Lenny’s Trip to Nationals
We have had a fantastic weekend at the Nationals. We set off on the Friday lunchtime, Lenny travelled well and I worked him for 45 minutes after he had settled in his stable. He felt really good and relaxed.
I was on at 11am on Saturday and I made a brave decision not to do the arena walk. I had been told it was a little crazy the day before and I thought this might wind big Lenny up more! He worked in very well but I think we were both a little on edge going down to the ten minute box, as I expected him not to like the clapping – but he was fine. Jo, his owner, smiled and told me to stop over-riding him in the ten minute box, but I was a little anxious about how he was going to react to the arena! As he went down the tunnel to the arena, he grew to 19hh…
I had no reason to worry as Lenny took it in his stride. He was a little bit tense, but held it together. The slight tension brought in some mistakes, which left us with a score of 67.94, but we were very pleased with him.
The next day was a very hot medium class. Lenny was a little behind my aids in the warm-up so I had to send him on and back a few times. He kept breaking into canter on the left 10m circle and blocking me in the bend, so I had to do a lot of flexing left and left travers and then he felt a lot more through. By the end of the warm-up he felt amazing, much better than the day before and more engaged and connected.
I was feeling confident on the walk down. He pulled out a great test, a few imperfections but he really tried and stayed with me. We were very pleased with 68.9% to finish 10th, as there was not much in the scores between third and tenth.
We are now working hard to do his first PSG in three weeks at Addington Premier League…
Photo courtesy of Julie Geraghty.