Barney Rubble - Tryon FEI - Sept ‘24

This is a video for the Barney Rubble Syndicate. Hello, everyone. We just got back from try on four star short. This was the second four star that both Barney and I have done together. Our first being at Bromont about a month ago. And he was very, very good. Still green, green in all phases, but definitely showing signs of improvement since Bromont and also feeling very confident and brave. I was a little bit nervous, obviously, after Broman. I think I mentioned it to you that it was such a big course. I really worried that it might have rattled Barney slightly and I cross country schooled him once between the events and he felt very, very confident. So I took on the four star here again at, at Tryon, and he was very, very good. A dressage, it was very good. It was still a little bit green. You'll see in the halts, he sort of steps back and I think the first flying change wasn't perfect. The second one was good. But all in all, he's, he's a little bit nervous and tense in the dressage, but the, the, the quality of the work's good. I think we got a, a 31, which, considering when I really look at this test, there's so many places that we can improve the horse. There's no magic. I think it's just going to take time. He's, he's sort of new to all these new movements, the canter half pass and the flying changes and cantering down the center line. And as time goes on, he'll just become a veteran at these new movements. But at the moment he's a, he's a little uncertain. The great news, guys, is that he jumped around the cross country and the show jumping super well. He's bold and brave and quite aggressive to the jumps and he's a bit of a handful to ride, but to be honest, now that we're at the very top of the sport, those attributes are pretty handy. And I was very, very pleased with the way he went. Like Bromwon, I just actually nurtured him around and held his hand around the course a bit and went quite sort of conservatively with the speed. The hardest thing with Barney is he really wants to go. And I'm finding myself having to sort of steady him up and he's got such a big strider, almost slow down quite early in preparation for the event, for the jumps. Usually when you get a horse to a new level, you can just get through the first event or two unscathed. Then after that it gets better. We arrived at Tryon a day early. I Was lucky to ride Barney in this ring once or twice before the. The competition, which is handy. It's quite a spooky ring. You can't see it because the video camera operator. There's big stands and a stadium behind where the camera is. And the horses get quite nervous in here. Barney held it together, but I also have sort of a very cautious riding him through the test. I can't quite sort of attack the test yet just because he's right on the edge of exploding from memory. This flying change was great, but big thanks to Silver Martin. She's been schooling Barney for me once or twice a week in the dressage. And slowly but surely she's falling in love with him. He's a. He's a quirky horse, Barney. He's spooky and a bit sharp, but got amazing quality in the jumping and the, and the flat work. I mean, have, have a look at this extended trot and I feel like once he really lets go, he's going to have a. A trot for a nine and a half ten. So anyway, I was very pleased. It's not a perfect test by any means. I think we finished in, I want to say fifth or fourth or fifth place. It was a decent field of horses. So to finish high in the standings on a green horse is a lot to be excited about. The week before this competition, we took Barney up to Sogarty's and we jumped him in the meter 30 up there. And again he jumps really, really big and he's an ultra careful horse. We ended up having one rail down. It's late in the course. I've made a turn a little bit tight. And I sent my video to Peter Wild and he said that I was sort of wrestling with the horse a little bit too close to the fence. And at the end of. He's so careful at the end, I've just got to let him go. I think this was our rail here off a right turn. He's a bit wild and he just tapped it again. These competitions, they're very important, but at this stage of Barney's career, we're not trying to win every competition. We just want sort of good, good outings where he has good experiences. And I'm sure Barney's going to win plenty of these big contests down the road. Once he's just a little bit more seasoned. But at the moment he's got all the jump, all the movement. But I'm sort of hanging on for dear life. As you can, as you can see in the video, cross Country Day was good. It was probably not as big as, it wasn't quite as big as course as Bromont, but it was very technical. The one thing about Barney, he's brave as hell. He really, you know, the hardest part for Barney is he's got a really, really big stride and he attacks the jump. So you'll see in a jump soon, like it's a seven strides turns into a six strides or if you want to get seven, you almost have to sort of wrench him back and it's a bit ugly at the moment. The good thing is he really understands all the questions. There's never a fence where I feel like he's questioning whether he's going to go or not. The great thing with him too is he's such a careful, careful jumper. Even though it looks a little bit wild, I actually think he's quite a safe ride. Like he'll turn himself inside out to stay on his feet. If you look closely here, he gets right underneath this rail but then somehow just gets his legs out of the way, which is something in his DNA. He, he just jumps higher. These were two massive, massive corners. He jumped that well. Anyway guys, it's Sunday morning. We got home very early this morning and my vet Kevin's already been out and trotted Barney up and he looks, looks perfect on the trot up. So I actually think that we should aim our next show as the Morven park four star long. In my heart of hearts it's a little bit early for Barney, but there's never a fence that I ever feel like he wouldn't jump. The reason I'm sort of tempted to do this four star long in October is that it would make him available or qualified for a five star next year. In the back of my mind, I'd potentially like to be thinking about doing Maryland five star this time next year and if we can get him around Morven park, be a blessing. Anyway guys, we're in fantastic shape and I'm very, very excited about the future with Bar.