Big day for Future Sport Horses at Carlton Horse Trials!

Today was a big day for Future Sport Horses as both our young 5 year olds were out competing, and it was our young stallion Future Illusion’s first ever run at a Horse Trials. He put in a superb dressage to score 24 penalty points which was the best dressage score in his section and the judge’s summary read “working easily in arena showing good free paces and a good attitude” (see the scanned score sheet below). He followed up his dressage debut with a neat clear round in the showjumping. His lack of any mileage showed at the beginning of the cross country though, with an unwelcoming drop log into a dark wood at fence 3, not seeming terribly appealing. It caught many combinations out during the day and given that it had a black flag option, one wonders whether a fence that early on the course which required an alternative was really pitched at the right level for an intro track! Whilst it would have been easier to have taken the alternative and play safe just to get a clear for the record, Jeanette believes youngsters need to go and learn and once he’d got over his natural apprehension he jumped into the darkness and went on to cruise comfortably round the rest of the course which included steps, ditches and the water. Jeanette was extremely pleased with him commenting on how he’d taken her to every fence and showed a really calm, willing attitude in all 3 phases. It was a very educational day for Future Illusion and he took it all in his very laid back style as usual, and in the photos below you can see he enjoyed every minute! We’re all excited about his next outing now and hope to build on the very good start he’s made.

Future Genie also put in a very pleasing performance with a 28 dressage being followed up by an unlucky pole in the showjumping following a tricky moment after the previous fence. She then went on to cruise round a very undulating course, accumulating just 1.6 time penalties. Unfortunately those time penalties were very costly and but for them she would have won the section, even with the showjump down.

All in all it was a thrilling day for all of us at Future Sport Horses to see our youngsters out and being extremely competitive. To see bigger photos below and read his dressage scoresheet, click on the thumbnails.