Prestwold Hall - Hartpury Take It 2 The Top

We had the most fabulous day out at this event. Tom Searle of www.tomsearleequestrian.co.uk was riding Hartpury Take It 2 The Top for me again today. The XC course was technical which made the time really tight.

Monty did a good dressage not quite as flash as he did at Homme but still put him in a good place. The SJ was on slightly undulating ground and was pretty big, some really decent parallels. 1 rail down still put him in a top 6 spot as he headed out on XC. Then out on XC he looked amazing (he can really gallop) Tom rode him really well, they looked like they just nipped round, fastest time in his section to finish in 2nd place.

This gives Monty a qualifying place for the Novice Regional final next year which then is a ticket for The Festival at Gatcombe.

Tom has only ridden Monty about 6 times having only had him on his yard 10 days, and 3 of those days Tom was out of action due to food poisoning. So to finish 5th and then 2nd in two events within the first week is amazingly well done.

 

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Tactics to sell Hartpury Take It 2 The Top

I have had several phone calls asking if he would suit a less experienced rider, as I have competed at Advanced and Intermediate, people are tending to assume he is only good for advanced riders. I didn't really knew the answer to that as only Bill and I have competed him. So last week I dropped him off at Tom Searles yard and changed the ride to Tom for the next few events.
It was worth it just to see Toms smiling face when I met him coming back from XC "Oh my god Stella he is amazing" not only that he did a double clear and a fair dressage test despite clashing with the worst rainstorm of the entire day, a horizontal 6 minute rainstorm! They finished in 5th place Toms best result at Novice and the first time he has ridden a horse at this level not produced by himself. He rode him beautifully too.
Then my plan backfired for Sapey as Tom managed to get food poisoning and texted me to say he was really ill and toilet bound (possibly dying!!!) he was gutted as had to withdraw all his horses. To add to that I had pulled a muscle in my back, carrying Rif Rafs soaked hay, so I couldn't ride him either and was off for a few days so I also had to withdraw my youngster from the 80 at Sapey.
Thankyou to everyone who has been asking about Rif Raf, pictured below, she is well on the road to recovery and is looking really good. Other news Middleton cut his leg in the field, nothing much but enough to put him back a couple of weeks. I seem to be having one of those years where everything is constantly on hold.
One amusing moment last week made Ant laugh, I was talking on phone to a gentleman who was interested in buying Hartpury Take It 2 The Top. He wanted to fully analyse every single run he had ever had BE... I felt like I was being interegated in court, he just went on and on, why did he get this mark here or that mark there..... Arghhhhh he's my baby only 7 years old, ridden by me who is very careful and cautious with my lovely horse...... Anyway I was getting crosser and crosser and our conversation finished like this.......
Man - Why did u withdraw at Barbury after a clear SJ?
Me - Because he didn't get a good dressge mark, I couldn't see the point of running him on concrete ground for 20th place.
Man - But you wouldn't have been 20th you would have been 13th and anyway you have run him for 20th place before!
Me - Do u want to come and see him or not as I have got to go now because you are starting to annoy me....!!!!

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Homme House on Hartpury Take It 2 The Top

Monty was fab round here, our local event too so it was extra nice. A 26 and very stunning dressage test which was thanks to a lesson with Tom Searle a few days before. He show jumped really well, but then after jumping 1.25 at Intermediate the 1.15 of Novice feels like nothing to him.

Cross Country he was fab, just so bold all the way round, down the steep hill I wasted time slowing him for the fences when I should have just trusted him as he's not at all strong, but even with 2 time faults XC we were still one of the fastest XC of the day and finished 3rd.

 

 

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X Racehorse Rupert Scares The Life Out Of Me!!!

I was checking Rif Raf in her stable down on the yard this morning when I heard a loud Clip Clopping on the concrete right behind me, made me really jump as I was on yard on my own and Rif Raf was the only horse on the yard!

I turned round to be greeted by the giant 17.1 bay gelding Rupert, (owned by vet Graham Potts) he was happily munching on a mouth full of hay. He looked down at me & decided I was doing nothing interesting and so he slowly Clip Clopped his way back into the open door of his stable.

He was supposed to be out in field. I put my CSI hat on and investigated him for injury, phew he seemed ok and then went to solve the mystery, the gates were shut and here was no sign that he had fallen jumping out. All the evidence (hoof prints in the sand mainly) pointed to him jumping and clearing a 4 foot high gate out of the field on to the school and then he must have just put himself to bed!!!

I am now looking at Rupert in a very new light, the last horse to jump that gate was Icon my 3* horse and he didn't clear it!!!!

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Coaching News

Several of my clients are progressing really well at the moment. Louise, pictured on the lovely skewbald below, has sold her good grassroots horse and purchased an unbroken 4 year old. Already he is jumping a course and is ready for a dressage test. It only seems a short time since we went to pick him from a selection of nice irish horses.

Also pictured below is vet Graham Potts, who having only ridden 8 times previously, is learning to ride completely from scratch. He is now off the lunge line and is currently working towards his first dressage test, I can't believe how fast he is improving and on a very green novice horse too, which he bought out of a racing yard. Much harder work to coach a novice on a novice, but 100 times more rewarding for both coach and rider.

 

 

I have several riders preparing for regional finals, Kirtsy Cocks, Holly Coles and Sue Peckham are all having their first attempt at qualifying for the grassroots finals at Badminton next year. I coach Kirsty and Sue in all 3 phases and Holly on the more technical aspects of XC.

More news about how they all progress in the coming weeks.

 

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Hartpury Top Gear at BEF futurity Loose jumping

This was a completely new competition to us and I felt quite nervous as Jeremy was 1st to go. Our friend Ian Coles kindly came along to help us, we had been to practise the jumping bit at Ian's arena a few days before.

There were 10 fact sheets to read before the day and a video to watch, the rules were slightly different to normal showing, things like they wanted the horse stood with left fore forward and left hind back, leaders had to be dressed in white and we were allowed several helpers in the ring as the horses were to be shown loose in all 4 paces, turns and then jumping too.

I found some white trousers and packed them but that was my first calamity, when I changed at the event they turned out to be a pair of Ants trousers and were about 4 sizes too big, a stirrup leather as a belt saved them from falling down but I must have looked a bit odd!

Feeling very unprofessional I presented Jeremy to the vet. Here he scored an elite score of 8.75 and a 9 things were looking good.

Jeremy behaved beautifully in the main arena. The arena looked stunning as it was all poshed up for the 3* eventing in a few days time. He went lovely in hand and loose, even showing a fab gallop for a really high score, he jumped super, really bold and keen to jump.

He lost a few marks for knocking a pole on his last go up the grid but still scored a 1st, he had some fab comments from the evaluation judges and we came home with a lovely first rosette.

 

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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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