Back again to Larkhill for 3rd time in 4wks.
Entered the Intermediate Hunter Trials as the Open was at Novice speed and suspected would contain most of the Novice BE fences although the Intermediate was only advertised as being BE90 height and speed there was nothing in between. As it was the Open was a mix of the Novice and the BE100 and he'd have been quite capable of all of it and I wished I'd been doing it! Still, our course was a good mix of the 90 and 100 fences including the big 100 ditch brush, the 100 sunken road and a chance to do the 90 table to corner again.
Mission not to go too fast failed yet again. He just cruises too quickly for 90 speed. Came in 13secs under the time which left us in 4th place - lovely prize money went to 3rd. Grrrr! Had a good ride though and it was a nice, confidence giving easy run to finish the season. He made it feel easy and there wasn't the grunting and little short strides we'd had at the RC Open 2wks previously. He seems to lack confidence at 100 and make more of a meal of it - maybe because I'm lacking confidence too but lots to work on there for next season as would really likely to be competitive at 100.
Much smoother run than in the RC Open - we got the table to corner spot on which was a nice feeling as table was full up height and width but rode really well. Got the brushes right this week as well - lovely forwards 5 strides. Made him canter through the water and he got nice strides to the brushes before and after. He was a bit looky at a few again so every XC run is good for him. Warmup was a nightmare - he was rearing before we got in there so I kicked him and he bucked! He then nearly wiped out one poor girl several times napping in the actual warmup. He did settle more the longer we were in there but was very silly about being led over to the start box again. He's fine once he gets going and never even thinks of napping on the course so I don't really understand it.
Interestingly looking at the schedule the original plan seems to have been for the Open course to exactly match the BE Novice course and the Intermediate to be the BE100 course so they must have decided to soften it after the schedules were printed and probably after it got postponed due to the weather. Must remember that if feel cocky and get tempted to enter the Open next year!
Last XC run of the year done - 6 runs in total - not exactly the year I had planned but hey ho. Next XC run will be 2mths before Badminton - eeeeek!
http://youtu.be/A64aCwcrXls
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