Jenny & Cassie
Today the rain stayed away but the temperature dropped dramatically – though we have to be grateful as it’s far worse to be dealing with mud and rain than a little bite in the air!
It’s always very enjoyable to have a nice one day event just down the road, which Calmsden is at only four minutes away. We had friends over for dinner last night so it was nice not to have to leave much before 8.30am.
The ground conditions on the cross country course were very good and they keep on making little changes to the cross country course which is always nice if you are going back to a venue you’ve been to before. The novice and BE100 courses have one good long pull up a hill towards the end of the course and because of the lovely open spaces and the way the track is designed it really does flow along in a nice way.
Today was another Levett excursion with Jenny riding two, me riding one and the kids plus one dog coming along for good measure. Tomorrow will be a more normal day with Josh going to rugby, Urssie spending more time with her new pony Freddie, and me giving a clinic at Aston with mum in the background organising us all.
Star rider of this weekend is Jenny as she put together three nice phases on Ricky to win her section on a 22.0. Maybe she will finish the season on that as it’s always nice to finish on a positive note. Jenny also had the lovely Cassie today and she continues to do her job well, doing whatever is asked of her – she is such a lovely horse and gives Jenny huge pleasure.
Dylan was my ride today and lately he’s been living out 24/7; he is certainly a little more settled in the dressage warmup which allows me to ride him without having to argue quite as much. He did a nice obedient test and was reasonably well placed and then just one pole rolled in the showjumping. I think he’s enjoying going Novice as it’s a little more challenging but he did have a slightly naughty run out at a corner right at the end of the track. On representing to the fence again he jumped it very nicely and finished the course.
It will be interesting to see how Dylan goes next year after a holiday; it’s always an interesting stage in an event horse’s year – their 6 and 7 year old years are always a good time to assess horses as they change so much.
So one more event on the BE circuit for me at Oasby, and then Pau, and then the 2015 season will be officially over for Team Levett. I’m sure Jenny will breathe a huge sigh of relief as we head in to winter and slightly more normal family time.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted 10th October
