Wellington, Sunday

 It was brilliant to have Cool Mountain out again, doing his first Advanced for a little while and I was really happy with him.  He did a decent test to be in the top few on 26.8.  He jumped a superb clear show jumping and flew around the cross country very comfortably for 12 time faults.  Today was a very important run for him ahead of Blenheim and I used the outing as part of his fitness plan.  So it was frustrating to be held on course and not to have had the full value of a decent length course.

The Advanced course was a good track and conditions were perfect. It is fantastic to see how much the event has progressed in the last three years.  It was though quite surprising to see how much trouble the course caused and how many holds there were.  Perhaps there were a few inexperienced horses not quite ready for the transition to Advanced?

Bay My Hero also did a lovely test to lead his section on 25.4.  He then clipped the first two show jumps, which will hopefully have been a good wake up call for us ahead of Blair.  He pinged around the rest of the course and then, as was the plan, I withdrew from the cross country.

I decided only to do the dressage on Luxury, to make use of the opportunity to have his last competition experience before Blenheim.  I was happy with his test he did some excellent work and scored 25.5.  It is exciting to see how he is improving nicely in time for Blenheim.

Ramdam de Mons was competing in the OI.  He did a very good mistake free test to score 24.6.   He jumped clear show jumping and then, very frustratingly, I decided to retire in the cross country as he was not feeling his usual self.