Aston UA: The Comeback Kid & The Brilliant Baby!

Ali16

Ali16

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Hurston Dressage & Eventing, Oxfordshire
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After our transport issues we managed to borrow a little 3.5t racing box to take Dennis (a sales livery) and Holly (a rising 5yo I have in to produce) to Aston UA. Dennis was doing his 1st event in 3yrs (BE90) and Holly was doing her 1st event EVER (BE80)!

First up was Dennis, who did a good test - could have been better, but for various reasons we only managed a 7 min warm up, where he should have had about 20 mins... Oh well, he still earned a very respectable 31 :) Love him! Comments were fair - just a bit tense & needed to swing through the back more. On the way back from dressage I heard over the tannoy that Piggy F had taken the lead in our section with 21 dressage, double clear.... :eek::rolleyes: No hope for the rest of us!

Dennis & I then tootled off to SJ, & can I just say now how lovely it was to be on a pony that doesn't tense up in the warmup/spin/try to kick other horses etc etc :rolleyes: We went into the ring & he just felt bloomin awesome - positively flew! Looking back at the vid it does look too small for him, but rather that than over face him. I just love jumping this horse :D Clear round & big smiles & pats for clever pony :)

Onto the fun bit - the course looked really kind & just what he needed to get his eventing career back on track. We went steady to ensure good strides into everything & he totally LOVED IT! So easy & he didn't back off at anything. Clear round with 5.2tps. Super, super pony!

Here's his video of the day - feel free to fast forward through the dressage ;)

http://youtu.be/z0zNSGjhVng

And some pics:
74a21001939ed1887100860f89296ffd_zps0e21434b.jpg


e88bc733c1a7847e324ed1baa6d6454b_zps5186eacc.jpg


And the awesome pro pic:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...664.1073741825.109315089152812&type=1&theater

Dennis finished 14th in the end, so very happy :D

Onto Holly & although she has never bucked/reared/fartarsed around I was a bit concerned that the whole situation might blow her brains, but after one little 'Holy **** what the **** are those things?!?' at the ducks in the dressage field (!) she settled down nicely. There was a bird scarer going off next door, but luckily she's used to them & didn't really flinch. She did a good but green test, with the highlight being our final halt, which was great, until I relaxed my left left & we drifted about 6 miles :rolleyes: :o Thought it would be about 37, so was thrilled with 34 :D

Then we went off to the SJ, warmed up with help from a lovely lady from Snowball Farm to get Holly really pinging & then went in. I was a bit concerned that she might back off in the ring & worry herself..... Horses always surprise you.... She pretty much tanked me round! Had a couple of cocky "I'm 5 and I'm friggin fabulous!" moments (fence 1 and 5) but jumped a lovely forward round with some grown up flying changes in there too :D Happy happy happy.

So we headed to XC on our dressage score of 34 - wanted a nice steady pootle round the course as it was her first ever one due to the crappy weather we've had. We did a nice gentle standing start, fences one-four were a bit baby & wobbly, but by the time we got to the water we were flying! The water was no problem, she didn't bat an eyelid at the ditch, and bounded off the step, to gallop home just 10 secs over the time :D :cool: I LOVE this little horse so much.

And to top off a wonderful day, Holly was placed 10th! Amazing little horse. She will step up to BE90 next & Dennis will go to BE100 as they both found their respective levels this weekend very easy :)

Holly's video:
http://youtu.be/pxBVcQ4cMfg

And a couple of pics:
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9a41b6938df9746040fc65c103729ef3_zps1d693a73.jpg


And her pro pics:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...77471117.96028.109315089152812&type=1&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...77471117.96028.109315089152812&type=1&theater

Holly doing what she does best (munching!) thinking how cool she is, & Dennis looking a bit tired!:

c584d3609261737bb43da3d314d2dcdb_zps8bf2f0bf.jpg


So we're off to Aston again with Morris on Wednesday, then Tweseldown with another sales livery (Splash) on Saturday, then East Soley with the dressage divas on Sunday... Busy busy! Thanks for reading - protein shakes on offer as we're on a health kick ;)
 
Professor Murphy says he is very proud of Holly and thinks she looks like she is following in her mentor's hoof prints rather nicely!! What a bloomin' marvellous day! Best of luck for weds, and I may see you on sat as going to help my instructor with her baby in the 80 :) xx
 
doratheexplorer said:
What a wonderful report! Both Holly and Dennis look like Superstars!!

Looking forward to your Morris report already!!
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Thank you :) They really are! Morris is raring to go, but will prob be a bit confused when he sees he's back at Aston again! :rolleyes:

CAH7 said:
Great report! Lovely pics too, very well done :).
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Thank you :)

lex2501 said:
Professor Murphy says he is very proud of Holly and thinks she looks like she is following in her mentor's hoof prints rather nicely!! What a bloomin' marvellous day! Best of luck for weds, and I may see you on sat as going to help my instructor with her baby in the 80 :) xx
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I'm so happy Prof Muph is pleased with his little pupil! She really did him proud :) Hope to see you Saturday then! Look out for a little zooming coloured mare ;) xx

star said:
wish i had some spare dosh - Dennis looks lovely! Great results for both of them.
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He is rather special - think we have a buyer lined up, unsurprisingly :)

measles said:
Very well done with both bay people :D Holly looks very pretty and finely sculpted in the hay hoovering pic. How is she bred?
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Thank you :) She is Kostalany & Junior KWPN lines, although looking at her dam side there is a lot of TB in there. She is rather speedy when she wants to be
:rolleyes: We had so many comments yesterday about how pretty she is - I think she knows though & it's def gone to her head ;)

nikicb said:
I love your reports Ali - very well done with both of them. And that photo in the lorry made me smile - typical boy on the right - been a hard day, need some kip, while Holly is keeping herself busy. :)
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Thank you :) Dennis is a typical boy - he went to sleep as soon as they were back on the box! Holly has such a busy brain & I think she finds it hard to contain her enthusiasm for life sometimes, but considering she's only 5 she has not put a foot wrong yet (touching wood everywhere...!) :)
 
LOVE Holly! The "I'm 5 and fabulous!" bit made me properly laugh out loud- Bee was also a great advocate of that :D Dennis is adorable... 31 dressage :O Go away :D
 
Lolo said:
LOVE Holly! The "I'm 5 and fabulous!" bit made me properly laugh out loud- Bee was also a great advocate of that :D Dennis is adorable... 31 dressage :O Go away :D
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Haha, it is nice when they are exuberant but when they think that they know it all at their first ever event it's a bit :eek: Dennis is such a trier - I think that last pic shows how hard his brain had worked ;)

Worried1 said:
Great day :) love the picture of Dennis at the end zzzzzzzzzz
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It was :) Love Dennis - he's just such a cool dude!

alwaysbroke said:
Great report and a lovely pair of horses, love the pic at the end
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Thank you :) Holly could have done it all again I think, but Dennis was def done for the day!

almostthere said:
Well done! So pleased Dennis has got his mojo back.
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Thank you :) He was a very good boy - kept his mind on the job! ;)
 
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