An early start at Burnham with just two rides for Tim in the 3 star but that at least meant an early finish for the 6 hour trek back south to Dorset. Garcon (Tibo) jumped a smart clear round whilst Gloire de Marchenval (Louis) rolled a single pole in his first stab at the level.
Tibo went first cross country and it soon became apparent that he was fit, strong, bright and very under bitted! Tibo has a lovely enthusiasm for life and he was up for going a whole lot faster than Tim was which was most evident as Tibo hunted on down to the Keyflow table and Tim had to resort to standing tall in the pedals and swinging off his head as he had no intention of steeplechasing it! It was a lovely clear round though and Tibo now has his qualifications in place for Bicton 3L.
Louis would be allot shorter on experience with just the one intermediate run under his belt at Barbury a few weeks ago but he is a class act and he tackled the track with his usual professional attitude. The influential angled ditch with the skinny to the open corner from the intermediate yesterday was in the 3 short but not numbered separately so when Tim and Louis jumped the ditch with a big green jump Tim looked at the line to the corner and said every instinct told him not to ride for the three but to circle. He never presented at it and Louis had no idea he had been given a 20 but it was a technical stop so it added onto his score. Louis dealt with the rest of the track beautifully but annoyingly, not with his qualification for the 3L at Bicton.
Tim summed it up beautifully though. He said he trusts his instinct and that is what gives horses a good experience, confidence and it’s the correct way to produce them. How better way to sum up: Tim, the ultimate horseman. Louis is a lucky chap to have landed on his feet and be a TP pony for sure.
And the crew and Tim then went hacking on the other horses that finished yesterday in the Norfolk sunshine to give them a good leg stretch before they trucked home. That really is good horsemanship!