In this video addressed to a friend named Bonnie, the rider (Boyd Erik Martin) gives a detailed, first‑person recap of the four‑star long competition at Bromont, Canada, with his chestnut mare Lulu. He describes how early arrival and ring training helped Lulu stay relaxed for dressage, where she earned a score of 31 and placed second. He credits his wife Silva for improving Lulu’s flying changes, which contributed to a fault‑free test. In cross‑country, Lulu tackled a challenging course with difficult obstacles (the “coffin of all coffins,” water jump, left‑handed corners) and finished slightly over the optimum time but remained sound. The show‑jumping phase was clear, moving the pair up a place. Throughout, Boyd comments on Lulu’s temperament (spooky, light‑footed, careful), health (sound, no vet needed), and equipment (simple snaffle bridle). He reflects on pacing decisions, course conditions (soft footing from rain, uphill sections), and his confidence in Lulu’s future, contemplating another four‑star long or a five‑star flat event in France, Germany, or Kentucky. He also mentions upcoming training at Stableview Aiken with other horses (Bruno, Connor, Flintiro) and invites Bonnie to join. The overall tone is conversational, enthusiastic, and proud, highlighting Lulu’s progress and potential.
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This is a video for Bonnie Step. Oh, Bon Bon. We've just come back from a very, very successful Bromont three day event. We took Lulu up to do the four star long up in Montreal, Bromont, Canada. Brought back some memories of you and Steve being up there. Anyway mate, Lulu couldn't have gone better. She delivered in all three phases. It was by far the hardest competition we've ever been faced with and she was very, very good in all phases, especially the dressage. She stayed nice and relaxed. I'm glad we got up there a couple days early and we worked Lulu a couple times a day and really tried to get her a little bit more chilled and relaxed for the dressage. She was a little bit buzzed up from her last start which obviously was at the Devon Showcase. So she was thinking she might have been at the arena eventing. Anyway, by the time the dressage came by on Friday, she was the very last to go in the four star. She actually did a very, very nice test. We finished in second place after the dressage so we got a score of 31 which is not too shabby. I feel like a lot of the work that Silva's been doing, especially with her flying changes really paid off and she, yeah, she gave us a very, very sort of fault free dressage test. And the hardest thing with Lulu at the horse trials is sometimes she just gets so excited and nervous, especially in the walk, in the walk movements. They were very nice. The, the event organizers let us train in the competition ring the day before, which makes a big difference with Lulu. Sort of lets her get a little bit of climatized to the ring because I'd say that's her biggest flaw as she's a bit of a hot, spooky redhead mare. And if we can get her relaxed she actually delivers a pretty nice test. So obviously we've got a bunch of the cross country on the video here which she went really, really well and in hindsight I wish I went a little bit harder on her at the beginning of the course. To be be honest, I wasn't sure she was up to the challenge but the way she went around, she was, she, she tackled the course lovely. So we're a little bit over the time in the cross country but then she came out and show jumped beautifully and gave us a clear round. So she's actually had a pretty impressive start to 2024. In typical Lulu fashion, she felt a little bit, a little bit dodgy at some of the horse trials at the beginning of the year like and then I Felt like she was great at the four star short at Carolina and then she was, she was pretty good at the, the Fairhill advanced competitions that we did. But then the last two runs, the Devon Showcase and the Bromont four star long, she really picked up a gear and I don't know, she feels like a big time horse. I'm sort of on the fence what to do with the neck. She, she got through this competition very, very healthy and sound. We never had to get the vet out to her or anything in the preparation and she seems like a very tough horse. So I'm sort of toying up the idea of potentially maybe doing one more four star long there at Malvern park or. I feel like her first five star should be one of the flat courses either Po in France or Le Moulin in Germany. I feel like that's sort of her specialty. It's the sort of flat courses that have plenty of accuracy questions because she's. I don't know, she's very quick and nippy by saying that. Not totally opposed to taking the Kentucky five star next year. Anyway, we got her home and let's give her a three weeks vacation. Bring her back in and see how she feels. So Bonnie, the flying changes have been a big challenge with her. And just watch this nice big beautiful clean flying change. That's not thanks to me. That's thanks to my wife who has been working tirelessly on Lulu getting the flying changes. Good. Funny, Silva loves riding her. I wouldn't think it's sort of a silver dressage horse since it's, you know, it's a bit hot and everything. But she loves the feel she gets. She's obviously got a great connection and I don't know her and Lulu get on great. Another beautiful flying change there. Thank you very much, Lulu. About now I'm thinking to myself this is going a lot better than I thought it was going to go. And then she, she finished with a nice halt at the end here. So anyway, good, great test. I think we scored a 311 judge. The judges were a little bit apart. Here comes and then cross country day was the next day and I was so impressed with her. She started out great. She's always been a little bit dodgy at coffins. And the coffin at Bromont is the coffin of all coffins. And you'll see it in a minute.
She jumped it beautifully as well where they took home the win and she
just really over the fence four.
Well year she actually won the two star, I mean the three star here two years Ago.
Right. So she clearly knows this is the, the coffin I was talking about. Sometimes she really spooks at the ditch. Yeah. This wouldn't be the first time that Boyd's come to Brightmont and she had a little peek, then she stayed in front of my leg there. I could be maybe a little bit stronger with my upper body position there. I was very relieved to get through that part. It's about here on the course in hindsight, but I should have really gone a bit quicker on. We're only at the third minute, third minute out of ten or ten and a half minutes, so I didn't chase her too much. But now that she's made the trip, I think it was just under four miles. I'm sort of pretty confident that she didn't do it now.
And our fastest rounds of the day have been about 26.
And if you remember, she was a little bit shaky early on in her career at left handed corners. And yeah, I mean, it just. She's absolutely flying over left handed corners now. A clean round, even if you kind of take it a little bit easier. This water jump was a pretty tough jump. My plan was to do seven strides to three strides and I got halfway through the water and I realized she was going to do six strides.
See what she does here.
And I was hoping to do one more stride and she took off. Big jump at end the. A moment early, which goes to show how bold and brave she is. I thought that she'd do seven little strides and she, she said, screw that, I'm doing six big ones.
Maybe something for the.
Yeah, the footing at Bromont was great. We had a fair bit of rain, so it was a little bit soft. But the chestnut mare, I don't know. The conditions were ideal for venting cool weather. You can just see that she's sort of with me the whole way here. Great thing with her. She's quite light in the mouth. She wouldn't have the biggest galloping stride, but she's. Because she's a bit spooky and a bit careful. She comes back to me very nicely in front of the jumps. I've only got a snaffle bridle in her mouth and it's all you sort of need.
It is one of the most gorgeous places.
Again, in the past she's added strides on some of these lines, but now she's sort of doing the. The number that we all want. She couldn't have done that, that fence any better.
What a game little mare to say,
okay, she didn't she looked like that was bon. We're coming down to Stableview Aiken next week. We've got the. All the potential Olympic horses are going to have a run at Stableview as their last sort of preparation before we head to Paris. So I'll be down there for four or five days, which will.
Everyone should come.
Be great to catch up with you and see you again. I've just got three horses going. I've got Bruno, Connor and Flintiro. New horse coming down. Absolutely. It's so. It's so great for the sport for people to be able to tune in and watch. Oh, he got the chicken. Elvis still full of life here. We're about three quarters of the way around the track there and you can still see she hasn't come off the bridle. Still very much in front of my leg and ears are pricked and she's looking for the fences. So this is the latter stages. Stages of the course still bloody big.
So I am curious to see what Boyd is going to do here because he thought he might pick the up.
We. We had a very fit for this one and I'm very glad for it too because it is. It's not just a long course. It was. No, especially in this area here, it was a little bit wet and holding ground just because of the rain and there's quite a lot of sneaky little uphills. We're on the 8th or 9th minute of the course here and you can see the next minute is all uphill. And to Lulu's credit, she kept on trucking on for us because she's a light. Light on her feet. She sort of stays on top of the ground, which is nice.
Yeah.
You know, it's the people with the strongest horses that fight it the most. So we finished it a touch over the time. We were in fourth place after the cross country again, in hindsight, I wish I went after it a little bit more, but at the same time I was a little bit unsure whether she'd have the endurance for it and she proved me wrong. She was pretty tired on Saturday night. We gave her some fluids and this is the. The trot up on Sunday morning and nice bit of drizzle there. And Lulu's been. She's been very healthy and sound, which usually by this stage of their career, you're injecting joints and putting fancy shoes on them and pampering them a bit. And she's. She's a good girl. She's a good, strong, strong mare and a real tough horse actually. And Then I think I feel like her best phase or her strongest attribute is the show jumping. And it was a very, very tough show jumping course and not just a big technical course, but the, the time was very, very hard to make. And just the wonderful thing with Lulu is you can really, really trust her carefulness. And as you'll see in a minute, she gave us a spectacular round clear and then she moved up one place. We nearly got second wheel one from getting in second place. So by saying that she really proved herself to be like a big time horse here. And she's just a lovely, lovely jumper. She's careful, she's scopey and I feel like she's more and more confident and more and more brave. And we didn't touch a rail in the warm up of the show jumping and same in the ring here. She really fought for me every, every stride. Anyway, Bon, she's, she's come a long way since getting her as a four year old and I can't thank you enough for supporting her for all these years because we're pretty much at the pinnacle of the sport. Make a decision whether to do a four star long at the end of the year or potentially do a five star. But I hope you're proud of her, mate. She's a sensational horse and is having a magnificent year and I truly think that the exciting parts of her career is just about to happen. So anyway, mate, very, very pleased with her and looking forward to seeing you next week. I hope you're well, Bon, and I'll see you in Aiken in a couple days.
