You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘October 2010’ category.
I was supposed to be at Lion d’angers this week with Harry but no space appeared so Harry will now hav
e a month off and I will find an early 2* for him to do instead. So this meant I had a free week but in my normal style I managed to fill each day to the max! I had two days at home where I was riding the young horses, Buddy and Flash who are really progressing. Buddy is much more relaxed now for having a rider on and Flash has been jumping a little course of fences. Red, Bambi, Kenny and Jasper are also in work but the rest are having a much deserved holiday after a long hard season. I too have cut my work down to have a couple of rested weeks before Pau.
I took Bomber, Brian and Nelson up to Suffolk to have a holiday at Sue Cross’s for a couple of months. I am very grateful to have a lovely big field with a shelter for them. I also took Amber to Rossdales to be scoped whilst galloping at Newmarket. This was because I’d felt she’d made a noise whilst galloping and as she is due to do a 3* next year I wanted to make sure her wind was ok. This was fascinating they took some amazing pictures of 
her larynx opening and closing whilst at work. The good news is that her larynx work perfectly and there is no need for any operations. I would recommend this for anybody who has any concern about they’re horse’s wind as it is a simple and easy procedure to do. Whilst up in Suffolk I made the most of going to Rachel Upton’s XC course to practise the water with Imp and Barrat Watson. He has helped me with a difficult water jumper previously. But of course he behaved perfectly, the good news is, he is obviously improving. As I only had a few horses up in Suffolk I had time to go and see a physio, something I haven’t done for a long time. And also went swimming back in the old pool I used to use, I’m definitely fitter than I was as I found it easy to swim the distance I was used to. I picked Romeo up from his holidays; he looks very well and should be ready to event again next year. I also picked up a 5 year old, grey, gelding from Charlie Nathan to try/ school. He is a very nice horse.
Went to Norton Heath on Saturday to do some Affiliated Dressage with Red who was in the Novice and Elementary, he scored 65% in both. Some parts of the test are lovely where he relaxes and some bits still needs some training, corners, accuracy on circles and general submission. But he is improving with every test. Jasper and Kenny were in both Medium classes. The first test was outside, Jasper was obviously feeling very well and spooked at the puddles, boards and signs. He was well behaved other than this and came 3rd. Kenny’s trot work was lovely but slightly strong in the canter to finish just behind Jasper. This was the same with the second test indoors; again Kenny’s trot work was brilliant scoring some 7′s and 8′s but tension spoiled the canter slightly. When I get the canter he really will do a superb test.
As we’ve had so much rain this week I took Kenny and Jasper to Mike Robert’s gallops on Sunday. These gallops have a nice long pull up a hill and about 7 furlongs. Before Blenheim I took Kenny 3 lots of 3 times around the bottom circular and up the hill and he was quite tired. This time they did it easily and could have done a 4th time but as its getting close to Pau I decided to minimise risk and not go again. I have also been cycling around the woods as much as possible. I too am getting fitter but I’m sure I’m fighting a cold and I desperately hoping it won’t come out before Pau.
The week has also been spent interviewing and trying to find myself a new head person as Sophie leaves in two weeks; ideally I’d like to find someone before she goes but it has to be the right person. If you have the right experience and are interested, I’d love to hear from you. Please email me.
There are now only seven days till Pau so the countdown is on. I have a well planned week ahead!
Another week, packed full as usual! Some of the horses were having their last event so I made a real hard push to get the last one right, always good to end on a high!
We came back from Osberton via Little Downham as the weather reports were pretty good from that part of the country! When I woke up on Monday morning to rain I nearly had a sense of humour failure as did Sophie who thought I must be barking mad to load and go to Ely, but thought I’d see how it was as mostly the ground can take some serious rain… Well I wasn’t to be disappointed as the ground was very good, amazing how it can cope with the extreme wet. Thank goodness we looked, unlike many who didn’t even turn up, they missed out.
I had Amber and Harry in the OI, they both did good tests, 30 and 31. So pleased with Amber we seem to have nearly cracked the dressage, but maybe the changes will upset her again next year but we’ll try and be very careful introducing them again. She jumped a beautiful clear SJ round which was well up to height with lots of parallels, Harry had the first down for some unknown reason and then jumped the best round he’s ever jumped. He was superb and felt incredibly classy, he really is exciting for the future.
I set off XC with Amber and she jumped the first four fences very well, as did she the fence before the water but proceeded to run straight past the fence in the water which is most unlike her. She only ever runs out if I’ve made a mistake and thought that I hadn’t or she hadn’t. When I walked the course I was worried that they wouldn’t focus on the fence as there were so many around it, a pre novice and advanced fence and I think this is what made the difference. I also didn’t make the four strides easily and as I’ve jumped this fence several times was very surprised. There were a few mistakes at that fence and I’m convinced that is the problem. So I chatted with Bob who builds the course and he too agreed so I think maybe this will be changed next year or I shall ride the fence as I did with Harry. Amber went on superbly, I circled and was given another 20 penalties later in the course which I didn’t dispute as wasn’t then competitive but sadly has blotted her very good record this year. Harry was brilliant all the way around the course which I think is strong enough for an intermediate. I put five strides in from the rails to the fence in the water to make sure he had seen it and this was fine. He jumped effortlessly around the course, it is hard to believe he’s only seven. We finished 9th in a hot section so was very pleased, the jump down cost me 6th place though!
I left happy they’d had a good run, potentially their last. Harry is still top of the wait list for Lion so we shall see…
I took a few to Lodge Farm Wednesday, Amber as I thought she needed a jolly, I don’t like to finish on a slightly bad note, Kenny for a little school after Blenheim, Imp to practise for Pulborough and Bomber and Brian ditto. The ground was again remarkable how it had held up to the rain, there were quite a few puddles around that the youngsters weren’t overly keen on but quickly got used to them. All were very good, especially Imp who genuinely felt like he enjoyed himself, he is getting more confident each time now…
I had also jumped the boys Friday in preparation so were well ready for Pulborough… Considering it was reasonably local we’ve had some very early starts this weekend! Left at 6am Saturday with Bomber and Kenny, Jasper and Bambi to work. Bomber was excellent, a little distracted in the dressage but pretty good. He was very good in the show jumping and was clear, much better than last time. He was superb XC, much more grown up and again was clear. We weren’t competitive as they didn’t have an open intro section but he would’ve been 5th. A good way to end his season. He will now holiday and hopefully grow! He is such a lovely horse and jumper it would be brilliant if he did become tall enough for me to keep.
I worked the others who were lively enough, the ground was superb so perfect opportunity to school them on grass. I hadn’t been to this event before but am full of praise for it, excellent for XC schooling too, shall be there in the winter months I’m sure!
We again left at some unsociable hour on Sunday with Bambi, Bertie, Imp and Brian. Bambi was just doing the dressage and jumping as I felt her fitness wasn’t quite as I’d like to run XC and she is so talented I would like to save her for next year. She did a good test, 31 and was a little exuberant in the SJ ring and had one down but jumped well. Bertie performed a very nice test but is definitely better in the bigger arena as have more room to help his balance etc. He scored 35, also had one down, was superb as usual XC, clear and stylish. Imp was his usual brilliant self in the dressage, scored 21! He also had a fence down! Set off XC superbly, we jumped all the difficult fences really well and felt confident and happy. I perhaps softened too much for the 2nd last fence which were angled houses and the cheeky monkey ran out! he is hilarious, far too intelligent! I think he just had to have the last laugh! I am still delighted though as he is a different horse XC, I am confident we’ll keep progressing.
Brian was excellent all day, 28 dressage, still one down! but perfect xc and we finished 2nd. He too now goes on holiday and grows!! He is still for sale but I’m happy to keep him as he is so lovely to have around!!
The countdown is on to Pau and the end of the season, but as long as the weather stays like the weekend and not last weekend I could keep going forever!!
We have had the most exceptional week of rain that I can remember having for a very long time. I left on Tuesday lunchtime for Osberton after working all the horses that were to be left behind. On the lorry we had Bertie doing the 6 Year Old Championship, Amber doing the 2*, Harry doing the 7 Year Old Championship and Chataigne Filice (Red) doing the 1*. I was looking forward to this week as I have some lovely young horses and I thought they could be quite competitive. When we arrived the weather was dry and quite cold, this was soon about to change! Wednesday lunchtime the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for about five hours. I’m not quite sure why but competitors were allowed to work their horses in the final dressage warm up area during the rain the result was there were very few places to work and the worst being the final warm up area just before your test. I appreciate they were lacking space but with so many entries I think next year they may need to think about regulating warm up areas.
Luckily Thursday was a glorious day, the sun shone and the weather was quite warm and it all started to dry out (including my clothes from the previous day!) Amber was the first to do her dressage, she started her test beautifully but I made an uncharacteristic error and forgot my halt and rein back (the first time I have forgotten my test at a 3-Day) this broke the rhythm of the test slightly, we ended up scoring 52.8 but I knew it should’ve been more of a 46/47 which would of put me more in contention. Bertie performed his 6 year old test in the afternoon, he is a little green still at this level as this was his first test in sitting trot and in a long arena. He couldn’t have tried harder, he has such a good attitude, he scored some really good marks, just losing marks for his lack of strength and self carriage in some of the movements. He scored a very respectable 51.2.
There was another weather warning for Friday, it was dull until 11am and then horrendous wind and rain. Red was on at 9 o’clock in the morning so conditions still weren’t too bad. He warmed up really well and tried hard in his test, he just needs to relax more and a winter of dressage to train and perfect things. He scored 57.7 but I was pleased with him as I know he is one for the future. Harry had the worst of the conditions, by now the dressage arena was very muddy and deep. The flags around the outside were flapping and making a lot of noise, but this didn’t seem to faze him too much. He was slightly tense in the test but generally did a very nice test with a couple of small mistakes. I was pleased with him, he scored a 49.9 and I thought for a young horse he coped incredibly well with the conditions, I was aiming for a 45 but this really wasn’t possible in view of the weather. It rained and it rained! I thought that it might be cancelled but it seemed to carry on. I think anywhere else would have been cancelled but it has sandy soil. Saturday was dry and it did dry out a bit. The courses were fairly saturated and on Friday nights’ walk I decided I would like to run but I would make my final decision when I could see how it was riding in the morning. Both courses I thought were straight forward and good first timers but reasonably long. The only fence that looked like it might cause some trouble was a coffin but this was probably the most difficult fence on the course. The sun was shining Saturday, the ground was still very wet, I ran Red who was brilliant but a little strong, the fences were quite small for him so therefore he didn’t back off. I will try a different Bit next time! He must be a very fast horse as I didn’t feel I ever had to push him and I was very careful through the woods as they were bottomless and he only came back with 2.4 time faults. I Showjumped Bertie but warmed up in what only can be described as a ploughed field so I tried not to jump too many fences and save him for the ring. He jumped a brilliant clear and moved up quite a few places. I went out to inspect the 2* course and was very disappointed that they hadn’t moved the string over, where possible, to fresh ground. It was very heavy ground for at least three to four minutes of the course and I decided too bigger risk to run my potential champions. I believe I made the right decision; the horses were coming back tired even though they had taken a minute off the course. I was bitterly disappointed though because not only did it cost alot to get there I also needed Amber’s 2* qualification. My mind was soon taken off Osberton though as we watched the WEG XC in Ruth Edge’s lorry. It looked very big and long but it has to be said the British horses and riders were in a class of their own. I can’t help hoping that one of my up and coming horses will develop into a team horse.
We woke up on Sunday morning to some more torrential rain! We had heard on the forecast it was going to be bad but I couldn’t believe how bad it was. I have never had to wear full waterproofs to trot up in until now! I walked the 1* Showjumping and thought the ground had held up quite well but I was proved wrong it was absolutely revolting and I had to hunt Red round. He jumped an amazing clear round which unbelievably pulled me up 42 places to 22nd. I really felt for the amateur riders trying to get their qualifications, as for many the week resulted in not getting their qualification with too many fences down. I had already made the decision I wasn’t running Bertie but luckily we riders voted that we should cancel the event and get a full refund, which was some consolation. We waited for a tow to get out the lorry park which was absolutely destroyed. I must admit we were happy to see the back of Osberton and make our way to collect two four year olds owned by Joanna Wiggins that I am having for a month to access.
Let’s hope for everybody’s sake the rain ceases soon! and a massive congratulations to team GB for their great success.
Recent Comments