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Hi {name}
Last time I wrote from Poland where ODT Sonas Rovatio pulled off a win in the CIC** with Nikos not far behind him. I was extremely pleased with both horses who now head to the Advanced class at Aston Le Walls this weekend. ODT Sonas Rovatio was then my horse of choice for the Bolesworth Classic Eventer’s class last week which is similar to the Eventer’s Challenge that runs at Hickstead each year. He jumped brilliantly over the show jumps and solid fences, but unfortunately just rolled a pole near the end of the course which cost him the win with the honours going to show jumper Anthony Condon.
Looking back, I have been to a few mid week events including Stonar School which turned out to be a very successful two days for me and the team as well as a very enjoyable and friendly event. We had the babies doing BE100 where Last Resort got his first win. I also had two winners in the Novice sections with Arctic Mouse and Whata Perk taking their respective sections. Next stop was Aske which provided another few good wins; on Belmont Virlandie, who is a new horse owned by Victoria Hazeldine, and on ODT Ghareeb who added another red rosette to his collection. Mayhem III had his first run for a few weeks as well, jumping a double clear with just a few time faults to add.
I then went to Shipton Moyne with the babies where Last Resort and Godoh Jurisprudence (a very hard name to try and say let alone spell) both won their sections. Next came Barbury where I was disappointed not to have a horse in the CIC*** in the end. I still went on the Saturday and Arctic Mouse and Gorsehill Star both finished third in their Novice sections, completing on their dressage scores. I then went along to the Festival of the Horse at Stoneleigh on the Sunday to watch, and present the prizes to the Young Riders doing this year’s Express Eventing class. It was a great day of action and I hope it will back running for the senior riders again soon!
Following Barbury came the news of the GB team selection for the World Championships where I was named as one of the non-travelling reserves for the WEG with Ashdale Cruise Master. I’m obviously very disappointed not to have been included in the team because I believe we have done enough to show that we are a successful partnership with a proven record in international competitions. Hopefully we can prove to the selectors that they have made a mistake in overlooking Splash.
Carden Imp continued his good form with an Intermediate win at Tweseldown – he went really well! Kath and I left the yard shortly after 4am to get there on time, but we ended up missing my first two dressage times due to being stuck in traffic for a couple of hours, frustratingly just 15 miles from the event. The organisers were very helpful when we did eventually arrive, and we even managed to finish the day ahead of schedule!
Last week I was competing at Upton House mid week where ODT Top Dollar scored his first win. He is a very classy five year old by Puissance who I have high hopes for in the future. We have had him since he was a real baby so it’s very exciting to finally have him winning at events! Following a morning there I had to go straight to the Bolesworth Castle Showjumping Classic launch where I was speaking in the late afternoon. It turned into quite a nice quiet evening and I was back to the show the next morning to compete – also jumping a couple of horses against the professional show jumpers which was quite nerve wracking, some of the jumps looked pretty scary to me! I managed a few good rounds in the morning before we got on to the Eventer’s Challenge class.
My new range ‘Townend Online’ sponsored one of the show jumping classes at the show and we had a stall there as well, stocking all of the products that are on the website www.townendonline.com The leather range is now back in stock in all sizes and colours (we sold a lot of stock quicker than we imagined for the first batch) which is great news.
Last weekend we made the very long annual trip over to Great Witchingham, which means a start of 1.30am – fortunately it was well worth it with Jeepers Creepers winning the Intermediate class and Belmont Virlandie and Nikos coming second in their sections.
This week I’ve been busy riding at home, going to the gallops and to Somerford Park to XC and SJ school a few. This weekend we are at Aston-Le-Walls from Friday through to Sunday with both Advanced and Novice horses entered. I’ve also had a film crew on the yard who wanted to ask me a few questions ahead of this year’s Burghley. They took a few shots with the grey boys in the background which I hope will come out well on tape. The footage will be used for any press or TV who want to use it around the time of Burghley.
Remember to enter this month’s member’s competition which you can find in the member’s area of the website. This month you could win a load of prizes from me including a signed numnah and T-shirt and I will see what else I can find to give away as part of the prize!
Good Luck!
Oliver
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