Caroline had entered Zenester her young mare into a local ODE at Bicton, it's run over their newly built course but when she walked it yesterday she decided it was too much too soon for a horse that had only gone XC once. There were drops into water, tight turns etc , so she withdrew and asked if the could enter Chocolate in the Open Class instead.So this morning they set off for an unexpected competition.
It was horribly hot but he did a lovely test for a 30, and went straight into the lead.
The SJ was causing lots of problems, and C put him totally wrong into the planks, he made a valient effort but was just too far off to clear them, he then panicked a bit thinking he had been naughty touching a jump, and had the back pole off the next fence too.
She set off XC round a pretty testing course, it was between 3' 3" and 3' 6" and is intended to be the BE course for their proper event, all newly built beautifully constructed fences but some difficult steps and a roll top into the water etc, so a fair test for an Open Class.
Chocolate loved it, as you can see from the pics, in the first pic above he had just cleared the fence behind into one fo the water complexes, and found nothing troubled him on the course.
Despite the two fences SJ they were clear winners, so a good day out if unplanned.
She will take Zenester to a lower key event, she is such a bold mare it would be a shame to frighten her, and I think Chocx enjoyed his day out. He was much admired and it never does any harm to win locally, it all helps sell your youngstock.
