Cole was his normal brilliant self cross country, showing me that he is definate intermediate/advanced material, by understanding all the questions and jumping boldly and carefully. The only place I wanted to improve was the way he gallped up the hill. I wanted a slower pace but he was more interested in going fast. I knew the hill was long and he would run out of energy but at some point I had to make the decision whether to let him gallop freely or argue with him to go slower. Arguing can often take just as much away from the horse so I let him gallop on. He was right on his minute markers until the last 1 1/2 minutes wher he did tire.
The show jumping caused a lot of trouble so I was happy with his round even tho he had a couple of rails. The course was big and technical with a lot of changing direction. Add to this the atmosphere and it was easy to have a rail or two, esp on a horse that hasn't had exposure to this type of event. All in all I was very proud of my horse and the way he handled himself. He felt as tho he grew up a lot, in a way that they only can by going to the big competitions. We are no going to focus really hard on the dressage with him and then back out again at Loch Moy in July.
On a side note, there are still some things that remind me I live in America. Like the crossing of the border. EG, the only way I knew we left America and arrived in Canada (expect the guards who look at the papers) was that the roadsigns changed from English to French! On the way back, however, there was NO doubt we were heading back into America!
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