A cold but thankfully sunny morning at Boekelo for cross country day and the OC had done the best they could with a minute taken off the course and fences 4, 5 and 6 removed completely after heavy rain in recent weeks had left the ground waterlogged in palaces. In fact the horses seemed to have by far the best footing as the green ribbon of the track showed up bright against the mud that surrounded it!
It didn’t daunt the 60,000 odd spectators that were pouring in through the gates as the first horse left the start box at 9.30 CET. Nations Cup rules state that you must ride your team horse before any other horses so having run the team horses last in the dressage they swopped around and ran the team horses first for the cross country which meant that they got the best of the footing as well. Jump judges and ground crew had piles of sand to shovel onto the take off and landings and last years notorious water had been modified so that the horses landed on dry ground after the straight route in and it was a hugely improved picture from 2023 where it seemed fifty/fifty as to whether you landed with an impromptu bath or skipped through it.
Tayla Mason was early out as No.1 for the team on Joopiter (Justin) and she made a great job of riding to committed forward distances and added just 2.8 time to her dressage score. Hollie Swain, as No.2, didn’t fare so well and her Boekelo ended at 8C so the team was down to 3 members as Jonelle set off as No.3 on Full Monty de Lacense (FM). There had been plenty of drama, the sunken road had caught out a few, the corner combinations and the double of skinnies off the last bank complex and some leading lights on experienced horses had added time and XC penalties so it was a big enough call for FM at his first 4*L.
If he had been a little timid at Blenheim when he saw the crowds en masse as he approached fence 4 he has clearly had time to process that as today he had decided that the crowds were here for him and him alone! Jonelle described him as “a tiger” as he tackled all the combinations with a gusto that he surprised everyone with and it’s a credit to Jonelle and FM’s loyal band of owners that they have given him the time he needed. He is still only 9 and he clearly is showing all the signs of maturing into a seriously good horse. He added a credible 6.8 time on a day when only 5 riders made time.
Not for the first time it was left to Tim to bring the team home if possible. He and Global Quest (George) left the start box as one of three final team riders and it is yet again a measure of Tim’s skill that he looked to be in no particular hurry as he cemented his new partnership with George but crossed the line with just 2 seconds over the optimum time to add 0.8 to his dressage score. It was a classy round and Tim would be the first to credit Georgie Campbell with the way she produced such a lovely horse and George himself looked very happy to be back at Boekelo again. They lie in 6th spot overnight whilst Jonelle has moved up from 83rd to 31st and Tayla from 80th to 24th which shows the quality of their riding today.
Ironic really to say that the Nations cup wasn’t a targeted competition at all for NZ and that seemed pretty obvious when we lay 10th out of 11 teams after the dressage. But after a day of tenacious cross country riding from Tayla, Jonelle and Tim, and a day when the top teams all suffered from the sort of luck Jonelle had at Paris, Team NZ sit in bronze position going into tomorrows showjumping. You really couldn’t make it up!
