Last week saw another run for Saint at BCA. A solid performance in all 3 phases left him just out of the prizes but he gained more valuable experience.

Monday was a long, busy and wet day at Little Downham with Basil and Zippi competing in their first intermediate and Orange and Nancy in the advanced. 

Thrilled with Zippi's test which scored a respectable 35.5. Zippi does not enjoy the wet and mud so the show jumping was always going to be a challenge, especially after he stood on his shoe mid round and impaled his foot with it! A fast confident XC round, managing to remove the newly replaced shoe, left him in 9th place. 

Basil did some fantastic work in his test but decided to throw in a few free style moves in the canter! He went on to jump a brilliant double clear finishing just behind Zippi in 10th.

Orange was on great form to be half a mark off the lead after dressage and a double clear picked him up 6th place - a great pre Pau run.

Nancy warmed up beautifully for her dressage but was tense in the arena, disappointing as she has been working so well at home. She had one down SJ and was rather over enthusiastic XC leading to a steering issue at a skinny.

The team heads to Calmsden on Saturday with Saint, then Oasby for a final intermediate run.

 Super busy week for the team! Wednesday saw Saint at Purston Manor horse trials, one of our local events. He produced a good test and a faultless XC round, but a rail in the show jumping kept him out of the placings. Back on Thursday with Basil and Zippi in the novice class. Basil did a great test and double clear to finish 9th and we think that Zippi was 3rd in the Retrained Racehorse class.

On to Gatcombe on Friday, with Orange and Nancy in the Open Intermediate. Delighted with Nancy, who was much more settled in her test to score a 34, and a good double clear. We are getting to know her a bit better now. She is a mare with an amazing work ethic who loves her job. 

Orange was having his first outing since being off colour at Blair Castle, and was certainly delighted to be out. Despite not being in a dressage diva frame of mind, Owen was able to ride a great test to score 28, which hopefully shows progress in our training. He also jumped a great double clear to pick up 6th place.

 An exciting few weeks here at Team Orange HQ. We had 3 horses entered for the British Festival Of Eventing at Gatcombe Park - Nancy in the Advanced, Scooter in the intermediate championships and Orange in the British Open Championships. 

Nancy did an ever improving dressage test and an amazing clear show jumping around a track that produced few clean rounds. She was unfortunate to pick up a technical 20 penalties XC, but she went in the worst monsoon weather conditions and Owen had to turn a circle between a table and a skinny. Over all we could not be more delighted and are very excited about her performance.

Scooter did his very best in the dressage, a phase that does not come easily to him, and did not disgrace himself in a high class field. He loved his round SJ in the main arena, jumping a beautiful clear. We didn't run him XC as we felt the ground and difficult terrain wouldn't suit him but Scooter enjoyed his day in the limelight!

Orange also had to contend with monsoon weather conditions when the heavens opened just before his dressage test, but he is developing into a grown up event horse and maintained his composure to score 46 in one of the most competitive 3 star fields I have seen. He also jumped a foot perfect show jumping round to leave him in 6th place but he also did not run XC as we are saving him for Blair and Pau.

A very busy 2 days at Aston le Walls followed later in the week with Nancy, Orange and Scooter in the OI, Zippi and Basil in the novice and Saint in the BE100. Orange was 4th with a good double clear, Scooter was also double clear and Nancy had some dressage and SJ practice but did not go XC after her Gatcombe run.

Zippi and Basil were impressive around a tough SJ track and finished 4th and 5th in their sections. Zippi is heading towards intermediate points and we are thinking about where to give him his first run at that level. Saint also had a good run in the BE100. Very pleased with all the horses' progress and they will have an easy few weeks until we return from

Blair Castle, where Orange will be competing in the CIC***.

 A few weeks rest for Team Orange after Tattersalls, then off to Purston Manor for a confidence boosting BE100 run with Zippi Jazzman. Zippi had not enjoyed the ground at Weston Park so a quick spin around Purston with a 30 dressage and double clear was just what he needed, as well as picking up a cheque for 4th place.

Barbary Castle novice was a testing next outing for Basil, and we were delighted with him, even if his day didn't go entirely to plan. He did a solid test to score 33, then slipped in the Showjumping, and was lucky not to fall but had two rails down. He made easy work of the tough XC, but pulled off a shoe 3 from home. Not really Basil's day, but very excited about his progress.

Orange showed how much he has grown up since last season, now completely comfortable in the big arena atmosphere. He had slightly too long in the warm up and was a little bit flat in his test but couldn't be more pleased with how rideable and obedient he was. The original plan was not to run cross country, but rain on Friday improved the going and after a beautiful Showjumping round we thought he should run. A fantastic round with a few time penalties left him in 25th place of 108 starters in a very strong field, taking home a cheque for £250.