I had both Zidante ad Persimmon in the Advanced at Weston. Zidante was pleased to be back out after Fontainebleau and was quite full of herself, however she managed to contain herself in the dressage and did a super test, she was very accurate and did some lovely changes. She led her competitive section on a 26.8. She then jumped beautifully in the show jumping, giving them all lots of air, but unfortunately had the very last fence down. It was a real shame as it is most unlike her and she jumped so well, but the ground was a little tacky and I think she was a little slow getting her feet out the ground. She then gave me a great ride round the cross country and flew round to finish second.
Zidante pinging the open ditch – photo courtesy of Alex Colquhoun
Persimmon was making his Advanced debut and did not disappoint. He was a little green in his changes in his dressage as they are not yet established, the rest of his work was very good and he showed some lovely work to score 30.7. He jumped very good round in the show jumping, but fought me a little into one fence and unfortunately had one down. He then was superb round the cross country, making the step up to advanced feel easy. We picked up a few time faults to finish 9th, which I was thrilled with for our first attempt at this level.
Persimmon flying the double of corners – Photo courtesy of Fiona Scott-Maxwell
