BADMINTON BYEH

Badminton is of course the most prestigious event in the calendar and every rider’s dream to compete at the iconic venue. Unfortunately this year I didn’t have a ride in the CCI*****L but we definitely had the next best thing: my own and Brenda Watson’s super special 5yo CLASS SPEC in the BYEH class.

After a smooth and consistent test he then jumped a really special clear round in the SJ. He behaved beautifully for the conformation judge so we awaited eagerly the scores. I felt a 23/30 in the dressage was slightly lower than he deserved but I was delighted with a 33/40 for jumping (2nd highest mark), 10/12 conformation and 7/8 for quality. He went into the top 10 lying in 5th place and stayed there to finish an overall – just missing out on qualifying for the final.

He is such a fun and exciting little horse with bags of presence and personality so I’m sure it won’t be long before he gains his Burghley ticket! I can’t wait until Specs and I are back at Badminton for the real BIG competition.