Simon Grieve Finishes 3rd CCI4*L at Land Rover Blair Castle Internationals

Main Image Courtesy of Julian Portch

Well Simon set out postively on the cross country with Mr Fahrenheit and rode a lovely first half of the cross country though his ride looked strong and keen – which to be fair is a good thing at Blair with the hills. The second water Simon rode through just text book like and got mr Fahrenheit back on the way out of the water just balancing him beautifully. However fence 16 saw a sit tight moment and they were saved from an unscheduled dismount. they continued on through the course and was superb through the Topspin Quarry Angles just demonstrating how well trained the horse is who stayed on his life beautifully. He currently sits in third place going forward to the showjumping

 

We caught up with Simon to hear what his thoughts were on his cross country round

So clear cross country Simon, and a bit of a sit tight moment??!!

There was definitely a sit tight moment , yeah he was very good to me. He left a bit of a leg which unseated me and then he put me back into the saddle over the next part and he jumped whereas most horses would have run straight past it, which was great

The way you rode through the second water was text book

He is quite a feisty little chap and by that point he was starting to become , well as its later in the course, a bit more rideable so I really enjoyed riding through there  it was really good.

Today saw Simon sail through the trot up

Yes passed the trot up, which is always a bit of a nerve racking thing.

What does Mr Fahrenheit show jump like?

Sometimes he can mr careful and doesn’t want to leave a pole and won’t knock a pole and other days he can be a bit casual about it

 

 

Simon Then went on to Showjumps later this afternoon in what was a beautiful day with the sun shining but the temperatures rose to over 30 degrees making it uncomfortably hot However they only had one pole and two time penalties to leave them sitting in third place

Simon was really pleased with this result and we wanted to know his thoughts on his round and his future plans with Mr Fahrenheit

It was a decent enough course in there, big enough and square enough in places and Freddy is a little bit tired and a little bit flat today, he had a slightly sore stifle and our little altercation with that fence yesterday and so he has come out and tried really hard so I am really happy with him.

He really really tried, Its like driving a car with flat tyres and he really tried his best, so as long as they try I can never ask for more

So what will be the next plans for Freddy?

Well he qualified for Badminton at Bramham this year and we wanted to have a nice run here and wanted to see how he went and he really operated yesterday so I think hopefully Badminton next year as a ten year old would be brilliant and it would be so wonderful to take him as his mother went there with phoebe who has been helping me today and It would be a really family thing

So Burghley Simon in a few weeks with The Rutman!! How are your preparations going for that?

I brought the horse that is going to Burghley with me here just so that he is with me and I can keep an eye on things and keep his training going and it’s good to gallop up a couple of hills as well for their fitness. I am really excited and really looking forward to it, he is a green horse for that level, its his first time at that level, so we will take it one step at a time and just look after him and hopefully have a really nice time

We wish Simon all the best at Burghley and look forward to seeing Mr Fahrenheit hopefully making a debut at Badminton next year!!

 

 

 

 

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