Ali16
Well-Known Member
As promised, here's the Grand Prix debut report 
Sadly we didn't have anyone to cover the yard so I was left behind But I made sure that the boys went off to their first ever Grand Prix looking smart as possible (please excuse the odd socks, that bit was left up to Edward... *sigh*). Svenbo was looking very, very smart in his lovely new Thermy - many thanks to Harry Dabbs for that!:
Edward has been through an awful lot with Sven - he imported him as a 3yo from Holland and they have been all over the place together, including doing a 2 year stint on Monica Theodorescu's yard in Germany. We have had massive highs and crippling lows along the way, but Saturday really made it all worth it
When they got to Sparsholt Sven warmed up beautifully - he struggles to stay in the contact in the collection work and so Edward put him a bit deeper than usual to hopefully instill a bit more confidence in Sven. And then in they went!
Edward was thrilled that Sven just kept on trying all the way through the test... he tends to get stage fright and becomes inattentive (he has been known to canter up the centre line and whinny!). But this time Sven knew he was there to perform
A few pics from the test:
Lovely extension:
The first piaffe (and Edward checking himself out in the mirror!):
The walk, which they have really struggled with previously - they got 7s this time - big pats:
Moving out of the second piaffe:
Canter zigzags:
Edward having to hold on tight in the extended canter!:
Happy, happy rider:
Edward put the superstar pony away and wandered off alone to check the score... His mother found him in a blubbering mess holding his sheet. He had wanted to get 58%+ (with how Sven struggles in the collection work and his 'stage fright' we thought that would be an acceptable GP debut score).
They had got.... 61%!!!! Clever, clever boys! Second place overall in the class
They had some lovely comments from the judge too, who acknowledged Sven's greeness in the contact for the collection work, but also clearly really liked the partnership
So Edward still hasn't come down from cloud 9 and is slightly unbearable at the moment Yesterday he pointed to his shoulder and said to me: 'Come here and smell this.' Confused, I did as he asked... He then looked at me and said 'That's the smell of success!!' CHEEKY BEGGER! It's easliy forgiven though as normally he's the most humble person I know.
So lots of drinkies for Team HDE over the last 48hrs!! Thanks for reading, sorry it's slightly epic!
Sadly we didn't have anyone to cover the yard so I was left behind
But I made sure that the boys went off to their first ever Grand Prix looking smart as possible (please excuse the odd socks, that bit was left up to Edward... *sigh*). Svenbo was looking very, very smart in his lovely new Thermy - many thanks to Harry Dabbs for that!:
Edward has been through an awful lot with Sven - he imported him as a 3yo from Holland and they have been all over the place together, including doing a 2 year stint on Monica Theodorescu's yard in Germany. We have had massive highs and crippling lows along the way, but Saturday really made it all worth it
When they got to Sparsholt Sven warmed up beautifully - he struggles to stay in the contact in the collection work and so Edward put him a bit deeper than usual to hopefully instill a bit more confidence in Sven. And then in they went!
Edward was thrilled that Sven just kept on trying all the way through the test... he tends to get stage fright and becomes inattentive (he has been known to canter up the centre line and whinny!). But this time Sven knew he was there to perform
A few pics from the test:
Lovely extension:
The first piaffe (and Edward checking himself out in the mirror!):
The walk, which they have really struggled with previously - they got 7s this time - big pats:
Moving out of the second piaffe:
Canter zigzags:
Edward having to hold on tight in the extended canter!:
Happy, happy rider:
Edward put the superstar pony away and wandered off alone to check the score... His mother found him in a blubbering mess holding his sheet. He had wanted to get 58%+ (with how Sven struggles in the collection work and his 'stage fright' we thought that would be an acceptable GP debut score).
They had got.... 61%!!!!
Clever, clever boys! Second place overall in the class They had some lovely comments from the judge too, who acknowledged Sven's greeness in the contact for the collection work, but also clearly really liked the partnership
So Edward still hasn't come down from cloud 9 and is slightly unbearable at the moment
Yesterday he pointed to his shoulder and said to me: 'Come here and smell this.' Confused, I did as he asked... He then looked at me and said 'That's the smell of success!!' CHEEKY BEGGER! It's easliy forgiven though as normally he's the most humble person I know.So lots of drinkies for Team HDE over the last 48hrs!!
Thanks for reading, sorry it's slightly epic!
