The run up to Badminton
Badminton is fast approaching with only 10 days left to prepare. So far the run up to Badminton has been well planned and looks promising. The serious preparation began at Gatcombe Horse Trials with King Bob and Alexander feeling very fresh, despite this they both performed to a good standard.
Next on the list was Belton Horse Trials where the horses both competed in the 3*. Alexander delivered a good standard of dressage with some minor mistakes, he then showed pure talent in the show jumping phase. Followed up by an exciting cross country round and finally finishing in 9th place. A very fresh King bob had a average dressage test and excelled during his cross country round. An unlucky pole in the show jumping left King Bob out of the prizes.
After a good run at Gatcombe and Belton I wanted to work on the dressage performance of both horses, therefore, made the decision to take both horses to Burnham Market where they competed in the dressage phase only. The method behind this was to keep both horses calm during this competition in hopes for outstanding performances at Badminton. Alexanders quality of dressage test was much improved from previous competition, King Bob felt slightly tense during his test but the standard was good. My lovely 5yr old Salunette provoked the most excitement during this competition. Salunette was entered in the BE100 and this was her first ever event, Her dressage score of 32 was the top mark in the dressage phase and a double clear showed her promise as a nice event horse. A few time faults were picked up during the cross country phase as a result of going steady around her first event. Congratulations go to my sister, Ellen, on her horse Southway for picking up 6th place in the 3*. Burnham Market was a productive show for myself and all of my horses and the excitement for badminton really set in with King bob and Alexander improving in their dressage phase. Yesterday the horses were cantered and were on good form, the hardest part of the Badminton preparations have begun and I am very hopeful for a good performance on both my horses. Thankfully I got a good draw this year, Alexander is no.23 and King bob is no.103. The draw as well as rider profiles can be found here: http://www.badminton-horse.co.uk/index.php/horses-riders/.
I Hope everyone has seen the new cross country course for Badminton this year. Giuseppe Della Chiesa has designed a course that looks challenging in places and it is good to see that he has kept classic touch. I am anxious to see how my horses cope around the course and so thrilled to have two rides around it. If you have not seen the course, be sure to have a look http://www.badminton-horse.co.uk/index.php/2014-cross-country-course-unveiled/. Cross Country day is sure to be exciting viewing for everyone.
Thank you to everyone who has followed and supported me in the run up to Badminton. It means a lot to me and I hope for great success this year.
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