A quiet day compared to normal for us at SoE this time with just 3 running in the 100 class. Burntwood Sorrel got things off to a flying start with a win in section A, adding nothing to a fantastic dressage mark of 23. Northern Territory unfortunately gave a rather disappointing performance, although nothing specifically bad. Dressage was reasonable, if anything I felt that his mark of 35.5 was a little harsh. Showjumping was also not bad but one down added a further 4 penalties. For the xc today I decided to try going back to a snaffle to see if it would encourage him to take hold a bit more, it seemed to work as he really towed me out of the start and over the first few. He almost had a last minute look at the roundels at fence 4 but then picked up and was away again until a very naughty run out at the new corner at fence 8. The fence did cause a fair amount of trouble throughout the day, however by this stage NT should be experienced enough to deal with this, indeed he came back and popped over without question at the second attempt and then went on to complete the rest of the course very nicely.

The highlight of my day however came last with Jamesson having his first run at 100 level. He has changed so much from the horse that arrived with us back in December, he looks fantastic now and is really getting the hang of his new life. The dressage is still a little stressful for him, mostly because he is trying so very, very hard to get it right but he earned a very reasonable 34.5. His technique jumping is coming along nicely and he is turning out to be genuinely quite careful in the showjumping, balance is still sometimes an issue but the lovely big main arena gave us lots of room to play with and he jumped a lovely clear. He genuinely loves it and is such a quick thinker, despite meeting several new questions he figures it all out and gets all his arms and legs out of the way very neatly. For the first time I felt he was really confident and even starting to get a bit cheeky, I think at some point in the not too distant future we might be needing some stronger brakes! But it is such a great feeling when any youngster or in this case ‘newbie’ starts to understand the game and really want to join in and I am really looking forwards to next year with him when I hope he will be even stronger and better. But for today he finished up in 3^rd place, his first ever eventing ribbon but it won’t be his last.