First out in the mist at 9.30am in Lignieres for Tim and Garcon (Tibo) and Tibo’s first crack at an advanced track. He jumped the first two fences beautifully, gawped into the ditch at fence three and then decided, with a herculean effort, to put in a huge leap from a standstill and catapulted Tim out of the saddle as he nosedived on landing. So it was a short lived attempt but they were both fine, if a little surprised to be walking home so soon after departing the start box. As Tim commented, he is green and it was a pretty difficult turn back to the fence and the ground was, despite being given an extra day, decidedly wet so probably not the perfect start for the little fella anyway!
Not long afterward Tim reappeared with Global Quest (George) who did no such thing at fence 3 and cruised around the course looking like the experienced advanced horse he is. It was a great prep for Boekelo and on just their third start together they have both learnt allot for the next trip. Tim said that the course was plenty tough enough so a great opportunity for the 4 and 5 star horses to practise some lines and big old ditches.
Falco appeared as Tim’s third ride and ‘enthusiastic’ would be one way to describe Falco’s approach to the course. He is on fire after Paris and wanted nothing more than to race around but Tim had him firmly anchored at cross country schooling pace. He did leave a leg going into the water which gave Tim an “oh no not again” moment but he was quick to regain his balance and finish with some 41 time faults. Falco is now all set for his first flight across the pond for Maryland 5 star in a couple of weeks and he looks more than ready to hit the big stage again!
Jarillo (Milo) was sitting in third by this stage and the commentator was getting very excited about the possibility of a win but nothing could have been further from Tim’s mind. By dint of being on the short list for Paris Milo had run quickly around Aachen CCIO 4*S and it rattled him a bit so after a cruise around Aston le Walls and a win at Cornbury in the OI a couple of weeks ago today was another schooling round to prep for Milo’s first 5 star run at Pau. They picked up some 45 time but it was a classy and confident trip and everything that Tim had wanted from this outing.
There was all sorts of drama around the track today so Tim was not alone in some form of dismount but three out of four ain’t bad as Meatloaf said and Tibo would have learnt from the while international experience. They were heading for the boat crossing at Caen this evening and Tim said he was glad to have this weekend under his belt and be heading into three day country for the rest of October.
Meanwhile, trekking North from Chedington to Little Downham which is near Newmarket was Jonelle for her last one day of the season. She did admit to being not particularly excited about the prospect of a 4.5 hour trip with two novices, not to mention Tim has the big truck so the possibility of getting wet with nowhere to change wasn’t that appealing either.
However, the two novices are super youngsters which does make a huge difference! Faerie Good Golly is heading down to Le Lion d’Angers in October for the world 6 year old championships and she showed she was more than ready for the challenge with a 21.5 dressage. Golly did have a rail in the showjumping but Jonelle decided it was a good time to have one being just before a championships and they skipped around the cross country looking super confident after their step up at Cornbury for 3.6 time and 4th spot. Perfect prep.
Jonelle was also delighted with J’Orange (Daisy) and commented that she was a totally transformed mare since the start of the season in so many ways. Daisy scored a 30.1 on the flat to lead her section, jumped a beautiful clear in the showjumping and jumped a lovely round cross country. The fact that Daisy and Jonelle were eliminated is totally down to pilot error and Daisy can head off on her holidays with no idea that she has the big E against her name.
Pilot error came in the form of a missed fence out on course. Quite apart from the fact that it is generally assumed that riders can count Jonelle said she jumped fence 10 and then aimed for the fence directly in a straight line from it and unfortunately that fence turnout to be fence 12. Noting that in order to jump fence 11 you had to hook out to the right, go around some string and then jump the table at fence 11, Jonelle said it was an odd place to site a fence but we will give her that as it kind of seems indicative of the second half of 2024 for Jonelle! As she said, she didn’t get wet, which is always a huge bonus and she was really happy with both the mares so a good day.
And maybe we will purchase an abacus fro Christmas, although I am sure there must be an app for one now!
