Tim headed out to Belgium for Arville and arrived the day after his 5 youngsters at West Wilts with Chio 20 and Dromgurrihy Gold (Dara) for the 4*S and Garcon (Tibo) for the 3*S.
Arville is a real life castle embedded into the steep slopes of the estate just outside Namur and it is like something out of a Disney film. The home of Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and her husband Kai, it is a unique venue with the top international arena accessed via a steep concrete ramp and a final warm up in an indoor half way up the slope. The cross country runs at the bottom of the valley and is well laid out with lots of undulations and good complexes. It used to host an ERM back in the days when we had the luxury of great prize money and is an incredibly popular event in Europe with an old fashioned family run feel to it.
Chio made Tim very happy with his test where he showed some superb extended trot and lots of really credible moves. He missed one of the changes and the halts were not completely square but a mark of 33.4 was still a little harsh! Tim did say they were marking really tough with a huge number of starters in the class and after 2 days of dressage 28.8 holds the lead so Chio certainly didn’t disgrace himself.
Dara went today and, with the best will in the world, dressage is not his forté. He is only 8 and he is batting above his level for sure in the age stakes at 4 star but he is such a talented cross country horse it is pointless letting him sift around in the 3 star classes where his dressage still won’t make him shine. He tries his hardest but the day he lets Tim really help him out will be the breakthrough day as for now he has the commendable attitude of “Its ok, I got this!” when actually he isn’t quite there yet! A score of 40.7 was disappointing for Tim who hoped to break into the late 30’s but hey ho, Dara is game for the jumping phases and that’s what really counts for an eventer.
Garcon (Tibo) finally got an international start with Tim in the 3*S and Tim was super happy with him for a 32.7. It was their first big arena and Tibo appreciated the elongated space and grew in stature throughout the test.
Meanwhile it was Otis’s birthday today in the UK and he celebrated with an outing to the local steep waterslide with a bunch of his mates. Otis must have been born lucky as in the dreadful summer of 2024 today dawned sunny and warm with no wind which would account for about 5 days of the whole year so far!
Photo credit Jonelle Price
