Gloris FLight - ALDON

The last event of the season entailed a trip down to Somerset to Aldon, an event I have not been to for a couple of years but always a nice event to finish with. This year we were fortunate to even stay dry for the duration! I was very lucky to have my friend Anna acting as groom for the trip which certainly made for a really fun few days, and it was great having someone who knows exactly how I like to have things done and whom I can trust to leave alone to get on with things, which was so helpful as we arrived much later than planned on the Friday evening, so Anna put the boys to bed whilst I headed off into the twilight to walk the cross country, armed with my torch and two dogs. The xc start has moved since I was last here, and it took me a little while to actually find it! I certainly cannot recommend walking courses in the near dark, especially in the woods which is particularly creepy! But we got there in the end although the biggest problem was finding that the gates to the lorry park had been locked in my absence, requiring a rather inelegant commando crawl/wriggle underneath. At least we had a good laugh about it.

First up on the Saturday morning was Jamesson. I was not sure how he would cope with an overnight stay but actually he was quite relaxed about it. I was quite pleased with his dressage, to me it felt like an improvement on his last outing at Pulborough, however the judge didn’t agree and gave us a mark of 35.5. The showjumping was exactly the opposite however, it was far from the best round we have ever jumped but importantly he never touched a pole. He was super on the xc though, after his slip-ups at Pulborough, and there were several reasonable questions for him to answer here. It was good to feel that he had learned from his last outing and grown from it. I was also really pleased that he felt so strong finishing up the hills. We finished on our dressage mark for a 5^th rosette. I am so very pleased with how James has come on throughout this year, after seeing the poor, weak, weedy little horse who arrived in December and needed two poly pads and a sheepskin pad under his saddle just to stop it being uncomfortable and who could barely canter, he has exceeded all my expectations even to get out eventing, never mind two good placings at BE100.

Also on Saturday was dressage for Gloris Flight in the 6yo CIC*. Despite two mistakes,- a botched rein back, (annoying as he is pretty good at that) and losing the counter canter, (less annoying as he genuinely struggled with counter canter on a half 20m circle going down a hill) the rest was good enough to put us in the lead. Only his second pole down showjumping all season, plus 3 time faults unfortunately relegated us to 3^rd place. His xc the next morning was fantastic, cruising around as if it was just another 100 class. I think next year we may need slightly stronger brakes as he was a little too bold at times, especially coming down the hills, and so we added 1.2 time faults, but we still pulled up a place to finish 2^nd.  A fantastic result for a horse who has only done 3 novices and who has not even come close to his best yet.

Last but by no means least came Burntwood Sorrel. He has been one of my most consistent horses this season, with only one unplaced outing.  This time our dressage took place in an arena less than 50 yards from some roadworks, pneumatic drills are not contusive to great dressage and we ended up with one of our less memorable marks of the season, 28, still not so bad really! The showjumping for us on the Sunday was in an outside arena, which was pretty rough and uneven and not helpful to Ginger who had one fence down. As always his xc was faultless, cruising round comfortably inside the time to finish in 6^th place.

3 ribbons from 3 rides was a pretty satisfying way to end the year. One which has had some particularly high points but also some not so great ones. But now it’s all over for 2014 and we get to have a short break and a party or two, including the SEEL ball and I finally get to enjoy my (belated) birthday treat of driving four supercars around a racetrack, before we start thinking about the 2015 season, which if the boys can continue to build on this years progress looks like it might be rather fun. x