Fernhill Sport Horse Blog

All at Fernhill were very excited as Duarte headed off to Badminton to make his 4 star debut.
Although Braveheart has won and 2nd in 3star CCI competitions its a big step up to four star and you never know if you really have a four star horse until you try!!
The dressage phase went according to plan and Braveheart was his usual composed self and scored 52 which we were very happy with. The test is much more technical than he has done before but with help from Pammy Hutton for the few weeks before Duarte was confident entering the arena.
When asked what he thought of the cross country Duarte said “BIG” to which I replied well what did you expect!!!
It was a serious track and as I am sure all reading this will know caused its fair share of problems with some of the top riders failing to complete.
We were therefore extra proud of both Duarte and Braveheart on jumping around clear. They looked a class act and a true four star combination.
The final day saw a couple of poles on the floor which is unusual for Braveheart and left them in 32nd place overall. A very commendable result and something to build on for next time.
Thanks to all who helped make it possible. Kate and Ruth Honey who minded Duarte and Braveheart in the weeks leading up to the event and during the week.
Polly Cottingham who as usual took great care of Braveheart and has been with him during most of his 3 day successes.
Hattie Lawrence the vet who took on Braveheart on his arrival in England and was with him during and after the xc phase and very early on Monday morning!!!
Pammy Hutton for Ironing out the wrinkles in the dressage phase and for her witty approach to teaching which she soon learned is the way to get the point accross to Duarte.
To Catherine Witt my loyal friend and supporter for her financial help with Duartes training which is supposed to be for our joint horse Fernhill Pimms but I am sure she will be delighted that what he learned will help when Pimms gets to this level!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.