Monday 21st – Sunday 27th June 2010

We arrived back from Luhmuhlen at 5.30 am, I went to bed for a couple of hours and then rode all the horses here I hadn’t sat on them for a week. I was rather tired but it’s amazing how your adrenalin keeps you going. I rode eleven I think, they all went very well, Becky and Gemma have done a good job working them for us.

We have two new arrivals this week, Kit and Sarah both on work experience. We are probably in our most busy period now so the timing is great! It will come as no surprise to everyone that this week was as full as ever, no resting! We left for Hickstead Tuesday evening with five horses. Amber and Kenny who were entered in the Foxhunter, 1 25 metre and 1 30 metre classes. Bertie, Harry and Tweedy were entered in the 1 metre and 1 10. The courses were all well up to height and spooky so the metre although a bit small for them served a good purpose for gaining experience. I have only jumped at Hickstead once a few years ago so I was looking forward to the two days ahead. The facilities are amazing, the warm up arena is absolutely huge and the grass arenas are all watered so there was a good cut in the ground. The horses jumped well the first day, I jumped the 1 30 and they both just touched a fence which I was delighted with as it was rather large and square. The younger horses jumped in two different rings which was really good for them to see different fillers etc. There was so much going on around the arenas too, which again is great to get them used to the atmosphere of a big competition. I also enjoyed watching the show jumpers ride, I find watching fascinating, you can learn so much from watching and copying (or trying too!). The show jumpers also look like they know how to party! I was still rather tired from my trip abroad and went to bed at a very sensible time, only to wake up at 3.15 am hearing some very loud music and singing and they got up and jumped at 8 am as we did, very impressed!

The horses jumped better the second day, all horses jumped double clears in the 1 metre and Harry did in the Newcomers and the others just touched one. The 1 25 was up to height, I had the first down on Amber and the second on Ken but they were excellent, the rest were better than the previous day, and the two days ended in jumping the Foxhunter double clear, really pleased. I think I picked up minor places in a few classes but it wasn’t about that, so much as the practising some good jumping rounds. We left for home thoroughly exhausted but enthused!

Friday was again spent riding/jumping the horses which were at home and/or going to Milton Keynes. I couldn’t be without my indoor school now in this heat, it means I can keep going all day without stopping and work the horses well without them being too hot. We left for Milton Keynes at about 1.30pm, safe I thought to get up there at a reasonable time, how wrong was I! Everybody had decided to finish early for the weekend it seemed and I had my first standstill on the M25 since I’ve moved. Eventually we got to Milton Keynes about 5.30pm. We were very kindly taken out for dinner by Sophies’ parents to a lovely restaurant five minutes away, very nice food!!   We had with us Bertie who was in the novice, he performed a good test and a beautiful double clear, he is absolutely delightful to ride XC! Imp was in the Open Novice, he also performed a lovely test, no mistakes, very relaxed but active so was rather surprised that he was given a 34.5. He jumped very well, a confident double clear and finished just out of the places. I hope I’m not speaking to soon but I think we may be starting to form a partnership now… Harry was in the NRF which we were hoping to qualify for Gatcombe. He was so submissive in his test and scored the best mark, 27.3. He jumped beautifully clear in the show jumping (definitely Hickstead had helped) and as ever fantastic XC. I wore a watch to make sure I didn’t get any time faults and when I only had 45 seconds to get home at the bottom of their big hill, I asked him to open up. He has an incredible turn-on sustainable speed, we went like a rocket up that hill and he finished inside the time to win. So delighted for everyone as I feel he’s got a very good chance of doing very well at Gatcombe. David and Sue Howard were/are very proud owners!!

I also ran Brian in the BE 100 section, he performed a good test for 31.5, just touched one for four faults and went well xc as the course was reasonably hard, had two corners! He also finished just out of the places. I am full of praise for the efforts from the organisers at Milton Keynes, the grass cover was good and spiked so good going. I shall be back next year…

Another good week then, let’s hope for rain soon, however I do love the sunshine!

Thank you for all my lovely messages by the way for Luhmuhlen, they are much appreciated.

7th June-20th June 2010

Well , I’ve been so busy these last two weeks that I didn’t have time to write my diary so I’m writing the last two weeks together.  I collected my new horse Nelson who is absolutely gorgeous. Big, black TB. I’m hoping he’ll be a good one for the young event horse class later this year.  I also dropped Bomber off for his holiday at Sue Cross’ for the next month.

On the way back I had lessons with Anna Ross Davies with Harry, Amber, Tweedy and Jasper. We worked on changes and the preparation for them, more relaxation with all, but also better responses as sometimes these can be a little delayed! Feeling confident we went back to Kent.

It was my best friend Jennys’ 30th birthday so we went back to Suffolk for a few days with Jasper, Harry, Amber, Tweedy, Nelson and collected Fly, Neil and Mossey Warmsleys’ event horse who currently is at BE 100 level. He is also an Irish Sport Horse. Exciting to have two new horses!   For Jens’ birthday we went to see Keane who were incredibly good live in Thetford Forest.  Thetford Forest, however the weather wasn’t too kind- felt more like winter not summer! We had an 80′s themed fancy dress party which I decided to go as Margaret Thatcher. Wig, blue suit, pearls, handbag etc.  Had a great night and I was voted best dressed.  Good fun. In between all the socialising I was riding all the horses, I deliberately took with me the ones which wouldn’t be ridden that much whilst I was away.

Monday was spent washing, hoovering etc the lorry, making her look perfect for our long trip ahead. I rode all the horses and we left for Germany at 5.30 pm.  I always prefer to travel through the night, even though it is fairly exhausting, as there is no traffic. This was to be a mammoth journey, eleven hours from Calais. We arrived mid morning fairly shattered but Jasper travelled very well. I had a few hours sleep as soon as we arrived, then rode in the evening.

I’ve never been to Luhmuhlen before, but will definitely be back.  The organisers could not be more helpful and friendly. The place had such a lovely atmosphere too, very relaxed but didn’t lose any of the special buzz you get at a 4*.  The main arena had plenty of atmosphere and the XC was big, square and had four waters!  It was flat but there were undulations in awkward places to test horse and rider. It wasn’t overly technical but there were plenty of questions and problems spread evenly across the course. The dressage was just on Friday as there were only 43 starters, even so was a reasonably strong field with Oli Townend with two, Mary King with two, Andrew Nicholson had two, also Lucy Wiegersma had two, Ingrid Klimke and Andreas Dibowski also had a horse each.  Jasper was 3/4 of the way through the field. He performed a lovely test, just a small mistake in his canter half pass where he changed but other than that was very relaxed and accurate for 43.  This is a personal best, after the day we were lying in 5th and only 3.8 penalties behind the leader.

On Saturday, XC day I felt much more relaxed than usual. This I believe was due to having planned and gone through everything to the last detail, so no stone was left unturned. It may sound corny but I really felt that it was all just going to go brilliantly and that I would do very well. My relaxed manner definitely suits Jasper as he happily wandered around the collecting ring, I could pick up my reins and jump a few fences and then drop them and he would wander around again. Perfect. We simply trotted through the start box and he galloped off. He set off in his usual brilliant style, careful and fast. I had knocked my watch and then restarted it again at 1 minute, wasn’t too sure how I was doing so just went as fast as possible! He flew the first half in copybook style.  I was determined not to make a mistake; I wanted to do well so badly. He was answering every question too. I nearly got carried away at the end and found a distance quite short two from home! He was superb though and finished a few seconds inside the time. I was delighted!! and in 2nd place!

He looked very good the next morning and trotted up well. When I watched the 3* jumping it was evident that the time would be tight, well I have never jumped a three day event show jumping course like it. Big, square, long and a very tight time. Thank goodness I was on a jumper as the early rounds were getting masses of time faults, I watched carefully and worked out where to save time. He warmed up brilliantly as usual.  I felt more excited than nervous as I knew we could do very well. We jumped the first two superbly, then had the third down. That wasn’t in my plan!! However I put it behind us and carried on as fast as I dare, with as tight lines as possible too.  It payed off we had no time and one down. I could be no worse than 2nd. They took us off to check the boots and I could only see the two fences Ingrid had down and I said to Sophie ‘I think we’ve just won’ with that the whole British team came running across and told me I had.

Wow. I still can’t quite believe it, what an amazing horse. Amazing support, Sophie and my long suffering parents.  Also have to thank Charlie Unwin from performance legacy who gave me advice and help with how to plan etc (including winning!). I had the best week and hope that we will now get selected for WEG, we’ll see, we’ve all done our best. Jasper will now have a few weeks off, but not too long as I’d like him to run at Gatcombe in August. For now he’ll have lots of polos and treats. What a superb champion.

31st May – 6th June 2010

This week has been all about Bramham, but we had a few missions to achieve on the way….we left at 8 am on Tuesday morning, after I’d cantered Amber and schooled Harry, with Kenny and Jasper. We went via Towerlands were I looked at a few horses. Saw a really nice five year old, black, Thoroughbred, gelding (which I am just on my way to collect!) They very kindly let me school Kenny and Jasper over the jumps that were up, it’s as good practise as I could get so close to a competition. They both jumped very well, full of confidence I left for Suffolk.

In Suffolk we picked up Charlie who had been holidaying at Sue Cross’s. I was taking him on the long trip to Bramham to give to a friend of mine to ride as he has more time and I’d already sold him a horse which he had done a brilliant job with. So I thought he’d be the perfect man for Charlie.

We arrived at Bramham about 6pm to torrential rain which I later realised was much needed as the going was a little on the hard side. The weather changed the next day, we were to have a few gloriously sunny days. The boys were fairly settled for the whole week. Bramham is always full of atmosphere, as there is a lot going on especially around the dressage arena. Jasper did his test first on the Thursday and performed a very nice test with only a couple of small mistakes for a 47. Kenny performed his test Friday lunchtime; he had been working very well. I had been mainly working on relaxation as he can get a little tense in the arena. The first part of his test was really good and scored some good marks in his trot work but in the walk he became a little keen at the end and then was a little strong in the canter. However I was pleased with the test and did think the marks were very harsh at times. It was evident it wasn’t going to be a dressage competition as the cross country was big, bold and long. The fences were big and wide from the very first fence. No. 3 was similar to a double of corners. The 4th fence was a serious parallel and the 5th fence was a decent water complex. The straight route through the water I didn’t think was far off a 4* there was a seriously angled brush on the way out. I chose the log in and a slightly safer route out. The course remained difficult the whole way around with lots of areas to have penalties. I prefer a competition such as this to sort everybody out, which this certainly did. I am also hoping Kenny will compete at 4* in the future so this would be a good stepping stone for him. On Saturday he set off very well, he was rather strong at times which I am still working on and actually it was only the really big fences that I could ride him forward at. He jumped superbly through the first water but I had a run out at fence 9 b which was a big corner on a road crossing due to lack of brakes. I then took the option and carried on, he jumped really well around all the other fences which included another double of corners, water complex and ditch and palisades. Towards home he jumped a double of arrowheads very well, I then jumped a massive double of brushes were he stumbled quite badly on landing and after the next corner when I was only three from home I thought he wasn’t right so I made the devastating decision to pull up. I always would rather save the horse for another day rather than risk big injuries. I was genuinely devastated as he had been going so well but this is what can happen.

I withdrew Jasper after an immaculate show jumping round as he is going to Lumuhlen in 10 days time.  Kenny is fine and will next run at Barbury much more experienced. I always love Bramham. Apart from the hospitality being so good (a particularly good Thursday night party) it’s always a real test of cross country skill and endurance which I believe is very important. We left on Sunday morning for the long trip home after having a good week. I shall definitely be back next year and many congratulations to Pippa who is a very deserving winner.