A HOT weekend at Fair Hill Horse Trials

Team PDF braved the heat, which was extra HOT, over last weekend to attend Fair Hill’s August Horse Trials. The team at Fair Hill did a great job of making the most of what Mother Nature had to offer us. They aerated the XC courses to try and provide the best footing possible. They made the wise decisions to shorten the XC courses, and then shorten them once again for Sunday. They set up a vet box with water and ice to cool the horses off with after XC- which we took full advantage of (even whipped out the thermometer to take some temps and see where everyone was fitness wise!). Warm up volunteers were constantly handing out cold cups of water to riders and everyone was in the best of moods even in the heat. 

We thought long and hard about running our horses and in the end decided that as long as we let them take their time, and cooled them off properly afterwards, that they were used to the heat, fit enough and could run successfully over the shortened courses- and we were right.

Upon arrival and after I checked out the tracks I dropped Cedric down from Intermediate to Preliminary after I deemed the Intermediate track unnecessary for him to run- especially in the heat. The shortened prelim track had plenty of good questions and served as a great prep for him for the AEC’s. 

So Sunday was a busy one with 4 to run in the Prelim and 1 in the Novice. Rewind to Saturday though- Sarah and Appy battled the heat to finish 6th in their big Training division- another great outing for them! 

On to Sunday:

All 4 prelim horses put in great Dressage tests scoring in the 20’s with JMF Master Cooley on 27.2, MTF Cooley Classic on 28.3, Cooley All Out on 26.5 and A Real Cooley holding down 2nd on a 25.4! Showjumping was a twisty course on the grass and 3/4 jumped fantastic clear rounds. Clark got a bit away from me on the rolling terrain  and tapped 2 down but I was still pleased with him. Then to XC- all 4 jumped fantastic rounds- running slow- but clear over the obstacles. Cedric and Aoife ended up each finishing 6th in their divisions! 

Lastly: Benita piloted Cooley Daydream around her last Novice prep before I get to take over the ride for the AEC’s- and finished on their dressage score in 6th place! So excited to get to ride this special girl again and it’s been great watching Benita bring her along so well! 

Thank you to all our sponsors for supporting us and our awesome team!

Shout out to Sally Cousins for being the most EPIC Rider Rep! 

Looking forward to this summer heat heading out and excited for the fall! 

-till next time!