We did a very nice test in the pouring rain and wind yesterday, Brennus was extremely well behaved. Unfortunately we lost marks for being too forward ! Its very frustrating when judges encourage you to push on then another judge deducts marks for too forward ! We are learning all the time and hope to get it right for our next outing at Hickstead.
J L D EQUINE 
Well done! x
Well done Jo and Brennus .
Congratulations on another successful outing. I check your blog regularly and sometimes feel slightly disappointed with it as I always want to know more information eg how many were in the class, what the highest score was, where you were placed, which parts of the test BB found difficult and what you do to help him. This could then give us readers some tips on what we can try with our own horses.
Thank you for your suggestions I will try to put as much information up as I can, the class at Hartpury was a very big class i think about 25 to 30 had all qualified the top score was 9.6 given to Michael Eilberg. We actually came 16th which was a disappointing score for us as we regularly achieve 80 % hence my comment in the blog. BB main problem with the test is keeping him focused and relaxed, as a stallion he can easily become distracted particularly in the walk. We also have to be careful not to practice the tests at home otherwise BB starts to anticipate this can be useful at times but more often than not it works against you particularly in the simple changes. Because he is only a 5 year old i only ride him for no more that 20/30 mins per day no more than 5 times a week I also turn him out in the field every afternoon for 4 hours so he can naturally build strength up. Hope this all helps ! Jo