Picnic really enjoyed her trip to Scope festival and I had a great experience over the three days I was there. We arrived on the Wednesday night and got Picnic settled in as I wanted to be up early to walk the course on Thursday, I was quite surprised how wide the fences were and wished I had been round a few more courses at this height as we only moved up to Newcomers in June! It was a bit late to be worrying and we had a great round with only one pole down at the easiest fence that was there - Picnic managed all the combinations and got every stride spot on so I was delighted even though quite cross with myself for not keeping my concentration to jump the whole course clear! Unfortunately the next day we were still plagued by a 4 fault curse so missed out on qualifying for the championship but I was really pleased that she coped with the atmosphere and the jumps with ease. On returning we then headed off the attend the Blenheim Riding Club eventers challenge - something a bit different but thought a change is as good as a rest!!! Picnic absolutely loved the course and unfortunately jumped one of the brush fences so cleanly (and about 2 foot bigger than it was) that she jumped me out the saddle which meant on landing I had to add a circle to get back control and reapproach the next fence. She is now having a well deserved week off before we start back in training for the Blue Chip qualifiers.
I had to make the hard decision to sell Biggles as he is unlikely to withstand being a competition horse and I didn't want to take the chance when he could go on for years and have lots of fun as an allrounder and generally fun horse - very sad and also really frustrating as he is so talented! But its not all bad news as someone has got a fantastic horse to enjoy - I have found him a new home where he is being spoilt rotten and I am also getting regular updates on how he is getting on! Ze is enjoying life a bit too much and I wish he would tone down his exuberance a little as we parted company at the weekend during a schooling session when he decided monsters were hiding outside the school and sprung into action to escape unfortunately leaving me on the ground - he did return looking very confused as to what I was doing down there!!! Next on the agenda will be looking for my Biggles replacement horse as Picnic is getting lonely competing on her own, so hopefully next time I will be able to update you on how the search is going ....
