Barney Rubble - Morven Park FEI - Oct’23

This is a video for the Barney Rubble Syndicate. Well, guys, me and Barney had our final event for 2023. We went to Morven park, which was down in Leesburg, Virginia, and we contested Barney's second three star short. And it was a, it was a very, very good competition. It was Barney's best performance, bar one very awkward, weird moment in cross country, which you'll see later in the, in the video. But this is the dressage test. This was on Friday and Barney was fantastic. Barney gets the improvement award. This is the same test that he did at Plantation Field and he was so much better. One of the reasons where we got there quite early. Barney shipped down to the competition on Wednesday. I had one of my grooms hack him for a good hour on Wednesday evening. I got there Thursday morning, worked him Thursday morning, Thursday evening, and then I hopped on him again on Friday morning. So by the time we actually did our dressage test at lunchtime on Friday, all of Barney's nerves and anxiety was sort of, of washed away with plenty of work. And on top of that, I just feel like the training starting to really pay off. I feel like we've got him in a better shape and a better frame. The movements are really coming. He's got a good understanding and he sort of staying relaxed. And it was a very, very competitive field. I think there was, I don't know, 50 horses in it or something. And Barney, I think from memory got like a 70% from one judge in a 68, 69% from another judge, which is very, it's starting to get good. I think we've got a score of 30, which from memory is like a five or six point improvement from Plantation. But remember Plantation, he was just wild and fresh and sharp. And here you can see that he's concentrating a little bit better. You know, looking back on this year, I think it's been successful. You know, Barney isn't the easiest horse, but he's unbelievably talented. And I really feel like this is going to, you know, it's a process. He's got more quality than most horses have ever ridden, but he's definitely a fiery customer and he's quirky, he's, he's an odd man, odd horse, but I love him. And I think, you know, looking back on this year, we've obviously had some success at the prelim and two star level and then moved him up to intermediate Millbrook in August. And, and now he's done a couple of three star shorts and I think next year is going to be his breakout year. I think next year we'll spend the, the bulk of the year at three star, possibly go four star towards the end of the year. But the dressage is coming the, you know, again, he's a, he's a beautiful, moving animal. He's got wonderful paces, but he's electric, he's sharp, he's spooky. All these traits that I seem to love in my event horses, but it does sort of mean that they take a, a long time to produce. But you can see here he's really starting to get the, the understanding of the canter walk canter. And you'll see in the minute. The half pass were fantastic. And I don't know, it just, it just seems like it's all coming together. My plan is to give him one month holiday. Probably about now I've got. I'm gonna spend the week at Maryland three day event and then I go to France with Bruno and do PO5 star three day event. So I'm away for two weeks anyway. And even though he's very, very sound and healthy, I feel like he's. His body and his mind needs a bit of a break. He's been training well and I don't know, I just feel like he's getting stronger and more educated. But like I said before, you'll see in the cross country, there's still a couple of holes in him. On cross country. After our very competitive dressage score, I really sort of made. I sort of thought, you know what, let's really go for it. We've sort of been babying Barney a bit the whole time of never letting him run on. And the ground was good, we had good rain there and I decided to let him rock and roll in the cross country. And about three quarters away around the course, it was raining pretty hard and there was a coffin and then there was jump judges and spectators with umbrellas. And in a split second, I just couldn't believe it. Barney came to a screeching halt. And I don't know if it was the umbrellas or the jump. I mean, we're so far away from the jumper. I definitely don't think it was the jump. I mean, they gave us a penalty for refusing the jump. But, you know, Barney's such a strong, forward, feisty horse. I mean, I've got the smallest spurs you can get on him. And I got this little baby whip on him and it just completely caught me off guard. I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, what are you doing, Barney? Anyway, this is the beginning parts of the course and he was going great. This was the first really tough combination. And that was a quite a steep angled hedge. And for the first time, I really tested Barney's speed here. Not sure how much video he get, but he let him rock and roll. I think this is our glitch. So about now the coffin's coming up and he spotted something and just didn't see that coming. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, what are you doing, Barney? And there were some spectators off to the side with umbrellas and, and this obviously was a troublesome jump. So I quickly took the long option here, which was the alternate part A and then, and then A jumped part B and C, which was the ditch to the roll top. So technically speaking, we didn't have a refusal at the jump. We sort of took the long way. But I mean, I decided not to protest it. I, I obviously there's still a hole in Barney and A, you know, there's still work to be done. There's still training to be done. It happened actually. I've got another horse called Luke and Barney reminds me of Luke. And it happened with Luke once when I first got him at Bromont. And anyway, it was, it was a shock, to say the least. After that, I decided to take the cross country course quite slow and just sort of get him around. And it's a shame actually, because I was going like the clappers with their, you know, with the intention of making the time year finished the year successfully and, but it wasn't to be. But again, it's not jump. I don't think it's jump related. It's. Barney is a spook. He's a careful here. So he's a nervous horse. And all of a sudden we were galloping along and then all of a sudden we came to a screeching halt. And then once I got him going again, he finish the rest of the course brilliantly. I'm still dumbfounded about the. I'll let us say. But obviously, like I said before, guys, we've still obviously got a lot of improvement to go. This is the trot up on Sunday morning. I got up early and rode Barney on the flat just to loosen him up. And he, he's been a very, very sound horse. So initially, when we bought the horse, that was our biggest concern. And it's been the least of our concerns once we got over that hump at the beginning. And I have a lot of confidence in Barney's soundness and trotted out well. And in the show jumping, he warmed up like a legend. Like, he warmed up really careful, quiet and chill and relaxed. And then once we got in the ring here, he lit right up. And I had my old Barney back by saying that he still jumped one of his better rounds. I find jumping in with a slightly shorter rein and, you know, you just sort of got to do the best you can to keep him chill. But, you know, the warm up was fantastic. And then when we did go into the ring, he did get a bit energetic, but it was still controllable, it wasn't too bad. And as you can see, he's jumping really well and it was very hard to get a clear round. It was a tough course. And even with Barney being a little bit wild, he's such a careful jumper, such a sharp jumper and a scopey jumper, he just sort of catapults himself into the air. So after this run, I think Barney deserves a good long rest. You know, looking back at him, I'm proud of his performances this year. And it's been a, you know, what I call a developing year. There's no shortage of ability and talent with him. The hardest thing is that he's sharp and he's hot and he's fiery. But all these things actually start working in our favour once we get to the four star, five star level. Like, he's got real sort of grit and determination. So I'm really looking forward to next year. Anyway, guys, I'm very proud of him.