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Ginnie Turnbull and Instant Reaction have great success at Badminton

22nd May 2009

After my last diary, the curse of Badminton hit us!! Dan developed a bizzarre lameness in his hind foot. We immediately took him to the vets who, after x-raying and scanning everything diagnosed a bruise in the heel area. This knocked our preparations big time and we only managed one canterwork before our final run at Belton, missing an important run at Weston Park.

He ran well at Belton Park however, and despite several rider blips in the showjumping came 10th which was mainly due to a cracking cross country round. He maintained his soundness thank goodness and hoorah things looked on the improve!

We set off for Badminton on the Tuesday and it was an amazing experience from then on. When you arrive you are greeted at the village hall for a brief horse check and then on to the stables. Wow! They are incredible. Dan was in the main stables which are very impressive and totally immaculate. He settled in well although as usual as the week progressed he stopped eating as well as normal and went on slight hunger strike. He passed the trot up fine on the Wednesday and did a good test for us on the Friday. Unfortunately my hat blew off in the high winds and I had a "Benny Hill" moment! Very attractive in the hairnet!

Cross country day dawned and after a long wait I finally got my chance. He was amazing and finished clear with a few time faults (my fault not his as I just wanted him home fit and well). He took all the straight routes and gave me the ride of my life!

Sunday brought the final inspection and then the showjumping which he again was at his best and jumped a great clear with just one time fault! The final scores for us were as follows

Dressage - 65.2 (65)

Cross country - 17.2 (47)

Show Jumping - clear round, 1.0 time fault 

Total penalities - 83.4

Place - 39

Great elation at our first Badminton and we were very proud of him.

Since we returned home, he has managed to maintain his weight on the Natural Vitality Digestive Health Plus which is a miracle. He looks fantastic and has had a short break and will be starting eventing, ground permitting building up towards Burghley.

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