It’s been a good weekend. Firstly we had a wonderful day on Saturday as Gracey (who is like family to us and helps us so much with the kids) got married! It absolutely bucketed it down the night before and in the morning the rain didn’t ease up at all. We got completely soaked riding early in the school, including Ursula who was keen as mustard to ride before the wedding (mad child) – Josh was far more sensible staying in the house with Nana and Pop for a restful morning. Anyway, we got all the horses worked but got completely drenched.
We felt for Grace and then the a minor miracle happened; the clouds cleared and sun came out just an hour before the church service. It then stayed dry for the rest of the day – it was a beautiful wedding, with two local families involved it was a great celebration and Jenny was particularly pleased that it was a proper English wedding complete with Pimms and a cream tea for all! Josh and Urssie had a starring role – Josh had a very responsible job in charge of the rings and Urssie was a flower girl and a princess for the day. All in all a great day and much fun, laughter, dancing and merriment was had by all.
Yesterday, Sunday, we were luckily for us at a local event, Ascott Under Wychwood – and again we got wet! The only benefit of the rain was the ground which was very good. The Crown Farm team had done a great job preparing the ground and the rain worked a treat to give us near perfect going.
I rode Minty (pictured), Jenny took Bluey and Patch and Issy made her debut with Bertie. Minty was more relaxed again in the dressage but then got a little tense in the show jumping. She was jumping a lovely round until she went a bit green at a brightly coloured filler and then knocked a fence which ruffled her. She is so sensitive she then had the next before settling to jump a lovely last couple of fences. She will be, and is, a good jumper but she’s just super sensitive and green – it will come. She went well cross country.
Jenny had a good day – no prizes as she stopped for a cup of tea on the way round the cross country (when will she learn to crack on!) but jumped two nice double clears and had a good day. Issy and Bertie had a mixed day, OK dressage, clear show jumping and then ground to a halt on the cross country – Issy learnt a valuable lesson, not to show jump the cross country – you need a bit of forward to get over the fences, ride with impulsion and some speed, but also with control.
The good news is we were able to go back bright and early this morning and Issy schooled around the Intro track no problem jumping clear from the start box onwards, experience will come and it will all develop, she just needs practice and patience – we all started out with no experience so good on her for giving it a go. I also took Robbie and Dotty to school around the Intro track as they’ve got their debut in a four year old class in two weeks time. It was a great experience for them as I was able to jump them around the roped and flagged course – thank you to Janet and Chris Badger for allowing me to do so.
I’ve also been to the gallops and swimming with Sunny today, as well as school some horses on the flat – it’s been a good day.
Welcome also to Hannah who started with us this weekend, she’s come to base herself with the team as a working pupil which is great for us. So we now have Hannah and James as additions to the team which is great news for us.
I’m looking forward to the week ahead as we’ve got Aston at the end of the week which should be a good event and I’m riding Alex, Harry, Silks, Coco and Ricky. I’ll keep you posted – there’s a week of riding and preparation at home to look forward to, along with a quick spin to Dauntsey with Minty and Darian will be riding Clover.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted 18th July
