“I PRACTISED THE BADMINTON TEST”
TRUDY JOHNSON had the perfect restart to her eventing season, with two wins at Aston-le-Walls (3). She took the open novice on 14-year-old Reggae Man (pictured, below) and novice section M on Catch Me If
You Can.
“It would have been amazing to win with one of them – for them both to do so is taking time to sink in!” she said. “And both of them led after dressage and finished on those marks [24.8 and 26.3 respectively].”
Trudy admitted she had “been working hard” during lockdown with both horses.
“I set myself the challenge of doing the Badminton CCI5* test on Reggae Man – I rode through it at the beginning of lockdown and my husband filmed it. I worked through different exercises I found on the internet, then on Badminton weekend I put on my tailcoat, plaited up and rode through it again.” Had she improved?
“Yes, I think so!”
Trudi was very complimentary about the smoothness with which the Aston-le-Walls fixture ran.
“I’d like to think some of the new rules could become permanent, such as sticking to your allotted times and the extra space and reduced numbers in the warm-ups,” she said.