Fairhill Spring HT

It’s been a little bit since Fairhill’s spring HT but I think it’s taken this long to recover from it! Then there was Rolex the very next weekend so we’ve basically been super busy between competing 10 horses at Fairhill (Whoah…)

and then holing up over the next weekend and furiously refreshing the RK3DE scores while watching the live stream and nervous eating. Needless to say…it’s been a busy few weeks! 

 

We knew taking so many horses to Fairhill was going to be a bit of stretch but we hadn’t gotten the youngsters out in awhile and they needed a good run and I love Fairhill for that. Benita needed to take her girls, and then I ended up taking both Colin and Sammy which I hadn’t planned on since SJ ended up missing the Fork and Colin needed another run…thank you Fairhill for juggling us around and scheduling all our rides! We wouldn’t have been able to do it except that the schedule worked out well and I prepared myself for a hectic Saturday while knowing that Friday/Sunday weren’t going to be bad! At the end of the day we never could have managed without our amazing grooms Katie P and Laura who hustled around and got us on our horses and made them beautiful and all the while stayed calm and focused.

So off we went to Fairhill with Colin, Sammy, Roy,  Minnie, Aoife, Fi, Cedric, Logan, Theo, Jessica and then Samuel, Keeva, Katie P, Laura, Benita and myself! 

Friday the Intermediate and Prelim horses just did dressage and all were pretty good. It was Sammy’s first time back doing the Intermediate test and we just needed to school the movements a bit more before heading into the show ring- but she was still well behaved. Colin also put in a nice test and Sammy sat in a tie for 6th on a 32.7 and Colin in 5th on a 30.2. Roy did a nice test first in the ring to score a 29.1 and sit in 5th after dressage in his Preliminary division. Both Aoife and Minnie put in good, slightly green tests to sit in the middle of their Preliminary classes with Benita after Dressage. 

 

Saturday began the real hustle and bustle! I did dressage on Theo (his first time at Training level!!), Logan and Jess first thing in the morning and all scored very well with 31.6, 33.6 and 32.3 respectively. Then I popped on Sammy and Colin to do their stadium rounds. Sammy had one down but jumped superbly (if a little exuberantly) and Colin did his best round of the season so far for a double clear. Then it was back to dressage with Cedric who scored a 27.1- always the showoff. Next a outfit change and onto Sammy to head to XC!

It was her first run at Intermediate since her time off and we took it nice and slow. All the XC courses at Farihill seem to have gone through some new designing and the Intermediate was definitely beefed up since last I ran it! Sammy did great- we got a little backwards into a long angled 2 stride and I held when I should have kicked and we just didn’t quite make it but she answered all the tough questions wonderfully- I couldn’t have been more pleased! I hopped on Colin next and gave it a good go. Colin’s slowly learning how to really gallop so the plan was to run fast and he answered with a great round! He felt super confident after his run at The Fork and came home great- he moved into 2nd place! 

Check out Colin’s Stadium round: 

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I hustled back from XC to help Benita show jump Aoife and Minnie and I jumped Roy myself. All 3 were good in the super tough Preliminary show jumping- Aoife had 2 down, Minnie double clear and Roy 1. Then the prelim horses all ran cross country with Aoife having a great round at only her second Prelim and Roy coming home well also. Benita didn’t have enough control with Minnie who decided to try and take over a bit and Benita pulled her up. She’s still quite green at the level- while also thinking she knows it all- and they’re still working on their partnership. 

Ponies were all taken care of, cuddled with and put to sleep for the night. Sunday it was the 4 Training level ponies’ day to jump! Theo jumped clean in stadium and then double clear round his first (very tough) Training track to finish in 3rd place! So proud of him- he only just did his first event ever this February! Logan had 1 down and then double clear as well cross country, and Cedric one down in stadium and double clear cross country! Great day for the 3 Irish babies! Jess had a great show jump round but, as I said, the Training course as quite tough especially in the beginning and she just felt a tad green so I pulled her up before she lost any confidence. It’s only her second event over here and she just needed a little more schooling before facing such a tough course.

Here are some clips from the Training level horses’ show jumping rounds- Enjoy!

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All in all it was a great weekend for the horses and for our team in general. Colin took home 2nd in his competitive Intermediate division, Sammy Jo brought home 7th in hers. Theo took 3rd and Logan brought home 8th! Cedric finished in 9th as well in his very competitive Training class and Roy finished in 9th as well in his Preliminary. Couldn’t do it without everyone! Thank you to our sponsors, family and supporters and AWESOME grooms! 

Next up will be MCTA for the prelim and Training guys and then I head to Jersey Fresh to contest the CIC2* with Sammy and Colin hopefully! 

Till next time-