Maddie Oldfield, 22, and her 16-year-old “wannabe” cob Miss Moneypenny, affectionately known as Penguin, have gone into the lead in the 100cm class after day one at the H&H Festival of Eventing.
The pair performed a polished test at Keysoe to score 26.5, their best-ever dressage score to date.
The “super safe” 15.2hh mare is back on form Maddie told H&H after recovering from a suspensory ligament injury which side-lined the pair for six months last April.
“It was gutting – she had been jumping 1.20m classes in showjumping over the winter but something went wrong and she started throwing in extra strides and feeling heavy on the flat,” said Maddie.
“She spent six months on box rest but she was so cool with it. A seven-year-old would ride her bareback through her rehab.”
Maddie has owned Penny (Penguin) for seven years and said she is very good at her job.
“We call her Penguin which is great fun when you tell her off because you can’t say it angrily,” laughs Maddie.
“She feels on form and is feeling great but I’m a bit paranoid and need to be careful with her now but she’s such a good girl.”
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“We were at Aston-Le-Walls two weeks ago and got a dressage score of 28, and she’s done even better today. She’s so cool – she loves an atmosphere and always perks up. We’ve done a couple of British Showjumping discovery and newcomers classes in preparation for the eventing season and she’s been double-clear in all of her classes so far but I don’t want to jinx it,” said Maddie.
Maddie lies 1.75 penalties ahead of Tayla Brooks and Springwind Catwalk going into the cross-country, while Stacey Page and Armani Lad lie on a score of 29.5.
“The cross-country course looks quite big and it’s long, but Penguin is pretty fit so hopefully we’ll be ok. I don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight,” said Maddie.
Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 6 June
