Brigadoon II - Dressage & Show Jumping

With a dressage time of 9, we had a very early morning however things went smoothly and I was in the saddle for my pre ride just after 7.

Henry was feeling good, so we kept it short just focusing on what we needed to before heading back to the float to finish plaiting and polishing. I was back in the saddle for 8.30 and Henry remained his nice relaxed self so I did a bunch of transitions, checked he was straight, in front of the leg and in self carriage and took plenty of walk breaks. The warm up was so wet and slippery it was all I could do to keep Henry's legs under him.

Soon we were trotting around the arena where it was a lot drier, and Henry was a little bit more tense. He kept a lid on it thought and we entered the arena. He was dead straight up the centreline, but tried to canter before our first circle. He came back immediately and really settled. The test was accurate, calm and felt lovely. He was a little behind the leg and not super confident about striding out because the ground was so wet but I was thrilled.

We did our final halt and I had a huge grin on my face and gave Henry a massive cuddle, he had done a super job, staying calm and with me the while time. We went to leave and the judge got out of the car. My heart sank thinking I had gone wrong somewhere. Instead she said Henry looked off behind and I was even more upset. I hadn't felt anything but the judge asked me to get him checked by the vet, which I was more than happy to do.

I untacked, found the vet and rang them before taking Henry for a visit. I explained what had happened and the vet asked me to trot Henry up on the hard surface. Henry thought it was great fun and strided out so much I struggled to keep up! I also jogged him on the circle and the vet found him to be sound. We also had the technical delegate watch him go and again he was deemed sound. I was relieved! We were able to continue the competition.

4 off the floor!

I think what the judge saw was Henry break to canter with his back legs and immediately come back to trot right at the start of the test, which then meant she was looking for something. He was defiantly slipping on the ground and not striding out confidently but he hadn't felt like it was anything else.

Show jumping was a short time later and the course looked very inviting. Henry was on the job as soon as I mounted and I had a plan for my round. He trotted on the sand with confidence as if to say he much preferred it and he felt a lot happier warming up. I went in and showed him a few of the jumps before picking up the canter and coming into fence 1. Henry definitely prefers bigger jumps, but he jumped well enough to do a clear round without any time. It was a fairly smooth round, even if he got a bit deep to a few fences.

We were all done riding by 11, so Rosie and I went to walk the cross country course before lunch. The course looked lovely and inviting and the ground was perfect after all the rain.