Bicton.

Two days at Bicton this weekend with a very early 3am start on Friday which Sammi really wasn't looking forward to! On the plus side she was finished at lunchtime whereas on Sunday she didn't start til lunchtime but then found herself still on site at 5.30 pm.

Friday was a busy morning with Hunter Valley (Gizmo) finally making it to an event without any self harming. He scored a nice 27 on the flat and jumped a lovely double clear so that was a very nice start to the day. Kincooley Cruising (Minnie) and Sammi are slowly building a partnership and their 27 dressage, a rail and a confident clear xc in the OI is proof of work in progress and they finished up in 5th in their OI class.

Calcourt Verona (Ringo) is on the learning curve that comes with stepping up to intermediate and although green she is coming on nicely. A 28 on the flat, a rail and although she picked up a 20 XC at a double of corners to be fair to Ringo she didn't even see it. Ringo hasn't yet learnt to 'look' for the B elements but she will.....

Meanwhile The Kincooley Ceili (William) was also on trend with a 27 in his OI section, one of his spectacular showjumping rounds which involved his trademark handstands on landing. One rider enquired which hind boots Sammi was using and was surprised when the reply was "None!". I think he might actually turn his handstand into a headstand if he had back boots on. He also ran well cross country to finish up 10th.

Sunday was a bit more eventful with the young horses. Jutopia (Lola) was very grown up with a 24 dressage which she just added 1.6 time to to finish up in 4th place. Kincooley Read my Mind (Indie) scored a 31 before taking exception to the trees that flanked the showjumping arena which were moving quite vigorously in the wind and basically lost the plot! Indie was paying so much attention to them she actually ran out of time to put in anything but the poorest of efforts although to be fair she was genuinely terrified. 17 faults later she exited the arena and headed back to the truck. Maybe she was nearly struck by a fallen tree in some storm in Ireland back in the day, who knows but she got her act together for the cross country and ran a nice clear to end the day. Another good weekend done and dusted and plenty more miles added onto both the horses and the truck!