THE EQUESTRIAN EVENT OF THE YEAR! - Countrywide Farmers

YOUNGGUNSAbbie Hughes reports on the latestcompetition news from the south westHi all, I am fortunate to say that Ihave just returned from a fantasticweek’s holiday in Majorca – manythanks to the Carter family – had a lovelybreak and even my legs managed to get a tan!It has been a difficult summer with theground being so firm; however we have stillmanaged to keep busy with the dressage andeventing. Regency Valentine gained his firstpoint at Novice by jumping a double clear atAston le walls and then a second at Longleatgetting into a role. Ramiros Secret(Monty)came 5th in the open intermediate atPontispool and Master Midget came avery credible 3rd in the BE100 class. Inthe Stars (Spooky) completed his firstNovice at Longleat (despite the seriouslywet conditions, making a total change- where we had to be towed in and outand all of Sunday sections being cancelledapart from the international) so he copedextremely well. Ramiros Secret excelledhimself in the 2* to come a very credible4th jumping a double clear which wasvery exciting. Glanusk international wasa lovely event – both Monty and Spookywent very well, unfortunately they bothdropped a couple of poles and didn’tget placed – thoroughly enjoyed thecross county and will definitely returnnext year. Monty went very well in theadvanced at Aston le walls – he feltawesome cross country and the flyingchanges are nearly there in the dressage!Hartpury CCI 2* was a great eventbut a mixture of serious high and lowfeelings from start to finish. Montywas lying 5th after the dressage heperformed a great test, then after an amazingclear, inside the time cross country on thesecond day we moved up to third – so exciting.However with Monty’s weakest phase to followI had butterflies in my stomach, unfortunately4 poles down dropped us to 18th. I was sodisappointed but on the other hand I finishedwith a sound horse who had excelled in the firsttwo phases and he will now have a break andspend the winter showjumping. Spooky hasprogressed very well at Novice and came 5that Sapey, also winning the retrained race horseclass at Honiton Show a week previous.weronella has had a fantastic summer, she wonthe advanced dressage at Hartpury premierleague and came a credible 8th in the prix stgeorge. I will be aiming her for inter 1 nextseason. She has also been busy performing atdemos: one for the students charity eventingdemo at Bicton college and the other at BictonArena for Mr Lord Clinton. She loves to showoff and at both events peformed dressage tomusic displays, entertaining the crowds tomake dressage more exciting for all viewers!The foal has been born (Embroyo transfer fromweronella), she is very cute and healthy whichwas thankful considering we tragically lost thesurrogate mare through colic when the foal wasjust two months. A horrible experience, luckilythe foal soon adapted to bottled milk then milkfrom a bucket and has coped well. we will begetting another youngster to run alongside her.Hope all is going well with you and your horses,AbbieT O w N & COUNTRY M ATTERS Autumn 2011 www.townandcountrysupplies.co.uk15