Contessa - Bromont - June ‘22

This is a video intended for Club Contessa girls. We took Contessa up to Bromont three day event. I didn't know quite what to expect and I gotta say I was very, very nervous as you might have realized through all my emails of the conditions. Bromont's got the reputation of being probably the hardest and toughest and most grueling four star long on the calendar. And on top of that, Contessa is sort of new to the advanced level and we've had a good year but it's, you know, started off a little bit dodgy. She had some run outs at her first advance there at Pinetop and she had a glance off at Fairhill four star short. And lucky for us, the last event we did, which was the try on four star short. She, she started to come good and she was absolutely brilliant all weekend. Superb. Right from the moment we got there. She was settled, relaxed, working well and she put in a performance that I was blown away with, to be honest. I went up there hoping just to finish the contest, just to get, get around and to finish third is a huge accomplishment. Leading up to the event, we noticed Contessa losing a little bit of weight and we put her on some ulcer medication. On advice from Eric Devander and Peter Wild, they put her on some ulcer medication and it really, really improved her. She put on a bunch of muscle and a fair bit of weight and she was looking really, really good. Sometimes it's hard to keep muscle tone on her and putting her on that ulcer medication definitely helped her. We also changed her shoes around a little bit. I knew it was going to be a little bit wet and we put the glue on shoes and she often loses shoes cross country and with the glue on shoes, she kept them all on the whole way around and she's been very, very sound in the lead up. See our vets have been keeping a close eye on her and we did a little bit of vet work on her to get her as comfortable as you could and all the effort was worthwhile because she was, she was very good. Now the dressage is a huge improvement. Still a little bit improvement to go. You'll see in the first flying change was actually ultimately cost us the event. But Silver's really put in a massive effort on Contessa. She especially the last sort of six weeks Silva's been riding, you know, three or four times a week and trying to, trying to figure out these flying changes. Basically Contessa's got quite a long canter stride and a Long back, which makes the, the flying lead change just confirmation lead. Difficult to sort of flick over compared to a horse that's got a canter that's quite short and bouncy. Makes Contessa a great galloper for the cross country and nice long stride. But it's a nightmare for the dressage. All in all, I was really, really pleased with the test. As you remember, earlier this year I could Stableview and Pine Top. Contessa hardly walked in the dressage. She was very fired up and excited and it's amazing what six months of training does. And also getting to the event early and getting her relaxed and chilled and just practicing these particular movements over and over again. Eric was up there, he helped me a fair bit on the flat, obviously in the cross country. And then Peter Wild was brilliant in the show jumping course. Walk and warm up. So you'll see later. Unfortunately, the cross country was, I mean it was a tough, tough course and, and it just poured with rain, poured with rain for about four days. It was. Was nearly as bad as Normandy when we took Chamoiri there, if you remember, back in 14. So this is the worst part of the test. She's getting a nice and shortened. I actually got the change and then she got a little bit nervous and threw her head. It's a clean change though. The actual moment where we did the flying change was good, but then the aftermath was bit rough. We still scored at 31 in this dressage test. So and that flying change, we got a score of a three from one judge and a four from the other ones. So I think once we get that flying change ironed out, we'll be in the 20s with her, which this one was good. Good girl. Silva promises me that we're going to get them though. She, she gonna give Contessa a bit of a break and then put her back to work and work on those changes. And as soon as we have those flying changes, she'll be nearly unbeatable on the flat because she's so beautiful and brilliant in all the other phases. So it was a 10 minute course and I was one of the last horses to go. So we were knee deep in mud and through the parts of the course that were really, really muddy, I just went really slow and cautious and careful. I wasn't even trying to go fast. I was so impressed actually with our time in the cross country. It was 12 time penalties and she's such a good galloper and got a big step. I think when it's time to go for the time, she'll get it. I was impressed. Obviously after a gruelling day cross country, you just can't sleep at night hoping that they, they got through it uninjured. She pulled up well after the cross country. She was very fit and then she trotted up super. She with the wet, muddy ground sometimes she didn't get sore feet when the ground's hard. So we were quite lucky that the footing was quite soft because her feet were good and this was the show jumping. Out of the whole field, she was the only horse to show jump double clear. So we're in sixth place I think after the cross country. And then she jumped awesome. And we were third by not much. If the first and second place would have had a little bit more of a time penalty, would have won the thing, you know. And on top of that, we weren't even trying to be competitive. That's the excitement. Exciting news, guys. She's such a good jumper. She's light on her feet, she's careful, she watches the top rail and she's tough. Even though she is a little bit tired and stiff from the day before, she just jumps her heart out. So anyway, we're going to give her a little bit of a break. We'll give her a couple weeks rest. I'll get the vets to check her, check her over closely at the end of this week, make sure that everything's in good order and then we'll look at doing another big one towards the end of the year. But girls, I can't thank you enough. I know it's been a bit of an up and down career with Contessa and I'm just relieved we got her to this level because I knew she had it in her and I'm actually very excited. I'm sure that she's a five star horse. So if we can just smooth over the dressage, keep her fit and sound, I think we'll have a horse for Kentucky and Maryland five star next year. So I appreciate you guys all backing me and like I said, I'm very, very proud, pleased, relieved and all of the AB.