Sam Penn finishes the season...

To finish off the season we haded down to Somerset for what promised to be a pretty relaxing week at Aldon International with just one horse, Coevers Diamond Clover who was having his first attempt at a CCI*. After an incredibly cold first night, during which all the waters and taps froze as well as the door to our lorry things actually went rather well. I am begining to get acustomed to that dreaded feeling in the trot up when the ground jury send you to the holding box when I know there is nothing wrong with the horse, I am starting to think that the sadisic so-and-so's enjoy making me run repeatedly in my heels!! (I know I should probably wear 'sensible' shoes, but the last time I did the horse tripped me up so now I go with the heels....) Anyway, we got through the formalities in the end and by the time it came to the dressage I was feeling pretty confident. It has taken a very long time for Flynn to start working well in the dressage arens but (probably now that he is for sale) it is all starting to come together, so well in fact that I rode the test in a happy mouth snaffle. Flynn excelled himself and gave his best ever preformance to date, earning a mark of 48.8 to lie equal 15th.

With that bit out of the way we looked forwards to the fun bit, for all his youth and inexperience I always enjoy riding Flynn xc because he is so straightforward and easy and as yet he has never found any question too much. My only concern on this occassion was whether he would find the time a problem as the terrain was pretty tough with a long steep hill near the end. I need not have worried however, Flynn may not have the fastest gallop in the world but because he just keeps going to each fence without a great deal of 'setting up' he skipped round easily and galloped up the hill without any bother, finishing well inside the optimum time.

Fortunately after his exertions of the previous day Flynn trotted up well and giong into the final phase we had moved up to 12th place. Unfortunately we did not manage to finish on a clean sheet and 8 faults in the showjumping knocked us down to 20th place, although I believe he was still the highest placed 6yo.

Just to silence any criticism of his showjumping Flynn came out this weekend and won a 1.15 open class and was 2nd in the Foxhunter. It was also a chance for me to start getting to know the newest member of the squad, a 10yo chestnut mare named Kir Royale who has had some good form at BE100 level this year and will be hoping to move up to face some Novices in 2011. But for 2010 thats pretty much it, all the ponies will now have a bit of a holiday and the chance to go and get fat, hairy and dirty and generally take it easy for a while before we start to prepare for 2011....

Kerry Graw on 4 'faultitis' at Scope and a sad parting with Biggles...

Picnic really enjoyed her trip to Scope festival and I had a great experience over the three days I was there.  We arrived on the Wednesday night and got Picnic settled in as I wanted to be up early to walk the course on Thursday, I was quite surprised how wide the fences were and wished I had been round a few more courses at this height as we only moved up to Newcomers in June! It was a bit late to be worrying and we had a great round with only one pole down at the easiest fence that was there - Picnic managed all the combinations and got every stride spot on so I was delighted even though quite cross with myself for not keeping my concentration to jump the whole course clear! Unfortunately the next day we were still plagued by a 4 fault curse so missed out on qualifying for the championship but I was really pleased that she coped with the atmosphere and the jumps with ease. On returning we then headed off the attend the Blenheim Riding Club eventers challenge - something a bit different but thought a change is as good as a rest!!!  Picnic absolutely loved the course and unfortunately jumped one of the brush fences so cleanly (and about 2 foot bigger than it was) that she jumped me out the saddle which meant on landing I had to add a circle to get back control and reapproach the next fence.  She is now having a well deserved week off before we start back in training for the Blue Chip qualifiers.

I had to make the hard decision to sell Biggles as he is unlikely to withstand being a competition horse and I didn't want to take the chance when he could go on for years and have lots of fun as an allrounder and generally fun horse - very sad and also really frustrating as he is so talented!  But its not all bad news as someone has got a fantastic horse to enjoy - I have found him a new home where he is being spoilt rotten and I am also getting regular updates on how he is getting on!  Ze is enjoying life a bit too much and I wish he would tone down his exuberance a little as we parted company at the weekend during a schooling session when he decided monsters were hiding outside the school and sprung into action to escape unfortunately leaving me on the ground - he did return looking very confused as to what I was doing down there!!!  Next on the agenda will be looking for my Biggles replacement horse as Picnic is getting lonely competing on her own, so hopefully next time I will be able to update you on how the search is going ....   

A recap of the past few months from Anna Bailey

My blogs have been delayed slightly because I have been busy finishing my Equine Sports Massage course work but I have now passed all my exams, woo hoo! And dare I say it I am still on target for this seasons eventing goals! 

Firstly I’ll go back to July to the 1* at Brightling.  After finding the course at Eridge very easy I was confident that Timmy would be fine with the cross country at Brightling.  July is a lovely month for me as we have Eridge which is ten minutes away from me and Brightling which is half and hour away.

I had dressage on the Saturday and then jumping on the Sunday which is great because I can work Timmy for a long as needed for the dressage without making him too tired to jump.  This turned out to be a blessing as I ended up working him for an hour and a half before the trot up to get rid of the anxiety.  He was then still so excited and sweaty I had to wash him before the trot up and then work him for another hour before my test! It’s a good job he is awesome as I was shattered!

The dressage test went well, one judge loved him and the other was not so impressed so we ended up half way up the leader board, so at least we weren’t last….  His test was fairly accurate up still a little tense in places and rein back is something to be worked on all winter!!

The next day I went back for the jumping. Well I couldn’t have asked for more.  A double clear around out first 1*!  I went as fast as I could across country and only got 4 time penalties.  We finished in 21st position in our first international event.  Woo hoo!

The only problem with going so well around the 1* was that this meant I had no excuses to then take him to do the intermediate at Wilton….

After being thoroughly spoilt with the previous two events, I had the shock of my life in August.  Wilton was three and a half hours away, Aston Le Walls was the same and Highclere was three hours….. not only was this exhausting it has also bankrupted me in diesel!!

Wilton was a lovely event.  Everything is fairly close together and the arenas were nice and flat.  Timmy is a fairly good dressage test for this level.  He is getting better every time out.  He then had two down show jumping, one of which was my fault and the other his.  He then flew around the massive cross country course to gain his first clear at intermediate! The course at Wilton is quite complicated but half way around they have a huge drop into a quarry, then you have to jump up two big steps at the bottom to a skinny arrow head.  I was so proud of him as he made nothing of it.  That was definitely worth the trip.

Aston Le walls, however wasn’t…. I should know by now that if I get early times to an event far away I should either not bother going or go the night before.  I do sometimes think I am super woman and try and do everything.  This never goes well.  A 3am start to leave the yard by 4am – drive 3.5 hours, walk the course and then ride….. sounds exhausting.  By the dressage I had lost the will to live and coffee/red bull wasn’t even helping.  We did an great dressage test to get 35.5 (maybe because both of us were so tired).  I then went to show jump and not only were they running an hour late but the heavens opened.  By the time I went in the arena we were both soaked and shivering.  Needless to say we had SEVEN fences down!!! I have never in my life had this many fences down in one round.  I wont even begin to explain how this happened as I think the explanation is earlier in this paragraph.  We put this day down to a learning experience and a long road trip!

I had two weeks before Highclere so decided to take Timmy show jumping to make sure the Aston Le Walls trip was just a fluke.  He jumped two super clear rounds so this put my mind at rest.

So not dwelling on the bad day, we headed out to Highclere.  I had never been to Highclere before but I would definitely go back as the courses are amazing and it is a beautiful setting.

The day started well with a good dressage test in the pouring rain.  Both my mum and Nina thought it was his best test all year but the judge gave me 41.  Oh well, it is work in progress.  We then had three down show jumping which was a little disappointing but it was a very big distracting arena with lots of people watching and walking around the stands.  I will get this sorted over the winter!  The cross country course was big and technical but jumpable.  Again as I set off across country it started pouring with rain but this didn’t phase Timmy.  He hopped and skipped around the course with only one slight wobble coming into the water as the rain was making circles but he jumped in so I was really happy.  Another intermediate clear!

Our next trip will be fairly local again, thank god! South of England 2* - scary!  The main aim of next weekend will be to complete and give Timmy a good educational run around the cross country course as it will be the biggest and most technical he has done. 

Our dressage test on the Saturday went okay but he is very capable of doing a smart test when he’s more relaxed so this winter will be spent doing lots of dressage and show jumping.  He actually warmed up very well but the movements do come up quite quickly and he has never competed at this level before.  Apart from the tension our only major mistake was in the turn on the haunches to the right where Timmy decided it would be much easier to lift both front feet off the ground and spin to the right rather than just step around…..  We have lots to work on but there is a definite improvement.

Sunday was jumping day.  This competition was the first he had ever done where you go cross country and then show jump in reverse order on the Sunday afternoon.  I must admit that as he is usually full of himself, I found this much easier!

The cross country course was the biggest we had ever tackled but it demanded bold riding which is exactly what I did.  The first five fences were fairly straight forward with the first question coming at a huge trackhener over which he went vertical (this was the fence judges comment over the loud speaker).  The next few fences were again bold but fairly straight forward until we came to the first water.  This was an egg nest in the water with three forward strides to an arrow head to come out of the water.  As I was warming up, I saw a horse flip over the nest so I came to this with a little caution but I need not have worried as he popped over it like a pro.

The second water was next with a massive drop into the water and then a curving line to the skinniest fence on the course which is unfortunately where we had a run out.  I think this was just a green moment as he came back around and then jumped it fine.  Poor boy just couldn’t get his brain to work quick enough.  The rest of the course didn’t prove a problem as he stayed straight and when direct everywhere.  I was so proud of him!

The show jumping course was not as big as I was expecting but still tricky enough.  He jumped a good round but I think he was a little tired and had two down but he was much easier to ride! I think three day events may be better for him.

We did it!!!!! I am so proud of my little orange pony for completing his first 2*! Timmy will now have a well earned break as he has exceeded all expectations for this season.  This will then give me time to work on the others – no rest for the wicked…..

I will keep you posted with show jumping news in October.

Katherine Begley reflects on her season

2010 has been a bit of a rollercoaster year for me! There have been many highs thanks to my new ride Supplejack, but also many lows due to very little luck and a lots of injuries! I was hoping that my last two events of the season would finish on a high, but true to form they were both slight rollercoaster’s of emotions!!

Gatcombe was my first ever CIC** and I went into it feeling quite confident. Jack did a very pleasing test and definitely one of our better ones, however the judges disagreed slightly and we scored 64 which we felt was a bit on the harsh side! The Show jumping was quite big, but Jack is very strong in this phase so I wasn’t concerned. For the most part we did a nice round, but unfortunately picked up 8 faults which I was very disappointed with because we have never got more than 4 faults in competition before and I felt a clear was easily within our reach. I wasn’t overly worried about the XC but there was a tricky combination at 4 where many people took the longer alternative, and the duck into the water was also quite spooky. Jack flew around the course jumping all the direct routes until fence 18 which was a skinny log where the landing disappeared. I think I must have dropped him on takeoff because he suddenly stopped dead and we picked up 20 penalties! Needless to say I was pretty gutted about this as this is Jack’s first XC penalty in the UK! However, we didn’t disgrace ourselves and I was very pleased with his Dressage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=368o8T435HA

Next up was my last event of the season – Weston Park CCIYR**. I was determined to make up for my mistakes at Gatcombe and get a 50’s dressage double clear! Unfortunately Jack was very tense in the dressage and although he didn’t do anything wrong we were understandably severely marked down and got 63.9. So had he been more relaxed like normal, we would have got that 50’s test – very annoying!! The cross country was very big and bold and I was a little nervous seeing as Gatcombe hadn’t gone quite to plan. But I needn’t have worried, he posted an amazing round, clear inside the time! He gave me an amazing feel and I am thrilled with him!! Unfortunately the event finished on a low because he didn’t trot up sound on the Sunday morning so we had to w/d before the Show Jumping. This was really gutting because not only did I therefore not manage to complete my first CCI** but had we show jumped (even with six down) we would have got 5 points. Hey ho, that’s horses for you, and nothing takes away how brilliant he was XC! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdUu_54ujnE

Next season I plan to campaign Jack at Open Intermediate/Advanced level and bring Belvedere back into work and competing successfully at novice level again.

Sam Penn winds down the season

This week has seen a few new experiences for myself and some of the boys, last Wednesday here at Golden Cross we held ‘An Evening with Team Sam Penn’, a lecture/demo aiming to show how we start off our young event horses and what we look for as they progress up the ranks. It was also a chance for some of our supporters and sponsors to showcase themselves. I have to admit to being utterly terrified at the prospect of talking to a large crowd of people but at the same time I was also worried that no-one at all would turn up. In the end it all went really well and several people were kind enough to email me afterwards to tell me that they had enjoyed it, so thank you very much to you all for coming and also to Howard Newitt, Olivia Jones and Balanced Horse Feeds for their contributions to the evening and not forgetting Bill Cook our stuntman!!

This weekend we had a lovely sunny day out at Pulborough with Brockley Star, Tickeridge and Lite My Fire. Broccoli and Tigga were both having their fist attempt at Novice level and both acquitted themselves exceptionally well, Broccoli adding 2 time faults to his dressage mark of 31.4 to finish in 2nd place, Tigga got a bit rude in his showjumping round and unfortunately added 8 faults to a fabulous dressage mark of 24.3, he was clear and inside the time across country though and finished in 7th place. So a fantastic start at the higher level and a really good way for them both to finish the season. Lulu rounded the day off nicely in BE100 sec M with a very unlucky 4 faults in the showjumping to add to her dressage mark of 31, but she still finished in 3rd place. I was also really pleased with how much her jumping has come on since she had a short holiday mid-season, she feels so much stronger and is starting to feel like a ‘proper’ horse.

So that’s pretty much it now for the season, a little bit of showjumping and a week at Aldon with Flynn which will seem like a bit of a holiday after what we have been used to and then all the boys and girls can go out to get fat, hairy and muddy for a while!

Polly Tucker is finishing the season with ribbons!

Since my last blog there have been a few changes, we did not take Wally to an ON as he was feeling a little tired towards the end of the season. We headed down at the end of August to deepest darkest Devon to Bicton Horse Trials, we had been so encouraged by Blue's return to competition work we ended up entering him in the open100. My nerves kicked in on the journey down, I had only schooled him once xc before the event and only showjumped him at our show jump lessons with Alex Peternell!  We took a few de-tours on the way there but eventually arrived, it was a lovely warm day and the courses looked amazing a good decent track that was long and galloping.

We warmed up for our dressage, a little rusty but Blue was slowly remembering it and prehaps that was why our test was so tense with excitement. We scored an average 37.5, I was pleased with this as a first run and was all set for the rest of the day. I was keen to take on board all my tips from Alex for the showjumping and rode a very determined and positive round to go clear, I couldn't have been more pleased the big ginger giant had done me proud!

The xc was my worry, one xc schooling session... and I had to do a whole course on a horse who gets so excited by this phase he nearly climbs his way out of the start box. The helpers at Bicton were amazing and didn't count aloud so Blue remained nice and calm and went in the start box no problems. Blue ate up the course, half way around he took charge and really meant business with finish with a lovely clear and time faults for going too fast... whoops! Oh well, we finished 11th not bad for his first time back out.

After our exciting adventures in Devon we headed over the bridge to Monmouth with both Wally and Blue, we wanted to give Wally a let down run to end the season and take the bull by the horns next season and attack ON with both horses next year. We ran them both in the open100, Monmouth is a fab event and is always a good fun and friendly day. Wally was first in the section and did a very tense test, Blue on the other hand did his best test with me scoring 32.5.... even if in the warm up he was mainly stood on two legs or trying to jump the fencing! Both horses flew the sj with great clears, this was the point when I knew I was in with a chance of a placing. The pressure was on xc, a lovely flowing course however, it was very short striding at combination fences so I knew my horses would find this tricky.Wally set off like a rocket and at the first main combination a hexagon logroll to ditch and phesant feeder where the latter was on a one stride Wally bounced it!! We finished clear and one second over the optimum time so finished on our score of 43.4 to take 15th, next it was the ginger giant. Blue was rearing all the way to the start, for those of you have been to Monmouth being at the far end of the lorry park this was a long trek to be playing dancing horses! He started lovely however after his antics and flew the course to finish inside the time and that was taking the long routes to waste time.We finished 7th, elated we waited for the prize giving and recieved a lovely rosette and bottle of wine for being one of a handful of elusive people to finish on their dressage score.

Wally is now on his winter holidays and Blue now heads to Broadway, I can't wait after the season i've been having... BRING IT ON!!

Georgina Rose turns 18 and get's a very special birthday present!

What a brilliant month for us! Despite the autumnal chill starting to roll in, Rose Equine enjoyed a very successful September. We kicked off with Honeys first show - she has never been out before, so we went only with the intention of walking her around the showground for experience. However when we arrived she was so well behaved that we decided to take the plunge and enter a class, In Hand Best Coloured Open. I'm proud to say she behaved impeccably and really showed herself off well, which resulted in first place! We couldnt be more pleased with the start of her competitive career.

Indy has also had a productive month, as she has now begun jumping. She is popping small coloured and rustic fences quietly, being totally unphased by everything so far, so we are delighted with her, she has always impressed us with her laid back nature at every turn.

Tia is looking well now she is getting her feed, although I think it may be going to her head a little! Bless her she's such a happy character day in day out and I can't wait to show her and back her when she turns 3 next year, as she is always a pleasure to work with.

Merlin Im sorry to say has not had such a good month. A few weeks ago he felt very awkward when being ridden, I couldn't put my finger on what wasn't right so we decided it was time for him to have a holiday and rest a bit. After 3 weeks off I brought him back into work gently and he was definitely better, and things were back on track. Unfortunately about 4 days later we brought him in from the field and he was very lame, poor chap he couldn't put weight on his leg at all. He came back better in the morning after a night in the stable, but still has a bit of recovering to do. Fingers crossed all will be well in a  few days, he's got his Joint Power to help him through!

Merlin's problems have meant Penny has had to stay in too, as they are devoted to each other and where one goes the other must follow! So she is a bit touchy I think at being shut in, but is actually working brilliantly. Her jumping is superb, she has recently been popping grids of 3'3 happily.

My 18th birthday came at the end of the month which was lovely, but to top it off our planning permission application was granted! Rose Equine has the go ahead so the building work starts here! We have already put up my new 'office', and the fencing and everything else is booked in for October. Cant wait!