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!

Jemma Harrison has a minor set back but is now back on track!

Sadly our August didn't start as planned. At our first competition of the month Piquet was flying and we got a 4th in the 1.05 but after walking the course for the 1.10 I noticed he was slightly lame in his front foot so we didn't jump and called the vet when we got back to the yard. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with his leg and there was no swelling or heat but he feared it could have been a splint starting up again. He checked his neck and back and found that part of his neck was out so that was clicked back into place. We trotted up again but still he was lame, so we were told to put him on stable rest and pain killers for a couple of days and he'd come visit again. The next visit he was still unsound so he checked him over again and finally found that he had pulled a muscle in his back that was causing him to go lame in order to ease the pain.

Luckily he didn't need to be on box rest but we had to start work lightly which meant only hacking the first week and then lunging the next along with many muscle exercises as well. Sadly it meant that I missed the Derby Show that I was looking forward to competing in but we were keeping our fingers crossed that he would be fit and ready for our trip to Guernsey to compete at the end of the month. Luckily we made it to Guernsey to compete but due to him having little winnings it meant that the highest we could jump was 95cm. This didnt really matter as it was the first time in 4 weeks he had jumped so I didn't want to jump big straight away. We managed to get two 9ths out of 40 competitors in the classes but annoyingly as the week went on Piquet decided that he didn't want to jump 95cm and decided it was much more fun to see how fast we could go round and not pick our feet up! I was still pleased that his muscle was recovered and that we didn't have any problems!

We now only have two showjumping competitions left in our BSJA season so will let you know how it all goes. To help his sore muscle I used 'Clean Limbs' before and after I rode to relieve the muscle and he kept getting better and better! I honestly believe without using this spray it would have taken him twice as long to recover and now I use it daily on his back as well as his legs after competing and would recommend it to anyone!

Oli Lawrence's blog: A different type of challenge!

Sitting in a tent when it's minus 5 outside in the middle of summer with friends vomitting around you from altitude sickness at 10,000 feet.  Long way from home. 

With Dell having a mini mid season break I got offered a place on a budget expedition to Morocco - well I could hardly say no!... After stocking up on supplies in Marrakech we were off into the Atlas mountains to find a guide and pack ponies; leaving England, eventing and civilisation far far behind.  We trekked from north to south over the Atlas mountains via Jebel M'Goun, one of the highest peaks in Africa and various gorges that wind their way through the mountains.  The trip was totally accident free untill about 30 seconds passed in one of the gorges.  We decided it would be alright to copy the Berber guides when they were diving head first into a waterfall pool.  Albeit we didn't dive but we hadn't realised quite how shallow it would be, two near broken hands later and a twisted knee we just about got away with it. The second near miss was walking along an incredibly narrow path across a scree slope - think very large nasty looking cliffs below.  A friend decided to look behind them and slipped, very nearly setting them off on the way down a kind of deadly playground slide.

After driving out of the mountains in a minibus that made a bus from slough on a saturday night look appealing we headed down to the Sahara.  Now the trouble is in 50 degrees with no air conditioning is that you have to open the windows.  This works fine until a sand storm passes through and you're in the window seat.  Imagine 50 hairdryers on your face with sand being fired at you and you imagine what it felt like hiding under a roll mat wrapped round your face.... Upon arriving at the edge of the Sahara we  managed to get a hotel room for the 13 of us without air conditioning - this is actually just a large scale frying pan.  The plus side that cancelled any issues was that there was a pool.  I'll never forget the look on a group of german sun bather's faces when 13 of us who hadn't washed for over a week dived in.  The most common line was: "Where are you from?", "England", "Oh" as the nose turns up, they turn on their heel, flick the dirt and strut away.  As if it was a crime to be English - Hey, God save the queen etc!

Morocco is something you'll never see anywhere else.  In the mountains the scenery changes round every corner from plateus' at 10,000 feet to waterfalls falling from cliffs.  The culture spills out totally unconfined full of colour and vibrancy.  From the friendy Berber people in the mountains to the nomads of the dessert right through to the people of Maracesh who are slightly corrupted by western influence there's a plethora of stories and language.  Language is an interesting one.  Most of the guides speak 7 languages.  That said, my Spanish and French from GCSE combined with some arabic picked up from the guides meant I could communicate in a very round about way but it's surprising  how much meaning you can get across with sentences of 4 languages (plus a bit of acting)!

Landing in England was  a strange sensation.  Being able to drink the tap water, speak one language, see greenery and not have to guard against pick pockets constantly was bizarre.  I'd hadn't forgotten home I'd just remembered the bits that mattered.  Eventing, friends, school, windsurfing and a few other things mattered but it makes you realise that somethings aren't that important - who cares whether we have to walk a 100m to get a drink, does it really matter? It also made me see how much I love England, I'm not sure what it is but I love it and despite current issues  like the recession  I'm not going anywhere.  Of course within a few hours of hitting the tarmac I was back in the saddle and grinning as I realised things were really beginning to look quite bright.  Check out thehome page of my website and you can read all about my new sponsor, equishopping.  Plus, check out this weeks Horse and Hound (12 August 2010) p76 as I'm into the final six of the Dodson and Horrell bursary.  Next stop is Chilham Castle where they've got a stunning new novice track which should be fabulous - big bold and technical - right up my street!

Kerry Graw keeps us updated on the boys' progress!

Unfortunately I've still only got 1 out of my 3 horses out competing but the other 2 are getting there slowly.  Having said that the one horse I have in work, Picnic, is going very well having moved up to Newcomers, over the last couple of months we have been concentrating on getting some mileage over 1.10m courses and I have been really pleased with how she has been jumping.  Last weekend we went to Somerford Show and had our first double clear at Newcomers and to top it off won the class!!!  I was over the moon with her as we have only been jumping at this height since June so Picnic is definately showing she has more in her yet!  We also entered a Scope qualifier for the 1.05m Adventurer class last month and she jumped a great round to earn a qualifying place, our entry form is in the post so off to Scope we go first week in September.

As for the two boys they are still on the road to recovery.  Biggles as you know has been touch and go as to whether he will come back to compete again but he started to look really good when he had another relapse and tweaked his front suspensory, aarrgghh. We think its due to the fact we have solved the original problem but he had been putting stress on other areas to compensate previously which made them weak.  This is now the 3rd thing to go wrong so am hoping that means all our bad luck has been used up now...  so after yet more time off, shock wave treatment and far too many vet vists for my liking I am back on board and so far we have made it to trot work, will we make it to canter?

Ze is still being treated for his sacrilliac injury and is on limited turnout and walking exercise in straight lines - this week we have started short bursts of trot and have a visit from the chiropractor for him later in the week.  We think it will be six more weeks of walk and trot before we can start back to some normality with light schooling then if all goes well we might be out and about competing before Christmas.... fingers crossed!!!

September should be a busy month and will hopefully have lots to report back and also the boys may be doing a bit more than walking in straight lines!

Polly Tucker updates us on a busy and successful month

What a month….. since my last post I have been very busy right to the very last day of July, what started as a very successful month also ended in one. Mr Winky has found a new home not too far from his home with us, when I was told the news of the sale of Winks I was delighted however what Mum didn’t tell me is I had been asked to break him in! I had my doubts as to how he would behave but he seemed to take to lunging and riding like a duck to water, after a couple of days he decided he had got the hang of it and wanted to trot off on his own but soon realised he wasn’t going to get to far with a rider on top.

Blue has been the highlight to the month proving us all wrong and lapping up and loving every minuet of being back in full time work. Previously he had been a lazy toad who much preferred jumping to stressage, this time around however he is a changed boy who is putting Dressage horse Percy to shame. After much deliberating we decided to take Blue to his first competition in two years! We pottered up to West Wilts for a combined training, the dressage (normally being our bug bearer) went smoothly and we awaited our turn to jump. I was shocked when the scores went up and Blue was in the lead, the pressure was on. Having not jumped competitively for two years we wondered how he would react, yet again Blue performed amazingly just knocking one fence to move us to second in a strong 20 competitor class. We have been so encouraged by his first competition we are prepping him in mind to enter our first BE 100open this year with him, Bicton looks a likely contender but we will let you know in the next blog where we aim to head next with him.

The last success of the month actually came on the first day of August, so I’m cheating a bit here. We took Wally to West Buckland For a BE100 open, this fielded a small amount of entries however lots of very classy and amazing horses were entered up. Wally was more chilled at this event posting a very good score for the test we performed, there was some odd marking and some fantastic moving horses had scores well behind me. Warming up for SJ Wally seemed a little tired than normal but we had done a lot with him in a short space of time up to the event, once in the arena he perked right up to post a fab clear even helping his rider out after completely missing a stride to the triple bar. The cross country course this year was much tougher than first looked at this year, last year it ran clock wise how ever this year it ran anti clock wise with some very substantial jumps for a BE100 open. Wally loved the course, maintaining a good pace all the way around the course. He really seemed to be enjoying himself, there were a few sque wiff moments but nothing to worry about. We posted a double clear inside the time, this meant we finished in top ten in 7th place. After this great run he is having a couple of weeks rest with light work before we attack a ON in September.

On wards and up wards.

Jo Barry on training with Carl and Stephen and getting engaged!

Yikes the year is fast disappearing!?! Regionals are approaching and the Winter Championships seem a distant memory.

Rafa made a quick start into qualifiers after the Winter Championships before having a few weeks off. He won his first two qualifiers and so gained qualification by the end of April. He was asked to step in last minute when a guinea pig had to drop out from the Jennie Loriston Clarke demonstration that was held at Gleneagles at the beginning of May. Freddie was already going to perform his Elementary and Medium freestyle tests, so Rafa enjoyed a relaxed outing having to show what was looked for in a young horse. Freddie as ever enjoyed his 'public performance', it was his last for a while as I had decided to concentrate on his training.

I took Freddie and Hugo down to see Carl mid-May, it was Hugo's first ever training with Carl and the first time he was to see Carl's yard which even to older horses can be scary! I rode with my skull and body protector on each day hoping people would notice and give me a wide berth...not a chance! Hugo was fantastic he arrived a toddler and although he wasn't a man when he left he was certainly in his late teens! I rode him indoors and out, with horses arriving and leaving the arena, lorries going past, people appearing from nowhere dogs running round the school, the peacocks, guinea fowl and hens scrapping in the hedges and we survived! Freddie continued work on his changes, canter pirouettes, piaffe and passage. Carl concluded after the few days that I shouldn't concentrate solely on the changes but try to improve collection and ride the changes using the collection I could achieve. I then took Freddie back down to see Stephen Clarke for two days at the end of May. Stephen came to the same conclusion as Carl had and so I felt confident to carry on with my set homework.

In mid-June we took Hugo and Rafa to Ingliston Equestrian Centre for a competition. Rafa did the Elementary freestyle using the same music that I had used for his Novice freestyle but with a new floor plan. He won and qualified for the freestyle semi-final which will be held in February 2011. Hugo behaved brilliantly. He didn't qualify but I was thrilled that he didn't look at the boards, flowers or worry about anything. I have to admit that seeing him spend 2hrs bucking in the stable we had hired had made me slightly apprehensive!!

At the end of June I travelled down to the Hartpury Dressage Extravaganza. I had been asked to ride in the Pro/Am competition and it was something that I had always wanted to take part in from my days of watching the Medium Elite class that used to be held at the Winter Championships. The amateur rider rides their own horse through a medium test and then the professional has 10 minutes to get to know the horse before having to ride the same test themselves. The professional riders names are put in a hat and a draw is done to pair riders with horses, so fingers are kept crossed that you get a nice one! I did thankfully, a lovely bay owned and ridden by Charlotte Holes. Charlotte had already ridden a good test in the morning to place her 2nd so the pressure was on!Raff was very nice to ride, responsive and well trained...I hope Charlotte was happy with what I was able to produce! I managed to improve her already good score by 1% and we maintained our 2nd placing.

I have just returned from training with Stephen, this time taking Freddie and Rafa. I had hit a stumbling block with the changes with Freddie and had to return to the drawing board. He did not cope well with riding the changes with a large amount of collection being involved...he could make an attempt at one or the other but not both at the same time. He had got strong and tense and it was tending to made me ride backwards. The horse that had never got anything wrong or found anything difficult couldn't understand why he was making mistakes and could not do what was being asked...mentally I think his head was in a spin. While working on my own I had a 'light bulb' moment and remembered how I had taught him any new movements previously. I had always started through riding him deep...it kept him open in his body and mind as he felt he had somewhere to move to when asked something new. I played with this idea with the changes and could see a big improvement BUT I wasn't sure how a trainer would view my thought process and see an improvement! Stephen thankfully was very pleased with what I had done and that I was well on my way to my goal...phew! Rafa went with the Regionals in mind, I hoped for confirmation that what I was feeling was what was being seen. Stephen was very impressed with Rafa's development and couldn't believe the change in him from when he had last seen him just over a year ago.

So...the Regionals are next. Hopes lie with Rafa to keep the flag flying. He has the Novice and Elementary Open classes to contest and if he goes like he has been the last few weeks I will be happy...if the judges agree that will be brilliant!!

On a personal note July has also been very exciting, I got engaged! My boyfriend, Ross took me to New York for a couple of days and proposed so it hasn't just been Freddie's head that has been spinning of late!!

Jemma Harrison tries her hand at Working Hunter and prepares for her first Derby!

It's been a busy few months for us with competitions nearly every weekend and the weather has stayed nice which always makes a great show! Piquet has been jumping really well and at each show we've come away with rosettes!

During June I decided to try something new and we did our first working hunter class! With all the rustic fences Piquet was a little spooky but still jumped clear so I couldn't ask for more! During the showing part Piquet wasn't interested in behaving and thought that we were on a lap of honor so kept trying to catch up with the horse in front which was very entertaining for me as I know he's not s show horse! We still managed a 5th place in the Large Workers and a 6th in the Open Workers.

For some reason I decided to do another Working hunter the other week and again he did the jumping superbly with the judge telling me he had the best jumping round. But again in the showing he wasn't interested and decided to canter instead of trot in his run-up. We came 2nd which was very pleasing as I was only doing it for the jumping part which he jumped extremely well in.

Last weekend was our Member's Day Show and Piquet was on top form. We gained a clear round in the 1.05/1.10 and came 3rd and in the Grade C Grand Prix (with jumps going up to 1.15/1.20 in the puissance round) he continued to jump well and we managed another 3rd which was very pleasing!

Over the next few weeks we have shows each weekend including a derby which should be great fun as it will be the first time Piquet and I together will jump round a derby! Then in late August we will be off to Guernsey for a week to compete in their Horse of The Year Show so it's going to be a busy August!

Roma Oakes experiences the highs and lows of horseownership

It's been a really emotional few months. I've had to have my mare, Ria, put to sleep. She had been out for a few months to see if she would come sound again but, in fact, she got much worse. It was heartbreaking to watch her trying to hobble around. We brought her into the stables and after a few days it was apparent that she couldn't lie down in her stable so we let her out into a very small paddock and she immediately lay down and slept. When she tried to get up again she had to lurch around to get up without putting too much weight on her back legs. We called the vet and he quickly recommended that she should be put to sleep. It was very sad as despite the
pain that she was in she had remained so sweet and gentle. I was glad to let her go and get relief though.

On a more positive note; Baker is coming on really well. We scored 66.5% in a novice test last week and 61.47% in a Grade IV Para test as well, it is equivalent to an elementary test so I'm very pleased with him. When we get it all together he is really terrific - sadly - it's usually me who fails to get organised. He really surprised me last week though; the penultimate movement in the test was a rein back followed by collected trot along the centre line. His rein back was very crooked but then when I asked him to go forward into trot he almost did passage! Now - where did that come from? It was lovely to sit on but we lost marks as 'not required at this level'. Ah
well - at least we know that it is there if we ever need it.

My daughter is getting married in August so the horsebox is being a removal lorry this week. I'm really enjoying getting all dressed up - but how do I cover the bruises that I always have? Any little bump leads to a colourful mark and, of course, they are all on my forearms for now - exactly where they will be seen on the day. My dress is really lovely and I'm even going
to wear a hat! I'll let you know how it all goes.

Tilly Tillbrook becomes Latimer and has to face some important decisions this season

Life has taken some unexpected turns for me over the past few months, which seems to be a bit of a theme for 2010, so apologies for the ‘radio silence’ from this quarter!

Way back on the 24th April, our wedding day finally arrived – we were very lucky to have gorgeous weather, and the only cloud on proceedings was, quite literally, the volcanic one which kept my husband’s brother in Singapore (where he lives and works) and unable to make it to the wedding. Everything else went swimmingly, we had a super day and then luckily managed to jet off to Lanzarote for a week of surfing. So I am now officially Mrs Latimer, which makes me feel rather old!

Shortly before the wedding I had been doing some serious soul searching about whether or not Boysie was the right horse for me – he’s got rather bigger than I wanted, and we just kept having rails in the showjumping, which was never the plan. I also want to go intermediate at some stage and I realistically could not see myself being able to hold him together enough to ride well round a track that big, despite having schooling round intermediate XC fences previously. So I enlisted the help of a friend and took him down for her to try and tell me what she thought. He was foot perfect with her, so I arranged that he would be dropped off at her yard the following week for her to compete with a view to selling him.

Four weeks after dropping him off, we were out at Bickenhall at the BE100 – he posted a super dressage of 32.5 and jumped double clear to come fifth – rosettes are always welcome at Chateaux Latimer, and as they are hard-won, even when I don’t actually do the riding they are still displayed in pride of place! We then set off to Broadway for another BE100, where once again he jumped double clear, this time with a spectacular dressage of 27, to come fifth again. So a quick discussion between rider and owner ensued, and we entered him up for Pontispool Novice. I must say, it is possibly more nerve-racking watching as an owner than it is actually competing, but I needn’t have worried, a 34.5 dressage coupled with a double clear gave him a seventh place and his first point.

By now, I was getting rather used to this ‘pay the bills, pick up the prizes’ lark, so I was brought back to reality at Moreton where he led his novice section after the dressage with a 27.5, but then had to warm up for the showjumping on rather dead, hard ground and then jump on a surface – he just tipped two poles so we opted to run him slowly XC, where he naturally went clear, because it’s a fine line between getting the placings to help him sell and keeping him sound. He finished up 16th, which is by no means a bad placing, but sadly does not come with rosettes!

Next stop was Longleat, and by this point he was getting rather cocky XC so we were trying out a new bit on him as he wasn’t reacting quite as fast as the rider would like in combinations. This proved to be a resounding success, but again led to a slower XC round so no rosettes that day either. The team was therefore sent off to Salperton and told to kick on round the XC, and they did us proud with a 5th placing round a tough novice track and another two points – and some prize money which is always welcome!

We then had a long discussion about whether or not it was time to test out whether he could live up to our expectations of him being a quality intermediate horse or not – stepping up a level is always a gamble when you are trying to sell. We decided to give it a whirl after one last Novice at Barbury Castle. Sadly a mechanical malfunction (the riders words were ‘something important has fallen off the front of the lorry, I am stuck at Swindon’) meant we never quite made it, which was a real shame as it is one of my favourite events in the calendar.

So we set off to Stockland Lovell with some trepidation having discussed at length whether or not to drop him down a level and come to the conclusion that it was time to run him intermediate and know for sure. And now follows the unluckiest story so far this season. Firstly, he posted a dressage of 33.6 – fabulous for the first time at the level and really encouraging when there was obviously room for improvement too, so spirits were high. We walked up to the show jumping arena to see the biggest intermediate track I have ever laid eyes on – gulp! However he warmed up well and really rose to the challenge, jumping the first 3 beautifully – in fact number 3 a little too well as it was a large oxer on a related distance to a double and he just made up too much ground to tip the first element and land a little short for the second so the rider circled him to represent rather than worry him by asking him to stand so far off a fence which was bigger than anything he’d done in competition to date. He then flew round the rest of the course to just tip the first element of the triple, so all in all we were thrilled with him. Off to the cross country, and he was flying, really loving the bigger fences when over half way round disaster struck – he jumped the corner and into the sunken road complex but as he came up the steep slope out to the arrowhead he lost a back leg, stumbled and sadly couldn’t take off for the final element. He’s so honest XC that this was really unlucky, and even more so in that the rider tipped off, her air jacket inflated and that was game over. So unfair since we both firmly believe he would have completed no problem. That’s eventing sadly!

Anyway, he’s entered up at Wilton novice and will then go intermediate again at Aston le Walls, so fingers crossed for better news after the next attempt – unless of course I come back to tell you he’s been sold, which would be both nice and heartbreaking in about equal measures.

A busy July for Polly Tucker

July has been a busy busy month, we had our first event after an accident filled start to the year. We headed to Glanusk International for the BE 100 Open, it was a new event for 2010 and proved to be a fab event for the future. We had a lovely, calm test which was marked very harshly however was middle of the pack so we were pleased for his first event of the season. The show jumping wasn't too taxing and we flew round for a solid clear to be just outside of the top ten at that stage. Cross country was our downfall at this event, Wally had a trip on the flat and sent me flying out the door! We still completed clear around the course however when we viewed the results they noted it down as a fall at a jump, this was not the case it was on the flat. Even after a hour of deliberation and talks at the tent they could not change the result, gutted wasn't the word as we would have finished 7th or 8th!

Our next event was Badminton Dressage Championships with Percy, we were in the Pony Club class on the Friday where the team pulled off a second and was 5th in my arena. We all got goodie bags and a large badminton plaque. On the Saturday we went back up to take part in the middle of the road championships that we had qualified for, our test was a little tense and could of been better but we came away with a top twenty placing against riders from all over the country.

Between all these events we have been hard at work getting the horses fit and ready, Blue is back up to full work and aiming to be doing his first event soon. We also have a young new forest who is proving to be a cheeky chappy but very willing to learn and letting me sit on him for the first time no trouble.

My last event before this blog was Stockland Lovell BE 100 Open with Wally, he was a little excited by the nearby cross country in the dressage so not his best score by miles but still he behaved himself. Wally show jumped amazingly scoring another clear around a very decent challenging BE 100 course, we then headed off in the hot sun to the cross country.

The course at Stockland Lovell was much less taxing than usual but was a very lovely flowing course with some interesting fences. We flew around with a confident and bold clear, the dressage may have let us down on the day but we were very happy with a double clear and two shiny foundation points.

July has started busy and ends busy with Pony Club Area dressage and West Buckland BE, full steam ahead and hopefully I will write my next blog with some more good news.

Oli Lawrence on fancy dress trot ups, graveyard hacking and polystyrene cross country jumps

Well it’s just as well I like a busy life. The build up to Glanusk was seriously packed not just with the usual preparations for going away but with coursework deadlines at school and an end of term concert as well as various interviews so it was a major relief to finally be on our way on wednesday.

Thankfully Wales failed to live up to it's wet reputation and we were met with glorious sunshine. Plus, my navigation skills were faultless (a first) although the welsh road signs were slightly confusing – especially when the English half of the sign has fallen off! That said we rolled into Glanusk with plenty of time having negotiated various windy roads – I felt very sorry for some of the larger lorries!

Before being allowed into the stabling all the horses are inspected by the FEI vet which includes having their passports checked – given that vets and doctors handwriting are rather similar (illegible) he must have been a little peed off after checking the 100th passport... Next stop was the trot up (with a fancy dress theme for juniors) so as an australian bush man we trotted up and in true Dell style we passed - a little exuberantly....

In theory the next day was free but within seconds was filled with course walks and test practise for the next day. So with minute markers sorted (like mini time keeping markers to help you keep on time) things were looking up for the XC with just a few decisions to make about various routes. Thankfully the XC was on the strong side as our dressage on day 1 wasn’t fabulous. The atmosphere somewhat went to Dell’s head and there were a few too many mistakes. I also thought it would be a good plan to take Dell out for a hack so with great confidence set of having looked at the map which I was sooo sure I could follow.... First surprise was going over the very large ornate stone bridge straight out of the middle ages. The only things missing were knights and charging horses to take us back a few centuries (Dell don’t get any ideas!). Around the next turn there were also small gravestones – “don’t step on them”...clip, clip, clop - as Dell stands on the edges.. Although, nobody struck me down with lightening and other godly punishments stayed put so I figure I’m alright. Plus, I was actually following the right route which is more than I can say for some of my driving excursions having just passed my test.....

XC day thankfully dawned cooler than the first day and a lot of work by the organisers meant the ground was very good given the dessert conditions – Wales has never had so much sun! The course itself was beautifully built although the builders did have a great fondness for ditches! – “So how’s your’s with ditches?”, “Ermm... he’s alright but when he’s finished this he’ll be a prodigy...” Polystyrene logs were also being trialled at the second water on the course – polystyrene logs!!??! No, nobodies gone mad. They genuinely were made of the same polystyrene like you get toy tractors packaged in. That said, you couldn’t really tell the difference once you were on a horse! Before you ask, yes they did have plenty of spares! There was also a double of corners right in the middle of the main arena. It rode very well but was quite a contrast to the open space of the course before. I’m also told that you had to push your way to the front of a crowd of spectators at the water – I didn’t notice. Funnily enough when we dropped into the water everyone kind of mixed into one sunburnt streak... All went well though and we finished well inside the time, which pulled us up the leader board considerably.

The cooling facilities at the end of the track worked fabulously and there were several vets on hand who were checking horse’s temperatures - Dell wasn’t massively happy about that – I’ll let you figure out why! On an event sponsorship front one of the sponsors “Water Boy”, who build portable water sprays, had them in use at the finish. They definitely had the right idea as lots of people were impressed with them. Dell certainly liked the idea of having 2 personal assistants to cool him off at the finish!

Our showjumping wasn’t so hot but we finished up 27th which wasn’t so bad given that it was a first 3 day for both of us in a very competitive field. I was really proud of the 4 points Dell had gained this year but then I quickly realised that we’re actually a little bit low on that front as a fair few of the other horses were breaking well over the 60 point marker.

So now we definitely know the standard, seeing it’s a little bit like colliding with a large blunt instrument but sometimes jumping in at the deep end is the only way forward. Next stop Great Witchingham.

Sam Penn a fantastic weekend at Brightling despite brake failure and tripping up in the trot up!

I love events that dont involve hours of travelling in order to get there, so it was great to be close to home again this weekend at Brightling Park. Tickeridge got the weekend off to a flying start, with a win in BE100 sec A, finishing on his dressage score of 23.5. Brockley Star was hot on his heels with 3rd in sec B, also finishing on his dressage mark of 28.5. Boundalong rounded off the Saturday with her best performance to date in the dressage arena, with a mark of 58.5 in CIC **. Although there was some tension in places, it was a huge improvement with no waving at the judges or any unrequired flying changes, perhaps escaping from the horsebox and galloping around the lorry park for quarter of an hour is a much better way to prepare her than with lots of schooling!

Sunday also started well with Coevers Diamond Clover performing a lovely test in the CIC1* to be 4th after this phase on 46.6. unfortunately 12 faults added in the showjumping put us out of contention, but he went superbly across country, taking all the straight routes and dealing with a few things that he has never encountered before such as the bounce at fence 11/12. He also galloped up the final hill really well, especially considering he is 3/4 Irish Draught, better in fact than some Thoroughbreds I saw over the course of the weekend.

Charter Party also had a successful time in Novice sec G. Although his dressage contained a few blips, it was, overall a much better picture than at Eridge a few weeks ago. The same would go for the showjumping, although we did have 12 faults overall the round was more controlled and he is starting to listen to me. That could not be said of our cross country which he carted me around most un-ceramoniously. Despite me (trying) to put the brakes on for most of it and even having to circle before fence 18, the skinny out of the hollow, we still had the fastest time in our section, so there is still considerable homework to be done here, and maybe a search for some new brakes (suggestions on a postcard please....)

My ponies escaping seemed to be a recurring theme of the weekend, but none embarrassed me quite so much as 707, who tripped me over in the trot up, and proceeded to cavort around the 2* dressage arena for several minutes, evadeing the combined efforts of myself, various spectators, vets and the ground jury trying to catch him!! As was the case with Muffin the previous day it obviously worked for him, as he also performed a personal best at this level, for a mark of 57.4. He went on to jump a lovely clear in the showjumping, Muffin was unlucky to have the middle element of the combination, but she went on to jump well across country, apart from being a little green through the first water where she rather scrambled over the pontoon, the rest of the course posed no problems, and would certianly be some of the toughest terrain she has tackled to date. I was most pleased that she is learning to jump more out of her stride, without that 'showjumper' need to be set up every time.

It is wonderful to have 707 back on form as he is the most awesome horse to ride across country, he made the whole course feel like a Sunday stroll in the park, easily galloping up the long hill with just 4.8 time faults, 2nd quickest of the class, to finish in 6th place, my best ever 2* result. So all in all a fabulous weekend.

Katherine Begley gives us the lowdown on the last 5 events!

Wow, where to begin! I have made the mistake of not regularly sending in updates and so now face the mamouth task of overviewing five events! After my first event of the season at Withington and first ever event with Jack we headed off to Hambleden to do the CIC*, we did a fair test and got 58.1 which is about 38 in British Eventing terms. Unfortunately Jack spooked at a filler in the show jumping so we had an unlucky pole and then he went clear around the XC but was very strong so we got a few time penalties.

Next we went to Aston Le Walls for my first ever intermediate, Emma Humphrey who competed Jack last season helped me warm up and we did our best test by far. We scored 38 which was possibly slightly mean, but we did make a few mistakes. The SJ was causing a fair few problems because it was big and twisty but Jack jumped really well and we just had 4 faults at the second fence when I panicked a bit and caused him to hollow over the fence. (Dressage and SJ video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhF9Z8ho1EA ). Onto the XC, well he was absolutely flying round giving me by far the best ride I have had with him, up till fence 15d. A corner four strides after two steps down, unfortunately we wavered off our line slightly and ended up at the corner on 3.5 strides and although he tried his heart out, didn’t manage to clear it and we had a nasty horse fall. I had a very battered hip and was very concussed but luckily Jack was unharmed. (Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnVXTVYfhSA ).

We then headed to Pontispool OI to try and get our intermediate qualification run for Glanusk Junior National Championships U18 CCI*. We had a disappointing mark in the dressage and a very unlucky pole in the Show Jumping but flew round the XC clear and inside the time to finish 9th overall, was thrilled! If slightly annoyed that we didn’t get a double clear! (Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncnde5IRFEE ).

Onto the main event of the last few months – Glanusk JNC CCI* & JRN. I had both horses at Glanusk from Wednesday last week until very late on Sunday evening. Jack was doing the Junior National Championships CCI* class and Belvedere was doing his first event since Weston CCIJ* in October, a JRN class. I had a brilliant, but quite emotional and trying time! Jack did a fair dressage test but got a disappointing mark of 59.2, which equates to 39.5 in British Eventing terms. He then proceeded to do a fantastic XC round clear inside the time, doing all the direct routes over an incredibly big and technical track. However, later that day he became lame and although he was much better the following day, he was sent to the hold box during the trot up and I withdrew him from there. He had a slight sore point on his tendon, and although there was no heat or swelling there was no way I was going to run him and risk breaking him. So that was very gutting, but it doesn't take away how good he was on the cross country. (Video of Jack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RooE2cf-2_c ). Then on Sunday it was Belv's turn to party. The dressage was very disappointing, he got slightly freaked out by the competition atmosphere and the test was below par. We ended up with 40.0 - not quite what the last 6months of hard work has been aiming for. Anyway he redeemed himself by jumping well in the SJ and just rolling at unlucky pole. As expected he romped around the XC and just had 5.2 time penalties because he is not very fit. We ended up 8th so it was nice to get a rosette! (Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfU4H8fOWNg ).

And finally, Barbury Novice on Belv - Well it was Belv's second event of the season on the weekend but we did exactly the same as we did the week before at the first event of the season - 40 dressage, 4 faults SJ and clear XC with a few time!! It was a strange event, because Tor took Belv down for us, so me and mum drove down separately in the car (well actually I drove, can you believe it!!) He warmed up really well for the dressage, but unfortunately in the ring we had two ''moments'' that dropped our score from 33.7 to a 40.0. So that was very disappointing, however it just goes to show that the good work is in there and we will get those low 30's very soon! Next up was my nemesis, the Show Jumping! I was nervous because quite a few people I know were watching, however he had warmed up really well. Popped fences 1-7 really well, just tipped fence 8 and then got very deep to fence 9 but he tried really hard and cleared it. Then clear over the final double. So just an annoying four faults again!! Finally, the best bit! Needless to say, he absolutely flew around the XC for a fabulous clear with just 3.6 time penalties because he isn't all that fit. I do love him XC, he just takes everything in his stride, which is clear to see from how he jumped through the water! Totally foot perfect! All in all a slightly disappointing day due to the mistakes in the dressage and the pole SJ. It would have been nice to do a double clear and get a point, but hey ho! (Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFEWlV4kz-M ).

To see more photos from the above events please visit my website and check out the Blog and Gallery pages – http://www.katherinebegley.com

Sam Penn at Barbury Castle

What a lovely weekend it has been, gorgeous weather and a trip to one of the most picturesque events in the calender, Barbury Castle in Wiltshire. Set in a natural bowl in the heart of the Downs, it is the perfect venue for such an event, with the entire xc course viewable from a seat beside the showjumping arena. The courses themselves were also super, a lovely old-fashioned galloping course with big bold fences and nothing too trappy.

We took 707 for his first outing in quite some time as he has not been at his sparkling best so far this year, but he seems to be back to his normal slightly scatty self and put in fantastic performance in the RoR (Retraining of Racehorses) Championship. His dressage was as expected, a little on the tense side but acceptable, simple changes on the centre line are a movement that leaves us nowhere to hide!! but 44.1 left us in about 10th place. He then show jumped clear and set out xc over a course that could have been tailor made to suit him. The format for this class was an Intermediate -Novice, which after his break suited him really well, and he felt fabulous, totally back to himself, and posting the fastest time across country all day incurring 1.2 too fast penalties (oops) and finishing up in 6th place. The top 10 in this competition were invited back to showjump again the following day in the main arena for a first prize of £1500. Again Brooke jumped a lovely clear which moved us up into 5th place. After a mounted prize giving the 10 ex racehorses thought the lap of honor was marvellous fun and many of us took several circuits to pull up!

The main event of the weekend was the CIC3* competition, for which we took Captain Christy. With almost 130 competitors in this class, dressage took most of 3 days, our turn came on Friday morning. As always we got marked down for a rather flat canter and generally not being WOW enough, but apart from a stumble at C (unfortunately right in front of the judge!) I was quite pleased with the test, and it was lovely to read a little comment at the bottom of Angela Tuckers' sheet (judge at B), saying "He looks amazing". We then had to wait until Sunday for our jumping, although we had Brookes' class to keep us occupied on Saturday. The showjumping on Sunday morning shook things up quite a lot, with the time limit being very tight. We added 11 faults, 2 down and 3 time which was dissapointing but not disasterous, so being as how we were not likely to trouble the leaderboard I could use the xc for gaining some experience. Like the novice track it was a big, bold galloping course, with the biggest drop into water I have ever seen. Smurf felt great, we took the option to circle between the wishing wells at 5/6, but he was super going straight at the owl hole to 2 very angled stables. He felt good enough for me to attempt the straight route at 21, the arrowhead brush at the bottom of a very steep slope in the quarry, however this didnt come off and we picked up 20 penalties, as the class progressed it was noticed that most people went straight for the long route but hey-ho we had to try. The rest of the course went without incident and he finished full of running for 53rd place. Despite the slip up I was really pleased with how it went, I'm starting to feel a lot more confident at this level and we will definately be aiming for Blenheim in September.

Sam Penn fills us in on the latest from Eridge Horse Trials

Once again it has been a busy week for us, on Tuesday we had the Retraining of Racehorses clinic with Nick Turner, rescheduled after its previous cancellation due to Nick being trapped in America by the volcanic ash cloud. I joined in with Brooke, a lot of the work was going back to basics over poles which actually was very good for us and drew my attention to just how much Brooke tries to push out through his right shoulder. The following day was again spent having lessons with Nick, I had the first session with Smurf to see if we could find out where I'm losing my line through the advanced combinations, I'm hoping to have got to the bottom of it but I'll let you know after Barbury!

Sid has grown up a huge amount since our last session and I think might be growing up to be a little bit special, he has that 'bring it on' attitude and is always looking for whats coming next. My last lesson was on my new ride Rory, (Charter Party). Rory is quite a large horse and has been ridden by a much stronger person than I so we will take a while to get used to each other, as he will have to learn to think for himself rather more than he does at the moment, but he certianly has the scope and the ability and I think will be a very interesting project. We have managed to organise for Nick to come down to Golden Cross for several more training days approx once a month, spaces are filling fast so if you are interested contact Ian at info@goldencrossec.co.uk.

For once we had a whole weekend without having to leave Sussex, at one of our nearest events, Eridge Park. This is always an event that you know will be a very hot day with pretty hard ground, but the team this year had obviously put in a huge amount of work and the ground was pretty good. Saturday was a nice easy day with just Tickeridge competing. It was a return to more normal scores for dressage, but I felt the test was actually better than at Rackham, as he wasn't trying to hang on my right rein, we came out with a 29. We added no jumping penalties to this in either sj or xc but we were not very quick and picked up 8 time faults for eventual 5th.

Sunday was the busy day with 4 ponies competing, Coevers Diamond Clover and Charter Party were in the Novice sections with Captain Christy and Boundalong in the Intermediate. Flynn managed one of his better dressage days, not getting strong at all, for a mark of 34.5, he was still a little less than his usual self in the showjumping, and had the first part of the double down after backing off it a bit, but he jumped much better than in the last few weeks, the run accross country I think will have helped get his confidence back too, he started off a little bit quietly but towards the second half of the course I felt his confidence coming back. We finished up with 7.6 time penalties but this was still good enough for 7th place. My ride on Rory was just planned to be a bit of a 'getting to know you' day out. Some of his dressage was lovely and showed what potential he has, although there were also some bits that fell apart a bit, his mark of 39.5 actually compared quite well. The showjumping also went reasonably well with just one pole down. The cross country was an interesting ride, I allowed him his head a little at the start but soon decided that this was a bad idea as he didnt come back to me when required. I did re-establish some control in time for the sunken road which he popped very sweetly, but then rode the rest of the course with the handbrake firmly on. He is a very brave horse and totally straight so the course felt very easy for him, but we definately have a lot of work to do. Despite having a good hold of him for most of the round, he was still 2nd fastest in his section which I think says it all! But it was a super result for him to finish up 4th.

Muffin is still in digrace this morning after her performance in the dressage. The first few movements I thought we had some real improvement, she felt more relaxed and rideable throughout the trot work. Then she became very tense whilst walking and then into the canter but then changed instead of maintaining counter canter and when asked for a simple change, decided to throw a strop, stand up and wave at the judge. As always she jumped a lovely round showjumping, her one down was entirely rider error, having ridden 5-6 on a nice 6 strides in the morning it then rode much shorter over the bigger fences. Being completely out of contention we then just had a nice hack around the xc which she did jump beautifully, and to my suprise we finished up 11th, only just outside the ribbons.

Last to go was Captain Christy. He gave a nice calm obediant test and 31.4 is his best dressage mark so far with me, unfortunately he decided to act as if he had never seen a showjump before and had 2 down, but he redeemed himself across country, with a fantastic round, finishing full of running and one of the fastest in the section adding 11.4 time faults to finish 9th, our first eventing rosette together, its been a long time coming but he so deserves it, and it has put to bed a few demons as it was at Eridge last year that we had to pull up and afterward discovered his heart problems but he is certainly fighting fit now and ready for our next trip to Barbury for the CIC3*. 707 is also feeling well again so will be coming out for the RoR class, so fingers crossed for that.

A busy month for Georgina Rose

June has proved to be a busier one than last!

At the beginning of the month I finally managed to find a quality pony to sell, a 14hh 5yo red leopard spot mare. She is very impressive and was reserved within 1 week by recommendation from a previous client, but frustratingly turned out to be a time waster! Dont we all hate those...so back on the market now and hopefully the right person will come along soon.

On a brighter note it gives me more time to bring on and 'play' with the new one! Her name is Lady Indiana G.R, and she certainly looks like one to watch. If anyone would like any more info on her, please feel free to contact me.

This month also brought about the final training sessions in preperation for my BHS Stage 2 exam. I have just taken the exam, am nervously awaiting results which could take up to 2 weeks to arrive! So will be in agony for a bit until they do, but fingers crossed for me that all went well!

My new youngster, Honeypot Sweet Pea, is now broken and riding on well. She is showing excellent trot work and has done her first ride around the farm. Very pleased with her and she looks to be everything I hoped she would be- so far so good! Planning a couple of in hand shows for her in July, very excited about her prospects. Heading for in hand coloured/youngstock/sport horse classes and Im confident she will do well if she manages to behave herself long enough to show the judges what she has!

Now that my BHS training evenings are over it means I can finally get Penny out and about again, who at the moment seems to be getting itchy feet at not going out as often as she is used too. Have a couple of evening classes planned for her next month at least, possibly some WH too . She is looking fit and on song at the moment so hope results should be good.

Planning permition for our new yard is slowly moving along, so nice to see something happening towards 'the real thing'. Touch wood it all goes through ok, we should be looking at a shiny new yard in 2011! Exciting stuff.

A slightly quieter month for Sam Penn

We seem to have very little to do event wise this month, especially in comparison to the last few weeks, but it is a welcome break before the madness that is always July when everything seems to be happening at once. So instead we are out pracising our showjumping. We went to South of England show, to which we took Boundalong, Tickeridge and Coevers Diamond Clover. Thursday was a nice quiet day, all jumped well in the Newcomers class. Flynn had the first fence down in the jump off, (although the rider was the one at fault!) Then Tigga had the last jump off fence, Muffin saved my reputation though by coming 7th out of a field of nearly 70. We were back early Friday morning after a night of very heavy rain which obligingly stopped just in time for our class to start. Tigga again just jumped the Newcomers class, and had a repeat of the previous day, jumping a lovely round and having the last jump off fence down, grrrr! Flynn was a little carried away having been allowed to go fast in the jump off the previous day, and carted me around the early part of the course, but after clouting fence 3 he then finished the round in a far more polite manner, he redeemed himself in the Foxhunter class however, only his second attempt at this height he jumped superbly, he had the last 2 fences down in the jump off but showed that he has ample scope to move on up a level. Muffin again jumped beautifully in the Newcomers, this time finishing 5th and then went on to have a very rare 4 faults in the Foxhunter, but as it is the first fault she has had in several months we will forgive her.

We then went to one of our few events this month, one I have not attended before at Berkshire College. I will certainly be going again as it was a really nice, friendly, well run event, and an ideal place for moving up a level. After his 2 days of showjumping Flynn was mush more amenable in his dressage test, although strong as ever, he was not short or tight through the neck as can be the case with him, and I was thus rather disapointed with his mark of 36, although the comment on his sheet of 'needed to work more forward into the contact' had me in stitches!! He added nothing to this jumping or cross country except for the 2 time faults I accrued by going too fast, (oops, slapped wrist) however we were not the only ones as the course seemed to ride exceptionally quick for some, but it dropped us down from 2nd to 5th place, I'm pleased in a way though, as it means he is ready to start thinking of moving up a level before too long.
Tigga also benefitted from 2 days jumping but in totally the opposite way, whereas Flynn calmed down, Tigga perked up and felt much more uphill in his dressage, to lead his section with 27. He also added nothing to this jumping, but again I had 1 too fast time fault, relegating us to 2nd place by 1/2 a penalty but as with Flynn I'm actually rather pleased as he is getting quicker and more switched on in this phase with every outing, this was the first time he has pulled me all the way to the finish.

Lite My Fire was the last to go of the day for us. I was a little disapointed with her mark of 37 for dressage, but she is starting to feel much lighter in the forehand and more grown up in the showjumping and the 4 faults she picked up were totally my fault for adding too many strides to the last. The cross country went very well until 2 from home when she took a dislike to a rolltop before the water and frustratingly our day ended here, so off for schooling for us.

Josh Thompson: Water babies, broken bones, making ground and the final countdown!

I have been very busy since my last blog; and it hasn’t all been plain sailing! My first event of the month was Auchinleck where Duncan was in the Novice and Shannah was in the Intermediate. Shannah did a nice test for him, he got a 42 but we were pleased with the way he went as he is never going to be a top scorer at Intermediate! He show jumped very well but had an annoying one down. However I was very happy as I thought there is room for improvement still. I was looking forward to a nice easy XC to get us into the swing of things. Oh no, it was huge! We were jumping some of the advanced fences and the little pony just loved it. He was giving me an awesome ride up to fence 12, a small house. I however got over excited and tried to cut into it too much. He left a leg and I fell off! I did however get back on, and we jumped a few more fences and he went really well until we had a stop at the corner three from home. Even though we had an R on your record he felt amazing, and we both felt confident at that level which is the main thing.

Duncan however was not on top form; again we had a disappointing dressage test after warming up well and a bit of a disaster in the showjumping including a stop. On the XC I was determined to ride him positively after naughty errors at Central Scotland. Over the first few fences he gave me a really good feel-he is really starting to mature. However, it was the water again that was to be our undoing. He had two very cheeky stops, and completely refused to go near the edge, luckily as horses were only running at one minute intervals we got a lead from the next horse. He then flew round very well; if only we hadn’t have had the water issue he would have had gone well.

Since then he have been having lessons with Ruth Edge. We started going to Ruth last year but for various reasons the lessons dwindled. However, she has worked wonders and after just three lessons we are a totally different partnership. We also took Duncan and my ‘grooms’ horse Midnight to Somerford Park XC schooling. It was India’s first time doing XC on the mare and her first event since Hutton in the Forest PN in 2007 with me! They both did superb. Duncan’s main aim was to crack the water and to get him off the leg. He was really good and jumping boldly at the end. He is a very clever horse and can try to avoid work however possible. However, recently he has really started to enjoy what he is doing.

The next event on the calendar was Floors Castle. Floors is one of my favourite events, it’s got a lovely setting and nice courses. We had dropped Duncan down to the BE100 for a confidence run. He had a 35 and a double clear. I couldn’t have been more pleased and he felt confident in all three phases. Sadly we were HC, but would have come third. Shannah did a slightly disappointing dressage to score in the mid 40’s. However worse was to come. In the show jumping warm up he was not on top form. He kept on ducking out at the upright, something which he never does. After jumping it a couple of times he pulled up lame. We had the vet to see him and he has cracked a bone in his knee. He should make a full recovery but this is a very frustrating recovery. He is on box rest for 6 weeks and should be brought back into work in late August.

My last event was Shelford Manor, for another BE100 run. Our dressage was average, slightly disappointing as I now know he can do much more. The less said about the showjumping the better, basically I need to walk my course and ride more forwards. Then he gave me the best XC ride I’ve had. Met each fence on a perfect stride and I think finally he is starting to fully mature. Could not have been happier with him! Over half-term I have been trying to crack the dressage and showjumping. His flat work really has come on leaps and bounds, and over the weekend I jumped him and he was insanely good; he really is a horse with masses of scope. I think we had a confidence crash together, and because of this he needs help. Although talented he is still quite immature, everyone keeps saying once we are on form there is no stopping us!

I am now counting down the days until I have finished school and am a free man! As of the 21st June I will be eventing and enjoying life, hopefully by August I will have stormed the A-levels too! Our next event is Hexham JRN at the weekend. We then have Hutton Novice, with the wonderful unpaid groom India making her BE debut in the BE80. Before I came back to school she had an awesome jumping lesson, and I fear my position as top rider on the yard is under threat! Bye for now!

Janice Pegler is out and about and in the placings!

Well it's been ages since I wrote a blog, mainly because we haven't been doing alot!

Serenity injured her hind extensor tendon last July at Cheltenham, it was only a bad bruise but took a while to get back to normal so we ended up missing out on the rest of last season, and due to finance and personal circumstances we haven't got going this season until now!

I took her cross-country schooling at Boomerang the week before last and she was very good, like she had never had a break, so we went off to Ascott Under Wychwood this weekend to do the BE 90. The weather held off for us but it was muggy, we warmed up for the dressage and she was going nicely, we went in and halfway through I had a big grin on my face. She was really good and did everything when asked and it just felt great, this was reflected in the score of 29.5!!!!

Off to showjumping, the warm up was rock hard so didn't do too much but she was pinging so we went in and jumped a lovely clear!

On to the cross-country and she was very excited - in fact so excited that the starter thought he may have to lead me in! She was leaping off the floor and generally being a pain but we finally got her into the box and off we went! All I can say is it was like she had never had a break. She was awesome and made it feel really easy. We ended with 4.8 time pens so was really pleased as I didn't push her and we finished in 7th place!

So all in all a great day out and I couldn't have asked for more for her first time in 11 months! The plan now is to do the BE90 at Stonar then go back up to BE100 after that.

Anna Bailey's update including ribbons at Borde Hill and animal jumping at Mattingley!

Sorry for the big gap since the last instalment, we have had loads going on!

Firstly l’ll go back to the end of April. We went to Nurstead to put the demons to bed and that is exactly what we did! Woo hoo! We scored a very good dressage mark of 31.5 and then clear show jumping so were in a good position going into the cross country. Nurstead is a strong Novice with lots of inviting big fences but also some very tricky lines. It was here Timmy’s lack of experience last year showed up. The first difficult fence was three offset logs on a very short distance which he popped through like a pro. The next question came at the steps, with an offset skinny before you drop down the massive steps running down hill and then two hedges on an angle at the bottom with one stride in between! Again no problems there either. Then came the dreaded corner…. He was amazing and flew over without even so much as a wobble and finished full of confidence. We did clock up a few time penalties through setting him up so were not in the ribbons but had a very successful day.

The next event was not going to be until Mattingly so I had planned to get some dressage and show jumping practice in…. oh if only I had!!! The four weeks in between events got quickly filled up with taking Cairo and Gringo out to parties so they could be sold. Cario picked up a handful of placings at Royal Leisure centre and Pyecombe show jumping. Gringo also made his combined training debut at Felbridge. He was so chilled out given it was so busy! He did a reasonable dressage test but the poor thing was struggling in the deep sand. Felbridge had recently put down a new surface but it really was not ready to use so by the time I went in it was like a beach! Needless to say, he coped well and then went on to jump perfectly so although not placed, he was a superstar!

Before I knew it, Mattingly had crept up on me and Timmy hadn’t been to a competition for four weeks…. Well Mattingly was the most exciting thing ever!!!! My dressage test was in the long arena as we were tackling our first Intermediate novice where you do an Intermediate test and show jumping and then Novice cross country. He was so excited before I went in, he was foaming! I think we managed to cobble together vague required movements but it was not our best test to score 44.

After a full bath after dressage… again the show jumping was very exciting, as he was leaping into the practice fences I did wonder if I should jump…. I sent Nina back to the lorry to get the Evening performance spray to try and chill him out. It worked a treat so I started to get some control back. Our showjumping round was a little rusty but no leaping so I was fairly happy with eight faults as they were incurred coming out of the double and the combination where he was just getting a little quick. Lots of grid work needed!

The cross country course at Mattingly is amazing. My third fence was a sculpture of a cat, then coming out of the first water you jump a polabear followed by a double of offset ducks later on in the course. It was a strong course but after such a good run at Nurstead I was confident he would be fine. I opted to take all the straight routes so to test him and he was awesome, he didn’t waiver at anything. Woo hoo – well worth the trip even if the other two phases were not quite up to scratch.

Last weekend I had a fairly local event at Borde Hill and was again competing in the Intermediate Novice. Again Borde Hill is beautiful and they have an amazing setting and cross country course. I was a little worried as the cross country ran very close to the dressage arenas but after lots of work that week I had a much better behaved pony to score 33.6. The showjumping was on a slope so although he was a little strong, I was pleased with just the one down. It was a two stride double and I hadn’t managed to walk the course so didn’t realise how short it was so had the rail down coming out. He was amazing cross country and I was even able to put my foot down a little giving us our first clear inside the time to finish in 3rd place!!!! I was very happy with him.

We don’t have any events planned in June but will take him to Felbridge combined training and also to jump the Golden Cross Eventers Challenge at the end of the month. The next stop is Eridge to have a good run around the Novice and then the CIC1* at Brightling.

I’ll let you know how that all goes…..
x