Rolex

The highlight for the month of April personally, was going to Rolex as selector and spectator—it’s always so educational. The quality of the dressage has gotten so much better and is more and more a pleasure to watch. I walked the cross-country course three times and thought it was really difficult. I had to laugh that riders were saying they thought it was more straightforward than in the past—I don’t know what a straightforward 4-star is! I think that Derek is a master at making things look jumpable, yet making a rider work the whole way around. 4 ABC—a hanging rail, three gallop strides to a downhill brush, then four strides to narrow brush corner--tested the riders’ confidence and ability to understand the question, balance, gallop and ride a line. From that point on you had to work all the way around the course. The highlight of the day had to be watching Phillip Dutton and Mr. Medicott—pure class! If I had to pick some other highlights they would be Zara Tindall, who made it look easy, and Matt Brown, who clearly meant business. Michael Jung lived on the edge but is the master of knowing his horse and his sport, and Maxime Livio had such a scopey, brave horse, they were a pleasure to watch. 

I think the show jumping was a tough track I feel we all need to get better at not having time faults. It sure continued to a nail-biting finish to the end!

It’s the time of year that I get to live on the mower and balance riding with farm work as we prepare for our Surefire Horse Trials June 23-25. At the moment, I’m also slated to go to Germany to watch Luhmuhlen CCI**** June 15-18 as a selector, and I’m going to run my young horses at Virginia and Middleburg Horse Trials.