Old Bat
Well-Known Member
Some of you may have seen his introduction a couple of months ago, this really is the kindest young horse that I've ever met though at 5 there's still a chance of the Kevin era!
We took him to his first ODE at Offchurch at the weekend, having been out to the odd dressage, sj, hunter trial and eventer challenge he is really starting to enjoy life at parties and stays chilled but happy. These Lands Eventing events are really worthwhile, very friendly and encouraging and run to the same calibre as affiliated.
Pitched towards the end of the section on a hot muggy day we weren't expecting too much but Amy rode him beautifully for a nice accurate test and all went well until the final centre line and halt which looked like a drunken spider from A. The judge must having been eating her sarnie at that point though as all she gave him was "slight loss of rhythm and square halt" which confused and delighted us in equal measure, especially when he clocked the best score in the section!
Onto showjumping which at 80cm turned him into a bit of a bighead having been schooling upto 1m, he rushed a bit but at least gave up dangling his toes and turned out a nice clear...
And xc seems to be turning into his favourite phase, he ate the course up apart from the sunken road where he temporarily lost his brave pants and wobbled sideways for 20 penalties, coming home nicely inside the time without rushing so looks like he has a good ground covering stride as well!
So Amy and Simba ended up the day with 10th place and best dressage, going home very happy with life and looking forward to the next one.
We took him to his first ODE at Offchurch at the weekend, having been out to the odd dressage, sj, hunter trial and eventer challenge he is really starting to enjoy life at parties and stays chilled but happy. These Lands Eventing events are really worthwhile, very friendly and encouraging and run to the same calibre as affiliated.
Pitched towards the end of the section on a hot muggy day we weren't expecting too much but Amy rode him beautifully for a nice accurate test and all went well until the final centre line and halt which looked like a drunken spider from A. The judge must having been eating her sarnie at that point though as all she gave him was "slight loss of rhythm and square halt" which confused and delighted us in equal measure, especially when he clocked the best score in the section!
Onto showjumping which at 80cm turned him into a bit of a bighead having been schooling upto 1m, he rushed a bit but at least gave up dangling his toes and turned out a nice clear...
And xc seems to be turning into his favourite phase, he ate the course up apart from the sunken road where he temporarily lost his brave pants and wobbled sideways for 20 penalties, coming home nicely inside the time without rushing so looks like he has a good ground covering stride as well!
So Amy and Simba ended up the day with 10th place and best dressage, going home very happy with life and looking forward to the next one.
