Eventing midweek with novices and BE 100's is like a mini me International. All the pros rock up with truck loads full of young horses that they don't have time to compete at weekends as the weekends are full of even more truck loads of horses competing all over the country at the upper levels.

Sammi is thankfully operating back at Pro level so she had to get up at 4.30am and drive her 4 horses to Wales in order to get them the runs they needed needed. I am not sure the early start did much for her enthusiasm as she was lamenting at the end of a very long day that the cross country starter kept her hanging round on Kincooley Read My Mind ( Indie) for far too long. Since Indie is currently very much the family pet I am sure that was part of the factor and despite Sammi's protests that her "poor 5 year old" had been on the lorry since the crack of dawn they still managed their debut 100 with some style.

A 33 dressage also annoyed our diva as apparently it was "stunning". A green rail and a super clear cross country means that Indie is still the family pet though which is good as the last family pet won three pre-novices before retiring to a life of ease that only Mexican Cartel members can envisage.

Back in the novice world and the ever reliable Sheepdrove Cariad ( Carrie) bucked the trend he has created by proving that having lost a shoe during the week and along with it quite allot of work posting a 38 dressage and booting out three rails on a tricky showjumping was perfectly acceptable. He redeemed himself with a lovely clear over what was quite an unusual cross country course with plenty to think about.

Calcourt Valley ( Kevin) was very grown up at his first attempt at this level with a 28, a single rail and a lovely clear cross country just 2 seconds over time. This sort of time on a first time novice is previously unheard of so I can only imagine that Sammi really does think allot of Kevin's cross country ability which is a very good sign for his future. He finished 7th and picked up his first BE point at his first try.

Of course, being a girl, Calcourt Verona ( Ringo) was not going to be outdone by that. Also having her first stab at novice and having posted an identical dressage score meant she needed to showjump clear in order to get ahead of Kevin. Ringo did that beautifully and then was allowed a pleasant stroll round the course for 11 time and 6th place and a point of her own.

Lovely young horses and lots of advanced horses for Sammi this season so plenty to look forward to.