Posted on 31st October 2020 by Kate Rocher-Smith
It was a solo trip south for Craig and 6yo Dassett Curra Candy (Candy) for the final event of the year, the CCIL2*. They were on a high from their 4th place at the National 6YO Championships a few weeks ago and this mature mare is more than ready to tackle a three day event, despite her young age.
Needless to say, the pair flew through the first trot up and got plenty of compliments on this fine mare’s model. They had dressage on day one, Thursday. The halt and and rein back were a bit of a muddle but the rest of the test was accurate and smart leaving the pair on a competitive mark of 30.
To say it rained and XC day a serious understatement! And the wind – there were 50 to 60 mph winds to compliment this rain – quite an unpleasant day!! Anyway, it goes without saying this professional mare was not in the least bit distracted or phased by the conditions or the mud it generated. She took it all in her stride. She headed out the start box like a total pro and cruised around all the straight routes clear and comfortably inside the time. This good result moved her up into 13h place over night, but it was incredibly tight – just one pole lay between 3rd place and Craig.
On Sunday morning, Candy looked like nothing had happened the previous day and pulled out very well. She warmed up for the jumping as she always does, jumping superbly. But sadly, today was a very rare day where a rail fell, resulting in 4 faults. She ended up a bit distracted, on the wrong leg and quite flat into the second fence – a small vertical off a long bending line by the warm up arena. This was enough to drop the pair to 24th place. But despite this, we were thrilled with her performance and she is more than ready to crack on at Intermediate / 3* level next spring.
