Following on from their hugely successful international horse trials, Aston-Le-Walls also held an unaffiliated event, and DE boss, Kate Rocher-Smith, was out competing once again.
Andrea Burdett’s Dassett Forever Autumn (Autumn) had her first run of the season in the 100 class, posting a 29 dressage and then jumping double clear inside the time to finish second. Having not evented since last season whilst Kate was pregnant, Autumn was such a professional to come out and be so competitive. We were thrilled for Andrea, who has been working hard with Autumn’s flatwork and fitness over the winter and spring; it was lovely to see her effort has paid off! Andrea’s positivity and supportiveness makes her a fantastic member of our team, and she will continue to work on Autumn’s fitness whilst Kate competes her this season. We are excited to see what they will achieve!
Kate also rode Hannah Berryman’s Westwood II (Polly), who is on loan to Izzy Rees. The pair placed third in her 100 section after running double clear inside the time to finish on her 27 dressage score. This eye-catching grey mare has been based with us for a couple of months, and will be competed by DE student Izzy Rees whilst she takes a gap year before university. We are all looking forward to seeing this combination out on the circuit soon…however, Kate has had such a fantastic time riding and jumping this talented horse we think Izzy may have her work cut out to get her horse back!
Dassett Banker (Robin) competed in his second ever event with Craig, and did a lovely dressage test for 26 before jumping a super showjumping round. Robin was having a great round out on the cross country and looking fantastic until disaster struck in between fences, as an unfortunate slip-up in the greasy mud meant the pair ended up walking home somewhat muddier! Luckily they are both absolutely fine, but we are gutted Robin didn’t get to complete his round after looking so confident up to that point. He is learning so fast; taking him eventing has shown us what an amazing attitude he has to pick up a new discipline so quickly, and we can’t wait to see him out at his next competition!
As if running the international horse trials wasn’t enough of an effort, Aston managed to deliver us this super unaffiliated event, and we were very grateful for the opportunity to compete once again. A special shoutout has to go to the countless volunteers, who have worked tirelessly over the eight days of competition to deliver us such fantastic competition. Thank you all!
