Luke 140 - Pine Top - ‘21 - Boyd Martin

This is a video intended for the Luke 140 syndicate. We finally got Luke out to his first sort of real competition of the year. We were out at Thompson, Georgia for the Pine Top Horse Trials at the open intermediate level. And, you know, obviously he's an advanced horse, but I decided to start him sort of one level lower. So the intermediate is just slightly smaller, a little bit easier dressage test. And I was really using this competition more as an outing to get Luke out on the competition field after his big runs last year. So we were the very first rider on in the dressage this, this video here. So the dressage test was at 7:30 this morning and I mean, it absolutely poured and poured and poured with rain all last night and yes, 7:30 dressage. And I terrified Luke would be a maniac because it was cold and wet. So we got there early and my head girl, Steph, had him out there, lunged him for a little bit before I hopped on him and he had a bit of a canter and a bit of a buck around and, and then settled right down. By the time I rode him, she's probably lunged him five minutes each way. And then he was very, very well behaved. I was, I was quite surprised. Had a great week's training with Luke. On Monday, David o' Connor came up and helped me a bit on the flat. I'm really sort of just enjoying working again with David. He's a master trainer. And then Wednesday, Eric Devander was there, met up with us and we cross country schooled Luke and that was, that was pretty, just easy going. Very, very simplistic session. Nothing fancy, just trying to get Luke to slow down and take his over the jumps. And then actually yesterday I had Peter Gray, who's an FEI dressage judge, one of the big judges in America, come up and I rode a couple of horses, just test work with him and, you know, went through my tests and Peter picked apart some of the parts where I was losing points, worked on my position a bit and I mean, he's a very good rider himself and sort of had some exercises to improve the horses. So it was pretty cool, actually. I. When I rode the horses this morning in the dressage, I was sort of thinking about yesterday's work and how to steal a point here and there from the dressage judges. Like I said before, I was really, really pleased with how Luke went this morning in the dressage, all three phases. He was a champion. I really expected Luke to be wild and fresh and frantic at this first event, but part of me Thinks he's maturing now just a little bit. He's still trying to throw me off here and there in training, but at the competition he seems to stay a little bit more settled. And this was quite an easy dressage test for him. There was no flying changes or counter half past. He scored a 29. And I wasn't too worried about the scores today, like with the dressage or show jumping or time penalties cross country, it was more just trying to get Luke out there competing again. And usually the first event or the first two events, the horses are really excited and so it's nice to make it just a little bit easier for him. And I felt like he did it very comfortably today. The cross country, which you'll see a little bit later, was, was pouring with rain. I mean, I was very lucky in a sense. Luke had the best footing of the day. He was the very first horse to go in the show jumping and the cross country. Obviously that's a disadvantage usually with the dressage judges because they're a bit sleepy and don't get too excited till later in the class. But the footing was the best if you go first. So Luke jumped on fresh grass in the show jumping and the cross country and he was really well behaved cross country, you'll see soon. He did it real easy. It was a longer course than I thought it would be. It was a six minute course. By saying that I think Luke has really held his fitness from last year because, I mean, I went around very slowly and carefully just because it was bit wet and muddy, but he was hardly puffing at the end as you can see here. Luke, this canter, his natural canter is fabulous. The dressage judges seem to love the action that he has. It's really balanced and quite extravagant. I think Luke's next start will most likely be the Bruce's Field Grand Prix eventing. This will be a great event for Luke. It's going to be live streamed for everyone to watch. It's sort of the premier event in Aiken. It's one of those short format events that is quite exciting. And again we'll be trying to be competitive, but I'm really trying to set Luke up for success at some of the really big international competitions in the spring. Bloody nice. Hold that, Luke. So this is the show jumping again, pouring with rain. I'm soaked to the bone. Never quite looks as bad when you're watching it on the screen. So I think Luke jumped really well. I put he's in a Pelham, but it was a big It's a straight bar Pelham. And I sent this video to Peter Wilde that's been helping me jump him this year. And it was almost too much. Bit like it, it almost slowed him down a little bit too much. And then I felt like I had to sort of kick him at the jump. So I used the same bridle cross country and it was perfect. So I think I'll. I'll use just a slightly softer bit next time because I felt like it was a tiny bit too sharp. Like Luke came back to me by saying that maybe it's a good thing because Luke can get quite strong and rude and fast and ratty towards the end of the course. And both in the, the show jumping and the cross country, man, he was well behaved. Just see there. I have to sort of push him at that jump. Usually I'm sort of slowing down to each jump. I feel like Luke's just so much further on than he was a year ago. A year's training makes a huge difference and he's, he's got a lot more mileage and experience on him now. I was just really trying to keep him balanced and funny enough, I was one second over the time, which doesn't mean that much. But you can see on a few of the turns I went just slightly wide and steadied him a little bit too much. And he's an unbelievable jumper. He gives you great feel over the jumps. So it was a pretty busy day. Luke's dressage, let's see, was it 7:30 in the morning? His show jump was at 10 and my cross country was at 12, so it was a pretty busy morning. And Luke, he's a cross country machine, sort of looks for his fences. Eric a couple of days ago just had me trying to keep him a bit steady and a bit slow and patient. Unfortunately, that jump you just saw, I saw a bit of a long flyer at and then it makes this next one a bit, bit chok. Again. The ground was a bit wet. It's early in the season and I just really took my time. No intention of trying to win this class. I felt like Luke jumped all the fences really well and it was easy work for him. So we'll give him a couple easy days. I think I'll take him to a dressage show next Sunday and do a couple fourth level tests and a week or two later he'll do the Bruce's Field Grand Prix. And then there's another show jumping show which I might take him to before we head home. And then just slowly gear him up towards Kentucky or New Jersey three day event, see how it all plans out. But everything's going absolutely perfect with Luke so far. But we've got a long way to go this winter. Hopefully both of us stay in one piece and and we have a really successful season. It.