Last weekend saw us eventing at Bickenhall in the glorious sunshine, although the downside to this weather is the ground is now already very firm. On the Saturday i took Archidamus (Big Archie) having his first event outing for nearly a year. Whilst the dressage was disappointing and he rolled a pole in the show jumping form just getting rather strung out, he really performed cross country to post a lovely clear inside the time and felt great. I also took Tilly for ther BE100plus, but only run her in the dressage. She unfortunately had developed a swelling around her fetlock  a few days before and although completely sound it just didn't seem worth the risk on the hard ground. She warmed up great, but we both tensed a little trying to fit the movements of Novice into the 40 by 20m arena to score a respectable 36 which can definitely be improved on so I was very pleased. I did however feel so guilty taking her home without the fun bit as she was raring to go, but better safe than sorry.

Sunday was the turn of little Archie who felt rather important having the lorry to himself. A dressage time of 3pm meant a leisurely start, but unfortunately by then the temperature had risen enough to bring out lots of flies which really made this connie crazy despite puring copious amounts of fly spray all over him. As a result I did not manage to get him to settle before we had to go in for the test and we made it round with a lot of head shaking, grabbing the bit, running and a couple of minor explosions breaking into canter; so infuritating when he had scored 70% last time out.

He did however redeem himself slightly with a clear show jump round and then a foot perfect cross country round in a new bit we are trying, a cheltenham gag. In the warm up I found he jumped rather stickily if I checked him too much in it so I decided to lengthen the reins and just keep coming to every fence and it worked a treat, definitely helping to keep his head up and saving my arms being pulled out. Fingers crossed it continues to have this effect as in the past different bits have lost their effectiveness after 2 to 3 events. In the end he finished 11th on his dressage of 40.5; with the winner on 32, he really could have had a good placing if he had just behaved in that first phase.

Millie and Archie sporting some of the rossettes

I have decided show jumpers have it easy; you just load up a lorry load of horses with minimul preparation and then 10 minutes warming up each one before jumping round; all quite different to the endless preparation for the 3 phases of an event. We took Millie, Ben and 'big' Archie to Hand EC yesterday and jumping them each in two classes was still back by 2pm. However as the classes weren't that large it did mean very quick horse changes and warm ups in order to fit them all in and I couldn't have done it without the help of Dee and Fiona who were fabulous. One thing I have to admire the show jumpers for is remembering all the different courses as once I have memorised one course my brain really finds it diffucult to adapt to a new one over the same set of jumps!

Anyway despite these lapses which were fueled partly by tiredness and me forgetting to eat or drink anything all morning, it ended up a very successful day and it was very refreshing to actually get enough prize money to nearly pay for the day! In the British Novice I ended up 1st (Ben), 3rd (Millie) and 4th (Archie) and then in the Discovery was 1st on Millie and 3rd on Archie having one pole down on Ben as well as jockey forgeting the course, oops! Videos are available here. 

Millie was sporting a hackamore which she really likes and is much more focused and bold jumping in than with a bit that she tends to lean on. When I decided to up the pace going last in the jump off of the discovery she responded brilliantly and really attacked the fences so i think we will continue with it. Archie, who belongs to Ben's owner Anita, is just with me for a week for some fun and felt fabulous, very quickly getting back into jumping and really enjoying himself giving the fences feet in the warm up just for fun. Considering he is a well built 16.3hh he was remarkably balanced and easy to steer around the relatively tight courses and very light on his feet. Finally Ben was very well behaved and was also trying a different bit, the nathe tamden combination, as when out competing in the nathe snaffle even that can cut his very soft mouth if he gets strong. This bit acts also on the nose and the plus side was his mouth didn't get at all sore, but unfortunately he did back off it a bit too much at times and didn't like me putting any pressure on the ren as the day progressed. I think this might be a great bit for the cross country, but for just one round show jumping when eventing the snaffle may be better, but it is definitely a useful option to have for 'Mr Sensitive'.

Millie at the head of the line in her first win at BSJA