Blenheim Coursewalks

One of my sponsors Amtrust Equine Insurance asked me to do some coursewalks at Blenheim with some prize winners from various competitions around the country. I did one on the Thursday by myself and one on the Friday. It is very rewarding doing these as I genuinelly felt I helped people understand our pretty bonkers sport a little better. People asked lots of questions and hopefully I was able to answer then without seeming like i was speaking in a foreign language. Hopefully Amtrust will continue to support me on my quest to the top and I will be able to do some more walks for them at the big events next year.

New Boy On The Block!!

 

This week has been rather a whirlwind. Tuesday saw Simon Hall and myself taking an hour flight across to Ireland to Goresbridge sales. A whole new experience for me having never been to a sale, 300 horses a day going under the hammer for 10 days solid. Sadly we only had time to spend the one day there (Wednesday), however it was a massive success. We found a lovely 16.1hh bay gelding 3/4 TB who we have named Dougal. He arrived Friday having had the biggest adventure of his life travelling 6 hrs to the sales from the yard where he was bred, then to a holding yard, then the ferry trip over and finally a day on the lorry until he was delivered. He will have a couple of days to catch up with himself  before I get on and ride him.Very exciting for both Simon and myself and fingers crossed he will be one for the future. He has a lot of character already showing through and loves attention.

Hunters Equestrian Centre British Dressage Debut

Boston III was making his debut at affiliated dressage. Having warmed up well we went into the indoor school and performed Prelim 13. Boston behaved very well although finds the 20x40 arena rather small to fit his 17.2hh body in! However he scored 68% and would have won by miles had I not had to be HC because I have represented my country and am entitled to wear the GB flag on my coat. Our second test was outside in the 60m arena, in the pouring rain. Boston was brilliant and scored a well deserved 71% again sadly we were HC else we would have won again by a mile.

Wanadoo Too was next, he was doing 2x Novice Qualifier tests. The first one was in the indoor and Wally was great. He was very expressive and focused in his work and performed a fabulous test scoring 71.78% winning by 11%. His second test was in the outdoor 60m arena. Again Wally performed a harmonious, consistent test, although he did let his exuberance show with a buck in the first canter but he scored 71.78% again winning this class too.

A brilliant outing for both boys. Boston III is for sale as I haven't got time to produce him up the grades for pure dressage, and so his owner has decided he is best in a home where he can reach his full potential. For any information please don't hesitate to contact me on 07941865688

Highclere Castle

Last Sunday we headed to Highclere Castle, a beautiful setting which we are lucky to be able to gallop around the grounds of. Wanadoo Too was my only entry here in the PNP a step up for Wally. In the pouring,horizontal rain we performed a very good test for his first one at novice level. We got 3x 9's (and a few lower marks for 3 mistakes) but all in all a very pleasing test to score 28.5. Sadly due to the weather conditions the rest of the event was cancelled so we were unable to jump. I would have liked to have run in the conditions to see how he coped but he is saved for another day.

Burnham Beeches

Sunday we headed off to Burnham Beeches, an event I enjoy going to and return most years. Alex Hamilton-White kindly came as groom and was a fantastic help. First on was Wanadoo Too, he was sadly first to go of the whole day dressage which I believe is a huge disadvantage. He performed a stunning test which we all thought was better than his West Wilts performance, sadly he only got a 30.5 but was still competitive. He showjumped fantastically for a clear and then went xc with an attitude we could have only dreamt about in the past. We finished well inside the optimum time and came back with a 4th rosette. Next outing for him will be Gatcombe Novice providing all goes to plan.
Pencarder Silver Storm was next on, although she came out the lorry with a shoe twisted so we pulled that off and put her back on the lorry.
Kington came out for his 3rd novice, performed a green and wobbly test but did most things in the right places. I was very pleased with a score of 28. He showjumped fantastically for a clear, springing off the floor and not coming close to touching a pole. He set out xc and overjumped fence 3 with a drop behind, this seemed to unsettle him and he jumped the next two rather large so I pulled him up and thought it was best to save him for another day with some xc schooling practice inbetween. He is such a lovely horse that he deserves the time spent on him.
All in all a good outing....next stop Highclere

West Wilts Last Minute Entry

I have been teaching at the Avon Vale Pony Club junior camp for the week but was lucky enough to get a last minute entry into West Wilts BE100 just having to take the afternoon off teaching to compete at my most local event. Wanadoo Too (Wally) had been prepared (plaited etc) by my home groom Ingrid and looked the part, so I was hoping for less tricks in the dressage. I could not have been happier with the test, the judge opened the door at the end and congratulated us!! I got my first ever 10 for a halt in the middle of the test and was rewarded by a fantastic score of 19.5 (80.5%). This put us well in the lead but as we have learned from Wally, the win was not in the bag.

Other than finding some Mitsubushi L200 signs around the warm-up arena very scary we went in and jumped a lovely clear in the new outdoor arena (which is beautiful to jump on).

All photo's courtesy of David Betteridge

Then onto the xc, the course was stiffer than the previous event here, jumping a few of the novice obsticles but Wally flew round taking everything in his stride. We finished bang on the optimum time and had a comvincing win of 11 marks!! Nothing could have made today more perfect.

Smiths Lawn

Not the greatest of reports sadly. The ground was awfully hard and had had little treatment, if any, so I decided to withdraw Kington and Pencarder Silver Storm from the competition after dressage. Wanadoo Too ran because he was feeling rather fresh and I thought he'd benefit from a run. He was naughty in the dressage taking umbridge at a distant horse and performing some aerial tricks (not appreciated by me or the owner, but he amused himself). He showjumped clear and ran xc well just getting a little surprised by the steps that are half a stride round a corner in the woods. This felt like his best run even though on paper it looks his worst, he came out the start box and took me to every fence-definite progress!! Sadly an event I can't see myself returning to unless some serious work is done to it.