Fantastic month! April saw Rose Equine off to a flying start selling all of our stock! Wally, the lovely little 4yo NF gelding that I broke last August, sold to a wonderful family on Exmoor where I'm told he will be enjoying lots of hacking and stag hunting which I can just picture him being brilliant at. Top Chianti, a well bred TB mare I bought in March, sold to a home in Bristol for showing and hacking as a first horse. At the beginning of the month I also bought a super 2yo roan NF type filly called Ruby- she sold in 2 days sight unseen to a fantastic home in Cornwall where in time she will be brought on for showjumping, so all in all a cracking start !
A successful month set us thinking about the next stage, which will (fingers crossed) be a small stable block and arena as well as additional land next September. It should mean I will be able to keep more stock through the winter, not to mention keeping the horses in fuller work through the wetter colder months so hopefully will allow us to be out and about competing much later on in the year!
One blot to a great month was Penny developing a cough just in time for a hunter trial, so decided it would be best to hold off. Bit of a mystery what brought it on, so I found the last of the Respiratory Power from winter feeding and dosed her up on that for a week - you'll be pleased to hear it worked a treat , so back in business and have some showjumping planned at Bluehayes next weekend weather permitting!
Also started my BHS Stage 2 training this month, going well so far so looking forward to moving onwards and upwards towards a teaching qualification. The exam is end of June.
With the competition season now well under way, and with the business off to a good start which will hopefully continue, I have started browsing for my own competition horse. I will never sell Penny, my jumping pony, but I am now looking the bigger model! Preferably 15-15.3hh for showjumping, planning to affiliate with right horse. Off to a sport horse sale in May, so who knows I may find my superstar yet!
Looking forward to May, Ive planned a packed few weeks of compeitions and sales so hoping our successful streak continues- and of course not forgetting Badminton Horse Trials, where I will be treating myself to some retail therapy!
Hope everyone has had a good month, and thanks to Organic Horses Respiratory Power for saving the day again!
Friday, 30 April 2010
Chloe Chubb is a busy little bee!
Well where do I start, this season has got off to a very busy start with lots of ponies to compete and school ready for the shows. The jobs to do with the horses seem never ending!
The team has had a great start to the season with the Connemara stallion Spud winning the amateur rider championship at the PUK winter champs as well as the Concours D'Elegance class where I was made to go side saddle for the first time in 15 years! Thankfully Spud was very laid back about it and gave me a nice ride around the indoor arena.
Spud and Jacob my section C have been out competing in RIHS qualifiers and started off with some good results. Jacob managed to get his ticket the other week at South of England Spring Show which was great, as it means he does not have to do anymore qualifiers now for this and it is such a lovely show to qualify for. Spud has had some near misses and I am really hoping he will have his ticket soon to. It would be great to go to the RIHS this year with a couple of ponies qualified.
The baby ponies have had their up and downs or should I say I have after my little Dartmoor brought me back down to earth with a bump the other week (literally)! He has however redeemed himself by going to his first ever show to look around where he behaved impeccably showing some of the older ones we had there how to do it! He is continuing his education at home at the moment as I am in no rush to get him into the ring. I have just brought my young section B back into work after he got a kicked in the field so hopefully we will now begin to crack on and I am aiming to get to some shows in June sometime.
My baby hack Toby has had a few limited outings and has so far touch wood been a very well behaved little horse. He has managed to qualify for the Cherif final in October already which I am thrilled with as this is one of the main things I wanted to qualify him for this year. He also went to the Ponies UK Winter champs were he handled everything we threw at him with a smile on his face. He went in and out the evening performance so many times and had some great results for a youngster.
Now the sun is shining I feel like the show season has well and truly got underway. It is great to be back out there seeing all my friends and the new ponies they have for the year. Well that's my update for now, next time I will have contested my first HOYS qualifier - fingers crossed for a good placing.
The team has had a great start to the season with the Connemara stallion Spud winning the amateur rider championship at the PUK winter champs as well as the Concours D'Elegance class where I was made to go side saddle for the first time in 15 years! Thankfully Spud was very laid back about it and gave me a nice ride around the indoor arena.
Spud and Jacob my section C have been out competing in RIHS qualifiers and started off with some good results. Jacob managed to get his ticket the other week at South of England Spring Show which was great, as it means he does not have to do anymore qualifiers now for this and it is such a lovely show to qualify for. Spud has had some near misses and I am really hoping he will have his ticket soon to. It would be great to go to the RIHS this year with a couple of ponies qualified.
The baby ponies have had their up and downs or should I say I have after my little Dartmoor brought me back down to earth with a bump the other week (literally)! He has however redeemed himself by going to his first ever show to look around where he behaved impeccably showing some of the older ones we had there how to do it! He is continuing his education at home at the moment as I am in no rush to get him into the ring. I have just brought my young section B back into work after he got a kicked in the field so hopefully we will now begin to crack on and I am aiming to get to some shows in June sometime.
My baby hack Toby has had a few limited outings and has so far touch wood been a very well behaved little horse. He has managed to qualify for the Cherif final in October already which I am thrilled with as this is one of the main things I wanted to qualify him for this year. He also went to the Ponies UK Winter champs were he handled everything we threw at him with a smile on his face. He went in and out the evening performance so many times and had some great results for a youngster.
Now the sun is shining I feel like the show season has well and truly got underway. It is great to be back out there seeing all my friends and the new ponies they have for the year. Well that's my update for now, next time I will have contested my first HOYS qualifier - fingers crossed for a good placing.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Sam Penn's trip to Withington Manor
We have spent this weekend down in Gloucestershire at one of my favourite events, Withington Manor. Unfortunately due to its popularity we had both Brooke and Flynn balloted out and so it was just Captain Christy (Smurf) and Boundalong (Muffin) who made the trip. Both had dressage on the Saturday afternoon, Smurf was first up, in Advanced section M1. Apart from two minor blips (those white letters are very scarey things!) I felt it was a pretty good test, however we got a rather dissapointing mark of 43, we seem to get the recurring comments of 'tight through back' or 'needs to work more freely over back' however he feels pretty good and was very accurate, so it' s back for more homework with Mary Ann to see if we can figure out what we do differently at home compared to out at a party. Next up was Muffin in Intermediate section H. Its only our 3rd event together and taking a bit of time to get used to each other. The work at home is really starting to come together, but at present she is still getting tense in an arena, and then makes mistakes, such as changing in counter canter, then when corrected she throws a huge strop!! However things were better than at SofE as the first half of the test was lovely, getting 7's for all her trot work and there was even an 8 in there too so her mark of 42.3 was as expected.
Overnight we stayed locally in the most beautiful yard, that apparently is usually home to polo ponies, although I'm not too sure about the early morning alarm call from half a dozen peacocks! We were back on the showground nice and early for Muffin's showjumping at 9, the better ground is certianly more suited to her than the mud we have had recently and she jumped the most fantastic double clear, for the first time I asked her to move on a bit more xc as the time is always tight here, we had a few instances where we had different ideas but I think we will get used to each other pretty quickly and then with the dressage sorted she will be a real superstar. We finished 10th on 52.7, my first placing at this level this year, lol.
We then had a long wait until 4.30 for Smurfs' showjumping. 8 faults was comparativly good, and we set out xc feeling pretty confident. he gave me a lovely ride up until fence 20, a combination consisting of a left-handed corner, 4 strides to a wagon then 5 strides to a right-handed corner, where he very naughtily ducked out of the last part. I am always the first to say if it was a 'rider error', as was the case at Burnham Market, but on this occasion it wasn't and I was very disapointed as he jumped it fine at the second attempt and then happily finished the course. So Mr Smurf has a lot of homework to do before Houghton Hall CIC3*. As 707 missed his Advanced run he will now be headed for the 2* along with Muffin and hopefully we will be taking Pusiden for his BYEH debut. However we have plenty to do before then, our next outing is Moreton Morrell in a couple of weeks, so until then.........x
Overnight we stayed locally in the most beautiful yard, that apparently is usually home to polo ponies, although I'm not too sure about the early morning alarm call from half a dozen peacocks! We were back on the showground nice and early for Muffin's showjumping at 9, the better ground is certianly more suited to her than the mud we have had recently and she jumped the most fantastic double clear, for the first time I asked her to move on a bit more xc as the time is always tight here, we had a few instances where we had different ideas but I think we will get used to each other pretty quickly and then with the dressage sorted she will be a real superstar. We finished 10th on 52.7, my first placing at this level this year, lol.
We then had a long wait until 4.30 for Smurfs' showjumping. 8 faults was comparativly good, and we set out xc feeling pretty confident. he gave me a lovely ride up until fence 20, a combination consisting of a left-handed corner, 4 strides to a wagon then 5 strides to a right-handed corner, where he very naughtily ducked out of the last part. I am always the first to say if it was a 'rider error', as was the case at Burnham Market, but on this occasion it wasn't and I was very disapointed as he jumped it fine at the second attempt and then happily finished the course. So Mr Smurf has a lot of homework to do before Houghton Hall CIC3*. As 707 missed his Advanced run he will now be headed for the 2* along with Muffin and hopefully we will be taking Pusiden for his BYEH debut. However we have plenty to do before then, our next outing is Moreton Morrell in a couple of weeks, so until then.........x
Ups and downs in Josh Thompson's start to the season
Lots has happened since my last blog, good and bad! At the end of March we headed to my first event of the season; Lincoln. It was a real novelty to be starting in March as last year my first event was July! I had Shannah in the ON and Duncan in the novice. Duncan performed a slightly disappointing dressage test, to score a 38. However he was quite flat and I think the long journey and the fact he had a hard day before in an attempt to try to reduce his bucking spell tired him out. However, he was still much more rideable than last season and as a first event I wasn’t too disappointed. I seem to get very nervous in BE dressage (more on this later!)
In the showjumping again he was flat in the ring, to gain a bit of a cricket score of 20 jumping and 1 time faults. I think it was perhaps a combination of horse and rider error but he was very lazy-and as Tuffy said when she saw him he will get bored of Novice soon! We decided to just take him slowly XC as there was obviously no chance of a placing. We did two long routes and came back with 29 time-which actually looking back was not too bad within the section. He felt spot on and is so classy and keen XC, even at the water he is starting to trust me more and apart from a sticky moment at fence 18 I was very impressed with how he has matured.
Shannah only had 10 minuets to warm-up for the dressage, as I was delayed with Duncan due to XC fence repairs. He scored 46.5 for his test in the ON, which I felt was slightly harshly marked as apart from a squeal and buck in the second canter transition he had no major errors. He then show jumped well, with just the first fence down but as this was his first round over the coloured poles since Weston I wasn't too disappointed. Again, he put in a good XC round to come home with 11.2 time penalties. We were the last to go of the day and the ground was quite deep so I was impressed with how well he coped.
With Witton cancelled due to the weather we had a few weeks at home to practice, practice, practice before Weston Park. At Weston the weather was glorious; quite a contrast to Lincoln where I had gone XC with Shannah in the pouring rain! Again, I was hampered by slightly disappointing dressage marks; Duncan scored 40 and Shannah 41. However, both tests were better then Lincoln and it's coming more together all of the time. After a disappointing showjumping round at Lincoln with Duncan I was keen to resurrect any errors which we had. He jumped a much better round, and was unlucky to have one pole down on a track which caused plenty of trouble. Shannah again jumped nicely, however we had a few minor disagreements so had two poles; I need to try working more on an even stride.
The XC again produced two pleasing rounds. With Duncan I tried to push him on more, and he started well but lost energy towards the end. However, I was very happy with him and bar the waters where he was slightly sticky he showed real confidence. He is starting to open up more now and soon should be easily making the time; he has a lovely big stride starting to develop. Shannah was a total star. I made the decision to run him in just a snaffle; to get more flow and prevent over-checking. It paid off! He showed total confidence and gave me the best round I’ve ever had, coming back with 2 time penalties which was one of the quickest of the day!
Last weekend I was at Central Scotland. Sadly, Shannah was to be left at home as he has had a couple of small nose-bleeds recently so we are getting him scoped this week, hopefully it will be nothing major! We had horrific times which meant leaving home at 3am- a feat I never want to repeat! Duncan had had a lot of attitude all week, but after going nicely the day before I was confident of a nice test. However, the rider’s total pilot error prevented that! We have been working on rhythm and slowing things down; which was evident in the test. Sadly Duncan did a massive spook down the centre line which didn’t give us the most perfect start! I then went wrong half way through, and forgot the two medium canters to his mark of 46 could have easily been reduced if I had learnt my test-my excuse is that I was too busy getting my oh so important A-level RAVEision in! The weather then took a turn for a worse and after my high hopes of a sunny season after Weston I was disappointed! We didn’t have the best warm-up but he jumped better in the ring, and just got a bit tight into the two fences we had down. He warmed up like a dream XC and started really strongly, giving me a much more galloping rhythm. However, he then for no reason started to nap and spin at a simple coffin fence, after two stops he got over and again continued to please me with his maturity and confidence-only to have another stop at the water. So all in all not an entirely successful weekend however, as mentioned I was very pleased with his way of galloping and jumping on the XC, and think it was attitude more than anything else that prevented a clear. Once we got him home and trotted him up he appeared to not be 100% so he has the physio this week, although is looking sound now. Hopefully after his pelvis is sorted be will be back on form!
I have really enjoyed using Forest Farmacy products recently; including Emergency Herbal Cream, Horse Power and Perfect Performance Shampoo. I have started to realise that I sometimes feel ‘BE pressure’ generally in the first two phases at events. This nervousness means that I never seem to get the results in the competition that I get at home, where I am always much more relaxed. It has been suggested that I take to serious alcoholism before the dressage to try to get me ‘tipsy’ and hopefully calmer, and although generally the idea may appeal to me I’m sure BE rules state something against it! I have found Perfect Performance drops very helpful though, although I maybe need a larger dosage than is suggested! In all seriousness though I am looking at getting a few Sports Psychologist sessions to really ‘get into my mind’.
Looking forward my next event is Auchinleck, where all being well I will have Duncan in the Novice and Shannah in the Intermediate, followed by Floors Castle. The main aim in May is for Shannah to go to Houghton CCI*, and Duncan may join him to experience just how fun 3-day parties can be, and do some of the unaffiliated classes. Until then goodbye.
We get to know squad member Sue Barr
Sue Barr rides three horses, Gunner, a 16.2hh ISH gelding who is competing at BE100, Rivers Blue, a 16.1hh Polish WB x ID who competes at unaffiliated dressage and Rupert a 16hh TB gelding whom she is currently backing and riding away with a view to producing him for eventing. Sue has been on most local riding club teams, has evented to BE100, enjoys hunting and producing her horses. Blue qualified for the Trailblazers Prelim dressage championships in 2008 however has been plagued with lameness issues in relation to his cartilage within his joints. She has a propensity for taking of difficult or young horses and producing them for competition work which means she spends a lot of time on the ground watching horses work and progress. Sue's main competition horse this season will be Rivers Blue whom she will be aiming at affiliated dressage up to Elementary. Blue tends to be very uptight and lively, mainly arising from his inherent stiffness so she will be working on that during the summer, so she hoping she survives backing the young horse and riding Blue at competitions !
Sue is also breeding her first eventer, due in July. The foal will be out of Heligan (Michaels Revenge) by Chilli Morning ( by Nick Gauntletts advanced event stallion). The foal is certainly going to be ginger but Sue has great hopes for its future given the superb ‘in the purple’ parenthood. Sue runs her own small yard in the south west and when not competing or riding loves to volunteer at BE events.
Why Horses? "The obsession started as soon as I could talk and being from a non-horsey background I complained until I was taken to ride every weekend. I couldn’t imagine being without them."
Biggest horsey bug bear? "Seeing young horses being pushed too far and too hard."
Worst Horsey habit? "Horse kleptomania, if it needs a home it generally ends up with me."
If not horses what? "Anything to do with the sea, as a tidal energy developer and marine biologist the only thing that isn’t marine in my life is horses."
What could you not live without? "Definitely Rivers Blue. He looks like black beauty, has a huge personality and is my favourite boy, regardless of his duff legs!"
Sue is also breeding her first eventer, due in July. The foal will be out of Heligan (Michaels Revenge) by Chilli Morning ( by Nick Gauntletts advanced event stallion). The foal is certainly going to be ginger but Sue has great hopes for its future given the superb ‘in the purple’ parenthood. Sue runs her own small yard in the south west and when not competing or riding loves to volunteer at BE events.
Why Horses? "The obsession started as soon as I could talk and being from a non-horsey background I complained until I was taken to ride every weekend. I couldn’t imagine being without them."
Biggest horsey bug bear? "Seeing young horses being pushed too far and too hard."
Worst Horsey habit? "Horse kleptomania, if it needs a home it generally ends up with me."
If not horses what? "Anything to do with the sea, as a tidal energy developer and marine biologist the only thing that isn’t marine in my life is horses."
What could you not live without? "Definitely Rivers Blue. He looks like black beauty, has a huge personality and is my favourite boy, regardless of his duff legs!"
Jo Barry gives us the lowdown of her amazing trip to the Winter Dressage Champs
The washing machine has worked on overtime since our trip to the British Dressage National Winter Championships at Hartpury. 7 days away with 2 horses takes a bit of preparation but equally so does the unpacking, catch-up and washing when you return...BUT what a fantastic week we had!
As seems to be usual for me the run up to the Championships was not straight forwards..the week before we left we had yet another batch of snow. On the Tuesday 6 inches fell, a complete nightmare as far as I was concerned! By Friday we were able to get the lorry out and hired the Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) for a couple of hours so that I could take Freddie and Rafa there to ride. By Saturday I was able to ride on my own school but it was in gale force winds and so we left for Hartpury on Tuesday feeling a little unprepared.
We borrowed a lorry for the trip so that Mum and I could have an actual 'living' to live in...our lorry doesn't have the living kited out, just a nice big space. However having a bit more comfort did mean that I had to unpack all the show equipment that stays permanently in my lorry and re-pack it into the other one adding in all the feed, haylage etc etc that was needed for the week. It seemed to take forever!
We hoped to leave at 6am...at 5.30 Freddie went back to bed, lay down and stretched out and said he was not going to budge! Eventually at 6.20 he got up and was bundled into the lorry. The journey was good and we made it down in 8hrs. It did feel like we had arrived in another world though, we left high winds, rain and the cold and arrived to sun, grass in the fields and blossom on the trees!
The boys settled into their new stables well, with front row seats for watching everyone that was arriving, it kept their interest for the whole show. Hartpury really spoils you with their stabling, we were in permanent boxes that had rubber matting floors and were of a good size...a home from home for them.
Rafa did the arena walk in the main arena in the afternoon. He had never seen anything like Hartpury before and so I wanted to give him the best chance by letting him see it the day before. It was really busy in the arena...sometimes because you can't do anything other than walk it actually upsets the horse more because they become more coiled up with excitement. You just have to keep an eye and try to give those horses a wide berth and hope it isn't yours that is causing the upset! Freddie just had a gentle stretch that night as the main arena had closed after the arena walk.
I worked Freddie early on the Wednesday morning as Rafa was going to take up most of the day with his two classes. He was competing in the Novice Open and the Novice Freestyle. I was really pleased with him, he really tried to do his best. In the Novice Open he made one mistake...when I asked for my first transition to canter, he just glazed over and didn't hear me. It was coming into the corner where all the trade stands were and he just wasn't there to listen to my aid. I did my best pony clubber impression and eventually we did make it into canter but it meant we got 4's from the three judges. We still managed to get 66.9% and finished 8th, so considering the mistake I was pleased with the placing. Later in the afternoon he competed in the Novice Freestyle. This time he stayed with me throughout and even though I had to help him along at times because he was tired he gave as much as he could. I was thrilled with his score of 75.19% and his second placing, he was thrilled with all the feed vouchers that he had won. Rafa's show was now over and the plan for him was just to hack and do light stetching for the rest of his stay and that he simply enjoy his holiday!
Day two and it was Freddie's turn in the Elementary Freestyle. He came out with guns blazing and for the first time I thought this could go either way!?! I had never felt him so on the knife edge at a competition before but at the same time it was amazing to feel! For the indoor Championship classes you warm-up in the indoor arena by the stables then 20 minutes before your test you go down to a smaller indoor that sits beside the main arena to do your final preparation for the test. The test went very well, though we possibly had slightly too much fuel injection in the medium canters! He gained 77.57%, with one judge giving him just over 80% for his test! He won a lovely crystal bowl, a sash and a rug but for Freddie the highlight was that he was in a prizegiving...he just loves being the centre of attention. That night we had dinner with a friend who lives locally, a good gossip was had and bottle No.1 of Champagne was consumed!
Day three, Friday and it was a day off from competition. Freddie was worked and Rafa did some light stretching. It was a beautiful day and Mum and I sat on the bank watching the PetPlan Championship riders competing in the afternoon. We were joined by a friend from Scotland who brought along a bottle of Champagne...No 2...a perfect way to enjoy an afternoon! We went to the evening performance that night to watch the PSG Freestyle, with hopes that Freddie will be in it himself next year!?
Day 4, Saturday and the Medium Freestyle. Freddie was first to go and scored 73.7%, a good score but would it be good enough?! It was a long wait for the final result -nerves were frayed by the end as the class was strong and so every mark was a potential threat. Another prizegiving, sash but this time he got 4 lovely Bucas rugs as his prize. Another sunny evening and another bottle of Champagne...if not 2! This time they were shared with some fellow Scottish competitors in the lorry park.
Day 5, Sunday and the Medium Open. I really felt the pressure was on...it seemed unbelievable to think that a 3rd Championship could be possible especially as the class had many top combinations in it. This of all the classes was the one I wanted to do well in. Freddie was not on till mid-afternoon so I took him out for a walk and gave him a light stretch first thing. Carl had said he would come to warm us up for this test so I felt more confident knowing that. Just before I was to tack Freddie up for the class a television crew arrived to have a chat about our Hartpury experience and the next class. Freddie was hilarious, he stood throwing his rug around and playing the fool behind me then decided that I was in the way and started nudging and pulling at my shoulder...he wanted to make sure I didn't steal his limelight! It was now time for the test, Freddie and I went up to the indoor arena and started working in. No sign of Carl and I have to admit I started to wobble. Freddie felt tired and a bit grumpy and for once I could hear all the comments the other trainers were giving to their own pupils...all I could hear was 'lovely', 'wow' and 'super'. Then Carl walked in, I relaxed, started to focus and ride again. Straight away I could feel a difference in Freddie, he started coming back to me and by the time we got to the entrance of the main arena I could almost hear him say 'go on then, one more time!' I came out almost not knowing how we had gone, all I knew was we had got through it. Carl came over, smiled and said that he was happy with both of us and that that was to be his last test at Medium! The score almost didn't matter as I knew neither of us had any more to give, the fact it was 72.07% was a huge bonus and then that he won was just unbelievable! His final prizegiving and yet again he stood like a rock and behaved beautifully. A third sash, a gorgeous Albion double bridle as a prize and huge smiles all round. Another bottle of Champagne courtesy of our dinner host from Thursday night but it remained un-opened until we got home, whereupon we arrived to two more bottles given by friends!
We decided to stay on Sunday night rather than leave and travel overnight. I got up at 3am to feed and we were loaded up to go just after 4am. We left, drove all of 500m to find that the entrance gate was padlocked shut!! We were not popular but at least another lorry was waiting to go too! We only had a half hour delay in leaving and were making good time up the road when we heard a huge bang...a blowout. 90mins later we were fixed and back on our way, then an hour later...ANOTHER bang and a second blowout. UNBELIEVABLE!?! An hour later we were sorted again and made it home in 10 hours.
Freddie has had a week in the field and Rafa had a few days off and then it was kick on to Elementary! May is going to be busy with training for Freddie and getting Hugo ready for his Young Horse qualifiers so I wanted to try and get Rafa's summer qualifications this month. He still had one novice test to win and I wanted to try and qualify him for Elementary. On Wednesday he started learning walk pirouettes and simple changes, on Sunday he did his first Elementary at SNEC and won! It was Elementary 58 and not an easy test to do as your introduction but I think he was so shocked that he followed exactly what I said with very few return comments from him. He won his novice class too so we now have that qualification and we will go to Rowallan this weekend and try and complete the elementary qualification...then he can have a holiday!
I just want to say a huge thankyou to everyone that supported Freddie, Rafa and I at the Championships and to those who sent congratulations. Also to TopSpec and Forestfarmacy for their help towards the care of the horses...to Mum for her help and for putting up with me and Lady Hope, who even though she could not be there was a nervous owner on the end of the telephone waiting for results. Finally, thankyou to BD, NAF, Blue Chip, Baileys, Equissage, Bucas and Albion for their work, sponsorship, encouragement and for making the British Dressage Winter Championships 2010 a really memorable week for me.
As seems to be usual for me the run up to the Championships was not straight forwards..the week before we left we had yet another batch of snow. On the Tuesday 6 inches fell, a complete nightmare as far as I was concerned! By Friday we were able to get the lorry out and hired the Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) for a couple of hours so that I could take Freddie and Rafa there to ride. By Saturday I was able to ride on my own school but it was in gale force winds and so we left for Hartpury on Tuesday feeling a little unprepared.
We borrowed a lorry for the trip so that Mum and I could have an actual 'living' to live in...our lorry doesn't have the living kited out, just a nice big space. However having a bit more comfort did mean that I had to unpack all the show equipment that stays permanently in my lorry and re-pack it into the other one adding in all the feed, haylage etc etc that was needed for the week. It seemed to take forever!
We hoped to leave at 6am...at 5.30 Freddie went back to bed, lay down and stretched out and said he was not going to budge! Eventually at 6.20 he got up and was bundled into the lorry. The journey was good and we made it down in 8hrs. It did feel like we had arrived in another world though, we left high winds, rain and the cold and arrived to sun, grass in the fields and blossom on the trees!
The boys settled into their new stables well, with front row seats for watching everyone that was arriving, it kept their interest for the whole show. Hartpury really spoils you with their stabling, we were in permanent boxes that had rubber matting floors and were of a good size...a home from home for them.
Rafa did the arena walk in the main arena in the afternoon. He had never seen anything like Hartpury before and so I wanted to give him the best chance by letting him see it the day before. It was really busy in the arena...sometimes because you can't do anything other than walk it actually upsets the horse more because they become more coiled up with excitement. You just have to keep an eye and try to give those horses a wide berth and hope it isn't yours that is causing the upset! Freddie just had a gentle stretch that night as the main arena had closed after the arena walk.
I worked Freddie early on the Wednesday morning as Rafa was going to take up most of the day with his two classes. He was competing in the Novice Open and the Novice Freestyle. I was really pleased with him, he really tried to do his best. In the Novice Open he made one mistake...when I asked for my first transition to canter, he just glazed over and didn't hear me. It was coming into the corner where all the trade stands were and he just wasn't there to listen to my aid. I did my best pony clubber impression and eventually we did make it into canter but it meant we got 4's from the three judges. We still managed to get 66.9% and finished 8th, so considering the mistake I was pleased with the placing. Later in the afternoon he competed in the Novice Freestyle. This time he stayed with me throughout and even though I had to help him along at times because he was tired he gave as much as he could. I was thrilled with his score of 75.19% and his second placing, he was thrilled with all the feed vouchers that he had won. Rafa's show was now over and the plan for him was just to hack and do light stetching for the rest of his stay and that he simply enjoy his holiday!
Day two and it was Freddie's turn in the Elementary Freestyle. He came out with guns blazing and for the first time I thought this could go either way!?! I had never felt him so on the knife edge at a competition before but at the same time it was amazing to feel! For the indoor Championship classes you warm-up in the indoor arena by the stables then 20 minutes before your test you go down to a smaller indoor that sits beside the main arena to do your final preparation for the test. The test went very well, though we possibly had slightly too much fuel injection in the medium canters! He gained 77.57%, with one judge giving him just over 80% for his test! He won a lovely crystal bowl, a sash and a rug but for Freddie the highlight was that he was in a prizegiving...he just loves being the centre of attention. That night we had dinner with a friend who lives locally, a good gossip was had and bottle No.1 of Champagne was consumed!
Day three, Friday and it was a day off from competition. Freddie was worked and Rafa did some light stretching. It was a beautiful day and Mum and I sat on the bank watching the PetPlan Championship riders competing in the afternoon. We were joined by a friend from Scotland who brought along a bottle of Champagne...No 2...a perfect way to enjoy an afternoon! We went to the evening performance that night to watch the PSG Freestyle, with hopes that Freddie will be in it himself next year!?
Day 4, Saturday and the Medium Freestyle. Freddie was first to go and scored 73.7%, a good score but would it be good enough?! It was a long wait for the final result -nerves were frayed by the end as the class was strong and so every mark was a potential threat. Another prizegiving, sash but this time he got 4 lovely Bucas rugs as his prize. Another sunny evening and another bottle of Champagne...if not 2! This time they were shared with some fellow Scottish competitors in the lorry park.
Day 5, Sunday and the Medium Open. I really felt the pressure was on...it seemed unbelievable to think that a 3rd Championship could be possible especially as the class had many top combinations in it. This of all the classes was the one I wanted to do well in. Freddie was not on till mid-afternoon so I took him out for a walk and gave him a light stretch first thing. Carl had said he would come to warm us up for this test so I felt more confident knowing that. Just before I was to tack Freddie up for the class a television crew arrived to have a chat about our Hartpury experience and the next class. Freddie was hilarious, he stood throwing his rug around and playing the fool behind me then decided that I was in the way and started nudging and pulling at my shoulder...he wanted to make sure I didn't steal his limelight! It was now time for the test, Freddie and I went up to the indoor arena and started working in. No sign of Carl and I have to admit I started to wobble. Freddie felt tired and a bit grumpy and for once I could hear all the comments the other trainers were giving to their own pupils...all I could hear was 'lovely', 'wow' and 'super'. Then Carl walked in, I relaxed, started to focus and ride again. Straight away I could feel a difference in Freddie, he started coming back to me and by the time we got to the entrance of the main arena I could almost hear him say 'go on then, one more time!' I came out almost not knowing how we had gone, all I knew was we had got through it. Carl came over, smiled and said that he was happy with both of us and that that was to be his last test at Medium! The score almost didn't matter as I knew neither of us had any more to give, the fact it was 72.07% was a huge bonus and then that he won was just unbelievable! His final prizegiving and yet again he stood like a rock and behaved beautifully. A third sash, a gorgeous Albion double bridle as a prize and huge smiles all round. Another bottle of Champagne courtesy of our dinner host from Thursday night but it remained un-opened until we got home, whereupon we arrived to two more bottles given by friends!
We decided to stay on Sunday night rather than leave and travel overnight. I got up at 3am to feed and we were loaded up to go just after 4am. We left, drove all of 500m to find that the entrance gate was padlocked shut!! We were not popular but at least another lorry was waiting to go too! We only had a half hour delay in leaving and were making good time up the road when we heard a huge bang...a blowout. 90mins later we were fixed and back on our way, then an hour later...ANOTHER bang and a second blowout. UNBELIEVABLE!?! An hour later we were sorted again and made it home in 10 hours.
Freddie has had a week in the field and Rafa had a few days off and then it was kick on to Elementary! May is going to be busy with training for Freddie and getting Hugo ready for his Young Horse qualifiers so I wanted to try and get Rafa's summer qualifications this month. He still had one novice test to win and I wanted to try and qualify him for Elementary. On Wednesday he started learning walk pirouettes and simple changes, on Sunday he did his first Elementary at SNEC and won! It was Elementary 58 and not an easy test to do as your introduction but I think he was so shocked that he followed exactly what I said with very few return comments from him. He won his novice class too so we now have that qualification and we will go to Rowallan this weekend and try and complete the elementary qualification...then he can have a holiday!
I just want to say a huge thankyou to everyone that supported Freddie, Rafa and I at the Championships and to those who sent congratulations. Also to TopSpec and Forestfarmacy for their help towards the care of the horses...to Mum for her help and for putting up with me and Lady Hope, who even though she could not be there was a nervous owner on the end of the telephone waiting for results. Finally, thankyou to BD, NAF, Blue Chip, Baileys, Equissage, Bucas and Albion for their work, sponsorship, encouragement and for making the British Dressage Winter Championships 2010 a really memorable week for me.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Claire Thomas' latest blog update
The start of the year has not exactly been perfect what with all the snow and then Aldo getting spasmodic colic a couple of times. Even when he seemed to recover from this he just didn't seem himself. The only thing that had changed in his routine was his hay was now being steamed in the steamer my brother made for me and gave to me as a Christmas present. I took him off the steamed hay and Aldo was soon back to his normal cheeky self.
The weather has improved and Aldo has now started competing again. He is getting better at loading although still not going in straight away. However, with a bit of patience he will suddenly walk up the ramp with confidence and no longer shakes when he is inside.
At his first dressage competition this year we achieved second and third which I was really pleased about considering he is still young.
The first test was rider error as I forgot a circle and the second test Aldo was rather too sure of himself and thought he would liven up proceedings by bucking when asked to canter! Looking at the positives the rest of the test was quite good and it gives us a few more things to work on!!
To do something different I have also taken Aldo jumping. He was very well behaved and enjoyed himself. He is not very brave and likes to have a good look at the jumps before he goes over. However, he will then fly them with confidence! Think its just as well I want him to do more dressage than jumping though!
Am hoping the good weather continues and am looking forward to more competitions.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Anna Bailey has a good start to the season, despite the wet weather!
So as quickly as spring began to appear, it disappeared and back came my old friend the rain…. Surely it can go on for much longer, could it?! Oh but it did!
All that excitement and preparation for a dismal start – but a good dismal start I hasten to add.
Starting with Timmy, I was planning on him having a first run at Munstead in the BE100 plus. He didn’t run cross country that much towards the end of last season for various reasons, losing a shoe in dressage and then the whole lorry ramp falling off thing. For these reasons I thought a good confident first run would be in order and that is exactly what happened. After a week of sunshine the rain then started to descend on Munstead just as the event was due to start. I was fully prepared to be doing my dressage and showjumping in deep mud being last to go on the Sunday but the rain drizzled and held out leaving perfect going. Hats off to the organisers for doing such an amazing job given how wet everywhere was a month ago.
In the BE100 plus you do a Novice dressage test and showjumping and then BE100 xc. Timmy managed a test but controlled dressage to score a fairly respectable 36. I was pretty pleased with this as earlier on he had tried to catapult me into the lorry next door as I got on! The lorry park being right by the xc start didn’t really help his cold back case as tension makes it worse as well as the cold!
The show jumping went okay with just one down but he was very strong as clearly knew what we were there to do. The cross country is very straight forward and makes a good first run of the season or first run in general. Needless to say we were clear inside the time. I think my arms were a good few inches longer from trying to slow him down, I think keen would be an understatement as we could have gone around twice in the allocated time at Timmy’s speed!
The next outing came two weeks later to do the Novice at South of England. I had decided to take him up to LMEQ in Reigate during the week before just to jump in an out of the water and tackle a few skinies and corners. The facilities are amazing up there, it’s well worthwhile to make a trip to get them ready for an event.
The Novice at South of England is in my opinion very inviting for that level. It is a definite step up from BE100 but gives you a good start. Timmy has already jumped the Novice here a couple of times so I was confident after walking the course that he wouldn’t have any problems. I was again last to go in my section, which suits me as he gets up tight warming up for the dressage if there are lots of horses about. My test was a bit more complicated than the one at Munstead but I was pleased with the way Tim coped as although he lost some balance in places falling in patches of mud, he did everything I asked. Again it was a miracle SOE managed to run given the amount of rain we had had! The only mistakes came in one medium trot he lost balance and cantered and was a little against my hand in the rein back. The judges were also scoring pretty high so a score of 40.5 was not too bad.
The show jumping was cause lots of problems I think due to warming up on a rubber surface and then jumping on sticky mud. After my disaster of 5 down last year I decided to warm up jumping the upright on the sand a couple of times and then go straight in. This worked a treat! I had one fence down, I think only because the ground was so deep so I was very happy.
In the XC he was amazing, again he pulled my arms out as I was trying to keep him slow just to give a good confident run around. He stayed straight at all the skinnies and finished full of confidence in 12th place. Dare I say it but we may have to do that intermediate soon……. We’ll see how Nurstead goes first!
In other news, Gringo (pictured above) has been coming along really well. He is now out competing and even went xc schooling – hes such a super star. I have placed a couple of adverts for him so hopefully he will be sold to someone who will enjoy him as much as me.
Athene S, a horse I sold to Jo & James Donaldson went xc schooling at Munstead last weekend. I worked her a little in the dressage rings to get her used to doing a test on grass, then popped her over a couple of show jumps and then tackled the xc. She was amazing. Considering she only started jumping under saddle a month ago, she deserves a gold star. She pretty much jumped the whole BE90 course including the water and the steps and loved it. I really cant wait to see what she does later this year.
I'm off to xc school Socks this weekend so fingers crossed he’ll be as good as Athene and Gringo!!
Another successful outing for Sam Penn at South of England
It's been another busy week for us with a 2-day Steven Hadley jumping clinic here at Golden Crossin which I rode Lite My Fire (Lulu) and Boundalong (Muffin). Steven has made the long trip down to Sussex several times now and as always the sessions were extremely helpful, keeping me on the straight and narrow, and making sure I dont develop too many bad habits now that I am out x-countrying again. Lulu made life rather difficult for both of us, I still dont think we have found the ideal bitting solution for her yet, and Muffin was exceptionally full of herself especially on the first day but both girls settled down to the task and were much improved by day 2.
Friday we made the first of our trips to Ardingly Showground as Tickeridge had day before dressage, he is getting to know that being plaited up now means he is going to a party, and so made life rather difficult for the girls to get him ready by jumping up and down and squeeking! But he is a total pro when he gets in the arena and scored a 27.
Saturday morning began as something of a disaster, due to leave the yard with 3 ponies by 6.45 my groom for the day didnt turn up and so I eventually departed by myself nearly 30 mins late. Fortunately my first horse in the arena that morning was Brockley Star, who was also being taken to the event by his owner Vicky Whiteman who had him all ready for me to just jump onto. Broccoli is such a lovely honest character, having his first attempt at a BE100, he just gets on with the job and earned himself a dressage mark of 30. Next up was Tigga's jumping, the ground was pretty sticky and many horses were finding it difficult to adjust after warming up on the all weather surface but Tigga took it all in his stride and jumped a lovely round. His xc started out really well, he is not the quickest horse, mostly because he is a little too relaxed about proceedings, but he seems to be improving each time out, and for the first time he really took a hold around the first half of the course. Coming back past the start he was definately distracted and started to 'hang' left in the direction of home but with a few sharp reminders we continued out onto the second half, the ground here was considerably more holding and he never really got back into his earlier rhythm although he continued to jump everything well and we picked up 3.6 time faults, although this still compared well against most others in the section. I am pleased that he is feeling a little bit more keen each time out. He won the section by 2 marks, but even better the win has put him on top of the BE Foundation Points League for the whole of the UK.
Broccoli also excelled himself in only his 3rd ever event, rider error gave us 4 faults in the showjumping but he flew round the xc without a seconds hesiation anywhere to finish in second place, its under discussion whether there is another event at which I may be able to ride him but his owner Vicky is hoping to be fit and ready to ride again in time for Borde Hill in May.
Nyala was the second 'non-GX-resident' for me to ride that day, although she had stayed with us for a few days before in order for us to 'fine-tune' a few things. Owned by Anna Goodson, who is currently not riding due to the very recent birth of her daughter Millie, Nyala is another short-term ride for me. We started out with a very reasonable dressage test as this would not be Nyalas' best phase, and I was very happy with a mark of 30. The showjumping was an exciting, although fortunately clear, stage. As she is extremely sensitive in her mouth we have been using a bitless bridle for our jumping over the winter and it has worked well, however in a large arena, outside for the first time it didnt work at all, luckily for all the fact that she gets herself into all sorts of trouble she does have a huge jump and is actually very careful. We went back to a happy mouth snaffle for the xc phase, which all went off without any drama, and I had a lovely ride finishing well inside the time to finish 2nd to our old friend Coco de Cara. I will be aiming to ride her again at Hambleden in a few weeks, this time in a Novice. Having so many of the young horses going so brilliantly has also meant that in addition to Tigga being top of the Foundation Points League, so am I in the Rider League, the first time I have ever featured in a National points table, which is hugly exciting, now to repeat the success at the higher level......
Sunday started out far better although in the end turned out to be rather less successful. Having taken Muffin to work her on the showgroound both Friday and Saturday I was hopeful that she would be settled and perform a nice test, however this was not to be the case. She did however go on to jump a fabulous double clear in what is still only our second event together and our first Intermediate outing. Murphy I felt was rather harshly marked in the OI section, although as usual anticipating what I might want rather than waiting to see what I actually ask him to do, we did have a couple of minor errors like a step back in the halt but he still didnt gain great marks for the bits that I felt were ok and ended up with a mark of 40. However he went on to showjump well, the soft ground being his prefered surface adding just 4 penalties. We have improved by one fence each time out so hopefully next time we will get the clear, lol. The xc was again brilliant and he was foot perfect around the whole course and compared well with the others on time, however due to his dressage mark we were well out of the money.
Last to go was Coevers Diamond Clover (Flynn), in Novice section N. An appalling dressage test, in which all his old habits resurfaced was not a good start, and I rather felt that his mark of 41 was exceedingly generous. His showjumping was as always good and he was unlucky to have a fence down, and the xc phase was super, Ardingly was the location of his first Novice run last autumn and it was nice to see how much more confident he felt in comparison, he skipped around the course easily and was one of just 8 horses to be inside the optimum time in his section. Flynn really is such a super horse it is easy to forget that he is still only 6 and I really feel that if we can get him sorted in the dressage phase he will easily take on an Intermediate.
I would also like to say an enormous THANK-YOU to all the people who helped me over the weekend but especially on Saturday, Anna Gorringe, Anna Goodson and her Mum, Suzie, Bill and Jenny, Sarah, Laura, Vicky, Karla, Harriet and Keith. X
Friday we made the first of our trips to Ardingly Showground as Tickeridge had day before dressage, he is getting to know that being plaited up now means he is going to a party, and so made life rather difficult for the girls to get him ready by jumping up and down and squeeking! But he is a total pro when he gets in the arena and scored a 27.
Saturday morning began as something of a disaster, due to leave the yard with 3 ponies by 6.45 my groom for the day didnt turn up and so I eventually departed by myself nearly 30 mins late. Fortunately my first horse in the arena that morning was Brockley Star, who was also being taken to the event by his owner Vicky Whiteman who had him all ready for me to just jump onto. Broccoli is such a lovely honest character, having his first attempt at a BE100, he just gets on with the job and earned himself a dressage mark of 30. Next up was Tigga's jumping, the ground was pretty sticky and many horses were finding it difficult to adjust after warming up on the all weather surface but Tigga took it all in his stride and jumped a lovely round. His xc started out really well, he is not the quickest horse, mostly because he is a little too relaxed about proceedings, but he seems to be improving each time out, and for the first time he really took a hold around the first half of the course. Coming back past the start he was definately distracted and started to 'hang' left in the direction of home but with a few sharp reminders we continued out onto the second half, the ground here was considerably more holding and he never really got back into his earlier rhythm although he continued to jump everything well and we picked up 3.6 time faults, although this still compared well against most others in the section. I am pleased that he is feeling a little bit more keen each time out. He won the section by 2 marks, but even better the win has put him on top of the BE Foundation Points League for the whole of the UK.
Broccoli also excelled himself in only his 3rd ever event, rider error gave us 4 faults in the showjumping but he flew round the xc without a seconds hesiation anywhere to finish in second place, its under discussion whether there is another event at which I may be able to ride him but his owner Vicky is hoping to be fit and ready to ride again in time for Borde Hill in May.
Nyala was the second 'non-GX-resident' for me to ride that day, although she had stayed with us for a few days before in order for us to 'fine-tune' a few things. Owned by Anna Goodson, who is currently not riding due to the very recent birth of her daughter Millie, Nyala is another short-term ride for me. We started out with a very reasonable dressage test as this would not be Nyalas' best phase, and I was very happy with a mark of 30. The showjumping was an exciting, although fortunately clear, stage. As she is extremely sensitive in her mouth we have been using a bitless bridle for our jumping over the winter and it has worked well, however in a large arena, outside for the first time it didnt work at all, luckily for all the fact that she gets herself into all sorts of trouble she does have a huge jump and is actually very careful. We went back to a happy mouth snaffle for the xc phase, which all went off without any drama, and I had a lovely ride finishing well inside the time to finish 2nd to our old friend Coco de Cara. I will be aiming to ride her again at Hambleden in a few weeks, this time in a Novice. Having so many of the young horses going so brilliantly has also meant that in addition to Tigga being top of the Foundation Points League, so am I in the Rider League, the first time I have ever featured in a National points table, which is hugly exciting, now to repeat the success at the higher level......
Sunday started out far better although in the end turned out to be rather less successful. Having taken Muffin to work her on the showgroound both Friday and Saturday I was hopeful that she would be settled and perform a nice test, however this was not to be the case. She did however go on to jump a fabulous double clear in what is still only our second event together and our first Intermediate outing. Murphy I felt was rather harshly marked in the OI section, although as usual anticipating what I might want rather than waiting to see what I actually ask him to do, we did have a couple of minor errors like a step back in the halt but he still didnt gain great marks for the bits that I felt were ok and ended up with a mark of 40. However he went on to showjump well, the soft ground being his prefered surface adding just 4 penalties. We have improved by one fence each time out so hopefully next time we will get the clear, lol. The xc was again brilliant and he was foot perfect around the whole course and compared well with the others on time, however due to his dressage mark we were well out of the money.
Last to go was Coevers Diamond Clover (Flynn), in Novice section N. An appalling dressage test, in which all his old habits resurfaced was not a good start, and I rather felt that his mark of 41 was exceedingly generous. His showjumping was as always good and he was unlucky to have a fence down, and the xc phase was super, Ardingly was the location of his first Novice run last autumn and it was nice to see how much more confident he felt in comparison, he skipped around the course easily and was one of just 8 horses to be inside the optimum time in his section. Flynn really is such a super horse it is easy to forget that he is still only 6 and I really feel that if we can get him sorted in the dressage phase he will easily take on an Intermediate.
I would also like to say an enormous THANK-YOU to all the people who helped me over the weekend but especially on Saturday, Anna Gorringe, Anna Goodson and her Mum, Suzie, Bill and Jenny, Sarah, Laura, Vicky, Karla, Harriet and Keith. X
Kelly Dickson updates us on her progress from February and March
February was a very quite month for me. The only outing was on the 13th where I set of for Onley. It was a disaster of a day and Charlie just didn't want to play and I think he would have been happier asleep in his stable. Nothing seemed to feel wrong just that the pair of us must have been having a bad day.
So with house hunting, and hopefully we have found a house and it is currently all going through, and the weather still being a bit horrid, February seemed to go pass very quickly without me getting much done.
Start of March was much better. Feeling that spring has finally arrived and the juggling of lots of things at once had started to slow down slightly. On the 7th I decided to go to Yateley, which would be our first show on grass this year but Charlie still didn't have any stud holes in yet so had to take it a bit easy. In the 1m Open he seemed to relish the grass under his feet and did a lovely clear. It was one round against the clock but the lack of stud holes meant that I couldn't push too fast. I think I ended up 3rd but only 2 prizes were awarded. In the Newcomers I just had an unlucky fence down. It was an upright going downhill and I held a little too much so completely rider error.
Our next outing was Hartpury on the 13th. I entered the 1.05m Scope Qualifier. He jumped great and was quite forward going, I was again unlucky to have a fence down in the jump off as he just hung in the air slightly and had a back rail. As there were 55 entered, I still came 10th. Charlie was getting a little tired now as still not to top fitness but entered the Newcomers to see how he would go. Had 2 fences down but was please that he was thinking more for himself. One of the fences was the water tray and we have been working on this since last year. He still wouldn't jump it at Only back in February but I was so pleased that he actually took off over it this time even though he had it down. So a big improvement but still a long way to go.
I am now preparing for the Blue Chip Championships in April, so hopefully I will have this water tray phobia sorted by then.
So with house hunting, and hopefully we have found a house and it is currently all going through, and the weather still being a bit horrid, February seemed to go pass very quickly without me getting much done.
Start of March was much better. Feeling that spring has finally arrived and the juggling of lots of things at once had started to slow down slightly. On the 7th I decided to go to Yateley, which would be our first show on grass this year but Charlie still didn't have any stud holes in yet so had to take it a bit easy. In the 1m Open he seemed to relish the grass under his feet and did a lovely clear. It was one round against the clock but the lack of stud holes meant that I couldn't push too fast. I think I ended up 3rd but only 2 prizes were awarded. In the Newcomers I just had an unlucky fence down. It was an upright going downhill and I held a little too much so completely rider error.
Our next outing was Hartpury on the 13th. I entered the 1.05m Scope Qualifier. He jumped great and was quite forward going, I was again unlucky to have a fence down in the jump off as he just hung in the air slightly and had a back rail. As there were 55 entered, I still came 10th. Charlie was getting a little tired now as still not to top fitness but entered the Newcomers to see how he would go. Had 2 fences down but was please that he was thinking more for himself. One of the fences was the water tray and we have been working on this since last year. He still wouldn't jump it at Only back in February but I was so pleased that he actually took off over it this time even though he had it down. So a big improvement but still a long way to go.
I am now preparing for the Blue Chip Championships in April, so hopefully I will have this water tray phobia sorted by then.
Monday, 12 April 2010
Georgina Rose finally gets out and about this month!
At LAST we have managed to get out and about this month! Despite the weather taking yet another turn for the worst, we have had a busy and successful March to begin the season.
Early on in the month we bought a lovely new horse, Top Chianti, a very beautiful 15hh 9yo TB mare by Komaite out of Top Yard. Although impeccably bred for racing, she is destined for stardom in the dressage world, her paces and way of going are fantastic! Still getting to know each other having had only a handful of rides in between the rain, but very pleased with her. She is for sale if anyone is interested, ideal show/dressage/broodmare or flashy hack! You can find more about her on my facebook page Rose Equine Sales.
Penny had a successful start to her competition season at the hunter trial in Pontispool. She was 6th out of over 60 entries in her class so delighted with that as neither of us had been out for nearly 5 months! She jumped an excellent quick clear (if a little over enuthusiastic at times!) so high hopes for April HT's now we've both warmed up a bit!
Wally, our 4yo New forest, along with Chianti will be for sale at Easter hopefully as soon as the ground dries up. Looking forrward to seeing him find a family of his own, but sad to see him go as he is the first one I have broken myself.
I saw Forest Farmacys advert for Clean Limbs Spray which seemed impressive, so I am considering zapping Merlins windgalls with it after hes worked hopefully making life a little more comfortable.
We have also been busy repairing the damage done by the winter to our fields, chain harrowing and fertisilising, but out hard work was quickly undone by the latest batch of rain so will be straight back on it when we get some better weather!
Im now looking forward to the upcoming competitions next month, fingers crossed for sunnier times! Planning to get Chianti out for some evening dressage at Pontispool before she is sold, so really excited about her chances there. I will also be starting my BHS Stage 2 training as well, so plenty to keep us busy!
All the best to everyone, hope you are all having a good start to the season,
Early on in the month we bought a lovely new horse, Top Chianti, a very beautiful 15hh 9yo TB mare by Komaite out of Top Yard. Although impeccably bred for racing, she is destined for stardom in the dressage world, her paces and way of going are fantastic! Still getting to know each other having had only a handful of rides in between the rain, but very pleased with her. She is for sale if anyone is interested, ideal show/dressage/broodmare or flashy hack! You can find more about her on my facebook page Rose Equine Sales.
Penny had a successful start to her competition season at the hunter trial in Pontispool. She was 6th out of over 60 entries in her class so delighted with that as neither of us had been out for nearly 5 months! She jumped an excellent quick clear (if a little over enuthusiastic at times!) so high hopes for April HT's now we've both warmed up a bit!
Wally, our 4yo New forest, along with Chianti will be for sale at Easter hopefully as soon as the ground dries up. Looking forrward to seeing him find a family of his own, but sad to see him go as he is the first one I have broken myself.
I saw Forest Farmacys advert for Clean Limbs Spray which seemed impressive, so I am considering zapping Merlins windgalls with it after hes worked hopefully making life a little more comfortable.
We have also been busy repairing the damage done by the winter to our fields, chain harrowing and fertisilising, but out hard work was quickly undone by the latest batch of rain so will be straight back on it when we get some better weather!
Im now looking forward to the upcoming competitions next month, fingers crossed for sunnier times! Planning to get Chianti out for some evening dressage at Pontispool before she is sold, so really excited about her chances there. I will also be starting my BHS Stage 2 training as well, so plenty to keep us busy!
All the best to everyone, hope you are all having a good start to the season,
Friday, 9 April 2010
Oli Lawrence's blog: A good start to the even season
So the eventing season’s now well and truly underway. Dells already had outings to Isleham and Poplar where he jumped double clears in the placings and last weekend he jumped his first intermediate novice at Great Witchingham and finished 10th. Things are looking up! Continuing with the success front I also managed to pass my driving theory test with some rather sketchy revision, “I’ve got loads of time” only to find out it’s my birthday and my theory is tomorrow....
As well as eventing Dell’s been out doing his dressage practise with Totem, my brothers new horse, in tow for his first few outings. Both of them got on very well with a 4th, 2nd and 1st (in the pouring rain). We’ve also brought the horses home for the summer but as the summer looked like it was about to kick in it vanished and was replaced by rain, thunder and lightening. Suffice to say when I was hacking across a very open and flat field with thunder, I realised I was the highest point – not cool! Time to go home...QUICK!
But back to Great Witchingham, it would appear that I’m cursed slightly with late start times as by the time we’d claimed a 38.5 in the dressage that kept us in the running, it was getting kinda darkish – here we go again.... So with people slightly on edge around the show jumping we kept our heads down and jumped a good round with just the one down. Following that we had a lightening quick tack change and were third last to fly out of the start box like something out of a wild west film as the sun set – minus the lasso, cows, buffalo and red indians trying to shoot you.... We jumped a fabulous round with below average time penalties so there were smiles all round – especially when we finished 10th.
So we’re well and truly underway and Dell’s next run will be the JRN at South of England followed by another JRN at Nurstead Court. Plus, the baby of the yard, Gray, should be making a first appearance soon so keep an eye out – as the name suggests, he’s grey...
As well as eventing Dell’s been out doing his dressage practise with Totem, my brothers new horse, in tow for his first few outings. Both of them got on very well with a 4th, 2nd and 1st (in the pouring rain). We’ve also brought the horses home for the summer but as the summer looked like it was about to kick in it vanished and was replaced by rain, thunder and lightening. Suffice to say when I was hacking across a very open and flat field with thunder, I realised I was the highest point – not cool! Time to go home...QUICK!
But back to Great Witchingham, it would appear that I’m cursed slightly with late start times as by the time we’d claimed a 38.5 in the dressage that kept us in the running, it was getting kinda darkish – here we go again.... So with people slightly on edge around the show jumping we kept our heads down and jumped a good round with just the one down. Following that we had a lightening quick tack change and were third last to fly out of the start box like something out of a wild west film as the sun set – minus the lasso, cows, buffalo and red indians trying to shoot you.... We jumped a fabulous round with below average time penalties so there were smiles all round – especially when we finished 10th.
So we’re well and truly underway and Dell’s next run will be the JRN at South of England followed by another JRN at Nurstead Court. Plus, the baby of the yard, Gray, should be making a first appearance soon so keep an eye out – as the name suggests, he’s grey...
Tilly Tillbrook's blog: What a difference a month makes
Wow, what a difference a month makes – after all the cold, crisp, dry weather that came after the snow, it turned wet in March, really, really wet. All the XC courses closed round us and I found myself early one morning setting off to Aston Le Walls without having set foot on a XC course since last October! Not the ideal preparation, and I was very glad I had only entered the intro as I had a suspicion this could happen.
Luckily some preparation had gone to plan – we’d had a dressage lesson the day before and got some really nice work, so I felt confident about that phase, although bouncing over to the dressage arenas did make me glad I’d opted for the crash hat and not the beagler! Boysie was extremely pleased to be eventing again, but he knuckled down, and we even coped with the 30 minute delay without too much trouble. I felt he did a really super test, and it is always a good sign when then judge gives you a thumbs up at the end of the test I think! I will treasure that moment – it doesn’t happen very often, and was reflected in the mark of 33 which left us 6th after dressage. We then went down to the showjumping, where we had just one down where I took an unnecessary pull, I must learn to stop doing that.
The XC was running massively behind, so we watched several horses go before starting to warm up. Boysie was looking everywhere but at the fence as we left the start box, however the reality of XC fences soon focused his mind and we flew round for a nice neat clear. I took it a little bit steady as he and I were both rusty after no XC schooling, so the time penalties pushed us out of the placings, but still a great start to the season I think.
The following weekend at Stockland Lovell things didn’t go quite so well and I withdrew after the SJ because the sun was getting low, we weren’t in with a chance of getting placed and I didn’t want to risk the run XC in that light. There is always another day and hard though it is, sometimes it is better to admit it isn’t your day.
I had a super experience at Aldon BE where I volunteered to help, arrived and found I was dressage writing for Jennie Loriston-Clarke. There really couldn’t be anyone better to learn what the judges are looking for from, and I made the most of it. It was incredibly interesting to note that Jennie is looking for where she can give marks, not where she can take them away – I think there are a few judges out there who could do with taking a leaf out of her book! Any horse behind the vertical did not get more than a 6 for that movement, which gave me pause for thought – no matter how well it did the movement this really pulled the mark down.
And so April arrived – and all my horsey plans went on hold because I get married on the 24th of the month! Just for once in my life my partner and the wedding have to come first and horses go on a back burner. I’ll make sure to include a picture with the next blog!
Luckily some preparation had gone to plan – we’d had a dressage lesson the day before and got some really nice work, so I felt confident about that phase, although bouncing over to the dressage arenas did make me glad I’d opted for the crash hat and not the beagler! Boysie was extremely pleased to be eventing again, but he knuckled down, and we even coped with the 30 minute delay without too much trouble. I felt he did a really super test, and it is always a good sign when then judge gives you a thumbs up at the end of the test I think! I will treasure that moment – it doesn’t happen very often, and was reflected in the mark of 33 which left us 6th after dressage. We then went down to the showjumping, where we had just one down where I took an unnecessary pull, I must learn to stop doing that.
The XC was running massively behind, so we watched several horses go before starting to warm up. Boysie was looking everywhere but at the fence as we left the start box, however the reality of XC fences soon focused his mind and we flew round for a nice neat clear. I took it a little bit steady as he and I were both rusty after no XC schooling, so the time penalties pushed us out of the placings, but still a great start to the season I think.
The following weekend at Stockland Lovell things didn’t go quite so well and I withdrew after the SJ because the sun was getting low, we weren’t in with a chance of getting placed and I didn’t want to risk the run XC in that light. There is always another day and hard though it is, sometimes it is better to admit it isn’t your day.
I had a super experience at Aldon BE where I volunteered to help, arrived and found I was dressage writing for Jennie Loriston-Clarke. There really couldn’t be anyone better to learn what the judges are looking for from, and I made the most of it. It was incredibly interesting to note that Jennie is looking for where she can give marks, not where she can take them away – I think there are a few judges out there who could do with taking a leaf out of her book! Any horse behind the vertical did not get more than a 6 for that movement, which gave me pause for thought – no matter how well it did the movement this really pulled the mark down.
And so April arrived – and all my horsey plans went on hold because I get married on the 24th of the month! Just for once in my life my partner and the wedding have to come first and horses go on a back burner. I’ll make sure to include a picture with the next blog!
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Rhiannon Ball rounds up the past few months
To start with as I missed the blog in February i will just recap over the events...
My school break - February half term - allowed me to train further for the up coming event season. Interval training, fittening/hill work as well as some much needed schooling all took place in preparation for for my first event at Poplar Park. Due to the wet weather and no facilities I had the only option of roadwork until the weather improved - fortunately my 'event' horse is very sane and is 100% in traffic.
The day of the event was, well, as most of them are for many people, hectic! I had a 10minute warm up for the dressage, which went surprisingly well, not our best but definitely better than expected - especially for our first one. I entered the show jumping on a score of 33.5 and the pressure of achieving a clear round show jumping was growing with much apprehension as I have yet to have a fault - my 3rd year of doing B.E and have yet to receive one, and this day was no different. We rattled a few, but had luck on our side! Due to the hectic time schedule I was not able to walk the course with my 'unpaid groom' - my mum! This panicked me, but as usual she gave me the sound advice 'KICK!'. This filled me with little faith but we crossed the finish in one piece! I was over the moon with Chissies performance but had some doubts about a possible 'mistake' that i might have made when i talked through the course with fellow competitors. I had jumped an alternative part 'A' but had stupidly on my part forgot about part 'B'!!! To say the least I was frustrated with my self as his score would have put us in the top 5! I know for certain I will not make that mistake again!
I went home and continued to practise...
Dressage was now my main aim - having miraculously managed to qualify for the BD Winter Nationals I am now beginning to take this discipline a bit more seriously, much to Chissies dismay!
We headed out to Affiliated BD with little hope of receiving a placing as I had only ridden the test once at my trainers the week before...This lack of belief later proved un-necessary as we somehow managed a win in the qualifier class and also a 5th in the other qualifying class even though I forgot the test twice! This has further boosted my confidence for the Nationals and although I'm going with little hope I am looking forward to the experience and it's a perfect consolation for not being able to attend the Open PC Championships and the BD Summer Nationals on my younger horse!
The youngster...
He is now fast approaching 4 and with this he seems to be ever-growing. Everyday I ride him he feels ever so slightly larger - in both height and width! He is now schooling superbly - flying changes are 'simple' and he seems to produce even more scope every time he jumps! He is so brave it's unreal and teamed with his carefulness I really enjoy working him; he just seems to improve daily!
That's about all for competition news at the moment...
I have started feeding a higher quantity of Horse Power to Chissie in preparation for the Nationals, this seems to bring out the most stunning shine on his coat and also improve his condition. Overall he just looks so much better since he has been fed this.
My school break - February half term - allowed me to train further for the up coming event season. Interval training, fittening/hill work as well as some much needed schooling all took place in preparation for for my first event at Poplar Park. Due to the wet weather and no facilities I had the only option of roadwork until the weather improved - fortunately my 'event' horse is very sane and is 100% in traffic.
The day of the event was, well, as most of them are for many people, hectic! I had a 10minute warm up for the dressage, which went surprisingly well, not our best but definitely better than expected - especially for our first one. I entered the show jumping on a score of 33.5 and the pressure of achieving a clear round show jumping was growing with much apprehension as I have yet to have a fault - my 3rd year of doing B.E and have yet to receive one, and this day was no different. We rattled a few, but had luck on our side! Due to the hectic time schedule I was not able to walk the course with my 'unpaid groom' - my mum! This panicked me, but as usual she gave me the sound advice 'KICK!'. This filled me with little faith but we crossed the finish in one piece! I was over the moon with Chissies performance but had some doubts about a possible 'mistake' that i might have made when i talked through the course with fellow competitors. I had jumped an alternative part 'A' but had stupidly on my part forgot about part 'B'!!! To say the least I was frustrated with my self as his score would have put us in the top 5! I know for certain I will not make that mistake again!
I went home and continued to practise...
Dressage was now my main aim - having miraculously managed to qualify for the BD Winter Nationals I am now beginning to take this discipline a bit more seriously, much to Chissies dismay!
We headed out to Affiliated BD with little hope of receiving a placing as I had only ridden the test once at my trainers the week before...This lack of belief later proved un-necessary as we somehow managed a win in the qualifier class and also a 5th in the other qualifying class even though I forgot the test twice! This has further boosted my confidence for the Nationals and although I'm going with little hope I am looking forward to the experience and it's a perfect consolation for not being able to attend the Open PC Championships and the BD Summer Nationals on my younger horse!
The youngster...
He is now fast approaching 4 and with this he seems to be ever-growing. Everyday I ride him he feels ever so slightly larger - in both height and width! He is now schooling superbly - flying changes are 'simple' and he seems to produce even more scope every time he jumps! He is so brave it's unreal and teamed with his carefulness I really enjoy working him; he just seems to improve daily!
That's about all for competition news at the moment...
I have started feeding a higher quantity of Horse Power to Chissie in preparation for the Nationals, this seems to bring out the most stunning shine on his coat and also improve his condition. Overall he just looks so much better since he has been fed this.
Jemma Harrison jumps in to action
Our local BSJA has finally begun! The first heights jumping was cancelled due to a waterlogged arena but luckily we have managed to have one on the 7th, 14th and 21st of March.
On the 7th, it was the first time Piquet and I had been out since last September so naturally Piquet was spooky but we did the 1m and 1m05 with just a knock down in both. I was very pleased with him and it seemed like a good start to the season!
Our next rally was on the 14th and again we did the 1m and 1m05. In the 1m we gained a clear and came 2nd and in the 1m05 we just had a pole in the second phase of the Two Phase, but because we were quick we gained a 4th rosette.
Last weekend we competed again but the weather was not the best and it rained all day and the ground became very churned up due to us being in the later classes. Piquet still jumped really well and although we didn't gain any rosettes due to a knock down in the 1m05 and 2 knock downs in the 1m10 I was very pleased and think the only way now is forward!
We have a break now for 2 weeks and then the rallies begin again where we will be jumping 1.05 and 1.10 and hopefully 1.15 ( if all goes well!) At the end of April we have a big BSJA Liberation day show where competitors come over from Guernsey, France and England to compete. So fingers crossed that we continue on our way forward!
On the 7th, it was the first time Piquet and I had been out since last September so naturally Piquet was spooky but we did the 1m and 1m05 with just a knock down in both. I was very pleased with him and it seemed like a good start to the season!
Our next rally was on the 14th and again we did the 1m and 1m05. In the 1m we gained a clear and came 2nd and in the 1m05 we just had a pole in the second phase of the Two Phase, but because we were quick we gained a 4th rosette.
Last weekend we competed again but the weather was not the best and it rained all day and the ground became very churned up due to us being in the later classes. Piquet still jumped really well and although we didn't gain any rosettes due to a knock down in the 1m05 and 2 knock downs in the 1m10 I was very pleased and think the only way now is forward!
We have a break now for 2 weeks and then the rallies begin again where we will be jumping 1.05 and 1.10 and hopefully 1.15 ( if all goes well!) At the end of April we have a big BSJA Liberation day show where competitors come over from Guernsey, France and England to compete. So fingers crossed that we continue on our way forward!
Sarah Jane Brown springs in to the start of the season
Our season has finally got up and running with a successful month behind us. The main disappointing aspect was that we never got into the CCI** at Compeigne in France, so a rethink of our goals leaves us aiming for Tattersalls in May.
We started off the month by getting some show jumping practice in. Since Sarnie’s physio straightened her pelvis she has been back firing on all cylinders and has qualified for the Bath and West Grade C final and Bath and West Open final finishing 2nd and 4th in the qualifiers on consecutive weekends. The later qualifier was 1.25 with a 1.35 jump off which really had her pinging.
Ashley meanwhile has started his affiliated Show jumping and has jumped 3 British Novices, had one double clear and 2 rounds of a pole down, he is just starting to get a little cocky but once settled in the ring he showing scope and care. We finished the month with his first Discovery where he jumped a cracking round for one unlucky pole down. Since we are not going to Compeigne he is now entered for his debut event at Bickenhall BE90open in mid April before in May moving onto BE100s. I am very excited about him and feel he has a huge amount of potential despite his small size.
Our first BE event was the OI at Gatcombe. The weather was kind and the going great. Sarnie is pretty fit and feeling very well (thanks to Organic Horse’s – Horse Power). I started warming up for dressage and every canter transition involved a squeal as she bounded into canter. I think what we produced was a very careful test, the mediums were ok but if I had asked for more they could have been fantastic or we could have accelerated out of the arena never to be seen again. Overall it could have been worse as we ended middling with a score of 36.8 in a competitive section with only 2 combinations breaking 30.
Show jumping was up to height and quite twisty and the ground although not bad was getting cut up on the fence lines. She was still bright but not sure why I seemed to see some pretty dodgy strides. She got close to 3,4 and 5 through rider error, I also missed her at 7 a triple bar my least favourite fence as I always try and make them take off a stride too early. We actually jumped 8, 9 (the treble) and 10 ok. A clear round hugely deserved by the horse perhaps less so for the jockey.
Cross country she was superb and we had a fast and clear round. She jumped the problematic offset corners the straight route and very neatly and powered through the water making the course feel quite straightforward. We finished the 5th fastest in the section and came 7th overall.
Easter was also successful with two wins in the Medium classes of British Dressage show at Tall Trees and a Foxhunter BS win at Colraine. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the season continues in the same vein. Plans for Sarnie in April include the Advanced Intermediate at South of England where we will be doing the Badminton test and an advanced run at Withington.
Until then keep up to date via www.shoestringeventing.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Holly Burton's latest blog update: Back in to the swing of the season
Well the snow has finally gone and I'm pleased to say that we have now had two outings in the last fortnight. We first went to some unaffiliated show jumping to pop round the 3ft3 and 3ft6. Considering we had only popped a cross pole in one session since October, I wasn't expecting amazing results! He was a tad 'fresh' in the warm up but he knew his job once he got in the ring and put in a super double clear winnnig the class which had a lot of people in it! In the 3ft6 he spooked at a banner on the way to the first fence so we took it at a bit of an angle having it down.
On Tuesday (16th March) we went to evening BSJA. We entered the 1.10m and the 1.15m amatuer qualifiers. In the 1.10m, he put in a lovely double clear but I messed up a vital tight turn in the jump off which put us down into 5th place. The 1.15m I thought was a normal 1.15m class however a new rule means that in actual fact the first half is 1.15m and the second half is 1.20m, with the jump off at 1.25m! I had already entered when I realised this and was a bit daunted as I didn't feel he was fit enough for that big! He proved me wrong however by jumping another fantastic double clear and coming 2nd. Tinto never stops amazing me with his honesty - I don't know of many horses who would jump so well when they'd only been (gently) back in work since Ferbruary after being on snow-bound holiday for 3 months before!
I have just enterered our first BE of the season - Kirriemuir. We have entered the novice as usual, although I'm yet to do some cross country (mid-October was the last one he did)... so shall have to book a course for some practice soon. Kirriemuir is never one of his better events, the cross country runs right beside the dressage arena's so Tinto is like a coiled spring in his test, especially as its his first run of the season he's always very fresh there, although it does mean he thunders round the cross country at lightning speed! Otherwise, aim-wise there are Highland Show BSJA qualifiers coming up next month which I hope to do depending on the class.
My next blog will likely be after Kirriemuir so I'll fill you in then!
On Tuesday (16th March) we went to evening BSJA. We entered the 1.10m and the 1.15m amatuer qualifiers. In the 1.10m, he put in a lovely double clear but I messed up a vital tight turn in the jump off which put us down into 5th place. The 1.15m I thought was a normal 1.15m class however a new rule means that in actual fact the first half is 1.15m and the second half is 1.20m, with the jump off at 1.25m! I had already entered when I realised this and was a bit daunted as I didn't feel he was fit enough for that big! He proved me wrong however by jumping another fantastic double clear and coming 2nd. Tinto never stops amazing me with his honesty - I don't know of many horses who would jump so well when they'd only been (gently) back in work since Ferbruary after being on snow-bound holiday for 3 months before!
I have just enterered our first BE of the season - Kirriemuir. We have entered the novice as usual, although I'm yet to do some cross country (mid-October was the last one he did)... so shall have to book a course for some practice soon. Kirriemuir is never one of his better events, the cross country runs right beside the dressage arena's so Tinto is like a coiled spring in his test, especially as its his first run of the season he's always very fresh there, although it does mean he thunders round the cross country at lightning speed! Otherwise, aim-wise there are Highland Show BSJA qualifiers coming up next month which I hope to do depending on the class.
My next blog will likely be after Kirriemuir so I'll fill you in then!
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