I was feeling a bit more confident about my next little competition stint out to Belgium, mainly because I knew more about the set up and how things were run, so felt a bit more in control. I took Felix (pictured above) and Fleurie out for the international shows, along with my young horse Cambridge, to get some further training and also take him to the local training shows.
When we arrived in Belgium I managed to get him straight to Lier and jump him round a little course to dust off the cobwebs, then onto Sentower the next day to jump him in their big international ring. This was a great experience which didn’t faze him in the slightest.
We then chugged off to Kronenberg (I won’t bore you with my lorry issues… again!), which was only 50 minutes from the yard — win! I really like this show. It has two arenas that aren’t enormous, but the course builders really utilise the space and create nice flowing tracks that encourage a good pace with no half distances. The arenas have a restaurant in the middle of them making for great viewing, with nice indoor and outdoor seating. Most of these shows also have outdoor internationals where you can exercise the horses, which was ideal for my young horse. Cambridge didn’t compete but he presented at the trot-up, took in the atmosphere and got to sneak in some extra flatwork training. The Kronenberg show also has the new, huge Emmers tack shop which is horsey heaven — I didn’t realise how many things I “needed” until visiting. Hi, Santa!
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