Bruno competed at Pinetop in the Open Intermediate, scoring 28-29 in dressage with a clean jump round, then took a slow cross-country ride as a fitness test. The plan is to build toward Tryon's 4-star in May, with stops at Bruce's Field, Carolina International, and Fair Hill, coached by Eric Devander and Peter Wild.
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You get my good size. Hello there. Tina Putter and Jake. We took Bruno out for his first run of the year, his first horse trial of the year out at the mighty Pinetop Thompson, Georgia. We had him in the, the open intermediate and it was a very, very good outing for Bruno. He, he gave me a really good, good ride in all three phases. So it was a busy day for me. I had a bunch of horses in the intermediates and this is Bruno's dressage on Friday morning. He did a good test. He, I think he scored a 28 or 29 which was a good result and he show jumped like a legend as he usually does. And then cross country is brilliant. I intentionally went quite slow on him just because that's sort of the first event of the year and I've got him fit but not super duper fit. So I sort of just canted around and was sort of using this competition as a little bit of a preparation event for the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing which I think it's the first weekend in March and really going to try and give a good performance there. So this week, you know, Pinetop Horse Trials, I just wanted to have a, you know, a nice run on him. He feels full of confidence. His fitness is nearly where I want it. He's going great guns. So basically all of January we mostly spent on just training at home. We did take him to a dressage show and a couple of show jumping shows and he's in good shape. So obviously we did this event and then I think in a couple weeks time we'll do the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing. Then we'll run him at Carolina International in the advanced Horse Trials, Fairhill Horse Trials at the advanced or the four star short level. And our big goal this spring is the try on three day event which I think's in May. And to really have a crack at the four star long. We've been having some training and some coaching from Eric Devander who is recently unemployed by the American team. But he's a brilliant coach so he sort of comes and helps me on all the top horses. And then jumping coach is Peter Wild, Peter's fantastic jumping trainer. This coming week I'm thinking I'll take him to a jumping show in Ocala, Florida. I feel like obviously he's a great jumper. We're still trying to get in sync with each other. I feel like we're getting a better partnership now. We're starting to really click, especially in the jumping phases. I'm Starting to get a good understanding on, on how Bruno wants to be ridden. We're all looking forward to seeing you guys at the Bruce's Field Grand Prix Showcase thing. I know they're having a memorial for Annie, which would be wonderful. A lot of people excited to get together in remembrance for her and awesome that Bruno is going to be competing at the same weekend. I think it's going to be a wonderful tribute to Annie. So, yeah, looking forward to that weekend. Then we'll most likely bring him back to Pennsylvania a day or two after the Bruce's Field Showcase. I feel like the, the farm up here, it's got better gallops and sort of better fitness work. And I'd say that's the big thing for Bruno is to get him really, really fit and strong so he can really, you know, gallop fast at the big three day events when we really need that stamina in him. Come sort of May when we really have a crack at the, at the tryon. Four star long. As I said, I was just using this as a bit of a school this weekend. Then I think at Bruce's Field we'll give him a bit of a spin. If we're competitive going into the cross country, we could go quick and try and get a prize. As usual though, Bruno's jumping out of his skin. I had a number of horses in the, in the intermediate class and none of them jumped this good. Feel like I'm getting a little bit more relaxed on Bruno. Obviously he's a fantastic jumper, but one thing I found is you got to try and keep him confident, keep him relaxed and he sometimes gets a little bit fast and quick to the base of the jump and just been working on trying to stay a little bit light and a little bit soft the last couple strides and give him a little bit of room before he takes off and that seems to give him the best jump. I trotted up good and sound this morning, so you should have. I went very, very slow in the cross country. I think I picked up 20 time penalties or something. So we hardly got out of a canter, but that was my plan. I really wanted to have a nice, easy start for the year anyway, guys, I'm looking forward to catching up with you hopefully in a couple of weeks. And yeah, like I said, Bruno's in fantastic form and I feel like we're in for a really good season this year.
