We had a busy week at Burnham Market with a total of eight running over two days. On the whole, all the horses were good; for many of them it was their first run of the season so there were some fresh dressage tests.
Thursday was the Novice day to which we took five. I was riding Bruvver, Cult Rewind and Plathon. Bruvver was very fresh in his dressage, scoring a 40, but he then redeemed himself by jumping a lovely double clear – a great way to start the season!!
Plathon did a good dressage, also a little fesh as it was the first run, and scored a 33. He then had unlucky rail in the show jumping and was fab cross country.
Cult Rewind was having his first run back after time off. He did a very calm dressage and scored 29, had one rail in the show jumping due to a lack of concentration, and was amazing across country… it’s great to have him back.
Kathryn was riding Billy the Red and Cooley Eclipse. Red did a lovely dressage with a score of 29, had a unlucky rail in the show jumping and was very full of himself on the cross country but jumped clear. Cooley did a good dressage, but the jumping phase did not go to plan and Kathryn and him have some homework to do.
We were back on Saturday with the three big boys to do the Advanced. I was riding Stilo Kontika and Oplitas. Tiko did a great test which I was happy with. It showed our hard winter dressage work was paying off. He then jumped a lovely double clear to finish 4th.
Oplitas did a good test for him but unluckily there was a snow blizzard during his test which did not help. I was happy with his test but there is still room for improvement. Show jumping he was a bit tense and we were clear until the last line of jumps were he had three down. We have some work to do there as well, but he was amazing cross country. I am happy with the way we are progressing and feel things are coming together.
Kathryn was also riding in the Advanced, on Let it Bee. He was quite fresh in the dressage as it was the first run for him. His test split the judges opinion and marks. Kathryn then had a very blonde moment in her show jumping and forgot the course. It was a great shame as Bee was jumping amazingly, and finished the course with only one down due to his rider, but quite a few time penalties. He a had a great clear on the cross country as it was quite a big track. He showed that he was focussed and ready for the season.