Beautiful Belton Park

What a glorious day! Craig and I had 5 Novice runners yesterday (Friday 29th March), and planned to get all done and dusted in the morning so we could enjoy an afternoon around the beautiful event.

Craig rode a trio of 7 year olds. MBF Dassett Legacy and ARD Dassett Spectre were in the Novice as their last run before upgrading to Intermediate level at Burnham Market in a few weeks. Both horses looked like the established and talented pros they are; MBF Dassett Legacy finished on his 31 dressage for 4th place and ARD Dassett Spectre just added a couple of time penalties to a disappointing 38 dressage for 9th place. Craig also rode Dassett Code in the Novice. He did an improved dressage test for 36, had one very cheap and unlucky rail in the combination and followed it up with a lovely cross country clear around what was a very decent track.

I had the returning 8 year old, Drombane Dassett in the Novice – this was a very tall order as only his second run in 18 months and only his third Novice run. He was a bit too distracted in the dressage and clocked up too many mistakes, ending up on 41. He jumped a great show jumping round with just one rail falling towards the start before settling into his rhythm. Likewise, we ended up with an early 20 penalties cross country, before he settled and focused – it was all a bit exciting at the start! However, he grew in confidence and learnt the whole way round, and I was thrilled with his improvement and attitude. He really ‘manned-up’ yesterday! I also rode SVS Dassett Enterprise in the Novice. He was a bit too sharp in the dressage for a disappointing 38, but jumped a very confident and mature double clear.

Lauren, Hayley and Chris (Craig’s mum) did a wonderful job of getting through all the runners very efficiently, and it meant we could enjoy all Belton Horse Trials has to offer during the afternoon. James (my husband) and Ella came up for the day, and we had fun with the lambs and spent what felt like an entirety on the bouncy castle! We all ate copious amounts of strawberries, chocolate and brownies, between gate crashing the Owners Tent, where my mum was volunteer for the day.

We’ve enjoyed a day at home today before 9 horses at Goring tomorrow…