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I’ve now been in Portugal for five days; everyday has been sunny and warm, heaven! I hear the weather is very cold back home and am not sorry I’ve missed that!
The horses travelled really well and have been very fresh since arriving! The place is lovely, great hacking, good working in areas for dressage and jumps to practise over…
It is pretty laid back here too, with a few days off before we started it’s great to work the horses a couple of times a day to help them relax. It’s their first time out and are 3 day fit so need quite a bit of ‘relaxation’.
Amber performed her dressage test yesterday, she probably did her best test so far, no mistakes and very settled so was disappointed to get a 55, one judge had me 10% lower than another so this influenced her mark greatly. Harry did a good test with 1 small mistake, changed in his counter canter but scored 50 which is about 16th. Not too bad for the first ones, there are also 4* horses in their section so highly competitive!
Bertie tried his hardest in the 1* but finds the counter canter circle too hard still! The rest of his test was very promising, his dressage needs more time but has huge potential.
Walking the courses they are lovely first runs, not too big but enough questions, the ground is slightly firm in places but the forecast is showers so this could sort that… Hopefully it will just rain at night though and not ruin our sunny days!
There are also great restaurants too at very reasonable prices, so far I can’t see why I wouldn’t be spending the 1st two weeks in March here in the future!!!
Good luck at Isleham!
Once again I have to apologise for the lack of diaries recently! I was so, so busy preparing four horses for their Barroca three days.. I am now on the road, just about to enter Spain so have a few hours to catch up on things.
The last couple of weeks have been spent galloping, XC schooling, dressage and jumping lessons and running/ cycling for my fitness. The horses have had their manes, tails pulled and bodies and legs clipped. The lorry has been scrubbed, in and out although I did run out of time before we left to spring clean so that was done in-between Le Mans and Tours, I never have been very good at sitting still!
The last few days before we left were rather busy! I dropped off Kenny at Anna Ross-Davies’ as he is there for schooling whilst I’m away, which is very exciting for me as he has been going very well this winter and hope for some good results this year. He was 3rd at the combined training at Felbridge just before we left having done a good test and jumped clear SJ. Amber won the section with a 26 dressage and clear SJ. Harry was 3rd in his section and Becky rode Bomber in her first official competition and won her section, 28 dressage and clear SJ, bodes well for the season ahead!
I also had a couple of dressage lessons with Emile Faurie who was quite inspirational. The horses went fantastically, he also really liked them (Harry and Amber) which was nice to know. They produced some superb work so will be aiming high next week! It has given me a few new concepts to work on. He was very complimentary about how ‘through’ the horses are, thanks Anna!!
They are jumping exceptionally well too. Had the last few lessons with Joao working on some pretty difficult turns and distances and they responded brilliantly. I have a lovely team of horses now, I am very lucky.
I am looking for a working pupil when I return, if anyone is interested please email me, there is space for a horse… I am looking for someone who I can train and produce, so must be ambitious and keen! Also to be able to ride to a reasonable standard already please.
Well we are driving just a short way today compared with yesterday! I have a great groom/ helper with me, Denise Williams who has her HGV so is sharing the driving, hence the diary!! Her first day with me was yesterday, we started at 4.15am and finished travelling at midnight! Not usually such long days, I have tried to reassure her! We basically drove the whole of France so that takes rather a long while, today is Spain, tomorrow Portugal. So far so good although I haven’t brought Imp as he had a big back leg yesterday typically and when trotted up wasn’t 100%, I’m sure he’s just banged it but three days on a lorry won’t fix/ help it at all. So I just have three now, Bertie who will compete in CIC1* and CCI 1*, Harry and Amber in the CIC2* and CCI 2* I can’t wait to get there!!
Well this has been a while since the last diary! reason being I had been so busy cramming everything into each day before I went skiing. Lucky me, have been away again, I use this as a pre-season fitness week, or at least that’s my excuse! I love skiing and was lovely to spend some time with my family, sadly my mother couldn’t come as her knees are too painful but hopefully she will be fixed soon… The snow was quite good in the first half of the week but towards the middle of the second half it was getting very icy. They have had no snow for 4 weeks (our resort was the best around, La Plagne), they do an amazing job of bringing the snow of the mountain and onto the piste but I wouldn’t want to be going in the next couple of weeks, sorry if you are.
With the ice I saw plenty of broken people walking around, luckily I wasn’t one of them, I only had a few crashes and those were mostly down mogul runs which I still have to get accomplished at, here’s hoping next year! The week was gloriously sunny so Im still sporting a slight tan, definitely makes you feel better.
I managed to go XC schooling twice before I went away, both times to Littleton Manor which have fantastic facilities. You can use the show jumping arena with a full set of jumps, the XC course which is suitable from first timers to advanced and the gallops (there is also a dressage arena too!). The ground was amazing, exceptional for this time of year. As usual I took six horses the first time, the Barocca four which went exceptionally well and Imp who was great and Brian who was also. It was Brians’ last XC session with me as I was preparing him for sale. I have sold him to a lovely family; his new rider is a 12 year old very competent jockey who is also very ambitious which is all I had ever hoped for! I am incredibly lucky too as I have their second horse to bring on for now who has been bred by the Funnels. She is a 5 year old black mare called ‘Billy Blackcat’ owned by Frances Davies and very smart!
I returned back to LMEC with another load of horses (chauffeured by Charlotte!), all went even better than last time and are certainly very encouraging for this year.. Becky rode Bomber who was fantastic- he is a little tiger now! The good thing with that course is that each time you can go back we keep doing slightly more difficult fences so we can build their confidence up.
I went blood hounding with the Coakham Bloodhounds. Absolutely brilliant but completely crazy. I took Imp as he needs to gain confidence and have as much fun as possible. Some of the hedges were enormous and I went around a few, I have to admit! However Imp and I had an amazing day and he has improved beyond recognition. I have to thank Sacha Pemble for advising me to go; I was very impressed with her for jumping some of those hedges! I hope to go when it’s slightly drier again, but have definitely got the bug.
The horses have been galloping at Brightling where the gallop has been resurfaced. It has a superb hill, its only five furlongs but really works them hard. We go up that three times, today though we took Harry and Amber up four times and they feel incredibly good. I am hoping to do some stamina work soon, long, slow canters but need drier ground first and the forecast is not good!! They have got much fitter very quickly, proving to me that hills make such a difference. I too have been running each day as I have put on a couple of pounds since last season with my good living! I have a serious cardio plan for me for the next few weeks, I am determined to be super, super fit this season.
I have another new horse named Billy. He is a 4 year old bay 16 2. Very nice, comes from Andrew Williams Bally. He is owned by Mrs Sue Cross who also owns Bambi. He is quite green as you’d expect but very smart. I will have to get the camera working again, the over use of a new one has led it to malfunction and is waiting for me to replace it!
As the countdown is on for Barocca, (nearly very excited now!) I have everyday filled so it means good planning!!-I am even entering events for the end of March now!!
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