Quite the contrast today with Tim with one horse at Larkhill in the ON and Jonelle with 5 advanced horses up in Cambridgeshire at Tetworth in the OI. Jonelle went up on Thursday afternoon and stabled some 3 miles away which worked well for everyone as it’s a four and a half hour trip and an 8am dressage scheduled for today.
Larkhill is generally akin to Siberia in April with its site on the expanse of Salisbury Plain but in a freak spin on the weather today was positively balmy in comparison to other years. There was no wind which was weird after a week of allot of wind and the sun shone weakly through the high cloud which was enough to warrant removal of balaclavas and beanie hats at the very least. Otis wore shorts as is his norm, Abel was happy to carry a jumper in case of a sudden onset of a drop in temperature (her mother HATES the cold) and it was a very pleasant relaxed day out with Centari (Carter) taking centre stage for Tim.
Carter is NZ bred and happens to be by the same stallion as ex student and rider Tayla Mason’s 5 star horse Centennial (Chase). He is somewhat flashier with a big white blaze and socks and as Tim says, a good old fashioned type with a 5 star look about him. He’s tall, kind, scopey and has a big stride and a good brain which all bodes well for his future. He posted a 31 on the flat, jumped a really smart clear jump round despite a very short treble to finish with and simply cruised around the cross country with a real ‘getting to know you’ round with Tim. The future looks bright for Carter for sure!
Whilst we were all done by lunchtime at Larkhill Jonelle had a full on day up north. She described her dressage tests as “mostly feral” and said she was gifted some marks…Faerie Good Golly was good but made a couple of mistakes, Grappa Nera ( Grape) was wild, Senor Crocodillo (Diego) was good with some moments, I Like it de Rohan (Kiki) was very “uphill” by which she means totally above the bit for the entire test and Capitaine de Hus Z (Alvin) just deteriorated in behaviour throughout the test. Jonelle tends to exaggerate but to be fair none of them were close to breaking the 70% barrier!
Jonelle was full of praise to this new addition to the spring calendar saying that all the warm ups all had perfect footing, the courses were great and the venue had pulled out all the stops for sure. Show jumping in quick order resulted in Kiki spooking at a fence for a rail, Golly being in “Molly” mode and determined gallop flat out at everything including motorbiking round the corners for 4 faults, Grape having her ‘combination’ rails by getting too quick and the most experienced of her crew, Alvin and Diego, posting clear rounds.
Onto the beautifully built and presented cross county and the horses without doubt redeemed themselves for sure. Golly gave her a great spin, Grape was cool as always, Diego did shake his head which she thought going fast might cure (but didn’t!), Alvin she decided to test the brakes on by going quick and proved she could hold him all the way home which is a huge plus for sure.
Kiki jumped the first four fences like a pure jumper which means going sky high which is not what is ideal for cross country so Jonelle pulled her up and walked back to the truck before they both got a proper fright or came to grief. Kiki has always been careful but this level of carefulness maybe indicates a change of career may be imminent……as always, the Team Price ethos is to make sure that every horse finds it niche in life and that they are happy in their competition environment.
Otis was delighted to spot a couple of tanks cruising around the main drag at Larkhill as it is an MOD (Ministry of Defence) training ground and just proves nothing is as varied as eventing grounds!
Diego and Alvin ended up first and second in their section which was pretty cool and Jonelle and her crew headed home in the late afternoon with the rare prospect of a weekend at home with Otis and Abel still on Easter holidays. Tim heads out to North Holland mid week whilst Jonelle stays local next weekend with young horses at Chard.
