
I finished at the yard at 9pm on Friday and was back there by 5am to leave with Pauldary's Bobby's Girl (Tiny), Cosmic Clover (Cosmo) and Lion King V (Leo) at 6:15am. We only left that early to get there in time for the coursewalk but while we were chatting away in the lorry we sailed straight past the junction and missed the course walk anyway...could have just got up half an hour later!
Still, Tiny jumped a lovely double clear in the BE90 and although it felt like her eyes were on stalks she never hesitated. Her 3 time faults were rider rustiness in terms of judgement of pace, which was frustrating but she still finished 5th as she had a good style mark. Leo was also a little green but his jumping did not disappoint and he finished 7th.
Leo then jumped well again to finish 8th in the BE100, Tiny perhaps got a little bit tired but had 2 fences down very late on in the XC section, but still had a good style mark. Elizabeth Pilkington's Cosmic Clover (Cosmo), a new ride to me, jumped a fantastic double clear inside the time on a style mark of 8 to come 3rd in the BE100. Acco jumped well but was HC.
Acco then went inside the time in the novice on a style mark of 6 to win the class, which was very exciting. Cosmo jumped well but made a few tired mistakes and finished 11th, incredibly frustrating to think if I'd just kept the speed up to the finish he would have qualified for the final as he was only 2 marks away!
Still, a good day all round, all of them have qualified in for the final in at least one class, and have another chance to get their second qualifications at Merrist Wood and Hartpury in the next few weeks.
Acco and Cosmo then went to East Soley on Sunday to do some dressage tests and finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively, on scores of 65%+, Acco on 70%. Emma Dove's Tynybryn Nelson (Nelly) did very well to finish 2nd in the NPS section of the Prelim, and qualified for the NPS Championships in both Novice and Prelim at his first attempt!
http://www.britisheventing.com/news.asp?itemid=3700&itemTitle=Eventers+boosted+by+JAS+results+at+Hand+Equestrian§ion=59§ionTitle=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines