Tim watches Jonelle ride Golly in her test at Royal Jump Credit Rachel Good
One of the great things about Royal Jump is that it is a relatively ‘close’ European destination being located an hour north of Paris. And a bonus that the Maxi and Drag (big truck and trailer) and the Mini ( 2 horse) were booked on the overnight Portsmouth-Caen ferry which sailed at 11 pm and docks around 6am. Happy days for the crew of Rosie, Ruby and Louella who left Chedington before the Didi ( 4 horse) got back from Tweseldown with Tim’s three horses contesting the OI.
Nothing like the best laid plans….it would seem that some people join border force/ customs simply to don the hat and be a Karen with a clipboard. All 6 horses had the correct paperwork ( at vast expense), vehicles had the (almost) correct documentation, passports all good ( human and horses) and 2 carnets in place. And then the computer not only said NO but contrived a situation whereby Rosie and Ruby got on the boat with all Louella’s passports for herself and the horses and her carnet and sailed off across the channel leaving Louella on the dockside. Which as we all know is not the best place for a young lady at 11 pm!
So Louella, Jarillo (Milo) and Gloire de Marchenval (Louis) returned to Chedington. I assume Milo and Louis thought that their next novice event must have been cancelled but they found themselves trundling back to Portsmouth late the following afternoon for a second attempt at getting to France. Not unlike D day, this was a process that might have been delayed by 24 hours but was not going to be defeated. To cut a long story short we have to thank a friend of Louella’s called Hugo who spent most of Wednesday and half of Thursday sailing back and forth across the Channel to save the day.
Proper heat in Northern France this week which is unusual for May and has left the natives panting, the competitors sunburnt and one would assume which ever reservoir serves Chaumont-en-Vexin severely depleted as allot of horses are continually hosed off. There is a fresh water feed on site which lots have been making use of with lots of insta vids of horses happily splashing around in it and the event is quintessentially French which means low security and slightly chaotic organisation.
To the business end…Faerie Good Golly has picked up some sort of bug like a cold or hay fever and has a tickle cough which meant she sneezed like a coke addict throughout her test but in true Golly form stayed true to the cause for a 29 and 10th place in the 3L. Indian Tonic (Indie) also didn’t pull out on her best form and with limited work did well to sit under the MER radar for a 43 in her 3S test. J’Orange (Daisy) had most of last year off and is playing catch up but as Jonelle said, the judges seem to love her for a 28 or not like her for a 34 and that’s what she picked up here. Her new name is Marmite and 34.1 puts her in mid field in the 2L which is a little bizarre as she performed a mistake free and solid test. That’s the sort of prejudice redheads face in the horse world it seems!
LSF The Boss was described by Jonelle last night as “Emotional” as was to be expected….he left Ireland late on, arrived at Chedington and has had his eyes wide open ever since, is on his first ever foreign trip and is slightly over awed by the experience and found working with 50 other horses in the warm up a big tick as he clearly likes to be one of the herd. He is in the 2L purely for this experience and as expected he put his big boy pants on today in the arena for a 28.2 and 4th spot.
The OC kindly slotted Milo and Louis in to Friday since they arrived some 24 hours after the others and whilst the 4S test might have come as a bit of a surprise to Milo after Tweseldown novice he hid it exceptionally well to take the lead in the 4S on 25.1. It’s a PB at 4 star level and pretty damn amazing considering Milo has had 2 OI’s and a novice so far this season!
Louis went right at the end of a very long hot day in the 3*S which is a class that is slightly below him these days but with his interrupted start to the season it was not thought fair to bang him in at 4S as he doesnt have the mileage that Milo does. ‘Perfect Peter’ did his best as always but found the lack of flying changes and canter half pass in his test a little baffling. He still sits on 29.3 to sit in the top 10 in his 3S.
And so ends a long hot couple of days in Northern France and allot of jumping phases to get through tomorrow!
Live results: https://app.horses-and-competitions.com/live/
Phot credits: Rachel Good
Louella, Tim and Milo
