Jonelle and Clever Louis had a very annoying box to tick with the FEI 13 month off the field of play rule which meant that whilst he has been competing all summer he hasn’t done an FEI event so in order to do the 4S at Little Downham he had to do the 3S at South of England. The FEI rules are bafflingly pointless at times and this is certainly one of them!
So Saturday saw Jonelle load up Louis and head off alone. Just the 3 star dressage test on Saturday afternoon and the obliging organisers had given her a late time and even found Louis a stable so it was back to the olden days for Jonelle as she prepped, rode, washed down, grazed and bedded in Louis herself. She said she actually quite enjoyed it and I’m sure Louis loved the one on one….he’s a complicated chap and quite the worrier so some total focus on him would have been much appreciated.
So despite having a run in with an overzealous steward (Jonelle was in walk at the time!) it was a nice afternoon with Louis posting a 30.7 for 7th in a big 3 star section. Then off Jonelle went in the 2 horse van to find a local hotel and catch upon the never ending paperwork.
Sunday morning saw the arrival of Tim, Megan, Full Monty de Lacense (FM) and Dromgurrihy Gold (Dara). Cosby Green had two rides as well with her own Jos Ufo de Quidam and Jo Pidduck’s Cooley Seeing Magic. FM and Jonelle posted a smart 29.8 whilst Tim and Dara were on 37 in a section where Cosby actually won the dressage with Cooley Seeing Magic (Guthrie) on a 28.4. Cosby then showjumped clear whilst Tim and Jonelle both rolled a pole and then she zipped cross country for 8 time to pull up in 2nd spot at a great prep run for their 3Long out in Lignieres this coming week.
All five of these horses are Lignieres bound so no one was chasing the clock and both Dara and FM put in confident cross country rounds over a track which, as always, isn’t the most straight forward.
Another split tomorrow as Tim, Jonelle and Cosby head up to Little Downham for the last 4S/Advanced in the UK and Kerryn heads off to Lignieres with some 8 horses for the team. It’s pretty non stop from now til the end of October and they wouldn’t want it any other way.