Aldon- Crazy Connie Carts me round cross country again!

Archie as the only horse yet competing BE is definitely feeling king of the yard and was pleased as punch to be taken to Aldon for the BE100 on Friday. He has come out this year with a pretty much 'I'm invincible' attitude and as such is rather taking charge cross country. In the week I had a quick bit trial on the cross country course with both a myler combination bit and the nathe tandem bit, but neither seemed to have any effect so I opted to stick with the tomb thumb gag which had been partially successful last year. 

With his customary nupafeed syringe of calmer he felt lively but relatively controlled warming up for the dressage. Wearing tiny spurs for the first time this year I was definitely getting more engagement and energy in the warm up, but it was all a bit touch and go whether we could keep this from over boiling over in the test. Overall he behaved brilliantly just marred by myself sitting that bit too quietly in the first canter which is where he has in the past exploded. Instead he actually broke into trot which suprised us both but was quickly remedied. A smile from the judge left me hopeful, but not counting my chickens as judges often mark him quite harshly.

Straight on to the show jumping and unfortunately the light but very wet rain, that was to continue all afternoon, started. By now any calmer had all worn off and he felt strong and excited warming up, but jumping superbly. The course looked huge after Moreton BE90 and had some difficult lines and as I approached the first the judge announced my dressage score as 30 (one of his best yet) and so the pressure was on. Archie however spooked at some sand on the grass and I made the cardinal sin of putting my leg gently on to try and bring his focus back to fence 1. Well that was it, we were off with Archie relishing the freedom of a lovely big grass arena and all I could do was sit and steer which itself was made more difficult with my old gloves loosing grip on the now wet rains. Thankfully we got round all the turns and he jumped like a stag, giving the fences feet, for a great clear round although it was up a gear or two from what I would have wanted.

Finally the cross country and as the rain was getting heavier and the ground decidedly greasy bigger studs and the thumb thumb were installed and I started off with the vain hope that as Archie has never been round Aldon before the unfamiliar territory coupled with substantial well dressed fences would hopefully back him off. No such luck, he stormed round in fine style but my arms did finish a couple of inches longer trying to keep some control. No worries at all the combinations and technical fences and he jumped the tricky corner out of the water very well, it was just the straight forward ones where he couldn't resist the odd flyer followed by head down charging and as a result I did not let him go quite at full speed to pick up 4 time penalties. I think if Archie has his own way he would much prefer going around without a rider intervering at all! His owners Suzie and Kieron managed to get some cracking photos which show that his technique has improved massively from when he started eventing two years ago and is now very tidy over his fences.

Overall I great result although in a tough section the time penalties put us down to 8th place. Some more experimentation with bitting may be on the cards before our next outing at Bickenhall, although hopefully he will start to settle now as the season progresses and perhaps I should just relax a bit more and just let him get on with it. Afterall it take two to pull....