefore his 64.5 looked reasonably fair though disappointing. The potential is undoubtedly there and he is improving.
Trig Point was a different story. Though Nicky had to work him very hard, this was a much better test, and a 53.2 was certainly a good score in excellent company, and put him around 20th place in a field of around 115. We had to wait through Saturday for the field to complete its dressage but we could see he was certainly within the upper half of the field.

Saturday Young Rider Trial
This was a highly competitive class given the stakes involved, though they obviously had been based together for some time and there had been various other legs to the selection process.
I also discovered at this stage that Fernhill Sox ridden by Laura Collett was discovered to be missing a FEI 2* star qualification and was therefore ineligible. Having seen the final trial I could see how that would be a big miss. If one adds that to the confusion over the exclusion of horses which have done four star events such as Little Beau from earlier in the year, then we are putting ourselves at an unnecessary disadvantage. As someone new to the sport I find some the general qualification standards very confusing at times to decide what one needs to go up levels, and perhaps it could be made slightly easier to understand. It certainly might make the rule book shorter.
Anyway Emily Llewellyn led after the Dressage, hotly pursued by Dani Cuomo and Laura Collett, with the next group not far behind. Emily Galbraith with a 36 was only 6 off the lead.
In the show jumping 8 of the twelve went clear ensuring it would all go down to the cross country time, though Charlotte Agnew’s Out of Africa had an uncharacteristic 3 fences down.
It was the two Scots who led the way home in the Cross Country with Emily only having 1.6 time faults to snare third behind Emily Llewellyn and Laura Collett. Timing has come on in leaps and bounds this season I I was delighted to hear that Emily had made it back into the team and goes to Kreuth, and she will be joined by Emily Llewellyn, Georgie Spence, Dani Cuomo, Ben Hobday, and Sarah Stretton with a high standard set by all in the trial..

Sunday Showjumping and Cross Country
Back to the main agenda and if the weather on Saturday had been good and sunny Sunday certainly wasn’t. It was very wet in the morning and pretty dark all day which made jumping into the woods more than challenging on the cross country. Before we got there we had the small matter of the showjumping to attend to, and much to our delight it was a clean sheet for all three horses, with Rare Hero, Freddy and then Trig Point all jumping very well in pretty foul conditions, and trying extremely hard.

Two Star
The wetter conditions undoubtedly played a bigger role in the Cross Country and was at its worst in the two star.
Freddy was the first to go and had been making pretty good progress through some the more challenging fences that other had had problems with.
However seeing a slightly different stride to the one Nicky saw, he went and clipped the second last, the Discovery X question behind. At that stage I was still at the third last but could see him trying to recapture his footing, with nicky trying to rebalance him. However he then slipped again and she slipped off to the left, frustratingly close to the end. On further examination of the ground after the fence there were two absolutely massive skid marks where he had obviously tried to plant his feet with no traction. Both horse and Rider were ok, and having been cleared by the Doctor Nicky was off and round the circuit with Rare Hero, before I had had the chance to get in position. He came back with 16.4 time penalties to end up in 38th place. There were only two clear rounds inside the time, and 25 failed to complete, with another 22 having jumping penalties. This was clearly a reflection of the conditions. I have attached Freddy’s skid below as a slightly different take on the event.

One Star
At least the rain was less evident though the light would become an issue later.
The course was still causing some difficulty so I was seriously impressed with Trig Point’s round. He was taken steadily through the first six fences and then started to flow, and looked absolutely serene. The water complex at fifteen, with an irregular log was catching out a number of inexperienced riders, some of whom accelerated on their approach. In many cases this caused their demise. Trig Point took it without hesitation and cruised to the finish to have only two time faults, and he wasn’t being pushed. His time was one of the top ten though certainly these were not conditions to be trying, and there was one rider who went later on whose speed around the course was nothing short of breakneck, and a number of bystanders were fearful of the end result. The horse had gone round just before Bumble Thomas on Pebbly Victoria and Hannah bate on Vigo, and was one that should have been pulled up on safety grounds. 91 completed the course though 25 had jumping penalties, and 15 didn’t finish, with the wood claiming a number of casualties. As the round continued Trig Point continued to climb up the rankings and he finished an extremely creditable sixth, an excellent result on his first outing at a higher level.

Prizes and Points.
A sign of the time. The rosettes were given down to 28th, and with royalty present I found it most interesting to see how the prizes were received. They were actually given out by the head of the network group with her royal highness standing beside. There was only one of the 18 who actually curtsied to the princess royal (and several almost ignored her altogether) and perhaps there shouldn’t be any surprise who that was. (picture at beginning of blog).
On the other hand, I was slightly surprised to see that the cash payment to the winner of the class of which there were 116 entries, didn’t cover the entry fee and start fee. Now there were a few other goodys thrown in, but I would have thought that for all International events, or perhaps all events altogether, that if you get placing points, then you should at least get your entry fee returned. Perhaps that could be limited to the top six, but I did find it astonishing (as did the winner) that the actual prize money didn’t even reach the entry and start fee.
That also brings me onto the points system for three day and one day events. I gather there may be some changes in the wings but I do feel that International events such as the CIC* at gatcombe one should get higher points than at a simple one day event. I am not sure of the tariff but looking at the entry list at gatcombe relative to Trig’s win at Hexham and Aske where he gets 6 point I ma not sure that three seems the right result.

Points for the yard
The yards points total for the year is now up to 73 with another 7 collected at the weekend. Rare Hero now moves above Freddy Curtis, whilst Trig Point returns to the top of the leaderboard overtaking Cherry law.
Trig Point 24, Cherry Law 22, Mistral 16, Rare Hero 6, Freddy Curtis 4, Lady B 1

Next Stops
Burghley Young Event Horse. Fiddlewood and Stonedge
Necarne – Freddy Curtis and Rare hero
Aske – Cherry law, Fiddlewood, Mistral (Intermediate) , Sky Rhode, Trig Point (intermediate) , Whistling Willow
Witton – Freddy Curtis, Mistral (Advanced), Trig Point with others TBC

The Blog looks set to miss Necarne and the looks set to come back for its last outings this season at Aske and Witton.
After five weeks in a row it probably needs a couple of weekends to draw breath

Blair Horse Trials 2008

2008-08-27T15:26:00.000+01:00

A three day event brings a three day blog..

Despite the weather, which could have got badly in the way, this was another immensely enjoyable visit to the Blair Three Day Event where Mistral certainly captured the eye.

It was undoubtedly his best combined performance and he was up against a whole raft of far more qualified horses. However that gets us somewhat ahead of events.

Hotel

We stayed at Kinnaird for the first time in twelve years and were glad to see that the service and food quality had not lost any of its very high standard. For my daughter they asked on the first night if there was anything not on the menu that they could get in for the next two nights of our stay, and happily satisfied her request without prompting. Excellent attention to detail. We were actually staying in the Keepers Cottage

Just away from the main house, and outside of the décor, everything was excellent and very relaxing.

The Horses

Nicky had two horses competing in the three day event, with Cherry law competing in the One Star and Mistral in the Two Star

Trig Point also had a cameo role competing in the BHS Working Hunter Final on Thursday, and it was good for him to get a flavour of the big scene as this is likely to be one of his target events next year.

Major brickbats to Perth & Kinross Council for launching roadworks just 1 mile South of Blair on the Friday morning which lasted through the weekend. An extraordinary display of incompetence and poor planning ahead of a major bank holiday weekend and at the start of Blair’s major weekend. The tailbacks were massive, and having been caught once we detoured via the Killiecrankie turn off, which only added 2 miles to the journey and saved a huge amount of time.

The Event

We drove North on Thursday into some particularly foul weather and arrived during a torrential downpour necessitating an early detour to the House of Bruar for wet weather kit.

The lorry park was already churning up nicely and owners at this stage were being directed to the members car park (of which more later)

We had missed Cherry Law’s dressage which had left her 92^nd on a 65.7 in a high scoring class, but were in time to see Trig Point come 5^th in the Working Hunter Final knocking one pole down in dire conditions

Trade Stands

It also gave us the chance to orientate ourselves for the next few days amidst the wide range of stalls, which were roughly the same number as last year. I suspect trade was a bit sluggish and although there were a good number of people attending the weather and the economic conditions seemed to have taken their toll from the feedback garnered from a couple of regulars. Their next stop is Burghley and Blenheim so I await further feedback from their next loop South.

A number of supporters also appeared over the three day for NBR which was very welcome and we also came across a number of other we knew

The Sanderson’s had come up from the Borders and stayed late to watch Mistral, before driving South, along with Sara our vet , and numbers were further boosted by the Douglas’s from Saughtree. Rhona and Peter Elliott were also backed by the Scotts from Dolphinston, so it was just as well Nicky had bought a bigger tent. Alec Lochore was also a welcome brief visitor between his TD responsibilities.

Many thanks also to the commentators for keeping everyone well up to speed as to what was happening in the various phases, and for good comments about Mistral. These certainly helped as I was powering around the cross country course in pursuit doing my own version of the fun run. Despite Macchiatto not being here it was good to see the Kiers who had come all the way from the Isle of Wight to support William Fox-Pitt in the one and two star

Friday Dressage

Mistral did his dressage on Friday morning, and when we turned up for the warm up he looked surprisingly calm, and certainly not the way he had been behaving two days before. Many thanks also to Chris King for taking time out to cast a critical eye over the warm up, as he had seen the more feisty version also. Thankfully the calm nature continued into the dressage arena and Mistral certainly produced his best test for us to date, and scored a 50.4 to put him in 17^th place. I particularly like the picture attached of him in front of Blair Castle, that actually wasn’t planned.

The difficulty up to now has been to try and get him to deliver on the potential that is clearly there, and this certainly goes some way towards that goal, though I suspect he is likely to remain somewhat tricky at times.

We also then walked the Cross Country Course while Mrs Kerr checked out the shopping potential, and nearby gardens. There were considerable similarities to last year’s courses with the exception of an upper loop that had been taken out at the top of the hill. This didn’t mean that the fences were any less challenging as one was to discover as the various classes unfolded and given the very hilly nature of the course and the testing ground one did wonder how some of the horses might cope.

Saturday Cross Country and a major grump on parking

More rain overnight (but not as heavy as Thursday) left the ground heavy on the cross country course but certainly rideable.

That is more than can be said for the Car parks which clearly felt the brunt of the wet weather. The lorry parks remained out of bounds quite sensibly but owners were told as they were directed to gate 2 that due to the muddy conditions they were being directed on a different route to their car park. We than found ourselves directed into the distant General Public car park and were told the members area was closed off because of the mud. Having then checked out what was going on we then found other owners had got into the members area and that the mud was certainly not as bad as portrayed. There didn’t seem to be any discretion used either and Rhona Elliot , who was trying to see Cherry law, but suffers from MS, and has a mobility vehicle was sent of to the same distant area. Simply ludicrous.

Now a 4 day season membership for Blair is £50 per person which includes access to the members enclosure, parking etc, while it costs about £450 once stabling etc is included to enter a horse. If weather conditions are less clement as they have been at other events this year, and the lorry park is unaccessible it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to send owners way off into the distance while members are parked a lot closer. In our case we arranged a compromise for Sunday, but if we have our three horses entered next year I hope a better solution is found, should the ground conditions be as difficult. Belton still gets my award this year for the car parking arrangements for owners.

One Star

They has actually set off the Cross Country late on the Saturday, which meant that were able to see Cherry Law (when we thought we had missed her). She looked as though she was cruising round the course, and she even took the longer option at the second water and still came in 10 seconds inside the time. As an ex racehorse she certainly looked as though she wasn’t really stretched unlike some others who certainly looked as though it was a struggle. There had been 118 starters in the 1*, so a big class and 22 came to grief on the cross country course, with 43 getting round clear inside the time.

The top of the leader board was fairly tight, and Cherry Law had leapt up the rankings to 42^nd

A very stiff Three Star

Before we got to the two star we had the small matter of the three star to contend with, and the field got a lot smaller as the phase progressed.

Looking down the list of the 32 entrants a few names stood out as being obvious contenders, and that was down to 29 by the time the event started. We had seen Chris King on the Secret Weapon do a superb dressage to lead the field, but he was due later. Polly Stockton was an early casualty as the 17^th and 19^th to be followed closely by Ollie Townend at the second water. Lucinda Green came unstuck at the corner after the Highland Coo which also accounted for several others , Imperial Master ran out of gas and was wisely after napping for no reason early on, Chris King had a surprise run out, and there were several other retirements. The most shocking fall was a real heart (and brush fence) in the mouth moment for Laura Shannon at the very imposing Open Ditch where the horse leapt the first element and seemed to ignore the need to jump higher the second part on the other side altogether. It hit the log going across the second part with its chin as Laura hit the brush element face first and then was thrown back sharply as the horse ended up in the ditch. We had seen this from behind, and having seen the photographs of the side on view it looked even more frightening. The horse ambulance was on site within a minute and the shields were up very quickly (again within a minute). After what seemed like an age suddenly Quixotic leapt out from the ditch was trotted up and looked absolutely fine, which was a huge relief for all, with Laura Shannon up even more quickly. At the end of the cross country we had lost 12 of the 29 starters a 41% casualty rate, and there was only one round inside the time clear, and eleven clear jumping. Oliver Townend also has to be commended for trying to stop a rider who so clearly run of gas by the time they reached the last that they could barely trot, and he was genuinely concerned for their survival. The stewards having originally considered taking action quite rightly waved that. Ollie had pulled up Imperial Master three before the finish for similar reasons, and there were a number of horses across the classes who simply found this a very severe test due to the ground. This might have been an event in general for the stewards to have stepped in where horses were struggling, and given how conscious one is of the challenges in the sport I am very much in favour of riders having a role to play where safety in concerned.

Two Star

Anyway over to the 2* which was perceived to be a slightly easier course than that of the previous year.

After Houghton when Mistral was somewhat exuberant on the first part of the course which was flat, I looked at the hilly nature of this course and clearly this was certainly not one to let Mistral go going downhill.

Unlike Gatcombe, the Hill comes earlier. There were one or two fences including the second water, where he had spectacularly taken a stride out last year that were clearly worth considering too, as was the double coming down the hill. It was still possible to see a significant amount of the circuit if one ran up the hill and back down so I was able to see him from 3-5, at 7 than form 12-18 and 20-25. Unlike many of the horse he showed absolutely no sign of fatigue anywhere on the course. Nicky sensibly held him back on the downhill sections,. Despite the distance in the second water being extended he still managed to take out a stride and he had to be pulled back at the last. He did come in with 5.2 time faults, which we anticipated, but as far as the obstacles were concerned this was not a problem and he seemed perfectly happy to do another lap. In this phase at least he clearly is of advanced calibre.

Of the 64 starters 13 came unstuck and were eliminated or retired, on the cross country with 39 clear, and 14 were inside the time, which looks slightly more balanced.

Sunday Showjumping

The showjumping again provided a very stern test in all classes, and it was very very tight at the top.

One Star

Paul Sims just held on from Richard Jones and William Fox-Pitt in an amazingly tense battle in the one star

There were only 17 clear rounds out of 93 finishers and included in that was Cherry Law who came 28^th just finishing in the money but not quite being the highest riser in places from dressage

She gets two more points to boost her total to 36 and to 22 for the season

Two star

There was no less tension in the two star, and certainly for the early riders time was proving as much of a problem as the fences.

The standard undoubtedly improved as we went up the field perhaps not surprisingly as there were a large number of advanced horses

Mistral rapped the third element of the treble down but otherwise jumped extremely well and ended up with four faults to finish 17^th just a place outside the money and higher points.

There were only 8 clear rounds inside the time in total indicating how tough it was, and again William Fox Pitt was knocking at the door. There was simply no scope for Sarah Cohen’s Irish Jester to make any mistakes , and they went round brilliantly clear to win. The top seven were Sarah Cohen, William Fox Pitt, Dan Jocelyn, Matthew Wright (clear in a torrential downpour). Polly Stockton, Piggy French and Polly Stockton indicating the class in the field.

Mistral’s 17^th was enough to earn Nicky the Top Scottish Rider Trophy, the first time she has won this since Glen Corran picked up the one star version in 2001

Also having scoured the programme it was clear Mistral was mixing it was a whole raft of advanced horses with the average points total of the sixteen horses in front being 94 against Mistral’s 23, and none being anything like as low. Not surprisingly he did capture quite a lot of comment and considerable attention from a number of the senior riders, not in the least for his natural scope at the water

Putting all three phases together for the first time was very encouraging and we have to think what to aim at for the rest of the season as to whether we try to put in one advanced for qualification purposes or leave that till early next year. Mistral gets 5 points to move him to 16 for the year and 28 in Total.

Three Star

This was short but anything but sweet. We had missed most of it and I just came back in time to see the last horse go with Paddy Muir aiming for her first three star victory. With the rider in second being eliminated through a fall and the one in third having a fence down she had five fences in hand over Duarte Seabra. Somehow that wasn’t enough and a staggering eight fences fell. Chris king improved to third behind Clark Montgomery. Four of the seventeen managed to go clear.

Points for the Yard

Another seven points for the yard taking the total to 66

Cherry Law edges back above Trig Point and is now on 22 for the year (and 36 overall) as against his 21, with Mistral now up to 16 for the year and 28 overall.

Cherry Law 22, Trig Point 21, Mistral 16, Freddy Curtis 4, Rare Hero 2, Lady B 1.

Next outings

Rare Hero, Freddy Curtis and Trig Point go to Little Gatcombe this weekend with Freddy and Trig Point both going up a grade in the CIC 2* and 1* respectively.

The weekend after it’s the Burghley Young Event Horse where Fiddlewood and Stonedge are taking part, though I wont be there.

Then in the Diary we have Freddy Curtis and Rare Hero entered for Necarne, which might just be an event too far for me.

There is some debate about Aske and Witton at the end of the month with some decisions due this week, but attention as we enter September will be on setting a qualification platform for next year and continuing preparations for a yard move after the season ends.

Thirlestane 2008

2008-08-27T15:24:00.000+01:00

Scottish Open Championship and the European Junior Championships were the feature events

There was also the Scottish Novice Championships which Nicky was in with Cherry Law

All three of my horses were running with Trig Point in a Novice and Freddy and Mistral in the Intermediate

Having expected the worst I was pleasantly surprised when we turned up to find the ground was actually in pretty good condition considering the rain that had bombarded the Scottish Borders over the previous week and a half. The decision to move the showjumping arena from its location in front of the Castle onto higher ground was a major success as the ground was much drier, and the two and three star dressage being moved down to the Eagle Haugh to join the others also worked well. The cross country held up well though did get a bit slippy in places, and the Cross Country and Showjumping courses certainly provided a fitting championship challenge. The weather did deteriorate a bit on Sunday with some very heavy after a drying Saturday. Altogether it could have been a lot worse.

There were also as many trade stands this year as last year though the first two days of the four had been exceptionally quiet and overall it seemed a bit of a struggle from some of the regulars I have been seeing over the season. I am due to catch up with a number of them at Blair, so it will be interesting to get the comparison between the two.

The only minor grumps this time round

The timetable was thrown severely out of kilter on Sunday as the Junior Europeans overran, and the Prize Giving took longer than originally anticipated, which provided a bit of a logistical nightmare for the three star and advanced classes. (fortunately we weren’t involved), and the dressage scoring across the two Novice classes was very different (more below).

Both the cross country and the Showjumping provided a fair challenge across all classes, but reflected the championship nature of the event as a whole.

European Junior Championships

The major honours went to the British European Juniors with an impressive Team Gold, and Individual first and Second for Sienna Myson Davies and Libby Soley.

Libby Soley moved up from 10^th with a clear round and Sienna Myson Davies clear show jumping round was a perfect way to capture the Gold.

The Irish moved up to Silver which perhaps was a vindication for the team battle bus which pursued each rider round the cross country with loud cheering.

The other feature was the Scottish Championships where the Cross Country riders faced the worst of the weather conditions and put in some excellent performances.

Oliver Townend won by 10 points on Carousel Quest whose Showjumping display was absolutely tremendous, and followed by a very good cross country round.

He beat himself into second with Flint Curtis knocking down one pole and losing a shoe on the cross country but still putting in an impressive time.

I had left before Oliver had also managed to win the Advanced class (and come Second)

NBR Eventing

It was case of what might have been for the NBR horses on Saturday and Sunday, with some good individual disciplines, without quite putting it all together, for one reason or another to get to the top of the leaderboard. Cherry law came Seventh in the Scottish Novice championship. After a 32.6 dressage, she had 0.4 of a time fault for being under the time cross country and had a pole down showjumping in a challenging course.

Trig Point

Trig Point, in what is his last novice again showed his potential but this wasn’t reflected this time in the final result.

He got a 35.2 in the dressage, which looked ludicrous given the way his test actually went and how it compared with a whole string of tests I have seen this season

This was much more like a 25. It was clear that the judge was marketing high which affected all the competitors but it looks out of line on his record.

First novice class vs Second Novice class

33 dressage competitors vs 29

Range 21.9 to 48.6 with six under 30. Average 34.5 vs Range 29.5 to 42.9 with only one under 30. Average 36.8

Seemed to be two entirely different techniques here.

His showjumping looked very good apart for the one he knocked off behind, which was a slightly green error.

He was looking very impressive on the cross country and in line for a good time, but slipped down the slope on the mud coming into the 15^th which was the coffin. He got very close but did a huge leap angled to the left to escape what could have been quite nasty. That line took him outside the white flag for the middle section which was very close, and there was nothing that really could have retrieved it. He actually had got himself out of quite a difficult situation without damaging either himself or the rider. He then completed the rest of the round without a problem and despite the detour had only incurred 10 time penalties on top of the 20 jumping. He is definitely ready to move up a grade which will come at Gatcombe in two weeks time

Freddy Curtis, Mistral, and Rare Hero

In the Intermediate Rare Hero, Mistral and Freddy Curtis all were in the same class

The dressage scores were mid 30’s or above with none really shining, and were all quite well down.

The showjumping was better with rare Hero only having one down. Freddy also only had one down, but also incurred 4 time faults. This was a much much better display than at Gatcombe tow weeks ago.

Mistrals display wasn’t as good with two down and one time fault, just flicking one off and then simply not concentrating at the second last. There were only six clear amongst the 31 finishers.

The put Freddy just ahead of Mistral but we decided not to put Mistral over the cross country with Blair’s trot up looming on Wednesday, substituting some flat work, and there may be some focus on his dressage in the next few days.

Freddy and Rare Hero both went round the cross country clear with Rare Hero incurring 10.4 time faults and Freddy 13.6. This left Rare Hero in 9^th and Freddy 11^th out of 45 starters and 31 finishers.

This was a good performance by Freddy and his best placing at Intermediate, bettering that at Belton. He was also eleventh quickest cross country with none inside the time. There are definite signs of progress and more regular activity this season may well help, as long as ballots and weather don’t get in the way/

Points.

Another 4 points for the NBR team

Freddy gets to 17 in total and four for the year, and Rare Hero opens his account for the year with 2 bringing his all time total to 36.

The yard is now at 59 for the year bettering 2004, with the 79 for 2003 hoving into view.

Next stop is Blair for Cherry law and Mistral, followed by Gatcombe for Freddy, Trig Point and Rare Hero

Thirlestane is over for another year and it did feel like a bit of an endurance test as we managed to get through 10.5 hours of competition on Saturday. However this did feel a significant improvement on last year for a number of the reasons mentioned above, and for Lizzie Miller an ex colleague attending her first event it was a huge eye opener on a different sport, with the huge variation in disciplines and the interaction between horse and rider being the key take aways. Some of the cross country fences clearly left their impression, and she was able to see a huge number of top class riders in action.

There was a significant BE presence, with a number having made it back from China in the previous couple of days, and Blair may give a more relaxed opportunity to catch up with everybody rather than the hectic “local” event we had here.

Scone, Central Scotland 2

2008-08-27T15:22:00.000+01:00

Sunday 10^th August

We attended the second day of the Scone event with the weather being relatively grim over day one and poor overnight.

Congratulations to the organisers led by james Oakden for putting on the event in the face of fairly adverse conditions, and the weather did its best to brighten things up on Sunday with quite a bit of drying sun with the occasional very very heavy shower. They gave the chance to riders desperate fro qualification scores and the ground actually turned out the be quite reasonable on the cross country course. The

The Pre Novice classes were cancelled, an understandable decision as they were being run over the same courses that had been churned up on Saturday.

We had set out of the road at 05.30 with Nicky half and hour ahead, and had been able to warn at least the Galbraiths not to set off with their pre novice horses.

NBR’s runners for Sunday

Trig Point : Novice and Cherry Law: Intermediate Novice

We also had the opportunity to see two of the Young Rider Short listed at Gatcombe putting their horses through their paces, as well as several others for Charlotte Agnew, and regulars this season such as Nicola Wilson and Craig Anderson. I will be able to see the actual Young Rider final trial as we are down at Gatcombe to see Freddy and Trig Point in action

The tractors were busy but the course held up extremely well considering the conditions. Dressage was a bit squelchy but the sand base helped considerably. However the ground at thirlestane was already causing severe concern in the lorry park as to what might be going to happen and whether various classes should be dropped. The FEI europeans start the event off and the weather forecast is pretty grim for the early part of the week. I can already see a number of classes at risk, and anecdotal comment suggested that if the portable fences hadn't been pinned they would have floated off down the leader last week. Drainage has always been an issue at Thirlestane and the long range weather forecast (poor) will give the organisers a huge amount to think about.

It also didn’t take long for the tragic news from Hartpury to feed through, and clearly gave cause for reflection amongst all present.

The event

After six weeks lay off Trig Point needed the outing and a dressage of 31 showed slight rustiness but was broadly pleasing given the squelchy noises emerging as he went round, to be lying second . The showjumping went very well and he came in with a clear round, which teed him up nicely for the cross country.

Several adjustments had been made to the course after the may event which caused large scale eliminations at both waters. In particular the skinny after the second water was moved back a stride, and after comments the last time an alternative was put in, but it seemed to be rather a long way from the actual fence, and would lead to a fairly high time penalty if used.

Two downhill fences had to be taken out, due to the ground but the rest of the course rode well. The optimum time was extended from 5m 25 to 5m 31 , reflecting the tricky conditions and the slight deviations from the course. In fact, the two fences taken out removed some of the more difficult obstacles.

Trig Point had incurred a technical elimination at the water last time out so we were keen to see that not happen again, and Nicky felt that she might need to keep the momentum going to ensure that he got inside the time. As it turned out he found no problem with the ground at all and actually managed to incur 1.6 reverse time faults which was to cost him victory, the spoils going to James Hamilton. It is only the second time in her career that Nicky has managed to incur speeding faults, but on this occasion there may well be some benefits too. The ground clearly wasn’t an issue for him, but there were only three Novices inside the time, and one other had a speeding ticket. Seven of the intermediate novices and four JRNs also were inside the time out of the 61 that completed. At Aske Trig Point was three seconds quicker over the Novice course than Freddy Curtis and again he proved what a deceptive stride and smooth technique can do.

He gains five points for coming second and so is now upgraded to Intermediate, as he has 21 points.

Certainly his coming of Age at Hexham, Catton, Aske and now at Scone indicate that he is ready to move to the next stage, though we are not quite sure how that will manifest itself. The CIC* at Gatcombe is the first stage in that process. The dressage scoring is consistently better, in three of the last four showjumping rounds he was clear, and he simply made a nonsense of the cross country at Scone without having to be pushed, and following good performances at the other events. It may take time to bed himself in at the higher level, but he certainly has done himself justice in the last four events. It was actually quite instructive to incur those time faults cross country this time as we can actually put his performance into context.

Cherry law came 9^th in her Intermediate Novice with a slightly temperamental dressage in a couple of elements, and a couple of fences down showjumping, but a good cross country round.

Both move on to Thirlestane

Points total for the Yard

Points for the Yard are now up to 55 for the Year which is now one behind the 2004 total of 56.

We also have another change in the points leader for the year as Trig Point has now edged back in front of Cherry Law

Trig Point 21, Cherry law 20, Mistral 11, Freddy 2, Stonehaven Lady B 1

Also Mistral, Cherry Law and now Trig Point have all now been upgraded to Intermediate, just leaving Freddy a bit behind. Watching him a Gatcombe you feel it wont be long before he makes the garde too.

A quick word about the Young Riders.

Both Charlotte and Emilys horses seem to be working well and putting training to good use.

Timing came fourth for Emily in the Advanced-Intermediate (which involved a rather rapid brushing up of the dressage test). They only flicked one off showjumping but looked very impressive otherwise, and had 16 time faults cross country after an absolutely torrential downpour had made the going sodden.

Charlotte’s Out of Africa Two sailed home in the Intermediate class by 9 points with only 4.8 time faults cross country an impressive dressage and clear showjumping.

She also won the advanced intermediate with Little Beau to round off a successful weekend.

Next stop for all is Thirlestane, though with the current forecast virtually everyone I spoke to was fearful of how many, or few classes will actually manage to be run.

The feature clearly is the FEI Europeans and the Scottish Championship and it wouldn’t make a huge amount of sense to destroy the course before the climax of the event on Sunday.

It remains to be seen how dire the conditions are as the week progresses.

Lets hope the blog can make it into action again next weekend.