In this video for the Annie Goodwin Syndicate, the rider recounts competing with his horse Bruno at the Carolina International Horse Trials (advanced division) in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He describes the preparation (flat work, dressage practice) and provides a detailed assessment of each phase: Dressage – a second‑place score of 30 with solid but not flawless execution, noting the need for more roundness and suppleness, especially in the shoulder and left forehand, and mixed results on flying changes. Cross‑Country – a conservative ride at about 80% effort, focusing on jumping out of stride and maintaining confidence; Bruno won the phase, demonstrating careful yet powerful jumping, handling large fences and water jumps, though one jump was mishandled. Show Jumping – clear rounds with a few time penalties; Bruno’s natural jumping ability shone, especially on big jumps and a ditch hedge, leading to a class win. The rider discusses training and conditioning methods (flat work, suppleness drills, conditioning pond “aquatread,” hill gallops) and the coaching team (dressage coach Peter Silva, cross‑country coach Eric, overall coach). He outlines upcoming competitions: a 4‑star short at Fair Hill designed by Derek Degrazio, and a longer‑term goal of a 4‑star long at Tryon in May, aiming toward 5‑star and potential Olympic contention. Throughout, he emphasizes the growing partnership with Bruno after six months together, the importance of confidence, and a balanced approach to speed and safety.
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This is a video for the Annie Goodwin Syndicate. This weekend we took Bruno down to the Carolina International Horse Trials. It was down in North Carolina, near Southern Pines and we, we competed in the, the advanced division of the, of the event. We got down there Thursday. I arrived and gave him a bit of work on the flat, practiced a few moves in the, in the dressage on Thursday evening, wok really early on Friday morning and worked him again just to get him nice and relaxed. And then our test, I think was about 9 o', clock. So it was first thing Friday morning and he put in a lovely test. To be honest, it wasn't quite as awesome as our test at Bruce's Field. I feel like the test we had at the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing was flawless and we had a couple tiny little mistakes in this test, but all in all it was, it was pretty good. He's definitely smart in the flat, smart in the dressage, and there's still improvement there. I think. We finished in second place after the dressage on a score of 30, which is pretty good. But I need to get him just a little bit rounder and a little bit softer in his frame. As you can see there in the shoulder and lefty, it's pretty nice. But he just comes up against my hand and a little bit stiff and locked. And I think to get the really, really good marks, I've got show a little bit more suppleness. And the flying changes were okay. I think the second one was great. You'll see in a minute. The first one was a bit dodgy. I think we got a five for our first flying change. But all in all I was very, very happy with him. He stays settled. He's very, very rideable. He's still green in there. Like, I still feel like he's getting comfortable with the higher level. And, you know, I think the improvement in the dressage over the next six months is actually going to just be more roundness and suppleness and that will sort of allow him to let go and be ultra extravagant. The judges love him anyway, but I think there's a couple of point more points in there. Obviously, three or four weeks ago he had a blinder of a run at the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing and we went flat out to win the contest. I decided that it would be smarter to actually ease up on him a little bit for this event in the cross country. I'm very, very confident in his speed, but I think it's important not to get greedy and go really, really fast at every competition just because we want to win a prize. In the cross country, I sort of coasted around at about 80% effort, so I pushed him or sprinted in between the jumps, but I really worked on jumping the jumps out of stride. That being said, he won the competition, which is pretty impressive. It's two wins on the trot for Bruno, which is fantastic, Fantastic result for him. And I feel like after. I must be with him now six months. And that was a good change there. Six, six months. Now we're starting to really bond and get a partnership together. And I feel like that's the name of the game. He's a very, very careful jumper. Like, he's almost too good of a jumper. And when you've got careful, scopey jumpers like this, I think it's important that they're very, very confident, especially in the cross country. So, you know, part of it is the training, and then the other part is in the. In the competitions of just giving him a little and making sure that every cross country jump is a good experience. I think we scored a 30, which left us narrowly in second place after the dressage. Again, there's a couple movements in there that we need to clean up along with just trying to get him a little bit rounder in his head and his neck. So the next day, which was Saturday, we went cross country just after lunch. We were lucky. They had a live feed, which we video here, so we see most of Bruno's course. Funny enough, last year we were, you know, we sort of didn't know each other that well for the cross country, and it was. We weren't quite in sync with each other. It was a little bit herky and jerky, and, I don't know, something in the last six weeks really clicked with Bruno and I, and I feel like he's bursting with confidence, and I also sort of understand the correct ride to give him. I don't know, he's just giving me that championship feel over the fences, like he's looking for his next jumps. He's focused. You know, he's not a thoroughbred, but he's got speed and he's got a really big stride. And I feel like if I keep working away at his fitness, that he'll be able to do the appropriate time. It's always kind of interesting said earlier that, you know, it's important not to try and win every start, but saying that you don't want to go around like an old grandma. So I was basically just trying to let him Roll on at the speed that he was comfortable with. And then the big thing is trying to pick up these bigger tables and wider fences without adjusting him, not spurting him at the jump or slowing him down too much. And I feel like I did it pretty good there. One jump I made a mess of late in the course. We'll see it in a moment. It's the only one that I got wrong. But all these bigger, wider tables feel like. I felt like we picked them up out of stem. So Bruno and I, we come back to Pennsylvania and keep working away with my jumping coach. Peter Silva's helping me in the dressage and Eric's helping me cross country and sort of an all round coach as well. And our event's going to be in three weeks or four weeks time. I think it's at Fair Hill. It'll be the four star short, which will be. It'll be a big track. It will be a big, bold, brave track. Derek Degrazio, the designer of Burley and Kentucky, will be designing it. He always builds a pretty beefy track. But I feel like the time's perfect to take on a bigger course. Now, the last two or three events, I felt like Bruno's done very well, done it easy, and we're ready to tackle just half a notch bigger and bolder between then and now. I'll probably go easy on him for a couple of days, Give him tomorrow off, and then Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, I'll just do a little bit of flat work and suppling work and getting him moving around. And then Friday, if he's in good health, we'll probably give him a gallop. The ground's perfect up here in Pennsylvania at the moment. It's great to be home on the grass hills. I feel like the fitness and conditioning on Bruno's a very important part of it. The jumping part's sort of done for me. He's just a natural jumper. I really have to screw up to knock a jump down, which is a wonderful feeling going into the show jumping, especially when you're in the lead, knowing that your horse wants to jump clear. And if you could just point him in the right direction and give him a good ride, nine times out of ten, he'll jump it beautifully. Ian Stark designed this course and he builds a pretty proper track here and a lot of angles, corners, narrows, and I feel like Bruno was looking for the fences. Next jump was a really, really big jump into water. Six strides up a bank and then a pretty long three strides to a corner. I Was watching a number of the other horses go on the live feed and people were pulling back and doing four strides or some even did five strides to the corner. And I don't know, I just feel like Bruno's confident and he's looking for his jump. So I went on the forward distance. Same thing at Bruce's Field. It really gave, I don't know, like it gives him a good feel of letting him roll onto the jump. I was really, really pleased. That was one of the hardest jumps on the course of that corner, which is. That doesn't look that bad on the, on the screen there, but it's a really tight angle and you need a horse that sort of is looking for a jump and almost like threading and, you know, threading a needle. The ground's pretty good there. It's pretty good grass. And we had good rain on, I think there on Wednesday and Thursday. So the, the footing was good. And Bruno's touch wood. He's a healthy horse. Like, he felt really good warming up for the show jumping this morning after this run. Even though we didn't go as fast as we could have, it was still a, you know, proper test for him. Big jumps and see, it was about a seven minute course, I think. Took our time a little bit. We were about 15 or 20 seconds over the time and sounds like a lot, but I feel like if I sprint in between the jumps and carve a few of the turns, we're very capable of making the time. He's a little bit ditchy and this next jump is a big ditch hedge. And he impressed me. He didn't even look at it. Got a good shot at it. He popped over it like it was nothing. They've been decently quick, actually. Huge jump over that brush fence there. Really, really powerful jumper, especially in his hind legs. So you gotta sit back a bit over those drops. The only jump I regret is the next one. I. He was getting a little bit brave and keen and I ended up having to pull back and whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Bruno. Anyway, I can't whinge too much. It doesn't look too bad, but I got to try and avoid those fences. It's so much better if I can see a flowing distance. It's easier on him and more efficient faster, obviously. So we're coming towards the end of the course and Bruno still very, very fresh, ears were pricked and galloping along well, I feel like we got him pretty fit. We've got like a conditioning pond at home that he goes in once or twice a week for 20 minutes where he sort of has to. It's like an aquatread where the water goes up near his chest and it's more of a core fitness work. And then galloping him up the hills here in Pennsylvania. Massive asset for a horse like this. Come off quite a big win at the Aiken Showcase just a few weeks ago. That was exciting. We were both there, so it was a big sigh of relief. You know, deep down I thought he'd go well, but you just don't know after sprinting around Bruce's field if it might have rattled him. But he, he felt great. And this is the show jumping this morning. The time is ridiculously tight to make the optimum time here in the show jumping. We had a good lead going into the show jumping and just got to watch. Sometimes he jumps a little bit crooked over a jump off a right turn. So I went extra wide on this turn and then same again to jump off a right turn a bit later. And fortunately we picked up a couple of seconds time penalties, but it didn't matter. He won the class and more importantly, he went well. Often you win and it feels horrible and you're belting them around and fighting for it. I just felt like Bruno was on cruise control this weekend. I think we're in good shape coming up to a big test in three or four weeks time at Fair Hill. Ultimately our spring goal would be the four star long at Tryon. That's in May and that will sort of get us qualified for five star level and hopefully be a contender for the Olympic Games potentially. But one step at a time. We're in good shape, he feels good and I really feel like we're developing a great partnership.
