Some welcome overnight rain in Devon on Tuesday night but the jog on Wednesday afternoon was blessed with sunshine. Jonelle’s two mares looked very professional at their first ever three day event, if a little bemused by having to take part in what, hopefully, will be the sign for them in the future that it is a big competition! Faerie Usian (Maude) looked unusually happy and took quite a shine to being centre stage which bodes well for the future whilst I Like it de Rohan (Kiki) was born centre stage ready with her striking markings and definitely looked the part. They both run in the 2*Long.
Tim and Garcon (Tibo) are also contesting their first three day together although Tibo has done a 2*Long back in 2022 in his native France. He has chalked up some good 3*S mileage at Arville and Burnham Market as well as a bold step up to the Nations Cup 4 star at Lignieres last autumn which ended some what abruptly at fence 3. The 3L is the box to tick for all horses stepping up the grades as it is not possible to go 4L without an MER at 3L. Tibo looked delighted to have Tim all to himself and he is such a good looking horse that the jog is right up his street. It’s rare for Tim to have just one horse at a three day event and one where he can go home after the dressage is even more exciting!
Sunny and breezy for the dressage this morning and Jonelle and Maude found themselves pathfinders in the 2L. Maude looked a little over awed to be in the big international arena although they do run the 3L and the 2L side by side which is reassuring for the young horses. Her tension showed as being somewhat inconsistent in the contact in the walk and although she does now rein back, she isn’t the biggest fan of it and does it as fast as she can! The walk was a sort of shallow truce as Jonelle wanted her to walk out but Maude wanted to sniff her knee and jog. The stretchy circle wasn’t the easiest of movements for her either. I’d say, on balance, Maude won that one today. A score of 37 is not what Jonelle would have been hoping for but Maude rather gave the game away but she will certainly benefit from the experience. She is an elegant mare and she did score in the trot and canter work where Jonelle was able to hold more of her attention! As Jonelle says, when she does have a moment she isn’t over forgiving and can carry that through to the start of the next movement but she was pleased with the majority of the work.
Some twenty minutes later Tim and Tibo went down the centre line in the 3L. Tibo was delighted to be back in an international arena and particularly enjoyed his party piece which is the medium and extended trot for which he was awarded 9’s by one of the judges. He is a little underwhelmed by the simple changes in canter through walk as he does a nice flying change but the overall picture was very smooth for a 30.5 and Tim’s competition work for the day was done.
The early afternoon saw Kiki’s turn to strut her stuff. Her strong points are going to be her medium paces and she painted a lovely picture in the sunshine. The walk wasn’t her strongest pace today either but her decision to ignore Jonelle’s request to transition from canter to trot across the diagonal cost her dear! Since she enjoys her flying changes she sees it as being pretty pointless transitioning through trot. What is quite funny though is Jonelle did lots of those outside just to make it clear what was being asked and then she decided, for the first time this week, that she would continue to canter for as long as she thought possible. Not for the first time Jonelle has a young opinionated mare who thought she knows best…and a chestnut one at that. The stretchy circle she loved though and she ended up on 33.7 which was a good effort and as Jonelle commented afterwards, she is at that training stage were she is starting to work through from behind but isn’t quite confident enough to hold it though out a whole test. Jonelle couldn’t be disappointed with either of the girls today and it was never about winning the dressage at Bicton…..it’s a box ticking episode to hopefully front up at Le Lion d’Angers in October.
A day off for Tibo, Maude and Kiki tomorrow and they will go hacking around the Park and have lots of hand grazing. Tim and Jonelle have put the afternoon aside to attend the school assembly where Otis is going to be presented with a prize for being “student of the week” which is pretty cool and a big thank you to Bicton who ensured all their dressage tests were today so they could do that tomorrow!
