Tweseldown...

Last week at home started with dressage lessons and a show jumping session later in the week. On Wednesday we took Vancouver and Jitterbug to The Hand Equestrian Centre to do some BSJA jumping. Both jumped very well and Jitterbug jumped double clears in the newcomers and the foxhunters and picked up 1st and 3rd rosettes. Vancouver jumped double clear in the newcomers to finish 2nd to Jitterbug and in the foxhunters unluckily rolled a pole at the last fence, but I was pleased at his overall performance.


(Noble Bestman competing at Tweseldown)

The weekend has seen a busy few days at Tweseldown. On Friday Vancouver, GI Master Caster (Caster), Jitterbug, Fernhill Cristal (Cristal) and Noble Bestman (Steve) all performed. Cristal finished fourth on 35.9 penalties having added 4.4 time faults to his very good dressage. He will go to his first open intermediate trial at Lincoln on Saturday, along with Vancouver and Ginger May Killinghurst. Vancouver finished just behind Cristal in fifth on a score of 38.1, having rolled one pole in the show jumping. Caster finished just out of the money in 13th, having decided to run him slower cross country and just let him settle into a good rhythm. Jitterbug had her first outing in 18 months and was extremely lively in the dressage which marred her faultless jumping display, however we’re not too worried as her next outing is at The British Open in Birmingham. Steve just had his dressage and returned on Saturday to do the jumping phases.

On Saturday we returned with Noble Bestman (Steve) and Royal Hilarity (Hills). Steve just needed to jump, which he did superbly and did a lovely double clear. However this was a very long drawn out day due to a delay at the event. Luckily the organisers coped brilliantly and were extremely helpful and managed to run the whole day’s competition except one section, by some small miracle! Hills also on his first outing of the season was extremely fresh in the warm up for the dressage and managed some beautiful acrobatic manoeuvres, shame they are not required! In the arena he did settle slightly and managed to score 32, despite being tense. This was followed by a double clear to finish 7th. On Sunday saw a return to the event too, and the lorry now knows its own way there!!

This week there are no mid week competitions and no jumping excursions planned. A small rest for the Membury team! At the weekend the lorry heads north to Lincoln for 3 days of competition. Luckily there is stabling on site so the horses will not have to travel on a daily basis.