Larkhill

Larkhill is a fairly local event for us but it was still a very early morning! We had MAGNIFIQUE VD DOORNHAAG (Maggie), DIAMOND HOLLY (Princess) and VIVENDE DE VARDAG (Viva) in the NOV and IRIANA PFB (Iris) in the BE100.

It was my first event on Maggie since taking over the ride at the beginning of this season and we have been slowly getting to know each other. She has such a lovely brain for the dressage and despite one or two slightly fresh moments still scored a really pleasing 27. SJ would certainly be her weakest phase at the moment as she builds strength so overall I was pleased with her round despite her having the last two fences down; she is improving all the time and no doubt she has plenty of great rounds to come. She then gave me a great spin round the XC feeling really confident and finishing just outside the top 10. It was so lovely to have Maggie’s owners Alex Haggard and Judy Kunkler there to support her.

Princess was really good in the dressage leading on a score of 25 – she is such a lovely horse to ride in the dressage with such an amazing engine as long as you can manage all that power! She rolled a really unlucky pole SJ and but was caught out by the new spooky and v bright trakhenner on the XC. We will make a plan for her and perhaps look at some other options…

Viva was in her first Novice – she scored a very respectable 35 dressage, also just breathed on the last SJ for 4 faults. She gave me a fantastic ride XC feeling really confident and very special for the future.

IRIANA PFB was very pleased to be out but still produced some really lovely work on the flat to score 33 – she then jumped a beautiful double clear to finish in 8th place – a great first BE event for us as a combination, hopefully some really exciting results to come from her this season.