While other events hit the abandon button when the rain starts falling Beanie Sturgess simply concedes that the river is now not an option for the October event as insurance generally doesn't cover drowned riders and horses. Cancellation is not an option at Dauntsey and as always they did an amazing job to minimise the ground damage as far as they good without playing the health and safety drums.

Beanie is also justifiably proud of her gifts this time.... metal water flasks as she was fed up of dumping two huge bins full of plastic bottles. This nod to the environment was slightly offset by the carbon footprint of her 1930's tractor which whilst doing a great job of rolling the arenas at the end of the day also belched out more smoke and fumes than your average nuclear plant.

Looking pristine as always even in the mud Sammi started off the day with her Boekelo ride, Finduss PFB (Louis), who is fully three day fit and slightly overexcited as his dressage score reflected. 37 wasn't going to be leading the OI but a super showjumping round in the tacky ground was fun to watch before he skipped around the tough enough cross country for 10 time and eventual 9th. Getting a 'mud run' in before Boekelo is always a handy thing to have ticked off!

Even more excited was The Kincooley Ceili ( William) who has been off games for most of 2019. A 70% test was followed by a spectacular display of jumping which included both handstands and some bucks. He was delighted to be back out again at a party and deservedly so but the handbrake was firmly on for the cross country with 28 time and William safely back through the finish flags.

Solidly in the "unexcited" bracket was Faerie Magnifico (George) who at the tender age of 6 was seriously unimpressed with both Louis and William's antics. He calmly won the dressage in his section for a 26, jumped a very smart clear round in the mud showjumping and cruised effortlessly cross country to finish just 2 seconds over the time for the win. Two wins in two weeks for Sammi and George and the partnership is looking pretty top class for Le Lion d'Angers which runs after Boekelo.