Miss Lulu Herself - Great Meadow - August ‘23

This is a video for Bonnie Stead. Well, Bon bon, we took Ms. Lulu herself to Great Meadow International to do the four star short down in Virginia on the weekend and I have to say she went bloody well. This is obviously the dressage she did was the first horse on in the dressage and it's still not perfect but we're getting better and better, mate. She's slowly but surely getting a little bit more accustomed to these higher level movements. And it didn't hurt either that it was really, really hot. So she wasn't too, she was a bit quieter and calmer than usual in the dressage so it sort of worked to our advantage. I think she got a 35 in the dressage which is getting pretty close to being competitive. I think she was in the top 10 after the dressage and then you'll see the show jumping a minute. She show jumped. Unbelievable. She was brilliant. She was one of the only horses to show jump clear and then unfortunately, Bonnie, I decided to withdraw all the horses in the cross country. It was so freaking hot and the ground was rock hard and I don't know, I just got nervous that thrashing around the big course on, on hard footing we might regret. So I, I pulled her out, mate. I, I brought her home on Saturday night and then on Sunday morning we galloped her up the synthetic gallops up here in Pennsylvania and sort of glad we did it. I just worry if we, I don't know, she's been so sound and healthy. I just don't want to risk any concussion or bruising or anything like that. So anyway, our next event's actually going to be at try on so I'm going to come down and see you, Bon. I'll fly down there a day before and drive down and say hello to you and then she'll do the four star short at Tryon. I think that's like September, I don't know, 14, 15, 16 or something like that. And then, and then after that she'll do the Morven park four star long which is, it's going to be, that's going to be a tough one for her. Derek DeGrazio Design Course Morven park in Virginia in October. Be a real challenge for her. But by saying that she's, I don't know, she's getting stronger and braver and bolder and more seasoned the longer we go together and we're starting to get some pretty nice work. Peter, Peter Wilde was at our farm on earlier in the week and gave us a jump school and Lulu, she's a fantastic jumper, Bon. And she's finding more scope which is quite exciting. She's getting up in the air and really spending time in the air and she used to have a little bit of a short choppy stride but she's starting to really sort of open up her gallop a bit and she's finding more and more power in her jump which is very exciting. Coming to the future, Major goal obviously is to do very well at the Malvern park four star long and then next year aim her for a five star. So obviously it's been a long road with Lulu, but we're, we're nearly to the pinnacle, we're nearly to the mountaintop which is so exciting. It's. She's feeling like a big time horse, which is good. I tell you, Bonnie, I was sick as a dog for a couple of days down there and had a great meadow. I don't know, I got the flu or something. I was, I was in bad shape for Thursday and Friday. I'm coming. Good. Now I'm off to England to ride at Burley, mate. Fond memories of when you came over with Neville in 2011. So 12 years later I'm having another crack at it with On Cue and Sesterleg. So they both seem in good shape. So fingers crossed, mate, that we do well. Lulu, we just got to keep working away. Obviously her dressage is her weaker point. The show jumping in the cross country seems to be good. Her soundness is great, her fitness is good. Give her a good run at try on and then I think at Morven park we should really go for it a bit more. She's done one four star long already at try on earlier in the spring and I sort of nursed her around a bit and I think it's now it's time to see if we can push her along a little bit more and try and get the time. She was the very first horse to show jump at Great Meadow here. It was a bloody big course, it must have been about a meter 30 and little Lulu's just jumping out of her skin. She had a perfect round one second inside the time and like I said before, I made the decision to save her for another day and not risk her any injury or whatever at the hard ground on the cross country. Anyway, mate, I hope you're doing well. We're always thinking of you and I can't tell you how pleased I am with Lulu. I think she's really starting to shape up to be a big time, big time horse and she's loving her, especially the jumping. She's. It's a bit cranky at the dressage, but the jumping, she's. She's just so, so good at it. She's a natural. Natural jumper. Anyway, Bon, you take care of yourself, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. So no jumping.