Bruno completed a final Olympic prep competition in Aiken with dressage, show jumping, and cross-country phases. He jumped a demanding course in 79 seconds, well under target, but needs a more open canter and higher head carriage for Olympic judges. The horse passed vet inspection and heads to Paris around July 16.
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This is a video for the Annie Goodwin Syndicate. Well, guys, everything went really, really well at mandatory outing down in Aiken, South Carolina. This was actually a pretty important weekend, just in the scheme of things. This was our final sort of competition before the Paris Olympics and it was a bit of a, sort of a dress rehearsal before the contest in four or five weeks. It was very, very hot by saying that the horses definitely did need a run. So. And from what I understand, it's going to be pretty hot in, in Paris. So I tried to look at the, the positives or the benefits of being down there, and it was, it was a good competition. It was hot and steamy, but again, we've got to get used to these competitions. And I sort of adjusted my warm up a little bit for Bruno. I gave him a little bit less work just because it was so humid to prepare him for the dressage, and it worked well. He's very, very confident and comfortable in the, in the ring and he went in and did a good dressage. It still wasn't the best of the best of the work we could do, but it's definitely getting, getting there. Silva and I and Bettina have been really working on trying to get his shoulder and his wither and his head and his neck more uphill. And I feel like we did it very well. The judges at the Olympics really want to see the ears, the highest point and the sort of the nose out a bit, which Bruno, you know, physically finds hard. I sat down with the judge after the competition to review the test, and she was the judge from the Tokyo Olympics. And her biggest comment for our improvement was in the canter work, that I was a little bit too collected. We'll see the canter in a minute. But she felt that I was a little bit too up and down on the spot. And when it comes to the dressage test in Paris, I've got to try and sort of open his canter out a bit and make him basically cover more ground and have bigger strides. In the scheme of things, it was getting close to being very good. We still have a little bit of a challenge in a left to right change, which you see we've been getting at home all the time. But in the competition we had a. We mistimed it a little bit. The other flying change is very good. So if you see there the canter, she just thinks it's a little bit sort of choppy. And if there was a way of sort of going for a bit of a bigger canter anyway, the. We had Dressage in the morning and then show jumping at lunchtime, and then the following morning was a cross country. And I feel like the biggest thing I walked the course of my. My cross country coach, Eric Devander, and the biggest thing he felt was on the cross country is that Bruno can actually get a little bit too keen and brave at the beginning of the course. So the first five or six fences on the cross country, we really tried to just steady him up a little bit to the fences with the idea that it would have wasted a fair bit of time this weekend. But come the cross country day in Paris, we want to the. It's very hard to go very fast if the horse is out of control or sort of dragging you to the fence. And trying to have Bruno in a place where he's a little bit calm and relaxed and waiting for his fences will hopefully, hopefully be a benefit. Anyway, we were one of the best Americans in the dressage. We got a. I think a 31, which was the fourth best score of the day, which is pretty good because I'd say Bruno's weakest phase is the dressage. So it's getting better. The show jumping, he was bloody magnificent. The. The time was quite hard to make and Bruno was superb from memory that he had to be within 84 seconds of this course. And Bruno, I think, was one of the fastest of the day. He went around in 79 seconds, which pretty impressive. It was a pretty big show jumping course. I'd say it'd be nearly equal to the first round of show jumping at Paris. And Bruno's just sensational in the jumping. You're very fortunate. My jumping coach, Peter Wilde, made the trip down to help me out, which is wonderful having a coach and a trainer of that level sort of there every step of the way. So cross country I was to. My plan was, I think, 20 or 30 seconds over the time. The ground was quite good, but we also. We're not at full fitness yet. He was. He felt fit and strong the whole way around. He does need a couple more gallops, which we've got plenty of time for. I think we've got four more fast works scheduled here in America before we leave for Paris. After the cross country, the team vets inspected him and Bruno looks in, in great health. He'll be looking. He'll be going to the vet here in Pennsylvania on Monday for another checkup, but at the moment he looks very sound. I think we're going to be doing a few therapies to see if we can unlock his back and his neck gets a little bit stiff, but his limbs are very good. It's more a question of trying to improve him a little bit for the dressage. So I'll give him an easy couple days here in Pennsylvania. Probably give him a good gallop on Thursday or Friday. The following week I think we'll do jump a meter 35 show jumping class at Princeton, New Jersey. And then I feel like we're traveling to Europe on about July 16. But anyway, he gave me a great round across countries, like playing a video game going around this course. He is just so straightforward and keen and brave and I just feel like everything's going to plan in the prep and I couldn't be happier with him. I feel like he's fit, he's sound, he's enjoying his work and, and he's, he's yet to peak still. So very, very pleased with him. And it looks like he's traveled back to Pennsylvania and just put the finishing touch, really start zeroing in on this dressage test, the Olympic dressage test. And it's getting pretty close, guys. Lastly, if we've still got some tickets and some room spare, so if anyone's decided to make a last, last minute trip to Paris, please get in touch with me. It's been a bit confusing of who's in charge at all. Just let me know. I think there's a couple rooms on standby and there's some. Still some tickets available, so it'd be great to see as many of you in Paris as possible. I really think we're in with a good chance. But anyway, fingers crossed.
