In a personal video addressed to Bonnie Stett, the speaker recounts Lulu’s victory in the three‑star long competition at Bromont in June 2022. The narrative begins with a series of setbacks: Lulu suffered colic the night before dressage, and the venue endured four days of heavy rain, creating muddy cross‑country conditions. Despite these challenges, Lulu delivered the best dressage test the rider has ever seen, performed strongly on a demanding cross‑country course, and showed exceptional carefulness in the show‑jumping phase, ultimately securing first place. The speaker credits several team members—Silva, who has been intensively involved in Lulu’s training over the past two months, and Peter Wild and Peter Blounter, who assisted with warm‑ups and post‑event veterinary checks. The rider highlights specific performance details, such as improved trot work, green canter work, and careful jumping that helped avoid penalties. Looking ahead, the plan is to give Lulu three weeks of rest, have a vet examination, keep her at the three‑star level for the remainder of the year, and aim for advancement to higher levels next season, possibly targeting another three‑star long at Fair Hill. The tone is informal, celebratory, and reflective, expressing deep gratitude to Bonnie for her support and optimism that Lulu’s best performances are still ahead.
Chapters
This is a video intended for Bonnie Stett. Well, Bonnie, I can't believe it, but Lulu won the three star long at Bromont. Initially, mate, I went up there hoping we'd just finish and then, then she got colic the night before dressage and then I was hoping we'd just be able to start the dressage and then it poured with rain for about four days straight. And I hope we can get around this cross country and all the challenges that we face. Lulu just stood up and went fantastic, mate. She was the best dressage test we've done. She was absolutely brilliant in the cross country and then came out show jumped like a champ and looks like she's come through the event unscathed. So I can't tell you how happy I am with her. So anyway, just to relive our week, we got there and this is the dressage test which was Thursday morning. Wednesday night, just as we're about to head home, she started colicking. So we walked her and hand walked her, got the vet out and poor old Lulu was a bit sick and she finally came good about midnight. So I had to ride her about 9:30 at night just to see if I can get her tummy working. I think she got the colic from the really rich green grass that was up there at Bromont. She's a tough girl though. Next morning I got out there, rode her a little bit before the test and she fell to me and bucks and then went out there and did our very, very best ever dressage test. Obviously there's still a little bit of improvement to go. The trot work was really good and the canter work she was a little bit green in especially the green, the canter walk, canter, she got them well but she was a little bit sort of wriggly through the transitions. But as I've always said, she's horrible. Well, not horrible, she's. She's hot and frisky to ride at the Pine Tops where it's cold and you pull her off the trailer and try and get her a dressage test. But here at Bromont we got there on Tuesday and we had two full days of riding to get her relaxed. And the big thing also Bonnie is Silva really got involved with Lulu. The last two months she has fallen in love with Lulu. She's been really good for me and Lulu's dressage has really, really improved since the German German wife's been on top schooling away. I think the best is still to come. Like she starting to really move and I don't know, like part of her being hot and nervous is she doesn't quite understand the trickier movements and now she is starting to get it, the shoulder ends, the half pass, simple changes and whatnot. So yeah, and like I said before, it was wet, wet, wet. It was raining and on cross country, unfortunately we've only got little bits and pieces of the cross country for the video here. But the ground was muddy and wet and holding and Lulu dug deep and she was pretty tired at the end but she was a good girl. I think the next part of the test is our greenest where she sort of goes from canter and has trouble sort of taking a few honest walk steps. I managed to fudge my way through it. Had to ride that one pretty tactfully. Have to say Lulu's carefulness in the show jumping really, really shone on Sunday. We were actually in third place going into the show jumping and the two horses ahead of us were top, top horses and luckily for us they both had a rail down. And Lulu's such a careful jumper. I even made a little bit of a mistake on the last line and added one too many strides. But having an ultra careful horse like Lulu was really, really handy. So I think we'll give Lulu a well deserved rest here, mate. We'll give her probably three weeks off. I'll get Peter Blounter to come over and check her over. I feel like she's unharmed after the event but it'd be good just to double check her and then I think we should keep her at this level for the rest of the year. She's definitely going to be advanced next year but I think this year if we just keep her, keep her at the three star level and maybe even do another three star towards the end, a three star long towards the end of the year, maybe even at Fair Hill which would be another big test for her. She was brave the whole course. She was a good girl. This is towards the end of the course, this is quite a difficult line that cause some trouble and Lulu just pricks her ears and digs deep and fights for us. Lulu in the show jumping on Sunday and it was very, very hard to get a clear round and it was quite a big open course, sort of good in a way for Lulu. I could sort of get her galloping along. Peter Wild was there helping me warm up and walked the course and had a great warm up with her and yeah, she really went in there and tried hard. It's quite a long one stride for her. It's funny like a long time. For a long time she's been a little bit spooky and wary and now she's gotten slightly braver and kept her sort of carefulness, which is great. She's actually quite easy to ride fast on just because she sort of backs up at the jump by herself. So anyway, Bonnie, I can't tell you how pleased I am relieved. Not only we finished, but we won the thing. It's a huge accomplishment. No, it hasn't been complete smooth sailing with Lulu. And I appreciate you hanging in there and kept going with us. I think the best is still to come.
