Burghley, England, September 1-Charlie [Chevalier] went very well. We had 12 time penalties-we went the long way at the podium-type jump in the main arena, which put us down maybe 10 seconds, but I thought it was best to ride it that way.
Charlie was jumping great, but he was just not galloping away from jumps like he usually does. He felt fine once we got going, but didn’t have that turbo charge that he usually does. He finished really well, though.
There was lots of talk that people thought the cross-country was a fairly soft course, but I was making no predictions. I was going to treat it like the hardest four-star.
Charlie is sometimes plagued by sore feet after cross-country, but he seems in really good shape today. The footing was great-perfect. We had just enough rain last week, and dry conditions this week. They manage the course beautifully, so it was in great condition.
We re in 26th place right now-hopefully we will make it to the top 25 that show jump twice tomorrow. Charlie is usually a pretty good show jumper; it all depends on how his feet are feeling. Last year at Sydney he had two down, but that was pretty much because his feet were sore. I think he will be fine tomorrow.
