‘Balance and rideability are Price-less'

Kylie Roddy assesses what's needed to succeed at the French five-star at Pau

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THE key to Pau is good jumping horses that have been trained correctly. Horses that had self-carriage and were ridden in good balance prevailed in all three phases. Each phase plays a significant part in the competition result, but the leader often changes after each phase at Pau and I think this is brilliant for our sport - it keeps the competition alive to the very end.

A hurricane on Thursday meant the first trot-up was delayed until 5pm and all dressage took place on the Friday. The trot-up can be high spirited - a large number of fit, excited horses in a tight space - and can resemble a sketch from the TV series Men Behaving Badly. As a competitor, I was delighted not to be doing this until Hurricane Benjamin had left France.

Dimensionally, the cross-country at Pau doesn’t terrify the living daylights out of you. Course-designer Pierre Michelet’s magic is in putting fences in places where horses can’t immediately see them, then adding in distances where riders have to make stride pattern decisions based on the horse they are riding.