Hartpury Take It 2 The Top - For Sale

After a run at Aston Le Walls yesterday I have decided Hartpury Take It 2 The Top is just too talented a horse for me, I don't feel I ride him well enough, I am no where as dedicated as I used to be and so I have decided to sell him. At Aston I let him trundle round the dressge test, yet he was in 12th spot without even trying. He show jumped well, it was a big track, but twice I let him get unbalanced and he had poles down, if I had rode better he would have only had 4 faults.
Cross Country he pinged his way round, his usual bold self, the water at 5c was tricky, a narrow skinny with a huge spread on the log brush yet he made nothing of it. Then I made a rider error later on the course, lost balance between a combination and the circle gave us 20 penalties, With no chance of a place I decided to retire him and save him for his next run which is only a week or two away.
Now I need to decide how much he is worth, where do I advertise him, do I sell from my house or send him to a professional. Lots of decisions!
In the meantime with only a few points to go before he is Intermediate I have entered him for several Novices to see if we can have a last chance to qualify for a Novice regional final.

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Diagonals and Rif Raf gets bossy!

Rif Raf is on the mend she is very bossy and annoying everyone by kicking her hospital stable door to get attention, both her mother, her father and brother Icon, who was by the same stallion, used to kick their doors. It's in her genes to kick the door! I am hoping she will be home soon. When I was hand grazing her yesterday she spotted in the distance Mike the vet walking his dog, she glared fiercely in his direction until he had disappeared out of her sight! Funny horse, but it all means she is getting back to her normal self!

Graham Potts and his lovely horse Rupert are doing well, trot work is getting pretty established with the basics in place, Graham is easy to teach and is a quick learner. He made me laugh yesterday as having learnt diagonals very easily he then wanted to know why some of the FEI show jumpers, where he had been working at the weekend, were not trotting on the correct diagonal!!

Below is a photo of Rupert showing off his flash trot, ridden by Ben another vet from Three Counties Equine Hospital. Ben is an Eventing vet, he has worked for Bill Levet and Louise Lyons, has evented upto 1* and is very dedicated, he's here riding at 7 am before work!

 

 

 

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Hartpury Top Gear - Foal to 3 years.

Above - 13 days old and below 3 years old.

He's a lovely boy and will be doing some BEF futurity classes this summer.

 

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Just a horse update

Middleton 4 year old, has had a few weeks off, he's been back in work a few days now and is very pleased to be doing something again, I popped a few tiny cross poles today and was very impressed by his super technique and his slightly over bold enthusiasm. His brother Molakai owned by Carole Broad and ridden by Charlie Pickman is on outstanding form and is off to the GB Intermediate champs next month at Gatcombe.
George has managed to cut his leg, he doesn't have the polite manners of the youngsters that I have bought on myself. The accident happened when he pulled away from me, got loose and ran into a gate, he will be off work for a couple of weeks as it needed stitching, he is already very bored on his box rest.

Rif Raf 4 yr old is entered to do her first 90 cm ODE in a few weeks time, very exciting.
Rupert 7 yr old, the newest horse on the yard is making good progress, he's 17.1 so his legs are an awful long way from his brain, he is a fast learner and enjoys his work so he will be ready to go a do a baby dressage test soon, he also likes his jumping and is rather smart to watch on the flat, let's hope the dressage judges agree. His owner Graham Potts has began riding him in the school a few times a week and everything is looking very good so far. Rupert is incredibly laid back and enjoys a good snooze, see pics below!!!

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Barbury Castle Eventing

Disappointing day today at Barbury. Hartpury Take It 2 The Top performed his best test this season, so good I was hoping for a 28 but at the very worst expected a 33. His Barbury test felt very similar to his Aldon FEI 1* test last season when under 2 FEI judges he was right up with the leaders. It felt soft, obedient, uphill with some super medium work, he free walked for an 8, really forward, stretching down and big loose active steps. I was so pleased with him.

I show jumped before I knew my mark and when he pinged round clear I came out buzzing, thinking a fast clear XC would now put me in a top six place. So glad I went to check the dressage scores before I went steaming round the XC. When I saw he had been given one of his worst ever marks a 37 I was very disappointed and decided not to risk my superstar XC on the hard ground. He does actually like the firmer ground but as Anthony pointed out that isn't a reason to go hammering round on it just to win one point.

Maybe both Ant and I had missed something in his way of going that the judge had spotted, or maybe being Barbury the standard was higher than normal with the top riders having their best dressage horses out. I am pretty used to the subjective nature of dressage but this time it didn't feel like a good test it felt like an amazing test. How could I be so wrong, Monty consistently scores high marks in affiliated dressage at a much higher level than today's test.

Feeling rather deflated I withdrew him, drove home and entered an event taking late entries for a run in a fews weeks time. :-)

 

 

 

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The Welsh Champs- Muddy Chepstow

Hartpury Take It 2 The Top took part in the Welsh Championships at Chepstow today. The organisers did a super job trying to keep the event afloat, the show jumps were moved numerous times but the boggy slippy going still proved very difficult for many. We qualified at Monmouth last year, the Champs are an Intermediate Novice, which means a higher level dressage with 1.20 SJ then a 1.10 XC . Monty did a fab test to put him well in contention 30, his best score at this level so far. However the ground in the SJ was not taking the torrential rain showers very well, as u can see from the top photo I jumped in the worst of the weather. We had just 2 rails, sadly in my efforts to stay on better ground we also gained 6 time faults. With very little chance of a top place I decided to not run XC and save him for another day. The other photos below are of other competitors just to show how the SJ looked once the sun came out. Muddy!!!

 

 

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A Famous New Livery

I am very excited as a new horse has arrived on the yard today, a lovely big bay gelding called Rupert. He has a famous owner Australia's Olympic Team vet Graham Potts from Three Counties Equine Clinic. The long term aim is for Graham to try his hand at Grassroots Eventing with Rupert, I will be training them both with this goal in mind. First we will be sticking to tiny targets, maybe a walk and trot dressage test plus mini jumping.
Rupert is a very laid back, kind and gentle horse, he has settled in very quickly and looks very much at home happily munching on his hay.

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