In a personal video addressed to Bonnie Stead, the speaker celebrates Lulu's recent achievement of becoming a four‑star long event horse after a strong performance at the Tryon International competition. The recap covers Lulu's dressage test (score 34, with promising trot work and improving flying changes), a demanding cross‑country round (first to start, 4‑mile course with 36‑37 jumps, finished 12‑13 seconds over the optimum time but placed sixth overall), and a clear show‑jumping round. The speaker highlights Lulu's physical and mental recovery, praises her careful jumping and speed, and outlines upcoming goals: targeting another four‑star long in October (Malvern Park), possible selection for the Pan American Games, and a potential entry at the Devon arena eventing. A training plan is mentioned, allowing a short break before resuming work in three to four weeks. The narrative conveys pride, optimism, and gratitude for Bonnie's support, emphasizing Lulu's progress this season and the educational value of the Tryon event for future success.
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This is a video for Bonnie Stead. Well, Bonnie, I can't believe it, but Lulu is now officially a four star long horse. We've only got one step left in her illustrious career. She was absolutely brilliant at try on. It was a big field of quality horses. There was about 20 horses in the class and I didn't quite know what to expect from Lulu. Obviously we've had her for many, many years and this has always been a goal, but only a small group of horses can physically do four and five star long. So I was very, very pleased and proud of Lulu. She was absolutely awesome in all three phases. This is her dressage test that we did on Thursday, Thursday afternoon and she was good. I mean, I have to say this is the harder of the two four star tests and she was good. She, she ended up scoring a 34 which, you know, I think once we, we get rid of all the green mistakes we should be able to get her into the high 20s. She's actually starting to move quite well in the trot work. She, she's starting to show a little bit of movement and cadence and, and the flying changes weren't perfect but they were sort of better than what we've been getting. So I think by the end of this year they should be automatic. So we were about midfield after the dressage which, considering the, the quality of horses we were up against, I was quite happy with and it was sort of her. I think it's only her fourth advance start ever, so she's definitely still getting the ropes. But as you can see, the, the general work was very, very good. Unfortunately, we didn't get much of the video of the cross country which was just a huge accomplishment. It was, I think 4 mile course, it was 36, 37 jumps and Lulu was the, the very first horse to go in the whole class and she was brilliant. We were, we were a little bit over the time. We, we were about 12 or 13 seconds over the, over the time. I think we finished in 10 minutes 30 and the, the time on the course was 10:14. So by saying that I wasn't pressing her too much for the time, I, I was just hoping to get her around unscathed and she, she did, she impressed me. She, she jumped all of the direct lines and showed plenty of guts and determination and yeah, I mean when it was all said and done we finished in sixth place. So to be in the top six of an international four star long is, it's massive. It's a huge accomplishment and sort of in the back of My mind I'm, I'm dreaming about taking a five star next year. So this weekend was a bit of a stepping stone. I'd love to do two full star longs this year so I think we'll aim her towards another one in October probably Malvern park or there's a slim chance she might get picked for the, the Pan American Games down in Chile or somewhere like that. She, she, we had a really, really fit the, the cross country. She recovered well and very, very pleased. She was perfect on trot up after the cross country and before the show jumping and she looks like she's come through the event unscathed so. So with a bit of luck I'm half thinking of actually running her at the Devon arena eventing in a couple of weeks. She's a real good careful jumper and she's speedy and nippy Bonnie. So if I'll just see how she recovers. But there's a chance that we might run her at the Devon arena eventing which is good prize money and exciting contests. So we'll just play that by year though. But all in all I think we'll give her a good break now and let her freshen up and I think bring her back in to work in three weeks time, four weeks time, give her a bit of time to physically recover and mentally recover. She's gone hard this year Bonnie. Like she did her first advance at Pinetop and then the four short at Carolina, the advanced at Fair Hill and now this four star longit try on. It's been a heroic effort so far this season by Lulu. So looking forward Bonnie, I think the biggest thing is that we just keep improving Lulu. Obviously the, the biggest improvement I believe is the dressage and she has come on a fair bit this year but she obviously needs to get more sort of confirmed in the, in the flying changes and obviously the more she understands the dressage I feel like the more relaxed she'll get. The show jumping is brilliant and cross country she's really improved this year. I mean this is I think fence five. It's this massive trainer, five big strides, long strides, this massive corner and look at Lulu go. I mean and that was sort of the story of our round where she was just ears pricked and really fighting for me all the way around. And like I said before she pulled up perfectly and we went in and show jumped a clear round. She. This big course was made 25 meter 30 but I had a really fit so she was a little bit tired towards the end of the cross country but she recovered well and Sunday morning the day of the show jumping she was up on her toes and back to her old self. So you know sixth place at a four star long on a young green horse like this is a fantastic accomplishment for Lulu and I really feel like this competition is going to build her up for the future. It's going to, you know it's a great education and she was sort of pushed hard but she, she coped with it very well. And you know it's also having a great show jumper too because I really feel like the show jumping's getting harder and harder at the top of the sport and having a horse that just is naturally sharp and naturally careful. So a wonderful, wonderful thing. So anyway Bonnie, thank you for all the support with her. It's been a long road since we got her as a five year old and who would have thought that she'd be placing in the top finishes at a four star long.
