We are all excited with the news that Fernhill Gloster Rebel is set to make his Championship debut with Duarte later this month in Kentucky. Although he is only 9 years old, Duarte feels he is ready to tackle this challenge and his recent runs in Hartpury and Highclere have confirmed this.
Rebs is entered for Blenheim this week in the CIC 8 and 9 year old class but will probably only do the dressage and part of he cross country as a warm up for WEG.
Carol heads over to England to meet Duarte and discuss his final preparations. As Duarte has been based in England this season Rebs has not been seen on the Irish circuit so we all look forward to photo and video of him from his recent events and his Championship debut.
His ex stable mate Fernhill Clover Mist also travels for Ireland to Kentucky with Experienced championship rider Trish Donegan. We wish then all the very best of luck.
Its great to see two horses with pure Irish bloodlines flying the Fernhill flag and competing at the very top of the sport.
Exciting times!!!
Archive for September, 2010
WEG
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010Glandoran
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010As the rain came down for the first time in weeks we headed off to County Wexford to the home of The Chapman family to Glandoran just outside Gorey.
Fun and games with the truck on the way resulted in our horses arriving in dribs and drabs and been spread about the truck park in various trucks and trailers but in true Fernhill Fashion “The show must go on”!!! So our days sport tho delayed a little commenced!!
Sophie made her debut with new ride Scottie Ducati who was previously campaigned in England by Austin Oconnor. She posted a super double clear in the CNC 2 star class however the mornings rain and consequent slippery going resulted in a number of time penalties in both the show jumping and the xc. We were delighted with the performance and this combination look to be an exciting match for Ballendenisk International in a couple of weeks.
Kellie Hutchinson had her second outing with our good pony Rathball Prince and we were all delighted when she won the class with a double clear. She has taken no time to form a great partnership with Prince they looked like they had been together all season!! Well done Kellie keep up the good work.
Deidre Lannigan’s Sea Top Boy was on form again and another 2nd in the 4 and 5 year old class made his owner very happy.
Carol Rode her new baby Fernhill Tosca, a very exciting prospect by Shannondale Sarco out of a clover hill mare. He was a star in all phases and finished in 2nd place.
As usual The Chapman family had the kettle boiling at the end of a very wet soggy day and tea and cake in the hospitality tent was very welcome by all who were brave enough to stay to the bitter end for the prizes!!
Camphire International
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Camphire held its first international event last weekend. The beautiful setting on the banks of the Blackwater is an ideal venue for such an event and with the backdrop of Camphire house it really is a stunning setting.
We were blessed with the weather and had glorious sunshine all weekend.
Friday saw a full day of dressage, Fernhill M2S did his test in the two star arena and tho his score of 60 penalties might not sound great he performed as well as he could at this stage and was much more grown up than on previous outings. A few green moments prevented a better mark but he is improving all the time and we were happy.
Mr Jones was early in the one star arena and on hindsight we probably did not work him enough before his test. we did not take into account the atmosphere here compared to the one days he had attended to date. He was still stunning and scored 48 penalties but could quite easily have been 5 marks better. He is new to the eventing game and we will know for next time.
We stabled with the Beechers in Tallow just a couple of miles down the road, they had the place looking spick and span and a great welcome awaited us from Timmy Paul and Tadgh as usual. Its always a pleasure to stay at Loughnatousa, the facilities are second to none.
Timmy kept us entertained with his stories over dinner in the Bride View Bar and a great evening was had by all.
Another day of dressage on Saturday saw good scores posted by Fernhill Go-Go on his international debut and Xifon both in the one star.
The Horseware League Final for 4 and 5 year olds took place on Saturday and we had Deidre Lannigans Sea Top Boy qualified. He did a respectable dressage and jumped clear both show jumping and xc to finish 7th. Thanks to Tom Mcguniess of Horseware for creating this series its a great chance to see the top up and coming young horses perform.
We were all invited to drinks and canapes in Camphire house on the Saturday evening and it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends old and new from the eventing world.
Sundays cross country started with the Two star competitors and we were delighted when Fernhill M2S jumped around clear with just a handful of time penalties. The course caused its fair share of problems with some of the more experienced combinations having the odd glance off.
All three of our one star horses stormed around the cross country clear with only Xifon getting a quarter of a time penalty. `this left them all in the top 15 in this section going into the show jumping phase in the afternoon. Again they all jumped super clear rounds. Mr Jones finished in 3rd place tho he head the dame score as the 2nd placed competitor he was slightly faster xc, Go-Go was 4th and Xifon 12th. We were delighted with these results and all horses finished sound and happy.
M2S jumped a lovely clear in the two star show jumping and finished 14th.
All in all a very good weekend, all credit to Sophie for doing such a fantastic job with all the horses, five horses and five double clears, it does not get better than that!!!!
