Above: The Kincooley Ceili competing in the BHEH at Barbury in 2015.

Back to Tweseldown for the novice day and I can see that transport is going to become a recurring theme until Sammi finds a new horsebox! Today there were three horses which, as we know, wont fit into a two horse truck. Solution: Take 2 two horse trucks. Simples. Except not so simples when the nice Albabian car park man (known as "Suzanne" by his co workers at Tweseldown but that is a whole other story) could not quite grasp the concept that both trucks needed to be parked together as the kit, horses and rider,not to mention groom, were split between the two. After negotiations that may or may not have included a reference to Brexit the situation was resolved and the day began in earnest.

D is an interesting name for a horse I always think. Its so handy when you go to look up his record and the BE search engine offers up 40,000 options and your screen freezes instantly. And as for the automatic search when doing an entry.... anyway, for those of you who have always wondered why Sammi chose such a thoughtful and insightful name for her horse here is the answer. All KWPN (Dutch warmblood) horses have an initial issued per year of birth. So in D's case, 2008, all horses born that year must have a name that begins with D. When Sammi discovered that his passport said just D she either did'nt realise the KWPN rule or simply could'nt be arsed to think of a name beginning with D and write the rest of into the passport. Anyway, despite the fact he is one of the few horses whose stable name is longer than his competition one (Dee), he rose above the embarrassment and went brilliantly for a 29 dressage and a speedy double clear for 5th spot, some points and a very nice rosette.

Nimrod has a bit more experience under his belt and ran in the open novice with another great start to 2017 posting a 31 and a double clear as well. I think Sammi was a bit miffed that I mis quoted her time faults on Gizmo as she actually only had 24, not 34 as I wrote so she blitzted round on her novices for just 6 time on both. Either that or she was just in a hurry to get back to the truck but I am dead impressed!

The Kincooley Ceili certainly cannot be accused of having a name that is hard to find. Just hard to spell. And a slight commentators nightmare. Luckily his stable name of William is much easier to deal with. William is one of the rising stars of Sammi's team and is precociously talented. Its not often that Sammi flags up a horse as having 4 star potential when they are so young but she has always rated William very highly. His 30 dressage and effortless showjumping clear preceded what Sammi described as "a peach of a ride" cross country which was only marred by a run out at the second water which was slightly inexplicable.

So the first event is done and dusted and the boys bought home ribbons on both days. A great start at a lovely event and since Sammi is now teaching half of Cornwall on many weekends the next run will be at Gatcombe Park which is two weeks away.