In a video addressed to Bonnie Stead, the rider recounts the recent competition season for her horse Lulu. After a spill at the Tryon Four-Star, they were rerouted to the Plantation Four-Star in Pennsylvania, where Lulu delivered a strong cross‑country round despite a flag penalty and a single pole down in show jumping. Dressage was less polished, with Lulu appearing tense and hot, but the rider focused on keeping her calm. Dr. Peter Blountier cleared Lulu after the event, confirming her health. The rider highlights ongoing dressage work, the assistance of Eric Devander, and expresses confidence that Lulu is well‑suited for the upcoming PO 5‑Star in France, noting the flat terrain and challenging show‑jumping align with Lulu’s strengths. Overall, the update conveys cautious optimism about Lulu’s condition and future performance.
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This is a video for Bonnie Stead. Well, Bon Bon, we've had a challenging couple of weeks with Lulu, but I'm very proud to say that we're back on track. Obviously we had a spill at Tryon four star short and the mishap only happened about a third of the way around the course. So we rerouted to Plantation four star short, which was the following week in Pennsylvania. It was a lot more of a challenging cross country course and I was a bit nervous because I wasn't sure if she'd sort of be rattled from her our tumble at Tryon, but she was very, very good. Eric Devander came over on about Thursday or Wednesday or Thursday before the competition and gave me a bit of a hand cross country. I think we sent you a message. And Lulu was fantastic in, in her training. This wasn't the ideal competition. Was a little bit worried, obviously. Lulu was in North Carolina the weekend before. She'd done a lot of shipping. She jumped a fair bit at try on. So I didn't go all out in my preparation for this competition. Usually I'd work her quite a lot harder to get her relaxed for the dressage and then I'd also get there a day or two early and do all the ring familiarization. But I was just a bit nervous that we'd sort of pushed Lulu a little bit the week before. So I didn't get too worried about the result of our dressage. She was a little bit tense and nervous, as you'll see in a minute. She got a little bit hot in the walk and again, I was. My biggest focus this weekend was trying to get a phenomenal cross country round, which I'm very pleased to say that we, we did. We had a great round cross country at Plantation and it was, it was a. Felt like a five star course. It was quite big and challenging and Lulu was good. She got a little bit nervous and hot in the, in the dressage. Here I was, I didn't have any of my legs touching her side there. I was like trying to sit as quietly and as still as I could and it's quite a spooky ring this at Plantation. Anyway, I was glad to finally get into Canter there. Like I was saying before, she was very, very brave and confident in the cross country. We, I think we knocked out of one of the flags of one of the corners and I noticed on the scoreboard they gave us a flag penalty, which is a bit of a new rule they've got now. And yeah, Lulu sort of belted out A flag, which I'm not too worried about. She was, she was good. She was very good and straight through all of the, the, the accuracy questions and very brave at the water jumps and the. The coffin and whatnot. So all in all, the, the mishap that we had at the, at the tryon didn't seem to rattle her. She looks like she's come through this competition well. Dr. Peter Blounter checked her over and gave her the nod and we're pressing on towards our big goal of Poe 5 Star, which is in a couple of weeks. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that PO seriously suits her. It's not a huge course, it's very flat ground. And the show jumping is extremely challenging, which is Lulu's biggest strength. She show jump well here. You're about to see her around. At Plantation, we did actually have one pole down, I think about Fence five. I sort of turned a little bit in the air and she sadly dropped her hind toes on a front rail of an Oxa. But she's a very, very good jumper. Again, we sort of weren't going all out to make sure that she jumped clear. We just were looking for a nice confident round and I think this is the pole we have down. I sort of turn a little bit in the air and it just distracted her a little bit and she cut down with her back end. Silva's continuing to work her quite a lot in the dressage and I'm hoping by the time we get to France next month, as she should be going through this five star test with ease. She's a very, very good careful jumper and like I said before, the, the show jumping at. PO5 star in the south of France is very, very influential. Anyway, she was very bold and brave around the cross country, which is the whole reason I really wanted to run her here at Plantation and she really fought hard for me. Anyway, Bonner, I feel like we're in good shape and touch wood, everything's back on track. I hope you're well, mate. Looking forward to seeing you.
