Nobilis watching the sunrise in Lignieres
The 2014 UK eventing season is over. We finished the year by completing three 3 Day Events back to back on the continent and then taking Henry, the baby of the yard to the pre-novice at Aldon. I spent 5 nights in my own bed for the whole month and what a fun experience it was.
We started the first week of October at Lignieres, France with Nobilis and Bonza Moorabinda entered in the CCI**. Like most French events it was relaxed and chilled out event with good catering and some lovely sunshine. I can’t say I have ever been to an event where the starter for cross country was casually having lunch while Chris was in his last minutes before starting. When he asked how long until he is due to start the started replied in his limited English “Maximum 1 minute, you just go whenever”
With being away so much in October, Burto wanted to stay an extra night at home in his own bed so we caught the overnight ferry to Caen arriving on the Wednesday. We had a few hours’ drive between Caen and Lignieres and, with the trot up scheduled for that afternoon, I spent some of the drive travelling with the ponies plaiting and preparing them for the trot up in case we hit traffic and got held up. We arrived to beautiful sunshine and both horses trotted up well down the strip.
After a great two days of dressage the two horses were lying 2nd and 3rd. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there, Nobilis was withdrawn after dressage and will be saved for next year and Moorabinda had a run out coming out of the water. After she showjumped the next day it was the usual race to the ferry, with a convoy of trucks heading back to Caen - there is always a little rush to try to be the first packed up and on the road home.
We arrived home at 9 am on the Monday morning and it was a day of washing and re-packing. The typical wet English weather was making this a hard task to get everything dry. We were repacking the truck for Haruzac to head to Boekelo in the CCI*** and then head to Le Lion with Dutchman Retto in the World Young Horse Championships 6yo, CCI*. We headed out early on the Tuesday morning and headed for the Dover – Calais ferry and onto The Netherlands.
Holland sure knows how to put on a party and this event has got to be the event that sets the bar as far as putting on a show and looking after sponsors, riders and owners. I think this is an event that has to go on every eventing groupie’s bucket list.
There are always plenty of sore heads on Wednesday morning after the Tuesday night stable manager’s party. You would never know you were at a horse event if you just turned up for the Wednesday night party. It has everything from free beer, wine and soft drinks, free food (everything from soups, chocolate fondue, pastas, Asian, crepes, sushi and roasted meat) the trade stands are open late and there is also a fashion show and many different musical performances for entertainment, including a live DJ to finish off the night. The Thursday night includes free beer and wine and finger food, a live band and a chance for the sponsors to meet the riders and vice versa.
When heading to Boekelo you always pack for wet weather, and right on cue the heavens opened, just as we were leaving the stables for trot up! Haruzac performed very well for his first big event back in a couple of years.
He might have just been lacking a bit of match practice having two rails down on the last day but he finished 15th and it was great for the owner Alan Skinner to see his favourite horse back out doing what he loves. Boekelo also has a Nations Cup included and Australia was very unlucky to finish fourth. We were actually equal 3rd but the count back rules saying it goes to the Nation who attends more Nation’s Cup events and the home team, The Netherlands went home with the bronze.
Dutchman Retto ready for trot up
At the completion of the event we sent Harry home with some friends and travelled to Germany for the Sunday and Monday nights before making the long 14 hour journey to Le Lion with Dutchman Retto (Bertie). Le Lion is in the South of France and holds the World Young Horse Championships each year. It hosts a CCI* class for 6 year olds and a CCI** class for 7 year olds.
There are rules and regulations to qualify, the horse has to complete a CIC event at the specific level and have to have no cross country penalties and no more than one rail at the same event, each nation is allowed to nominate a certain amount of competitors and each level and the final fields are then made. It is meant to bring the best of the young horses to the event. The event is well run and extremely well presented. The cross country fences are in a league of their own from any other even I have been to.
Bertie stepped up to his first CCI* convincingly and was third after the dressage with a very relaxed test. He cantered around the 9 minute cross country and finished the event off by leaving all the coloured poles up, finishing on his dressage score and in 2nd position behind one on Michael Jung’s potential superstars.
The week after Le Lion we took Henry (Limited Edition) to Aldon for a BE100 start, this was our last even for the 2014 season and it was lovely to catch up with his owner Jenny Jackson and even got to stay the night at her lovely home and have the first proper home cooked meal in about a month! Henry is a very cute young horse who is still a little scared of life and especially his rider, but he has matured a lot this season and could potentially be at Le Lion in the six year olds next year.
We are now catching up on all the maintenance and repairs that we never got to during the season, unfortunately the British wet weather has been around and most of the horses have had to come in for winter. This is the best time of the year to head to the pub and make use of a good fire place and some warm food.
Dutchman Retto with one of his owners Sue Lawson in his rug for finishing 2nd
