Larkhill and the end of the season :(

Saturday saw me take 3 horses to Larkhill for the last event of my season. It has been a season of ups and downs but that's horses and all in all it has been a successful one. Larkhill was no exception.
Pencarder Silver Storm, Wanadoo Too and Kington were all competing in the novice.
Rosie performed a very nice test to score 34.5 she then went on to jump fantastically finishing on this score and coming a credible 3rd. A brilliant end to her season as she was rather put on the back burner and has proved why I like her so much. Sadly she is for sale, although not advertised, if someone is looking for the most genuine, careful jumper, to have masses of fun on. I have no doubt she will go up the grades and prove to be a star but she is small and I am quite tall and squash her! If she isn't sold over the winter I will bring her out and take her 2 star in the spring. She is only 7yrs old and has a huge career ahead of her.

Wally was a little fresh in his dressage scoring 32, he then was a little keen showjumping just lowering one pole and was good xc for a steady clear. He has a huge gallop and masses of jump but he was rather enjoying himself a little too much, pulling my arms out so he was having a lesson in running at my speed! A great end to his season. We never thought he would actually come this far in the short space of time I have had him so to have done 2 novices successfully is a huge bonus.

Stan was rather cheeky in the dressage scoring 36, he also lowered one showjump and was clear xc. I pushed him a little bit more for the time than I have done and he will be easily able to make times when I open him out fully. He finished just outside the rosettes.

So all in all a very successful last event of the season.

British Dressage again!

Boston III was again competing at West Wilts. He did 2 prelims. The first test he was going well until he had a 5yo moment in his first canter and had a play, having persuaded him this was not the idea he continued and scored 63% which left him 3rd. The second test he was a lot more focused and decided he was grown up enough not to play at all scoring a credible 69.5% leaving him in 2nd place. He has come on a lot in the last few months and will now go home to his owners for the winter. It has been a pleasure riding and producing him and I hope he is successful as a dressage horse knowing I put the basics in.

Andy Austin Showjumping help

I was lucky enough to be able to go to Andy Austin to have a jump lesson with 3 horses. I took Dougal, Wally and Stanley. I have been having help with Richard Waygood for the last 4yrs now and he is fantastic. Wally's owner was keen for me to meet Andy as he used to train with him himself. I am always open to new ideas and views on how to improve as long as they don't completely conflict with what I know already works. Dougal was first on, this was a little bit of a step into the unknown as I have only jumped him twice so we are still getting to know each other. Dougal was very full of himself, but he had good reason to be-he was FAB. Andy really liked him and thinks he has a very trainable brain with a great attitude to his work, all reasons why we bought him at the sales last month.

Stan was up next, although not a typical event type he is a great jumper and Andy was able to help me with starting to train him into a more consistant canter which doesn't change just because a fence is involved. He also adjusted my position slightly to the way showjumpers sit, lower leg further forward and toes out so i can use the heel much more effectively. Stan jumped amazingly so I will definitely be keeping the position for him.

Wally was up last. He is German and has a habit of diving at the fence 2 strides out so Andy started to help me in trying to keep his stride even to the fence and not letting him panic and throw himself at it. There is no doubting this horse has some serious scope and talent but over the winter I will be focusing on keeping him even into a fence so he is able to push from his hocks more effectively than he is currently doing so.

Yard Visit from Global Herbs

The 5th of October saw a visit from Dana who works for Global Herbs, it was great to be finally able to put a name to a voice!! Dana looked at all the horses and advised me on what to add or remove to/from their feeds in order for them to continue looking fantastic. All the horses had their photo's taken some loved it (Stan and Dougal) some were more shy (Rosie and Wally). I then rode Wally for dana to get some action shots for the Global Herbs website, hopefully she was able to get some good shots.
 Dana was very popular as she brought some new treats that Global Herbs are bringing out soon. The horses love them and because they don't contain Alfalfa Stan can eat them!!
I strongly believe in the Global Herbs range and the horses really do gleam which must be a combination of Herbs and the main hardfeed from Baileys. They couldn't look any better and the results speak for themselves.

Dauntsey Park

As the event season begins to draw to a close, I headed off to my second last event of the year, although this is sad I am also excited as it means I am closer to next season and bringing Jimmy back out of hibernation to win some of the big classes! I took 4 horses to Dauntsey over the two days. First on was Major Burke (Pebbles) I have been helping Holly Armstrong with him for about 7 months now, mainly on the flat but recently he has been a little cheeky xc so I was asked to have a feel. Pebbles produced a sweet test with a couple of small errors scoring a creditable 33.5. He then jumped well for a clear showjumping although he was a bit cross about being told to wait for the fences instead of rushing. Cross country he was naughty and I now understand what Holly has been having an issue with. Sadly he picked up 2 refusals but he has hopefully learned an valuable lesson having returned with a stinging rear end! Wally and Stan were next comepting in the PNP. Both of the boys were a little cheeky in the dressage in the very hot weather Wally scoring 35 and Stan 42.5 (although I think the judge may need to go to specsavers as one movement reads "half 10-12m circle return to the track at B" the comment read- "overshot centre line on half circle" how does a 12m half circle fit without crossing the c-line?? Grrrrr) Stan showjumped well just knocking the second, somehow he picked up 3 time faults but nonetheless he jumped well. Wally was having a stress day and was very het up before the showjumping. He knocked 2 fences and wasn't his usual careful self so I chose to withdraw him before the xc. Stan flew round the xc like a real pro, showing that he really is ready for novice, as he wasn't going to be placed I didn't push him for the time.

Pencarder Silver Storm (Rosie) was on the next day. Thankfully the temperature had cooled a little and was more bearable than the previous day. She hadn't been out on a trip for ages as she had puss in the foot at Burnham Beeches and I missed the ballot for Gatcombe intermediate oops. She did a sweet test just not quite as calm as she can produce but scored 39.5, she showjumped very well and just tipped the planks with the sun reflecting on them. Cross country she really is a little machine. Having not run for a while I let her cruise round not really pushing her out of her natural rhythm so I was surprised to be one of the fastest of the day only picking up 2.8 time and leaving her in 6th place.

Courtesy of Ultimate Images

I really can't thanks Charlotte Perryman enough for all her help at this event, without her I wouldn't have coped. She is very patient and always has the horses looking fantastic for each of the phases.

British Stressage Outing Number 2

So feeling rather proud of ourselves from out debut at BD this year I headed off just down the road to West Wilts with Boston III and Wanadoo Too. Boston III was first to go producing 2 good tests again to come 2nd in both his Prelims. Wally was competing in the Novice classes and he performed some great work to win both of these. Both horses are class acts and will go a long way in this phase. Wally didn't score as highly as at Hunters but he was better than all the rest just the judges weren't so friendly!! I have now found out you can qualify for Regionals so this is our aim with Wally over the winter at both Novice and Elementary.

Gatcombe

The next day following our success at dressage we headed off to Gatcombe. I had mixed emotions about this as Wally used to live there and that is when he started misbehaving so galloping through the middle of the fields he used to be turned out in could have been a task in itself. Wally was first of the two boys to go. Warming up he felt fab and then the heavens opened and we literally drowned. Thankfully the rain then stopped again before we went into the arena. Wally performed another fabulous test scoring 27.5 and leaving us in 2nd (not bad for his second attempt at this level). Showjumping was another matter and having had to wait in the arena for a fence to be rebuilt for the competitor before to finish was a lesson learned in itself-NEVER enter the arena before the one in has finished!! Wally found a scary flag which pretty much destroyed any chance of us jumping the first 4 fences however he was clear from the 5th fence to the end!! Cross country he was fabulous, even galloping down the tracks he used to hack/nap down. He felt very bold and seemed to really enjoy what he was doing. I am very excited about his future and cannot thank his owner Simon Hall enough for giving me the opportunity if having him and being so patient with his random behaviour!

Kington was next. He didn't produce his best test, just a little green and wobbly in places but he will get there. This winter will be focused on dressage and BSJA with all of them so he'll progress on the flat. He scored 37.5. He showjumped fantastically for a clear and then went onto fly round the xc although I didn't push him for time because he is still needing to understand the fences and gain confidence at this level. He has now won his first point for going double clear-yippeee!!

All photo's courtesy of Tim Wilkinson