The quarry is early on and has a huge table as its 2nd element on the brow of a steep uphill slope, I guess it's warning horses to sharpen up as this is a 4* star track. Hunters Close is easier this year with 2 brush corners on a kind left hand turn. Both the colt pond (renamed the Mirage pond this year) and the lake look tricky, both with tight lines, built for horses who really help you by looking for the flags themselves, although this could confuse these horses as once jumped into the lake there is a choice of 3 fences with flags to lock onto, I am sure at least one horse will lock on too enthusiastically and end up jumping the boat the wrong way! The direct route at The Lake especially requires a genuine horse who turns easily. Mr Potts is easier to turn left than he is right, some of the turning fences suit him better than others. The trio of silver birch rails has had the riders scratching their heads with several choices of line through the combination. Less tiring and less twisty is the direct route, but it's interesting curving lines looks more suited to a mounted games pony than a big striding 4* horse, who maybe running on tired legs by this late stage of the course.
All in all Louise felt there was plenty of room for error with some tricky fences but there was nothing Mr Potts couldn't jump, it's his first Badminton so you can never tell how a horse will react to a new track, but she was really confident after course walk number 1. She was due to walk the course several more times on Friday to get all the lines really clear in her head.
In the afternoon Jackie and I plaited up Mr Potts while Louise got all poshed up in her tails. The pair of them looked stunning and Potts warmed up really well and went in and did a nice test, he didn't seem phased by the atmosphere of the busy arena and only really made one mistake when he misread a flying change, it was a shame as he then muddled the canter up that followed. He scored a mark of 56 putting him in a place that could be really competitve with a double clear. Louise was a little dissapointed as she felt the change mistake was partly her fault and she had hoped for a mark in the low 50s.
Below Potts grazing with Louises Mum (who is also his breeder) Jackie in front of Badminton House.
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