1st and 2nd at Farley Hall

We’ve had a great spring season and the run of good form continued at Farley Hall after a double win the previous weekend.  It was the first time we'd been to Farley and the organisers have done a great job – it’s a lovely open park and the course is bold and attacking.

We had two horses there – Tenarézé in the Intermediate Novice and Mr Optimistic in the Novice.  Tenarézé produced another good test with a dressage score of 22, following on from his score of 17 last weekend!  He jumped another double clear to finish on his dressage score and win.  This was his third win in a row and he feels like he's improving all the time.  With every run he's learning to jump out of his stride without having to adjust his rhythm at each fence, this reduces the effort involved and enables him to jump in a more economical way.

Mr Optimistic also did a lovely test to score 25.  He had one show jump down and was clear across country to finish in 2nd place.  He's a big six year-old who's maturing into a lovely horse, he's been really consistent and has had some good novice results this season. Having ridden him since the start of his four year-old year, it's rewarding to see him grow-up from a gangly baby to an established horse.

The course at Farley was on the strong side but had good flow to it.  It was a really fun day with the Owners of both horses, made even more enjoyable by their great results.