Show Jumping!
Arthur was a really good boy today. 1 down at the last fence. We did the same routine for my morning ride and warmup that we have done all year and it was great to have Capt Mark 100% on board with my program. Arthur is certainly trying his heart out to be careful and I was real proud of him for that. We did rattle 2 jumps — the first and the last — I was a bit lucky at the first! That being said those were the only two fences that he touched and I’m thrilled with how well he cleared the big square oxers and the combinations. He was a good boy and I thought I did a good job today. It made for an interesting warmup and show jump rounds for many 3 * horses today having the 2* cross country running right by the show jumping. Kinda felt a bit bad for our horses watching the fun out there! There were certainly a few American horses that knew today was supposed to be xc day!! The xc course does look like fun — hard work in areas, but fun! We all have a big day tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Barbury is also running a 4* combined test with the dressage test being the Olympic 4* test. Many other countries have their Olympic horses entered in this class and many are double entered in the CIC 3* class. I enquired about entering the class, but they had a wait list, so I didn’t find out that I had a spot in the class until only a couple of hours prior to my ride time. I thought it was a great opportunity to ride the Olympic test against the other Olympic horses, despite the fact that I wouldn’t have the best preparation for the test due to the timing, so I entered! It was great practice to have to ride next to the white flags snapping loudly in the wind all along the shortened at A as it was the undoing of quite a few good horses in the ring there. Arthur was very good. Our quality was better yesterday, but he was very on the job and tried very hard. Our walk was not super — he is a bit of a “mall walker” in the whipping cold wind. I also felt like I was trying to remember the newly memorized test as I was riding so I didn’t exactly feel like I was owning every next movement, but it was really nice to ride a new test. Trot directly into extended walk is not anything that I have ever thought about or practiced prior to riding it in the test today and that will definitely be something I put more thought into. It was a very big division with very good horses and we ended tied 3rd (I think that was the final — I’ll check tomorrow and let you know) ahead of the Brits 😉

The rest of the Americans finished their dressage tests in fine form. Boyd was really super today!!!
Early jog and then show jumping tomorrow!!

Dressage was today! The quality of Arthur’s work is far improved from Rolex, he definitely had the best connection, balance and presence of all the horses today, however, a couple of spooks cost us some valuable points. I was very pleased with with him in that despite his spooks he was immediately back to work, he wasn’t messing around and being inattentive or on the muscle. I definitely did not feel like I had to “keep a lid on him”; I could continue to ride him positively. We didn’t get to familiarize in the main arena and the judges blew the whistle right away on me so I didn’t even make it a third of the way around the arena before entering, so today was today, it is what it is! I feel very strongly that we would have smashed my Rolex score had I taken the quality I had today to Kentucky. I definitely prepared him as well as I could have and I am disappointed we didn’t win the dressage but I am not moping around unhappy either.
I have only walked the course once, but it looks great! Definitely some good questions and it will be an excellent test of fitness! I am excited to jump!!!!

The last couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, but we seem to have settled into the groove of things here just in time to pick up and leave for Barbury on Tuesday! The time here started for me with a massively uncomfortable stomach ache that I had never experienced before and Arthur sleeping like a dog (obviously tired from his travels). I was in a lot of pain, but Arthur fortunately was perfectly comfortable in his new digs here in the heart of the Cotswolds. Luckily for me I was correctly diagnosed by Dr Karen O’Connor (confirmed by the new team doc, Mark Hart via telephone) with some sort of acid issue most likely caused by stress. STRESS?!?!? Hmmmmm…. well, yes, the week prior to this trip was incredibly stressful! I was pretty anxious all day on the Monday after Bromont waiting for the call about the Short List. I didn’t really want to jinx myself by planning that I would be on the plane prior to getting the call, which meant once I got the call it was full speed ahead with packing and planning for being away from home for a really long time. I was incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of things I needed to accomplish in less than a week. A huge fundraiser was successfully pulled off in just a few days (huge thanks to my amazing friends: John, Patricia and Shawna Staut, Tom Gorman, Jessica Rich, Kristane Kristiensen, Liz Billings, Geraldine Peace, Todd Lodge and Andrew Chippendale). The party was not only a huge success from a fundraising point of view, but it was also just a really beautiful and fun party!!! I didn’t go to bed until 2:30 in the morning — not too bad for a party that was supposed to end at 10:oo pm! Packing for a horse and a girl who both like to dress up and look good for a long trip to Europe in as few “suitcases” as possible is never an easy chore! I think my biggest worry was making arrangements for the horses, girls and my son (Bodie the dog) being left at home. So by the time I actually landed in England I had a really bad pain going on just below my ribs. I was not a happy camper, however, a couple of days of Ranitidine and Omeperozole made me as good as new (yes, the same drugs we give the horses for ulcers — don’t worry I wasn’t stealing from Arthur’s supply, I had the human variety from the pharmacy)!

Since we’ve been here we have had a short time to get settled in, rested and start looking ahead to Barbury. Our accommodations here are amazing. The horses are based at Eddie Stibbe’s Lavender Hill Stud where they want for pretty much nothing! Beautiful indoor with mirrors, outdoor dressage and jump ring, gallop and beautiful turnout fields. The home I am staying in is about a 20 minute beautiful drive (10 minutes if O’Connor is driving).

Our days here so far:

Tuesday – Arthur sleep all day day; Wednesday – the first day I rode Arthur – a long walk hack and light stretchy flat; Thursday – long walk hack and a good flat school; Friday – Boyd, Phillip and I went cross country schooling. Just a short and sweet one in a beautiful place. I hadn’t jumped a xc fence since Rolex and he was so happy to be out there. Very focused and totally on it! Saturday – the whole group went to Jack Dawes for a fitness day. This was absolutely beautiful! Definitely one of the nicest gallops I have been to. When I say gallops there were multiple different gallops up the hill. We used the two all weather gallops, the longer one was over a mile long up the hill. My horse felt great, plenty fit, and the only exciting moment was my first time up the gallop there was a family of backpackers with huge packs and a couple of dogs that almost walked onto the gallop in front of me! I was teasing Capt Mark that he sent them out there on purpose to test if Arthur would spook at them or not! Ha! and Sunday (today) – We all jogged our horses up in the morning and then I got to spend the day with my dear friend Sam (O’Connell) Lehel and her husband Zolly. They live in London now and came out for the day. I am now waiting for Bettina Hoy to show up for a dressage lesson with her.

I made a huge mistake with Bromont that I didn’t have Arthur back into really full work before arriving there and my result showed it. I was definitely more concerned that he didn’t get to have a very long break after Rolex where he gave me such a focused and beautiful effort. Ordinarily he would have had at least a month off and a slow return to work after that. With Bromont being so close the Rolex, Burbury at the end of June and then the Olympics being at the end of July, I was concerned about the length of time he would need to stay at the top of his game. This has made me really focussed on what I need to accomplish at Barbury next week. I know the only way I can accomplish that result is by having the same attitude I had for Rolex. I know I need to focus on what will make me my best and Bettina is a part of that plan! Fortunately, she will be here tonight! A late lesson, but worth it! I am hopefully going to shenaggle a way to get her to Barbury for Thursday! More on that tomorrow!

Congrats to Lisa Brewer on the purchase of Clifton Housemaster and to Sara Kliguss on the purchase of Quite Endeavor. I am so excited for both of these horses to find such wonderful homes. I look forward to following and helping these pairs into the future!

The Grandstand at Clairfontaine Racecourse

The grass warm up area. We warmed up here for dressage and XC.

Artistic dressage shot of us right before we enter the dressage ring

Clark Montgomery getting ready to head down centerline.

Final standings after dressage… you might have to get out your magnifying glass to read it. But a very proud moment for me and Mr Farty Pants!

Sarah handgrazing Arthur… loves the grass in France!

Arthur checking out the 4 in hand driving horses…. totally scary! Notice he has grown to 18 hands!

Live music at the trade fair daily

The Hermes booth at the trade fair actually had one of their saddle makers there!

Walking the XC

This is pretty funny… it was really an athletic feat to walk the xc course! The course was all within the racecourse. Many fences were over pre-existing steeplechase fences. There was a lot of fake plastic brush everywhere. It was really thick and very wide… very challenging to get over. We all had very awkward moments trying to negotiate the brush. Being the good friend that I am… I had to capture someone in their struggles. Here is Stephen Bradley doing the splits (stuck in the splits) with the meter wheel. Heee Heee!

I just had to include pictures of the bathroom at David & Jackie Green’s house. It is a photographs from years of eventing and shenanigans! I could stand in the bathroom for hours looking at pictures. What a great idea!