Mike Jackson

Mike's Kangasong just misses out on squad qualification

Despite the rain and the mud the horses have been going really well this month.....

Carolyn Bates' lovely young stallion Wish Upon a Star (Whiz) finished 4th in the final of the five-year-old Burghley Young Event Horse class. He went beautifully (despite the testing conditions) scoring 30 out of 35 for his dressage, 33 out of 40 for his jumping, and 13 out of 15 for his conformation. Next stop for him is the Young Horse Event Championships at Tweseldown in October, where I'm sure he'll be really competitive.

My Stallion Up With the Lark (Max) won his intermeiate section at Aston-Le-Walls, although it wasn't without mishap! Just as I was approaching the water jump on the cross country, I noticed a van parked behind the final element. I shouted to the driver to move, but I had to slow down to avoid landing on his bonnet!!

Max had been well ahead of the rest of the field after the first two phases, but they gave me 8 time penalties putting me back into second spot. After explaining to the stewards what had happened, they corrected my time and Max was awarded the top spot, although it was a bit tense! Kangasong (Joey) also put in an excellent performance with 31 double clear, finishing second in his intermediate section.

Joey also went really well at Gatcombe CIC two star, getting 49.5 in the dressage and jumping double clear in sticky conditions. I was really hoping he would be picked for the seven-year-old championships at Le Lion on the back of this performance, but sadly he didn't make the squad this time.

Carole Mortimer's Jagganath (Jack) also did an excellent test in the one star putting him right up with the leaders, but unfortunately I couldn't run him in the jumping phases as he'd missed some work and I didn't want to risk it.

Wish Upon a Star also went very well at Spring Hill and Burnham Beeches, finishing second in both of his novice sections. Daisy Duke continued her form finishing on her dressage score of 33, and coming sixth in her novice section.

Uluru (Skippy-Joey's younger brother) also had his first run of the season at Urchinwood, along with Carolyn Bates' nice young Jumbo mare Jarvo - who finished 3rd in the pre-novice.

Away from the horses Noah is growing up fast and must be one of the most travelled babies in Britain. He has joined us at most of the competitions this month, and even put up with the pouring rain at Burghley. Thank goodness he seems to be fairly tolerant of our hectic lifestyle!

Until next time..