Firstly I must apologise for the time it has taken us to write the latest blog! To be honest I have no idea where the past 5 weeks have gone.
Spring has arrived in earnest here in the UK. The daffodils are out as is the sun and the torrential rain we seem to have suffered all winter has now dispersed into April showers.
Todd has been hunting, and has loved it. It always amazes me how a day following baying hounds chasing a human scent (we blood hunt, so nothing is killed) can put such a spring in the horses' step!
We now have our first event of the season under our belts, mixed fortunes, with a very good dressage of 29, which was up with the leaders and considering Abi forgot part of the test we were very pleased with this result!
Todd had an uncharacteristic two poles down - mostly due to him 'hunting' around the track - it would seem that Todd got the grass between his toes and got rather strong, thus tipping two uprights. But in hindsight we haven't jumped on grass this year, mainly due to no one having their show jumps out on grass yet, so a bit more practice is required.
Cross country was another mixed bag, getting to fence 16 clear and flying when he saw the ditch on the trakhener he put the brakes on! Very naughty boy! So with a smacked bottom on the second attempt it was no problem. Abi then kicked on for home and came into a parallel with a little too much gusto and Todd just lost his stride - so that one was forgivable and he turned and jumped it no problem. So all in all and considering we have gone up a level to 100, we were fairly optimistic with the day and felt we had blown away the cobwebs and were reasonably on track. Still some work to do but we would prefer we got it wrong at these one days to ensure we get in right at Badminton.
Todd came out of the event really well, so we are obviously on track, fitness wise.
Everyone deserves a roll in the sunshine after a hard days work!
Speaking of Badminton, we are now all entered up and the clock has started ticking with only 5 weeks to go!!
We are off to Larkhill BE 100 this weekend so will let you know how we get on!
