Poplar Place

This past weekend at Poplar Place Horse Trials was fantastic. Both horses finished 5th in their respective divisions. Murphy was in the CIC** as a prep for Fairhill and Bijou was in the training horse. Murphy was a bit “wild” as he is feeling quite ready for his big CCI in two weeks. He was fresh to say the least in all three phases. He scored a 55 in the two star test, his lowest to date and I know there is still more in there, so that is pretty exciting. Cross-country was great. He was still very strong, but bold and stayed straight throughout . I didn’t run him fast as his feet are a bit long and I was just trying to get a nice clear round before Fairhill. Showjumping I lost a bit of control as he was bucking and feeling very good Sunday morning and the hackamore turned more into a halter and lead rope. He got strong going into the triple and thus I pulled the first to elements. Still though with two rails he held on to his 5th place finish.
 
Bijou scored a 35 in dressage, a bit high but was still in the top eight after dressage in a larger division. She went double clean cross-country and pulled one rail in the showjumping. I was still very pleased and am really having a blast riding this mare. She will move back up to preliminary at Paradise Farm horse trial.
 
Right now I am sitting down in Ocala, FL watching the WEGS cross country and having a intense couple days of training with Jon Holling as a last little prep before Fairhill. Both horses are feeling great and I am really excited to take a crack again at Fairhill. Hopefully (fingers crossed) it doesn’t rain! Now back to watching William Fox Bit make the cross country look like a hunter round.