Jacky Green has once again sent us a great report from Europe, this time from Le Lion young horse championships in France, for which we are eternally grateful. Jacky works for Team New Zealand and also runs her Maizey Manor Farm in the UK and she is a regular Eventing Nation contributor. Thanks for writing this Jacky and thank you for reading.
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From Jacky:
After a freezing night we woke to thick fog Friday morning at Le Lion which had barely started to clear at 10 am this morning which will be quite a worry tomorrow as cross country is due to start at 10 am with the 6 year old class and a delay will be inevitable if the fog is that thick again. However, when it did finally lift the day was spent in glorious sunshine and the horses looked relaxed and calm in the main arena all day, what a difference it makes when they don’t have to do their tests with flapping flags and howling winds, especially when this event only caters for 6 and 7 year olds.
Paul Tapner (Australia) rode Indian Mill into the lead in the six year olds this morning despite being barely visible in the mist and on a score of 44 he is just 2 penalties ahead. The judges stayed pretty tough with just 6 combinations in the 40’s and equal scores being quite common with up to three pairs on exactly the same score throughout the fifties. The one star track wheels exactly bang on so it will be interesting if the 9 minutes takes its toll on some of the 6 year old horses although the ground is good to firm so will be quick. Whereas in the UK we “spike” the ground when it is hard over here they seem to have a machine that breaks up the top of the soil so it’s a bit like dry plough, it is chunky and moves a bit underfoot so perhaps not all the track will feel as smooth as the start and finish on the racecourse!
In the 2 star a new name leads, Franzisca Haunhorst with Songline 2 heading affairs for Germany on a massive 39,beating German dressage supremo Ingrid Klimke into 2nd on 41. The 7 year old judges seem a bit more friendly and have nearly 20 horses in the forties and they have scored horses from the late 30’s through to the 70’s which is good use of those buttons and shows they are prepared to use the full range of marks available to them.
Tomorrow over 100 horses will start cross country and the sunshine will no doubt bring large crowds to the venue which is also something new for the young horses, many of which are at their first three day and have no experience of crowds and noise and will probably relish the quieter tracks through the woods!
