Connor got an 8 in dressage at Bromont's four-star but spooked at the start. Cross-country was muddy and huge; he matched five-star horses. One rail in jumping put them fifth overall, top three clear rounds out of thirty. Next stop: Tryon in mid-September.
This is a video for Dan and Amber and everyone at Yankee Creek Farm. We just came off a very successful four star short up in Quebec, Canada with Connor. Now, the dressage started out really good. I think they gave us an 8 for this entry and then for some reason, Connor spooked like hell at something at the end of the ring here. So that was a. Not the greatest start to our weekend. Obviously this, this competition was important just for Connor's education and a good run as we prepare him towards Morven Park. Four star long. I intentionally got the horses up there a day early and Connor is getting very, very fit. And it was a little bit cold and windy at the dressage and he was really up on his toes. So it sort of caught me by surprise because he's been very relaxed in the dressage and he was definitely feeling extravagant saying that. We put that behind us and we did pretty good test. The flying changes, which you'll see in a minute, are still a work in progress, but the general trot work and the quality of the canter and the walk is fantastic. So. So we're still a long way off getting him to his potential, but you can see here that he is flamboyant and elegant and still a little bit of inexperience. This weekend was probably one of the biggest challenges that we've had jumping wise on the cross country. The cross country course was a real, real big track and on top of that, it poured with rain, so the ground was quite muddy and wet and I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how Connor would react. And I got to tell you guys, he was spectacular. He was just fantastic. I had two older veteran horses in the classes that have done many, many five stars and gone to the Olympic Games and, and Connor was equally as good, if not better than both those. The other two horses were a little bit short of a run, but Connor was brilliant. I definitely didn't want to risk injury, so in all the really deep, muddy parts of the cross country course, I went quite slow and easy just to be careful of Connor's legs by saying that he just tackled all of the jumps with ease. I was so impressed with him. Unfortunately, we were, we were busy. The girls were busy in the class and we, we didn't get any video of the cross country, which was a real shame just because it was such a mega course and oh, my God, Connor was the star of the show. He, he made it look easy. I feel like we've got him very, very fit now too, which is a little Bit our challenge in the dressage, actually, at the beginning, he's feeling. Feeling quite full of himself in the show jumping. He was awesome. He jumped a beautiful, beautiful round. Again, one of the toughest courses that we've been faced together. And we had one rail from memory, I think it was in the treble, but I think out of 30 horses in the class, only three horses jumped clear. So he was. He was in good company. Only having the one pole down to me. Looks like he's recovered really, really well. Our next event is going to be this time next month down at Tryon. He's going to do the. I think it's either the advanced or the foreshort, so it will be another competition about this degree of difficulty again. We're using this next run in a month's time as a bit of a fitness run and also still educating Connor at the top level of the sport. But he's brilliant. He gave me a fantastic feel, especially in the show jumping and the cross country. And over this fence, he nearly jumped me out of the saddle, I thought I got jolted forward. So anyway, we finished in, I think, fifth place. But like I said at the beginning, he was in great company. He was sort of neck and neck with some of the best horses in the country. And on top of that, I really felt like we didn't try to win it, like we didn't go flat out cross country. And great thing with Connor is he definitely has speed and you just saw him tap that front rail out. He's got speed and I'm very confident that when we need to go ultra fast on him in the cross country, when it really counts, he's an animal that's got plenty of pace and plenty of speed and stamina and we're really getting a good partnership together. So anyway, guys, we'll give Connor a slightly easier week. This has been a hard run for him just because of how hard the course was and on top of that, how challenging the conditions were. And I think on the 13th, 14th, 15th of September, we'll run him again down in Tryon, give him another blast around, maybe run him a little quicker and go from there.
Building Bravery Through Competence - An NF+ Masterclass Exclusive with Boyd Martin
