Contessa - Pine Top - Feb ‘ 22

This is a video for Club Contessa, the owners of this mighty horse. Contessa. Well, Contessa did her first ever advanced horse trial this weekend. We took her to the Mighty Pine Top Horse Trials in Thompson, Georgia. Contessa was great. She was very green in all three phases, but pretty impressive. It wasn't our best result but we got through it and I think she would have learnt a lot from it. So we did the dressage here on Friday morning and she did a good test. Actually. You'll see later. The flying changes are still a work in progress but the actual trot and canter and especially the walk was way better. Obviously at our first two competitions Contessa was just full of energy and got a little bit hot and nervous in the, in the dressage. So luckily we weren't that busy on Friday. So I, I got her out there and I actually gave her a couple of just nice soft, quiet rides before the test. Not putting too much pressure on her, but just trying to get her used to the surroundings and it paid off actually. She, she didn't jog one step and she produced a pretty good test. I think we scored a 32, which is actually pretty impressive considering that it was her first advanced and the flying changes were atrocious. But the most pleasing thing for me is that she stayed relaxed and confident which deep down I know I can get her to a place where she can get through the dressage without getting hot. Last weekend we took her to just a dressage show at Bruce's Field and my right hand man Diego actually put her through a couple of second level tests and I think that's good for her to go to some dressage shows just to let her know that she's not galloping and jumping. So in this advanced test, this is the newest advanced test, there is so much walk, it feels like you walk walking for hours and I'm doing everything I can to sit as quietly as possible and very pleased that she stayed in a good walk with them. We head back to Pennsylvania next week and I'm eager to get back there actually and I'll get Silva actually working on Contessa's flying changes because she's quite a, she's quite a long horse. She's, you know, hasn't, hasn't obviously been schooling the flying changes very much and I think once we get on top of that she could really pump out a great score. So the show jumping was today. She jumped great. She's a just a naturally scopey, careful, brilliant jumper and the cross country was 95% of. It was great. Unfortunately, we had a bit of, a, bit of a mishap towards the end of the course. She was excited and fired up for the cross country and really the issue I've got is a little bit of a control issue. She gets quite keen and quite fired up and fast and, you know, trying to be very tactful in slowing her down without using too much hand. But as the course rolls on, she gets a little bit stronger and a little bit more fiery. And a couple of the combinations were quite forward open traveling distances, which she did great. But sadly, at the end of the course, there was, I mean, it was a really, really tough, tough line. It was a jump and then into the water. That was one of our flying changes. That was a bit rough jump into the water. Then there was a skinny right in the middle of the water to another skinny and she, she ran at the first skinny and glanced off it. Unfortunately, we're on a terrible distance and there's only four or five fences from home. And she glanced off it. And then I came around again on a bit of a short approach and she ran off it again. And I thought, oh, this can't be happening. Anyway, then I took a big lot, big circle, long, dodgy, but getting better. And she jumped it well. And then we, we finished the course. Well, she was, as the course goes on, she gets as stronger and, and more fiery. But we finished. We finished. So it was mission accomplished. Obviously, the, the placing and the result was a bit disappointing, but it was good to get it out of the way. So this is Contessa's favorite phase. She's a brilliant jumper here. I've got like a rubber Pelham, which sort of seems to keep her settled. I'm worried that if I tried to use this cross country, it might not be enough because she gets, gets rolling. But for the show jumping, it's a good bit. It seems to not offend her and she, you know, she stays in a good balance through the course. So obviously we'll give Contessa a couple easy days. I intentionally ran her a little bit slow on the cross country, partly because of it's early in the year and partly because she's green and she's still sort of recovering or returning back from a long layoff. So we've got to keep that in the back of our mind. She's so fun to jump. She just pounces off the ground and she's careful in front, she's good behind. She's quick thinking and yeah, she didn't breathe on a rail. It was a pretty testing cross country course. This was sort of about fence five or six. It was a pretty tough turning exercise. He sort of turned her narrow and then over a corner. And every time you see Contessa's head shake, it means that she wants to go and I want to. Whoa. And so you sort of got to be a little bit tactful there. She's a great galloper. Feel like we've got her in good health. She, she, she's very fit, her skin's good, she's got good muscle and she's been very, very sound. We've been obviously very, very cautious with her soundness and whatnot. So this is right at the end of the course. This was just one or two jumps after a bobble and she was by this stage a bit rattled. And you can see her getting a little bit out of control there. And that was sort of how she approached the narrow in the water jump before. And you could sort of understand how we had the glance off. Anyway, we'll run her back in about three or four weeks time at Carolina International and give her another whirl there.