On the 14 May, we took the team to Tonimbuk Monthly Jumping Competition for an easy outing. This was Roughy’s first time jumping, let alone competing, in an indoor and also his first time at 1.10cm.

Again, he was a little sticky for the first few jumps but grew confident throughout the day. He was super in his 1.10m round, just getting two poles. I find a lot of horses (and riders) jump better when the jumps increase slightly – this is because there is less margin for error and the rider has to be more assertive and accurate about their decisions and this will normally create a better jump from the horse. Even though there were a few poles, the quality of jump and learning from going up to 1.10m for Roughy was absolutely beneficial.

Roughy is such an easygoing, ‘take everything in his stride’ type nature (which most thoroughbreds are), which makes progression and challenges much easier.