On Sunday 4th September, we headed to Goring Heath BE with Punch for the BE100 and Ozzie for his last run before Weston. We managed to get there without any lorry dramas this year and didn't even have to pay the toll on the bridge!!
After a bit of the usual faffing I was on Ozzie and warming up for the dressage. He was going beautifully even if I say so myself, as after Firle last week we had swapped bits and I now am trying to do dressage in a hanging cheek, which seems very effective thus far! After someone withdrawn, I managed to go in early, which was great as he was still going well - which makes a nice change! He did a really nice test with a few mistakes, however the number of mistakes is decreasing with each test. He finished up with a slightly harsh 41, but I was pleased with how he went.
A quick change and onto show jumping. We put off going for as long as we could due to torrential rain, however it was clear that it was very unlikely to stop anytime soon so we would be better to brave it before conditions started to deteriorate. I was really nervous as several horses had been eliminated! I needn't have been as he was a star and flew round - he was really unlucky just to roll one pole behind, and he only brushed it - although in the conditions it was very good!
That was where the good day ended. Up to the cross country, he warmed up beautifully, I then had stopwatch trouble nearly resulting in us both ending up on the floor at the second fence. Pulled myself together and gave myself a mental slap and the round started going really well! He was flying, over the skinny, down the step - through the water and up the two steps to a skinny brush. A trakenah to a skinny triple brush, up the hill and over a nice palisade, then back down the hill to a brush, three strides to a step up and bounce over another skinny brush which he did beautifully. The next fence was a wide hay cart on four strides to a corner. My new brakes proved too much and I never got a good enough canter coming in. When he got there we were on a complete nothing stride, and he tried his very best to clear it, but unfortunately caught his tummy on it. This caused very quick deceleration, meaning when his front feet landed, he went down on his knees, and the muppet jockey fell off! So that was the end of our round. That was when the panic started as I needed another run before Weston. Thankfully I got into South of England, so hopefully that will go a bit better!

Punches day wasnt much better, he did a nice enough test to get the standard mid 30s mark - which considering wasnt too bad! He warmed up for show jumping and jumped the first five fences really nicely. Came round to the double at 6, and he stopped - after a smack bottom, we jumped through the double, only for me to let him get a bit flat and stop again at 7 - I then got my act together as I was not going to be eliminated and he finished clear over the fences, but only after checking out that two of them were ok first!! The cross country was barely better. I should have got my act together by this point - but no, had a stop at 5! But after that he flew round and still made the time!! So 3/6 phases went well, and the other 3 were rubbish, but at least there were some positives!

Then Friday 9th Sept, we set off for Blenhiem with Surrey Union as part of the team for the Pony Club Eventers Challenge! Ozzie was struggling with the heat and humidity a bit and felt very flat. I have never been so nervous about jumping round a 1 meter course in my life! Charlotte White on Sienna went in first and jumped a lovely clear, just inside the optimum which gave me confidence! Ozzie jumped a lovely round, bar hitting the first two fences, luckily they stayed up! Jockey had a few navigational issues, but they were sorted and another clear inside the optimum was posted by Surrey Union. This was a very rare occurance throughout the day! Next in was Genevive Clarke and Welton Jazz, they jumped a cracking round until having the dreaded last fence down, the planks, for the second year in a row, however this meant we could finish on no more than 5 faults which put us jointly in the lead. Lucyanna Westaway and Raindance III were unlucky to have the fourth fence however we had finished on 5. Liz's time keeping had paid off, as we were closer to the optimum than the other team on five. We got to the end of the competition and we had kept hold of the lead! We had jumped in blue and yellow war paint - which was much admired I must add, however we were told to take it off for the prize giving - the war paint had done its job and scared the opposition so we didnt mind too much!
All in all a very good fun, but long day! I cant wait to take Lily back there next year!

I am off to some combined training next weekend, and South of England the weekend afet