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A Good Start
The season started well with wins on Bonza Puzzle & Maybee IV at our first event, Tweseldown. Puzzle felt fantastic and did not feel his age at all!!
His Badminton preparation went according to plan and in his last run, the Advanced class at Powderham Castle, he placed 4th and felt full of running.
Badminton itself for me and Puzzle was slightly disappointing. Apart from one blip in his dressage test, he felt as good as ever. The XC course this year was considered 'softer' than it has been in the past, and certainly with the ground conditions being as good as they have ever been, I was not surprised to see so many combinations go clear inside the time! I knew the pressure was on for me to do the same and I felt confident that all bar a silly mistake, we could achieve this! Sadly Penny Lawn who I was due to follow XC had a really nasty fall, causing an unscheduled wait around the start box for about 35 mins..not good for the nerves! Fortunately Penny was found to be OK and I had to quickly focus on what was about to lay ahead for me and Puzzle!
He felt really good all the way around until DISASTER.. Puzzle pecked badly on landing into the Huntsman Close complex nearing the end of the course and could not make the direct way out! This meant we had to take the very long way out causing us to lose a lot of time and consequently, with no way of clawing back those precious seconds, we finished clear XC but with 13.2 time faults.massively disappointing.
That evening Puzzle was very sore in his off-fore foot, the same foot he stumbled on going into Huntsmans Close perhaps he stood on something?? Consequently he was iced all night and I was able to present him for the trot up Sunday morning which he passed. Puzzle is normally a very good jumper, but I could feel him being a little sensitive on his foot and we finished the final phase with 2 rails down..not quite the original plan!
An exciting new development is that we have gained a new sponsor in HAYGAIN, a product developed by Propress Equine. The HAYGAIN system allows us to steam a whole bale of hay in one go, removing any spores that could affect a horse's breathing. We successfully trialled the steamers during the winter so it's exciting to now be part of a sponsorship agreement.
Another new venture that Marie and I have been asked to be part of is a new initiative with Monmouth Comprehensive School. They have started an Equestrian academy and Marie and I have been asked to be Equestrian Consultants; providing instruction and seminars. We will shortly be adding a link to our website regarding this together with relevant dates.
Meanwhile the younger horses and the working pupils have been going well. Owen had his first win of the season at Milton Keynes and Katie had a win at Rodbaston. Marie has been successfully competing Josh on behalf of Alice, our Yard Manager whilst she is still off injured with a broken foot. Unfortunately Alice has now got to have another operation in 10 days, so she has sadly decided to leave us and we wish her a speedy recuperation before she heads off to Vet School at the end of August. Sian has moved to our great friend Bill Levett's yard, but April Hart, who was based with us for 2 years before joining Nick Gauntlett's yard, has now come back!!
The expansion programme for the yard has taken another step forward with all our Building Regulation plans being drawn up and approved...it's now time to gather in quotations from builders so that we can start building phase 1!!
Dave Thompson, B.E. Accredited XC course builder (Tweseldown, Sapey etc.) has been busy dodging rain clouds and made a start on building some XC fences for us to include steps, banks, ditches etc. This will be a great facility to have at home and we can't wait to use them!!
I am currently preparing to take two horses, the homebred Bonza Moorabinda (Moo) and Lady Diana Hayman-Joyce's Maybee IV, to compete in their first CCI** at Houghton Hall next week. Incidentally, Moo's sire: Regardez Moi was recently placed in the Dressage World Cup Final in Las Vegas ridden by my brother Heath..hopefully some of his flair will rub off onto Moo next week!! Watch this space to see how they go!!
And finally, an admission of stupidity.. at 5am on the morning of our first day at Aldon Horse Trials, I drove our stunning new lorry out of the gate and down the road with the steps down and promptly wiped them out on the grass bank leaving a gaping hole in the side of the lorry!! My father in law, and sponsor of the truck, was NOT amused!! Thankfully we have had them replaced, sensor installed and so no more shimmying up a step ladder to get in and out!!
Matt - 20.05.09
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