With only one horse to ride Shane had to find something to do - so he took down a ceiling!
As the sun continues to shine in England, I find myself enjoying the weather while watching Virgil grazing in his paddock. Of course nothing is ever as peaceful as it seems and no sooner does Virgil start to relax then his neighbours (the cows) appear from behind a hedge and he's careering around trying to run away from them! He hasn't taken too well to the other farm animals or the Shetland ponies who decided to escape one morning and went trotting around the property.
So far things have been running quite smoothly although Haras didn't quite go to plan. We headed off early on Wednesday morning for France, with Alex Townsend and her fancy new truck. It certainly was like travelling in style with very large bays for the 3 horses and a spacious living for Sohpie (Alex's groom) and I to stretch out in. We arrived late in the evening to the beautiful grounds that will next year host the eventing side of the World Equestrian Games. Virgil travelled well and after a good nights rest, he got to work.
Virgil's dressage wasn't as good as we had hoped it would be
Dressage was on the Friday before show jumping on Saturday morning and cross country Sunday. Virgil warmed up well for his test but was maybe still a little flat from the big trip overseas and he made a few mistakes in the test, scoring a 52. Not what we were hoping for but there was still lots of jumping to go.
Virgil certainly didn't want to hit a fence
The show jumping started with plenty of rails falling early on, so we were hopeful that with a clear round, Virgil could move up a few places. Everything started well, Virgil giving the fences plenty of respect and not wanting to touch anything and then in a moment of rash decision Shane ‘missed’ jumping into the double. Try as he might to jump himself out of trouble, both parts came down so 8 penalties added to his score. Understandably Shane was furious with himself and there was a lot of mumbling and growling to follow at which Virgil would look at me as if to say "did I do something wrong?"
Virgil enjoys a pick of French grass
It was then time to have a look at the cross country course, which was beautifully presented with some very tough lines. We watched Mark Todd head out first on the course and while it looked like time might be tough, everything jumped well. However the next three horses didn’t make it past fence seven!
Virgil was great cross country
Virgil headed out around the course and while there was a lot for him to look at he quickly started to focus on the job at hand and jumped clear around the tough tack, finishing just 20 seconds over the optimum time! This moved him up to 10th place, not so bad for his international debut but imagine the possibilities when the boys can get it together in the other two phases!
Never one to sit still for too long Shane has kept busy helping Burto
Virgil and I then had a quiet day at home while Shane, Niki and Olivia detoured on the trip home to spend a day in Paris. To help pass the time and keep his hands busy, Shane has taken to fixing fences and leaking watertroughs and even renovating Burtos wash bay! Rach and I on the other hand have been attempting to teach Olivia how to clean gear. We feel it’s important to start her training early –
We spent the last couple of days at an Australian squad clinic with the team coaches. It's great to catch up with fellow Aussies as well as being able to see some more of the country side. We went to Burghley on Saturday to watch the cross country and then it's Blenheim this weekend. Time seems to be flying by and I am now going to be flying home at the end of September in order to get Arvey and a couple of other horses fit to compete at Adelaide. I'm a little worried about leaving Shane in charge of Virgil but I'm sure Rach and Niki will keep an eye on the two of them and keep them out of trouble!
Michelle
