September started off busy for Team Sommerville with our first event of the month being Richmond Horse Trials. Being such a local event with a range of classes we try to take as many horses as we can to run.
Shadow Soldier a fairly new boy had a run in the Novice. Also known as Fruity at home, he did a beautiful test to post a score of 29 followed by an unfortunate four faults in the showjumping and clear cross country to finish second.
Shadow Inspector (Chief) had another Novice run, he did a lovely test, however with a little confusion in the rein back he dropped a few marks. Chief went on to do another beautiful double clear and is showing he has a huge amount of potential. Chief still managed to finish with a top 10 placing in seventh place.
Altaskin Jack (Jack) ran in the Intermediate at Richmond, flying around with another double clear and finishing second. This seven-year-old is now into advanced points and showing so much potential of becoming a top event horse.
Our next road trip was all the way to Blenheim Palace with Talent on board for his final run of the season in the CCI3* hoping to gain his CCI4* qualification.
We arrived early at Blenheim on the Tuesday afternoon to get Talent settled in and happy with his surroundings. There is a big atmosphere at Blenheim and Talent always enjoys to show off in front of a crowd. On Wednesday afternoon it was the trot up, Talent as always looked like a superstar showing so much presence and floating his way through the trot up.
Thursday was a free day with our dressage test on the Friday, we used all the time we could get to keep Talent settled and focused on his work. Talent did such a beautiful test on the Friday, with all of his trot and canter work looking correct and listening to James. However a slight distraction with the flowers and flags at the top end of the arena blowing away in the wind caught Talents eye causing his to spook slightly. James picked Talent back up very well and they continued their test in harmony. Talent posted a 52.4, we were very happy with the result knowing it could have been better looking into the late 40’s without the spooky mistake.
Saturday was cross country day and the true English weather arrived. It was pouring with rain and the ground became testing with the weather conditions. Talent was setting off at mid day, James was concerned about the conditions with the course causing a fair few problems early on. However being the cross country machine that he is, Talent was up to the challenge, picking up a few time faults due to being careful around the course.
James and Talent moved up the leader board a fair few places after the cross country phase. Head groom, Lucie, did an excellent job making sure Talent recovered well and was feeling and looking prepared for trot up the next morning.
Sunday morning arrived and unlike many horses Talent was alert and ready, showing no signs of a difficult cross country round. He flew through the trot up and onto the showjumping phase in the afternoon. It was a long wait, however, Talent was up to it. The showjumping also took a few prisoners as it proved to be a big technical track. Talent jumped around like it was nothing, however getting a little too eager had a rail out of the treble combination. Our main excitement was Talent incurred no time faults in the showjumping phase which we always find difficult to achieve with this little horse.
James and Talent finished in the top 25% again, and like Bramham finished in 18th position. Most importantly we gained our CCI4* qualification!! Roll on Badminton 2017!
Talent is such a special horse to our team, he may have his quirks but the relationship James has with him, it is such a treat to watch the trust those two have with one another. He is a tricky horse to feed at a three-day event, with all the excitement he is always on edge. With Fibre-Beet on board it has made it a lot easier to keep the weight on him. He gets a bowl of Fibre-Beet during the day and in evening along with his normal forage, he finds this more palatable and with a touch of molasses in his warm Fibre-Beet it makes a really sweet smell that he really likes.
Back at home, Talent will now enjoy his winter break with lots of treats and plenty of field time to make himself extremely muddy!
Finally this month we had a trip to Allerton Park. All the horses continued to perform well. Jack ran in the Intermediate for his final run of the season, he flew around with a double clear and finished in second!
Fruity did another good Novice run to finish in eighth and Chief also flew around in the Novice with a double clear!
Prince ran in the BE100, with a good dressage and double clear he won his section finishing his season off very nicely! We have enjoyed having Prince this season and he will now go back to his lovely owners James and Izzy Fife for the winter. We hope he enjoys a good rest and fits in a good spot of hunting!
Next month we are going to be a lot quieter, winding down to the end of the season. We have a few more events left and are planning to head to Bishop Burton, Askham Bryan and Norton Disney with Fruity, Chief, Rocky and Mabel’s horse Tanghan.
We are looking forward to a rest after a very exciting season with lots of special horses we have, we will be out performing some demonstrations and teaching. We will also be heading over to Ireland for the Monart and Goresbridge Go for Gold sales.
Keep feeding your Fibre-Beet to keep those horses looking and feeling their best!
Team Sommerville
