George was entered for Salperton with his previous rider who was also riding another in the AI. So instead of withdrawing & us having to drive all the way over to Lincolnshire to pick him up, she brought him to Salperton and we did a change of rider so that I could compete him! However because I had only ridden him once I decided only to do the Dressage and Show Jumping!

Overall I was very pleased with his dressage! He doesn't have a good track record in this phase and is very hot headed. He was warming up very well but then got spooked by something and unfortunately blew up just before I went in. Considering this I was very pleased as nothing went horrifically wrong in the test and we came out with a score of 40. The marks ranged from 4-7 with both George and I picking up a 7 each. Him for his paces and me for my riding. At the end of the test the judge very sweetly got out the car to say well managed, very quietly ridden and what a shame that he hadn't been more relaxed. I am confident that as I get to know him more we will get some scores in the 30's.

Next up was the show jumping. The course at Salperton is always big and cleverly designed and causes lots of problems. True to form poles were flying down left right and centre. However even though I had only ridden him once I wasn't worried as he is awesome to jump and we successfully negotiated a 1m20 track when I tried him! He warmed up brilliantly but unfortunately our round didn't go quite to plan because I focused too much on not letting him run and take out strides, that I did the polar opposite and we had no canter and he couldn't make the distances and got buried at the base of a number of fences. Thus resulting in a bit of a cricket score. But I am not concerned as it is a mistake I won't make again and everyone needs a bit of a kick up the backside sometimes! It was a big ask considering we don't know each other from adam, and he jumped the triple bar to treble combination to upright absolutely foot perfectly! Next time out I am confident that we will perform in a way that reflects our true ability!

So onwards & upwards! I have one exam left on Monday and then I am at Associates camp with him for four days where we will receive training from Kenneth Clawson and Yogi Breisner before heading to Purston for the ON.