Contessa - Bromont - August ‘23

This is a video for Club Contessa. Well, girls, we got Contessa out to her first event since her big rung at Kentucky five star in late April. Obviously we gave Contessa a good, a good rest after the five star there. Gave her a month off and just gently been building her up, bringing her back to full fitness. We've taken her show jumping once and she doesn't need a whole lot of events to get ready for Maryland five star. So I thought we'd put her in the three star at Bromont. Two reasons I think she thrives on confidence. So to me it was obviously going to be an easier course and she hates hard ground. So I knew Bromont has consistently good footing up there by saying that it was very soft. They had heaps and heaps of rain and we got up there and the cross country which was on Saturday was, was very, very sort of soft and had a whole heap of rain. So it was sort of good in one way, but it was a, it was a little bit too wet for my liking. So we didn't go very fast on her. But I was just looking for a nice, nice, good run, you know, at this three star level, which I thought would be quite easy and quite confident building for Contessa. And she did well. She did a very nice dressage test. We got up there a day early, so I, I got to ride in these rings on, on Thursday and she actually gave me a very relaxed dressage test and I think we finished in second place. After the dressage, she finished on a 29. The thing to remember is the, this dressage test at the three star level doesn't have flying changes and flying changes are definitely our biggest challenge. Been working a lot with Silver at home trying to, trying to get them better and better. Obviously with Silver being pregnant, I've lost my secret weapon of having Silver ride Contessa a lot. So unfortunately, poor old Contessa has been stuck with me on the flat by saying that I do think they're getting better. One big mistake in the test there. We had to pick up left canter at C and sadly Contessa thought we wanted the right lead. So it's pretty good actually. We got a four for that score, for that movement which usually really destroys your score. And for her to get a 29 and still get a big mistake like that really means that she should have been on a 26 or a 27. But like I said, this event was more of a preparation event as we sort of gear her up towards Maryland I think our next competition's most likely going to be the Plantation four star short or potentially the try on Advanced horse Trials. They're one week apart. I'll just make a decision which, which competition would suit her best before we get her ready for Maryland. I have to say in the cross country, I'm glad we're in the easier class. She was very, very excited and very, very wild in the cross country. Sadly the girls were very busy washing down and cooling out the other horses. So we didn't get any video of her cross country at the event at Bromont. But she was, she was in five star cross country mode and I, I'm sort of went slow for two reasons. Just to try and calm her down and get a, get her not too feisty and, and also the ground was quite deep so it made no sense in going fast on the, on the muddy footing. Sadly, she lost a shoe halfway around the course. So Contessa, one of her biggest focuses to try and keep her feet in really good shape. And lucky for us, the shoe popped off quite cleanly and we had a spare shoe that we got the blacksmith to refitter with as soon as the competition was over. So yeah, here on out we're going to just be ever so gently working away at Contessa's flatwork, building her fitness up. We'll give her one more competition. She jumped quite well at Bromont. Again, it was a very easy course for her being the three star. She's a very good show jumper. I'm sort of glad we went in this smaller class. She was a little bit excited and a bit fast and furious in the show jumping but she still jumped clear. I would have loved her to just be a little bit slower and a little bit easier, a little bit more waiting for me around the course. But she's so careful and so sharp. She still jump clear. Peter Wild was up there at Bromont to help me warm up and walk the course. He obviously loves Contessa. We tried some just slightly different back boots with her every now and then. If she was to ever have a rail down, it would be with her hind toes on the back rail of an oxa. And sometimes just experimenting with different back boots can make them kick up a little bit higher behind. Anyway, we've got a little bit of video from her jump school with Peter. Peter came to our farm on Monday and gave us a good training session and very, very pleased with Contessa. Like I said, we'll give her one more competition before Maryland probably next month. Either plantation or try on. And then back to the five star level. We go at Maryland. Five star and quietly confident. I think we're going to do better than what we did at at Kentucky this year. So I believe we're in good shape. Little bit of right hand off the ground to this red, yellow. Oh, no, It.