BEF Futurity - Time to Cavort

Sammy had his first ever party at the age of just four months. After lots of encouraging and practice to get him into the lorry, he soon got the hang of things. Ginny headed off to Solihul on the Tuesday to do her first every BEF Futurity class.

Ginny had the help of Sian throughout the day. The first step was the vet’s evaluation and Ginny had to hold both mare and foal in front of the panel of judges: A vet, a farrier and a nutritionist. Ginny Managed to just about control his excitement and he showed off to the judges with a good walk and trot but with the odd canter, buck, rear!

The next phase was in the main arena for the full evaluation of his gaits and suitability for eventing. In the walk around the arena he was extremely well behaved despite the odd distractions from flower pots that, to Sammy, looked like a good idea to eat. Nevertheless, he managed to keep all four hooves on the ground. Ginny was then asked to let him loose and for Jinx to be trotted in hand - the plan being that Sammy would follow. However, he could no longer contain his excitement and he went wild certainly showing off his gallop, not to mention, plenty of bucking and rearing! This did, nonetheless, show plenty of character and he even paid the judges and photographer a visit! It quickly became apparent that the trot gait was pretty non-existent with Sammy loose so Ginny put him back on the lead and they trotted in hand much more settled.

He scoring very well for his walk and gallop and good for his trot and in the vet’s evaluation (apart from being told he is a bit of a fatty!). Ginny could’ve been more thrilled with his first rosette and a Higher First Grading – he looks like one to watch in few years time!