The Lion Strikes ~ Oxstalls ~ 20/06/26

The Lion Strikes went to his first 100 at Oxstalls and pulled off a double clear! The set up for the dressage had moved so that you had a perfect view of the cross country. He warmed up brilliantly until the first horse went cross country and then was a bit distracted and just wanted to skip to the good bit! The show jumping was massive, and that’s coming from the person who usually takes the piss out of Lauren because eventing show jumping and pure show jumping are laughably different! But I’ve been campaigning for Lion’s Amateur qualifiers, so it’s literally the first 1m round he’s ever jumped. Did that put him off? Nope. Made the biggest jump on the course look like matchsticks and just flew round. I’m not going to lie; the cross country course made me want to die a little bit. I’m just stood there waiting for them to go feeling like I’m going to faint. And then they went and it was just ridiculous. I think I was crying from jump 4. I can’t believe my baby boy, who I first took cross country schooling two years ago as a scrawny little man, just stormed around a tough 100 track. It was honestly insane, I can’t believe how easy he made it look. They were in very good company, with about 70% of their section being 5* riders, so no placings this time. Lion is looking for his next rider to take up through the levels. He's the most genuine horse on the planet! Few people understand the feeling of building a horse from scratch and then sending him out into the world with my whole world on his back. Kerry is the only horse I trusted as much as Lion with my sister, and there have been so many horses between them. I’m just so proud. Thanks to my big sister for bringing our boy home safe every time. Love you endlessly.