In this video the rider provides a detailed update for the Luke 140 syndicate after competing at the Bruce’s Field Grand Prix. The team entered only the combined test—dressage and show jumping—skipping cross‑country to protect Luke’s legs after a recent intermediate trot trial at Pinetop. Luke delivered a strong dressage performance, scoring 27 as one of the first horses out, and showed promising show‑jumping ability despite a few minor faults. The rider notes Luke’s improving temperament, becoming more settled with each outing, and highlights the support from trainers Bettina Hoy (dressage) and Peter Wild (jumping). The report outlines the upcoming competition schedule (Pinetop, Morven Park, Fair Hill, Tryon, and the target Le Moulin in June) and describes the training environment at Windura in Pennsylvania, which offers ideal facilities after a winter stint in Aiken. Overall, the rider conveys optimism about Luke’s fitness, soundness, and potential to return to his 2021 form.
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This is a video for the Luke 140 syndicate. Well, guys, we took Luke out to the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing on the weekend. We just did the combined test, which was always the plan. Just did the, the dressage and show jumping on Friday and we gave the cross country a miss. Just due to the fact that he ran around the intermediate horse trot trials at Pinetop just the weekend before. And it would have been little bit too much on Luke's legs, but it was a fantastic opportunity to get him out to an event with lots of atmosphere, top judges, fancy jumps and a bit of atmosphere. And Luke was fantastic. This is the, the dressage test we did this Friday morning. It was one of the very first horses to go and he went like a ripper. We scored a score of 27. The judges were like Olympic quality judges flown in from overseas. So as no gimme scorer. And on top of that, he was one of the very first horses to go in the field. And had we have gone later in the day, he would have even got a better score. But he's in great shape. I feel like the more and more shows we take him out to, the more and more settled he's getting. Which is a big relief because at the beginning of the year he was, he was so excited to be at the competitions that he was just fired up and wound up and excited and slowly but surely he's getting better and better. We've done a couple dressage shows, a couple show jumping shows and one event and finally he's starting to chill a bit. This was the hardest part of the test. This is the walk and for a horse that's fired up, excited and a bit fresh, this walks a very challenging movement to get the whole diagonal in a nice rhythmical walk. Anyway, Luke's going great guns. Keep reminding myself that a major goal is going to be Le Moulin in June and really that's a long time to go still. So we had obviously one event there at Georgia, at Pinetop, a nice slow intermediate. Then I think at the beginning of April there'll be another intermediate at Morven Park. If the conditions are good, we'll have a nice, nice run around that and then we'll probably have two four star shorts. One at Fairhill and then one at Try on, which would be perfect. Two perfect preparation events for the Lemol and five star. Very lucky to have Bettina Hoy from Germany training me all week. She's come over and helped me for about three days in the dressage and Then. And then Peter Wild, obviously, was helping me at the show, and he also came a day or two before the competition and we had a jump school then. So, you know, I think Luke is fit, he's sound, he's healthy, and he's really starting to show some of the brilliance that he had in 2021. We're not quite back to where we were, but we're pretty damn close. And I don't know, just see these flying changes here are just automatic now, and it's very, very exciting to. To think what he's capable of at these big events. Coming up, the show jumping you'll see in a minute was he was still a bit excited. He warmed up, very, very quiet, and then he got in the ring and really lit up a bit. But that's the name of the game with Luke and I think a couple more events and hopefully he'll. He'll be a bit more relaxed. So we got him back to Pennsylvania. We arrived home on Sunday today and back at Windura, which is a big relief. It's always good to get home and the training facility here is more ideal for Luca. We've got better gallops and got a nice indoor and really everything we need to train him. So he was the very first horse to show jump here on Saturday afternoon and put in a good round. We did have one silly rail. I got a little bit relaxed and complacent and sort of ran him a little bit fast and too close to an Oxy. You'll see in a minute. But all in all, he jumped well. He's still not quite as settled and as quiet as I want, like you'll see in this line, he sort of charges at it, but you can see that he's jumping in a great shape in a fantastic way. And I believe the next jump was the one we had down. It's probably the easiest jump on the course and I just let him get a little fast and a little bit deep. He just touched it behind. But because we weren't running the cross country, it really. The result really didn't matter so much. Anyway, guys, everything's going to plan. I feel like we're in good shape. We've got through our winter training months in Aiken unscathed, and we've got a horse that's in good shape and showing plenty of promise for a great year.
