New Sponsor

Lucie McNichol Eventing has a new sponsor in the form of Devoucoux Saddles. They are the best saddles on the market and I have ridden in them for some years now. A beautiful new jump saddle arrived today and I am very much looking forward to taking it on its maiden voyage!! If you are in need of a saddle for any discipline please follow the link through from my website to Devoucoux, they provide a very friendly, efficient service and are always more than willing to help.

Upton House

Our last outing was to Upton House in Oxfordshire. The event is set in beautiful surroundings and is definitely worth a visit. The ground had had a lot of work done on it for which all event riders are grateful.

First on was Wally (Wanadoo Too) in the BE100. He performed a lovely test as usual, sadly the judge needed a visit to specsavers-enough said. Wally went on to jump a lovely double clear albeit slowly as there was no point pushing him following the dressage mark. He has made great progress and hopefully this will continue to be the case. 



Photo's courtesy of first photography

Next up was Rosie (Pencarder Silver Storm) she performed an ok test which I felt was a little harshly marked for 40.5, she is back to her usual consistent self and jumped a beautiful double clear finishing just outside the placings with a couple of time faults.

Finally Stanley was on, he did a sweet test but is still a little green, scoring 38. He jumped well, I had one down and he brushed one so had 8 faults but jumped well. Xc he had a very green look at the water at fence 4 which took him by surprise, but other than that he was great and seems to be comfortable at this level. Netx outing is at Smiths Lawn at the beginning of August.

New Arrivals

We have 2 new arrivals (full profiles coming soon to "Horses" section)

Liberal Lady (Millie) a 10yr old bay Intermediate mare belonging to Mark Milligan. Millie is getting fit currently and will be out towards the end of the season-a very exciting addition to Lucie.

Boston a 5yr old Brown Dressage horse belonging to Jane and David Hamilton. Boston is here to gain experience at Affiliated British Dressage classes before being sold. He is a stunning mover and has a fabulous, trainable brain. It is lovely to have some great movers in the yard, it makes dressage so much more fun!!

Purston Manor

Today we travelled to Purston Manor taking Kington to step back a level to boost confidence having stepped up to novice successfully, and Wally (Wanadoo Too). Kington started with a good test, still with plenty to improve but scored a respectable 33.5, showjumped clear and went xc like a pro finishing well inside the optimum time. WE WON!!!! It was a tough enough course with faults collected everywhere but Kington is beginning to be quite an established horse xc now and proved that he is definitely ready to continue running at novice now. He is a star in the making.

Wally was producing a lovely test but sadly couldn't hold his enthusiasm for the entire test and threw in some beautiful bucks for good measure (he was still 7th after this phase)!! He shows huge amounts of talent on the flat but needs to learn to concentrate for the time he is in the ring. Showjumping he rolled 2 poles but managed to avoid any "wobble" moments. I can forgive him for these as we know he has masses of scope, he just needs to focus a little more at times. Cross country was different. We stopped for some reason between fence 1 and 2 waited a few moments whilst Wally's brain reshuffled back onto planet Earth and then continued as though nothing had happened, jumping fantastically the whole way. He finished clear but had acquired 60.4 time faults!!! I have never had this happen to me before and hopefully won't again!! I won the battle and now I think (hope) he knows who's in charge!!

Photos courtesy of John Britter

Salperton Novice

Last Saturday Rosie went to Salperton to compete in the novice. She did a settled test scoring 35.5 not bad considering she was being attacked from all angles by horse flies. Showjumping she was not her usual careful self seeming a little distracted by flies again unfortunately just touching 2 rails. Cross country she was awesome, the flies obviously couldn't keep up with her. She flew round and is trying to tell me that she is ready for the next step up-Intermediate!!