So this last month has seen some solid progress. Troublesome horses have decided it’s more fun if they play ball and others have decided to let us know that they’re well and truly back on form – let me at it!

A last minute substitution saw Gray head off to Nurstead Court for his first Pre-Novice (PN) of the season. He
did a fabulous dressage test to grab a 29.5 with the judges praises following
him out the arena. A clear show jumping
round saw him stay on his dressage score although being the perfectionist I
wasn’t particularly happy with his round so I’ve got some show jumping outings
pencilled in but more on that later.
He set off on the cross country (XC) with his somewhat confident head on
but did have the courtesy to listen in between displays of how “swish and
lively” he could be. However, his
cockiness came to an abrupt end with a stop, not happy, but he popped over
quite happily the second time and we were well on our way again with a decent
rhythm. It’s quite fun to ride a
horse which is the complete opposite to Dell yes""> - quirky, nimble and slightly volatile with a sensitive
accelerator.... vs Dell who’s size somewhat sacrificies the ferrai feel – we
tend to go for the “smooth act” with dell to make the most of his “power house
factor” plus his accuracy (the winter paid off)!

Now back to that show jumping practise, after much scanning of websites and schedules I managed to find some bsja (showjumping) on grass nearby - a couple
of hours is near by for us! Gray
jumped 2 decent rounds finishing with a newcomers round which was a decent step
up for him although we did have a rather large issue with a double near the
river there. Given that particular
issue I found the “million dollar question” – what was it about that double? as
horse after horse stopped or had the double down.yes""> That said in typical Delly fashion he stepped off the box
took one look at Gray (apparently his main rival now) and thankfully took the
role model approach jumping an immaculate round so he’s all set to go, after
the finishing touches, to his first international at Hambleden. Check out the website nearer to the
time for all the latest news on that one.
It should prove a rather interesting weekend with gray in the PN on the
Friday and Dell’s dressage and trot-up.
Then it’s up early for the jumping the next day! Go go go!!