The sun was out as horses and riders arrived at the Albury Equestrian Centre for a weekend of eventing. Having not been to Albury for a few years it was lovely to see the green grass on the cross country course with the ground being probably the best it has been in many years.
Cross country course designer, Michael Creber, was happy with the way the course was looking and praised the work of course builder, Craig Gordon. “Craig and I have been working together since 1999 so we know each other really well. I can ask him to build a particular fence and I know that it will be built exactly the way I want it to be – we work on a bit of telepathy I think.”
The 3* course itself looked big enough with plenty of challenges and some tough lines. “Horses and riders are going to have to think quickly,” said Michael “as some of the questions will come up very quickly for the horses.”
Fence 12 (pictured above) could cause a bit of head scratching, with it consisting of a narrow brush fence to a star shaped jump followed by another narrow brush. The direct route would mean jumping straight over the middle of the star and I’m sure that those who tackle that route confidently will make it look easy – however a hesitation could see horses sliding off the arms of the stars. The water complex involves a brush fence in, through the water, out over a toothbrush arrowhead angled right followed a few strides later by the same type of fence but this time angled left.
With dressage for the CIC3* starting at 8.30am there will be plenty of action tomorrow so keep tuned to An Eventful Life for updates during the day.
Prue Barrett gets her young horse ready for an early start tomorrow.
