Young stock update

Arghhh........ Dezina Diva my lovely yearling filly is turning Appaloosa!!!! She has now got a spotty nose. Also Dezina Double Dip (Dippy) is going the same way. Both are by the coloured stallion Gooseford Designer Genes, but are out of slightly spotty mares.

Diva with her mum who is by the 3/4 TB Appaloosa stallion Capital Luke, who goes back to the famous event Sire from the 1970s,H.I.S. premium stallion Paper Cap. Her mum was badly bitten on her neck as a foal and consequently has been a brood mare all her life. Diva has the most extraordinary toe pointing floating trot.

Dippy with his mum, she is by the stunning leopard spotted Appaloosa stallion Live The Dream.

It's a bit of a shock when you buy one colour and they change!!!! Luckily I quite like spotty ones as I haven't met one yet that can't jump really well. They always seem to bit a bit too bouncy for dressage though!!!

And to complete the picture here is a photo of their Dad too. His mother Harvey's Gazelle has had 2 filly foals by the world famous dressage stallion Tortillas. His father Goshka Ringo has sired Grand Prix dressage horses such as Amour G and he is also the maternal grandson of the world famous dressage and SJ sire Olympic Ferro.

And I thought I was just buying a couple of plain but pretty coloured cobs!!!!!

And here is my complete set of current youngsters including 3 year old Hartpury Top Gear who has been recently broken in and is now turned out for a break.

From left to right, Mighty Beetle, Dezina Double Dip, Dezina Diva, ( all yearlings) then Top Gear, and next the 2 year olds Professor Sprout and Mr Wizard.

 

 

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Show Jump Building

This weekend I was looking forward to running Rif Raf at Sapey but due to yet more rain it was sadly cancelled. I spent the weekend building 3 new show jump fillers which look pretty shiney new and spooky! I also made some blocks of wood into flower stands, by drilling holes into them. They will be good for getting horses used to flowers in the dressage and can also be used under the jumps. You can see my shadow in the picture kindly being assisted by 4 year old Middleton!!
Had some fantastic news about Hartpury Top Gun, who I sold earlier this year, he competed in his first ODE with Verity, his new owner, they won, double clear on a 15 dressage. Brilliant. Here they are show jumping.

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Middleton starts to transform

The top photo was taken the day he arrived 14th March and below was taken yesterday. He has lost some weight but he has gained muscle. Hopefully with the spring grass and now his sore tooth has been removed he will put some weight back on.

 

 

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Middleton Dressage Show on Grass

Middleton competed at his first show on grass at a local dressage event. We wobbled our way round, attempted to get canter at roughly the correct end of the arena whilst staying inside the boards too.
He scored 64% in prelim 1, but best of all he was so well behaved with all the small ponies and other peoples fresh youngsters warming up. Really pleased with him and how sensible he is. Especially as he had most of the week off as he managed to smash one of his front teeth into about 6 pieces. John from 3 Counties Equine had to be called out to come and remove it, sadly he had to take out the whole thing, as it was all so loose.
No idea how he did it, I don't turn them out together so he wasn't kicked, I guess he must have knocked it playing with the others over the fence, in the stable or even travelling in the lorry.

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Weston Park

Weather was good for us at Weston, bit cloudy but dry. Trying a new bit on Hartpury Take It 2 The Top for the dressage was a disaster, he dropped onto his forehand and lost rhythm. I had changed his bit as he had been throwing his head up in recent tests, the new bit had solved that and I was pleased with a much calmer test. However when I came out of the arena Ant said it was awful and the only good thing about the test was my hair had stayed in place (last week, hairnet trouble at Belton!) :-(

I was worried Show Jumping as we went over to watch a few and they were struggling in the sticky ground, the few we watched were putting in extra strides in the doubles, 2 got eliminated. It was so bad the stewards were rolling the take offs every so often and putting stone dust down too. However some jumped really well out of it and Monty is used to the mud.

I was thrilled with how he show jumped, there was a really tough curving line, of 3 fences, spread to upright to double, everyone seemed to be having one of these down. Monty jumped these clear and then clunked out an easy upright later on.

Xc he was fab, one scary moment at fence two where he took a stride out, clear all the way and all the direct routes. Should have some xc photos soon, video clip is of the sunken road, one of the fences that caused a number of problems.

 

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Middleton and Rif Raf Combined Training

Middleton was all grown up today competing at his first proper show, a combined training class at Allens Hill. He did a quiet dressage test and a clear round the 60 cm SJ course to win the class. I cannot believe how well behaved he was, he is the best behaved youngster I have ever owned. Next he came 6th in the 75cm with prelim 14, jumping the entire course from canter, he is so very brave and confident.

He is now due a few days off as he is having his back checked and a broken tooth removed. Also I feel these last few weeks have been a steep learning curve for him and a few days off will give him chance to soak it all in and let his brain and muscles rest.

Rif Raf came along too and won the 85 cm, she still felt green at times but jumped a lovely clear round.

 

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Middleton and Rif Raf - The 4 yr Olds are Busy Learning

Rif Raf went to Aston Le Walls 80cm ode on Suday and jumped a super double clear, taking after her brother Icon, she was a keen machine XC and met everything on a perfect forward XC stride, which is pretty rare for such a green baby.
Middleton has been to his first little show, clear round jumping at www.mooresfarmequestrian.co.uk where they have clear round jumping midweek. He was so well behaved, warming up calmly with the others. He jumped the course at 70 cm first in trot and then 80cm from canter.

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Hartpury Top Gear

My 3 year old Hartpury Top Gear (Jeremy) has been with Sean Gooney the last 4 weeks being broken in.
Sean is really pleased with him, we arranged to collect him from Gadbury XC schooling day yesterday. Sean has done a fabulous job breaking him in, producing a sensible easy horse. There was one incident that tested this incredibly well at Gadbury. Sean was riding Jeremy on his own across the middle of Gadbury when a loose pony galloped towards them and continued on past at the gallop, incredibly Jeremey didn't even blink. Once the pony was caught, Sean trotted on round Gadbury jumping a few logs, water and ditches which Jeremy took all in his stride.
Jeremy is now home with me and I have ridden him this morning, he has a fab trot and a BIG canter.

 

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Belton Intermediate

I had originally entered the Novice at Belton but when they balloted so many out I transferred to the Intermediate hoping Monty would be ready. After dressage I walked the XC and I was surprised that the Intermediate XC was the exact same course as the 2* course. I felt the track was 2 events too soon for him, we are aiming for a cic2* in May or June. The rules for cic2* and Intermediate are very odd. In FEI qualifications, a cic2*, is a higher grade than an Intermendiate. Yet at Belton the XC was the same for both classes, so with the XC being the same it made the Intermediate much harder than the cic 2* as cic SJ is smaller at 1.20 while Intermediate is 1.25!

Monty played me up in the dressage to score 37. The Show Jumping was big, with many huge true square parallels. Jumping in the atmospheric arena in front of the stunning Belton House was a lovely feeling although he went a bit green kicking out several poles. I then decided to withdraw XC as felt I needed a good show jumping round to warrant running him, especially as the track was a cic2*.

We had a nice day though and it was really good experience for Monty to compete in such an electric atmosphere. His next run is a Novice and then back to Intermediate at the outing after that.

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News on Hartpury Top Gun

My lovely Top Gun went off to his new home almost a month ago. Some lovely people from near Malvern have bought him and he will be out on the eventing circuit very soon. He's gone to a pony club home so fingers crossed he will qualify for the pony club champs too.

Latest text from him said he has been fab and came 4th in a metre show jumping class at the weekend. He has also completed his 3 pony club rallies which are required to be eligible for area teams etc. See below for a pic of Top Gun with his new best mate Half Pint!!!

His younger brother Hartpury Top Gear (Jeremy) is due home from being broken this week so I will,still have 2 of the brothers to ride!

 

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