In this video addressed to the Long Island Tea Syndicate, the rider recounts a hectic two‑week period that began with a trip to Tokyo for the Olympic Games and continued with a return to the United States to compete on his horse Ludwig at the Fair Hill Open Preliminary. He explains why he entered Ludwig—a horse that has been under‑trained in jumping while he was away—in a low‑level event to rebuild confidence, describing the horse’s recent training regimen (light cross‑country schooling, limited jumping, and fitness work by assistants Mike and Silver). The rider details Ludwig’s dressage test (a preliminary, easy test) where he scored 28, and his relaxed approach to the show‑jumping and cross‑country phases on hard, dry ground. He also discusses equipment choices, notably reverting to an old cherry‑roller‑bit bridle that previously yielded success. The narrative concludes with future goals: targeting the American Eventing Championships in Kentucky and eventually a five‑star Fair Hill event, while emphasizing a confidence‑first, low‑stress training philosophy.
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This is a video intended for the Long Island Tea Syndicate. I've had a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. Last weekend I was in Tokyo riding around the Olympic Games and a couple days later I was back on top of my old buddy Ludwig for the Fairhill Horse Trials. Ludwig and I did the open preliminary event at Fairhill on Saturday. Obviously this is a very, very easy, low level event for Ludwig. I put him in this class for a couple reasons. Firstly, he basically hasn't been jumping very much while I was away. I chose not to have any of my assistants jump him. He's a unique horse to jump and he. He's sort of a one person horse, if you know what I mean. So he hardly did any jumping. I gave him a jump the day I got back and he felt good. Also, he's a horse that thrives on confidence. And one of my strategies is obviously had a tough time around Kentucky five star in April and then he went well at Jersey, but he gave me that feeling of being a little bit rattled. So with his training at home before I went to the Olympics was it was very, very easy cross country schooling. It was taking him out to the cross country field and cantering around and jumping over novice and training size cross country jumps and sort of almost trying to make him a little bit boreder. I think I made the mistake of pointing him at every big and bold and technical fence that I had out there. And, you know, sometimes I worry that I overwhelm him. So since Jersey, he's really just done some lower level fences and with the idea that he just takes a breath and it's not too hard for him. And I think the plan worked because this weekend at Fair Hill man, he felt good around the cross country. He just sort of loped around the head, wasn't in the air or he wasn't charging at the fence. It was quite good and I was sort of a bit more relaxed that I could try and ride him on a little bit of a looser rein. So obviously this is his dressage test. It's a preliminary dressage test which is quite easy for Ludwig. There's no fancy movements of flying changes or half pass. And again, in a weird kind of way, this is quite, quite good for him, just to go in there and do basic work. He looks in good shape. He's got good muscle on him. He feels really healthy. He feels fresh and happy. While I was away, I had Silver doing a bit of the dressage and then Mike, my sort of assistant's been Doing a lot of hacking work on the hills, bit of fitness work and some flat work on him. And he's been cantering up the track once or twice a week as well, so you sort of don't need to teach him anything new, if you know what I mean. Like, he is an experienced horse that knows the job. You know, it's more just trying to sort of keep him fresh and sweet. So he scored a 28 in the dressage, which is not too bad, considering I only rode him once or twice on the flat before the test. Then we had the show jumping, which you'll see in a minute, which was out on the grass at Fair Hill and then around quite an easy track. And with the cross country, I just went really, really slow. I just sort of cantered around and tried to give him a bit of a loose reinforcement, lope around, nice and easy. And, I mean, the ground was a bit hard, to be quite honest, so I think it was good for him just to cruise around. Didn't take too much energy out of him. Our next event, I'd like to, after this weekend, I was quite pleased with him, the way he felt there at Fair Hill. So I think the. The next event I'm going to take him to is down to Kentucky. It's the American Eventing Championships and it's a. It's a great event. Obviously, it's at the horse park. It'll be right up Ludwig's alley in the stadium, hopefully for the dressage and show jumping. And it's a big event, actually. He won it a couple of years ago. Good prize money there and the ground should be good. In the back of my mind, I would love to get him to Fair Hill five star. And like I said earlier, you know, the key with Ludwig is confidence. So, you know, going around this preliminary level show jumping course was just happy days for Ludwig. I sort of tried to think back on everything that was successful with him a couple of years ago when he was the Horse of the Year, and I pulled out his old jumping bridle and for some reason kept on changing bits. And I thought, well, hang on, the best I've ever had in going was 2019. And the. This was the bridle I had. It's a cherry roller bit, which, when he sort of races at the jump, it sort of holds him together a bit. So blew the dust off the old bridle and got back to my old ways. You see, as the course goes on, Ludwig gets a bit hyped up. I was really, really pleased, like Considering how little jumping he's done, he came out and stayed relatively relaxed and chill and gave me a good round and I went at grandma speed around the cross country here. Now, the ground was not the greatest. It was pretty dry and hard, so it sort of worked well. The grass was nice and thick, so it wasn't terrible footing. But I sort of just wanted him to take a breath and sort of potter around the course and it worked out well. I felt like it was a round where he relaxed, enjoyed himself. A little bit of a fitness run. It's quite nice, actually, going to a competition, obviously the Olympics. I was nervous as hell and stressed and pressure and then. And then riding a horse of Ludwig's caliber around Fair Hill Open Preliminary was quite relaxing and enjoyable. And especially I wasn't trying to be too competitive on him. So it was quite a different stress level than the weekend before. He's a good boy, Ludwig. He knows all the jumps. And I'm going to sort of continue on this path of just trying to keep him confident and not over face him in his training towards the championships in Kentucky. Just take it week by week. And like I said before, I couldn't be more pleased with the way he went. He gave me a good feeling and seemed happy and healthy after the competition.
